Winnefred Mulligan

We wanted a 12v TV. You can use a regular 110v AC TV with an inverter, but we didn't want to mess with an inverter. A TV designed to run on 12v is way more efficient. I had done research before on a 12v TV option for my boat. I remembered reading about TV's sold in Walmart that were built to run on 12v DC current. They had a regular wall plug and were not advertised as being 12v, but they were. I checked out Walmart, and none of the TV's they had were 12v anymore. One of the brands that sold these secret 12v TV's was Insignia. I occasionally checked Craigslist for anyone selling an older Insignia TV. Sure enough, I found a 32" Insignia TV with the bonus of a built-in DVD player. They only wanted $40 because they did not have the power adapter. The fact that it was a separate power adapter and not a "built-in" type plug was good news because that's how the 12v TV's are set up. We drove to Jacksonville to check it out. Sure enough, it was a coveted ...

Adam and I  used to live on our respective sailboats and we know a little bit about solar power. Winnefred came with a single, marine lead acid deep-cycle battery. Not surprisingly, it was completely dead. The battery compartment in the RV can only hold a single battery. We decided to go with 2 six volt golf cart batteries, wired in series, to create a 12 volt system. This is probably the most bang for the buck. I'm certainly no expert, but this is what we decided on. We mounted the two batteries in the compartment above the former battery compartment. This way we could vent the new batteries to the old compartment and feeding the wires from the old battery was only a matter of a foot or less. Like I said, we're both sailors, and we both have some knowledge about how to build a 12v system on a sailboat. We crimp, we don't use twist on connectors. The near constant motion of a sailboat or of an RV, means that those wires are moving, even if only a little. That little movemen...

Ebay to the rescue again. I found a very cheap back up camera on Ebay. Then I found a nice little folding screen for it. I cut a small rectangle of wood and painted it black to mount the camera on. Then I screwed the mounted camera into the rear of the RV, using butyl tape as a bedding compound of course. We routed the video and power wire back to the batteries and to our screen up in front beside the driver. Not too difficult. Now we have a back up camera. I looked at the wireless ones, but since our RV is not that long, I figured a hard wired camera may have fewer issues as far as connectivity to the screen. Besides, the wireless ones were much more expensive. Even with the mirrors properly adjusted, it's very difficult to see behind you while driving. The camera makes it a lot safer. Camera and screen were about $30 to $40. Here's the camera on its black wooden mount at the back of the RV above the window. The camera was sold as an outdoor camera. We also sort of smeared ...

Can you believe it? We've got a king sized bed in our little 22' Toyota motor home. Luckily my calculations were wrong. I thought we would have to trim a bit off the mattress in order for it to fit. Nope. It fits with no adjustments. Adam and I both laid on the bed at the same time and it was sturdy, huge and comfortable. Perfect! A king sized bed, unbelievable.  and this is what it looks like when folded up, not bad

I love the look of a tile backsplash and the way it adds color. I know how to tile, but I simply didn't feel like going through the whole process. I came across these adhesive tile panels, so easy and they look great. Cut with scissors and stick on. They are raised slightly to give the look of real tile. You can find them on Amazon. I found these on Ebay, 5 panels for $20. A nice little hint of color with virtually no added weight and applied in less than 15 mins with no clean up necessary. What's not to like?

Originally Winnefred came with a sleeping space above the truck cab that was just about the same size as a full sized bed. This is a little smaller than the king we are used to sleeping in. I'm a firm believer in a comfortable place to sleep. Everything seems better when you have had a good night's sleep, right? We started trying to figure out a way to extend the sleeping space and make it king sized. I found some sturdy brackets on Ebay, each with a 550 lb capacity. They fold down neatly and take up very little space. Two of these mounted vertically and a 3/4" piece of ply, cut to fit along with a couple of hinges and we were in business. the original "full" sized space Adam cut a couple of support legs we added the sturdy stainless brackets vertically on the new support legs these brackets are easy to fold out two big piano-type hinges on the extension and a handle for ease of use Adam also added an extra fold...

Well, not really. I did, however, paint them to look like stainless. I bought a kit on Amazon,  Liquid Stainless Steel Range and Dishwasher Kit  

When we got the RV most of the marker lights worked. A few of them didn't and most of them were cracked and had water intrusion. We ordered replacements for all of the marker lights. Adam removed the old ones and wired in the new ones. He used butyl tape to bed the new lights and keep the rain out. Now all of the lights work. Adam started by removing the old lights and scraping and cleaning the area in preparation for the new light install  And voila! they all work perfectly This is butyl tape, one of the best bedding compounds out there. It's widely used on boats. It never dries or hardens. Great stuff, easy to work with and easy clean up.