11 - Solar Cover, Windshield Tint, Shelf

This is a post of some of the first of several additions or fixes I have made to "Phrynie," our Orion. (Aside...Our RVs acquire names. This Orion is named Phrynie and our Smart toad car is named Dot. If anyone has watched "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" on TV, you will understand where those names came from.)

1. Solar screen windshield cover. I took Phrynie to Arizona RV Parts Center, aka SunPro Manufacturing, in Wellton AZ to have a solar cover made. I had purchased two of their covers previously for our two former motorhomes, a class A and a class B. Their screen is an excellent product and the ones I got were made to order from stock patterns. However, they had not made a cover for a Transit so Phrynie was their first Transit unit. I got a great discount plus some extras because they were able to create a pattern from my unit to be able to use for future stock orders. I use it whenever we are stationary for more than a couple of days. You cannot see in during the day but can see out well and it really cuts the sun heat. It also is a decent window screen when lowering the side windows.

The SunPro cover mounts using corner pockets at the top rear edge of each door, strong magnets at the bottom, and a strap through the mirror arms. It also comes with the wiper covers, the wipers also helping to hold the cover in place. SunPro also made pockets like these for my original solid vinyl Orion windshield cover, which has made it much more resistant to slipping or blowing off.

2. Windshield tint. I felt right from the start that the Transit windshield came up too high and directly over me. So I had a local window tint installer put a tint band across the top of the windshield. It is actually two bands either side of the dark expansion matrix behind the camera monitor and about the same distance down. It seems just right and really cuts glare and heat.

3. Sofa shelf. There is a fairly big gap behind the sofa, and our cat was more than willing to go down behind and get herself stuck under the sofa. And stuff like blankets and pillows easily slipped down. So I mounted a 1x4 finished board as a shelf using a couple of brackets. I tried to mount it using the sofa side panels, but as the picture shows, the panels are different height and the shelf slanted. So I just mounted the low end bracket to the wall to level the shelf. Nothing shows when the sofa is up, and things (and cats) don't slip down.

10 - Extended Camping Experience

Since it's been a while since my last report, I can now relate some extended use experience with the Orion. In April '17, we traveled 1,200 miles from Yuma AZ to Parker CO. This was a transfer trip between houses towing the Smart car and loaded with extra food, household items, clothing, and tools that we move. We spent five nights in the RV of which one was dry camping in chilly Albuquerque. We were very comfortable driving, living, and sleeping in the RV and all systems worked well. The only problem we encountered was that we plugged both of our phones into the dual USB outlet by the couch. In the night, we woke up to that burning electrical smell. I traced it to the USB outlet which was very hot. I don't know if it would have caught on fire, but the unit seems to be defective. I can still get current out of either socket when I plug a phone in, but the outlet gets warm after a few minutes. I probably could have had it replaced under warranty, but I got a different USB unit with a built in voltmeter from Amazon for $15. I haven't installed it, so I have yet to see if I have a working USB power source. There are USB outlets in the pull-up power outlet between the range-top and sink, but these only work when plugged into 110v electric. The one by the couch is 12v supply and works while dry camping.

We took a 3-week 2,900 mile trip from CO via Saskatchewan to Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta, and back in June and July. Eleven nights were in commercial campgrounds, eight nights were in friends' driveways hooked up to 15 amp electric only, and one night was dry camping in a forest campground. It was quite hot and when we didn't have 30 amp service, we ran the generator as necessary to have air conditioning. The Maxx fan I installed proved to be essential for providing air circulation at night when it got cool. By running the fan at a lower speed and opening the vent over the bed, it was very comfortable for sleeping. As I have said, A Fantastic or Maxx fan should be a mandatory factory item. Again, the Orion performed perfectly both for living and driving (Transit part).

In August, we took a 1,000 mile trip to Nebraska for eclipse viewing. One night dry camping, five nights on 15 amp electric at relatives and friends, and one night on 30 amp. Again hot, again using generator and a/c as needed plus use of Maxx fan. We were comfortable.

General observations: The Transit chassis with standard 3.7L gas engine is great in my opinion. Very comfortable to drive for longer periods. Reasonably quiet. It performs just fine with our load and towing the Smart. Mileage has been pretty steady at 12.5, all with towing the car and usually running air conditioning. I had hoped to get a little better, but the size and output of this engine dictates that it has to work harder and at more revs than a bigger displacement V8 or V10. I usually drive at 62-63 mph and that is about 2200 rpm. The transmission shifts down readily at any grade but the RV maintains speed on almost any slope except maybe a 7% uphill at 9000 ft altitude. I have no complaints about performance. The transmission tow mode works well and holds speed in check on long downgrades. I have a little aprehension when making these trips because neither the Orion nor the Smart has a spare tire. I have a road service policy on both, but that would be of little comfort in the middle of Montana miles from anywhere and no cell phone service. I guess I will just continue to hope for the best, use quality tires and maintain them. There really is no practical place to carry a spare tire on either vehicle. I drove 40k miles on our previous Class A without a spare, and most every big Class A out there doesn't have a spare either, so we takes our chances I guess.

The coach part is meeting all our needs. We are more convinced that this is the perfect size RV for us now. I have made some more improvements and fixed a few minor problems that I will relate later. Tank capacity is good. With our usage, the fresh water lasts about four days, We have done five days on the holding tanks and they weren't full then, so I don't know how many more days they would serve. We might be good for a week with conservation, but the fresh water supply seems to be the limiter. As for comfort, quality, and practicality, we are pleased with our Orion.