With a 30+ year-old vehicle, sometimes you just have to get quick-fix creative and bring your sense of humor along! Here are some quick fixes that may help another campervan owner some day (we hope) or at least provide a little entertainment. New quick fixes are added here as we encounter them!
- Annoying fridge/electric cooler lid?
- Broken tail pipe?
- Saggy ceiling?
- Broken running lights?
- More to come (I'm sure...)
SNOWMASTER LID
We love our Snomaster electric cooler - except for the friggin' lid. The main compartment lid constantly came unlatched. How could something come off so easily and be so damn difficult to put back on? After about the thousandth time of this thing popping off and us cussing up a storm while trying to get it back on, we finally Quick-fixed it - permanently!
PROBLEM: Lid would slide off the latches and it HAD to be at a certain, perfect, precise, impossible-to-get angle to put it back on.
THE FIX: Superglue a piece of metal (or whatever material you have) to permanently prevent the lid from ever separating from the latch again.
Perhaps someday we will discover a reason to remove the lid and we will say, "Well, crap, we shoulda' thought of that" but, in the time period we have owned this equipment, we've never needed to remove the lid and we can't think of one...so we used super glue.
THE FIX: Superglue a piece of metal (or whatever material you have) to permanently prevent the lid from ever separating from the latch again.
Perhaps someday we will discover a reason to remove the lid and we will say, "Well, crap, we shoulda' thought of that" but, in the time period we have owned this equipment, we've never needed to remove the lid and we can't think of one...so we used super glue.
BROKEN TAIL PIPE?
Do you have a broken tailpipe while on the road and no wire to fix it? No worries! Here is your creative deal-with-it solution.
1. Find a fallen, decrepit wire fence (not barbed wire!);
2. Pull over;
3. Grab your wire cutters and cut a 2-foot piece of wire; and
4. Wherever possible, attach wire to the tailpipe and vehicle frame.
No wire cutters? No problem! (But you may be there a while...)
1. Find a comfy spot;
2. Bend the wire back and forth and back and forth until it finally breaks.
With thick wire this could be work out, so try to make the most of it by using the following climbing-related mental techniques:
(a) This can improve your climbing grip and forearm strength;
(b) Getting frustrated? Take a deep breath and work on your mindfulness meditative skills, like when you are absorbed in a climbing project;
(c) Still not working? Ok, get angry and hulk it, kind of like a dyno move. Yell a little and grunt if you need to. Did you know yelling is scientifically proven to increase your strength?
SAGGY CEILING?
Do you have a saggy ceiling in your beloved vehicle? No problem! There is a quick fix solution for that.
Thumb tacks of course! Here is the ultimate "Do It Yourself How To" video for cab roof repair (0:24 sec.)
Do you have a saggy ceiling in your beloved vehicle? No problem! There is a quick fix solution for that.
Thumb tacks of course! Here is the ultimate "Do It Yourself How To" video for cab roof repair (0:24 sec.)
RUNNING LIGHTS OUT?
Have your running lights stopped working for some unknown reason while you are on the road? No problem! Stop at the nearest truck stop convenience store and get emergency LED lights and duct tape them to your back window!
Have your running lights stopped working for some unknown reason while you are on the road? No problem! Stop at the nearest truck stop convenience store and get emergency LED lights and duct tape them to your back window!