28 - New Smart Towed Car

We upgraded our towed car. Per my previous post, the choice was a newer Smart to stay within the Orion's towing capacity. I found this 2016 Smart Passion model at a Denver dealer at the lowest price I had seen in looking for a few months. The price was even better when I saw that the car already was equipped with a tow baseplate, through wiring to the tail lights, breakaway switch, and battery cut-off switch, all worth at least $1500 more as installed. The trade deal for my 2013 wasn't good, so I bought the car outright and sold the '13 for a better price.

Old (left) and new (right) Smarts

I did have to do some work to get the new car compatible with the Orion. I had Roadmaster equipment--tow bar and Smart baseplate. The new Smart has a Blue Ox baseplate. Fortunately, I could get Blue Ox inserts for the baseplate and Roadmaster to Blue Ox tow bar adapters much cheaper than buying a new tow bar.

Tow bar end with new Blue Ox parts (top), old Roadmaster adapter (bottom)

27 - Remove TV-Gain Storage

Like many current RVs, the Orion comes with an outside TV. We have absolutely no use for an outside TV in our travel and camping style. Taking inspiration from another Orion owner, I removed the TV which opened up a decent bit of storage potential. The lower unit containing the DVD player and speakers is a pretty complicated installation with lots of wiring and impossible to remove from the outside without destroying the unit, so I decided to just leave it be.

Another motive was that I wanted a separate place to keep the sewer hose. I was putting it in a tote tray inside the small outside storage compartment behind the driver's door. That took a lot of space and also was where I stored my water hose and some spare parts. There is really no other outside area on the Orion to put a sewer hose container. The little compartment Coachmen provides is too small to stow a longer hose with the fittings attached.

I constructed a box to fit in the space where the TV had been. It is just big enough to hold a 15 ft. hose with fittings and the end adapter. Now I have extra space in the other compartment for tools.

26 - Hail Damage

One of the hazards of living around the Rocky Mountain front range in Colorado is hail. A hail storm came through where I store the Orion just a couple of weeks after our late April 2019 return from Yuma. When I checked, I found the front and rear roof vent covers were broken from the hail. I put some tape over the cracks and holes to keep rain out until I could replace the covers.

I ordered replacement covers through Wal Mart online, which were delivered in a few days. I bought Camco brand, hoping they were made of a sturdier and more UV resistant plastic. The forward vent is over the drop-down bed. The old covers were translucent white. I ordered a black tint cover for over the bed thinking it would be darker to keep night light out, and cooler. Wrong. I could see through it better than the white one. So I coated it with white Flex Shield spray. I ended up with a white translucent cover after all, although it cuts the outside light more, and maybe the coating will protect it better.