The Orion has been idle since our April return home. I have been neglecting the outside appearance and the coach siding was looking dull. I tried a bit of rubbing compound on the rear and found the gloss was still under the layer of oxidized polish or general grime. I proceeded to hand rub and polish one side and part of the rear over two days before coming to the conclusion that (1) it was a lot of work, and (2) the result by hand wasn't consistent. So I bought an orbital polisher and finished the job properly. Obviously, a job that needs to be done more than once every six years. The rear cap that discolored from UV exposure cleaned up pretty well and the color mismatch is not so obvious now.
Test area - The gloss is under there!
We made a 1,430 mile trip to Yellowstone Park in late July and early August. We towed the Smart car and got the usual low 13's MPG with the a/c on most of the time. I paid up to $5.00/gal. for gas, and was elated to find $3.60 gas in Casper, WY. The Transit chassis remains trouble-free and performed well. The coach part is also holding up although there are some cracks on the top of the front fiberglass cap near the sides. There are about a half-dozen from one to two inches long in three clusters. I have put some clear Gorilla tape over them and that seems to be holding up. I had similar cracks appear on the caps of our former Class A coach. It's disappointing that the material is not more resistant to cracking, but the environment we are in is pretty severe for temperature and solar UV extremes.
On a previous trip, the camera monitor mounting point came off the windshield and the whole unit dropped until hanging by the wire. I epoxy glued it back on. When it detached, some of the inside glass surface came with it. Now a crack has developed starting at that monitor mount area and spreading downward. Luckily, it is right in the middle of the windshield and not too noticeable from either seat. It also got a couple of small spider web dings from stones that seem to be slowly growing. I suppose a windshield replacement will eventually be required. That monitor is too heavy for a basic rear-view mirror mount. I think I will investigate a way to mount it to the overhead structure.
Windshield crack
On this trip, we dry-camped a total of seven nights. I was very pleased with the performance of the lithium battery and solar system. One night was quite cold and the furnace cycled for three or four hours, along with normal use of lights, water pump, and refrigerator operation. There was never a hint of low voltage. The battery was fully recharged from the solar by mid-afternoon, even with partial shade some of the time. The camping experience also proved that the holding tanks have about four nights use capacity, and can stretch to five with some conservation. That is with our style of living.
