Plugging Up the Holes

Monday, 11 February
Camp Tiffin — Red Bay, Alabama
Temps: Lo 44F / Hi 61F (7C / 16C)

I am way behind with my Red Bay posts, so before I go back in time to catch up, a quick note — WE’RE DONE!  That is … done with the work at the Allegro Tiffin Service Center.  We ‘checked out’ from the service office and paid our bill on Thursday, 14 February.  I guess you could say that was our Valentine’s gift to ourselves ;-)  That’s nine work days from our first day in a service bay to our last day.  From all accounts that’s not bad at all.

Just because we’re done with Tiffin doesn’t mean we’re leaving the area, however.  Not only do we want to stick around a few days to make sure we don’t need to get something tweaked by Tiffin, but we also have a few things we want to have done at some of the other shops in Red Bay.  After all, it’s only fair that we spread the wealth.

We hope to be on our way out of here on Thursday, the 21st.

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Back to catching up.  We woke up to cloudy skies today (the 11th), but the sun did come out to shine on us eventually.  We didn’t have a service bay assignment this morning.  Since hope springs eternal, we didn’t stray far from Camp Tiffin.  But in the end, the Phaeton did not get to roll her wheels.

I did drive into town to visit the dentist — it was time for my six-month cleaning.  I asked a couple of the ladies who work in the Camp Tiffin office and they suggested I go to Dr Nix (513 3rd Ave).  Turns out Dr Nix is Bob T’s brother in law.  Yup; it’s a small town.  Anyway, I left pleased with the work the hygienist did.

Sunday, 10 February

Boy was it ever a wet day.  It rained, and it rained, and it rained — quite heavily at times.  No problem; Mui’s project to plug up as many holes as possible to minimize entry points for uninvited guests kept us plenty busy.

Since we had found some mouse droppings under the bed, that was our first project.  It turned out to be an easy one.

(Don’t know if the droppings were from the December incursion or from when the Phaeton was in storage, but we didn’t want to take a chance either way.)

The first step was to remove the Sleep Number mattress so that we could get to the piano hinge that allows us to raise a portion of the platform for under-the-bed storage.  The platform removed, Mui found three rather large holes around the cables and pipes.  OK then — let’s plug them right up so that mice can’t get into the living space from there.

(Before spraying the foam, Mui ran the slide in and out a couple of times to make sure the foam would not hinder slide or compressor operations.)

Removing the piano hinge that allows a portion of the platform to be raised is easy-peasy.

There is an easy way to disconnect the strut from the platform, but since we were
unable to figure it out, I hold the nut in place so Mui can get to the screw from the top.

Next step is to remove the screws that secure the stationary part of the platform to the frame.

This is what's underneath our bed … no easy way to photograph the three places that
need to be plugged up with foam; the white box in the foreground is the compressor
for the Sleep Number bed; the black cylinders behind it are the slide mechanism.

Mui picked up some of the spray polyurethane foam that the plumbing guys used
in the wet bay to plug up some of our holes; may not have been sprayed as elegantly
as a professional might have done, but the holes are plugged up.

Next up was the slide-out pantry in the kitchen.  (We suspect this was the entry point for the first mice incursion when the Phaeton was still in storage.)

The access panel on the side of the pantry is held in place with a ten pound catch.  (Photo to the left.)  With the panel easily removed, this turned out to be a relatively quick project as well.

As expected, we found some droppings in the back reaches of the cabinet, so the first step was getting it all vacuumed up before using the spray foam to plug up the openings.

Mui also found a rather large opening in the side wall of the cabinet — an uncovered access panel to the area behind the shower stall.  He asked the cabinetry people for a piece of scrap wood and installed that over the opening.  (If anyone ever needs to access the area we covered up, it would be a simple matter of removing the screws.)

We’re not sure if we’ve been able to seal the area behind the pantry completely, but mice (and other critters) will definitely have to navigate a couple of hurdles before they can get in this way.

First Mui vacuums up any droppings, and then he plugs all the holes with foam.

access panelto the area behind the shower stall — before and after.

And to wrap up this post — the camp host called about an hour after the end of the workday (Monday) to give us our service bay assignment for tomorrow.  We’ll be up early to go to Bay 36 for the recall on our rails.  As they say in New Orleans, laissez les bons temps rouler (let the good times roll)!