Newbie with a couple of quick mods

[jbreezy]

Thought I would jump into the hybrid section here with a couple pics on what I’ve done to my camper so far. We are two weekend trips in on this new to us 2012 X23B – absolutely love it. Four more trips on the books before we call it a season. I would like to hold off on winterizing until after that last trip toward the end of October, but seeing as I live in Minnesota, that may or may not be possible. Any experience or advice?

Our family friends who got us into camping have a 2021 X23B. We loved it but started our own RV ownership journey with a Rockwood pop up. I enjoyed sleeping in the pop-up. That tent feeling, but comfortable. Easy and cheap towing was also nice. But the set up and tear down and small appliances quickly got us looking to upgrade to a hybrid. We looked at quite a few but didn’t find any that we liked as much as the X23B so we pulled the plug on a 2012, and like I said, really like it.

One thing that we liked better about our friends’ 2021 model is that the large storage cabinet had three shelves compared to our one shelf and place to hang up clothes. So I added two shelves using mostly liquid nails to fasten the support brackets and just a couple of short brad nails. So far so good. All in for under $40.


The fresh water drain tank valve handle was also broken off. I saw some plastic replacements on amazon which would have worked fine but I saw some recommendations on this forum to use a brass faucet instead so I did that.


Lastly, I did upgrade the manual trailer tongue jack with a power jack. Works great. Certainly not needed, but for some reason I prioritized this upgrade.

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by jbreezy

I would like to hold off on winterizing until after that last trip toward the end of October, but seeing as I live in Minnesota, that may or may not be possible. Any experience or advice?

First off - always remember $10 of antifreeze is better that $$$$$$$$$$$$ of frozen pipe repair bills.

We're in a motorhome, but the water pipes are all exposed underneath. I usually don't get too worried when temps drop into mid-20's or higher. I'll keep the heat on the in RV (throw an electric heater in there).



If the temps are low 20's or teens, then I'll either fully winterize ($6 of antifreeze) or I'll just blow out the lines if I'm using the RV the next day. Open all the drains, then blow out the lines. (We have a tankless water heater and that saves a couple of steps on winterization.)

A couple of years ago, I crawled under and put "pool noodles" as insulation over as much of the exposed pipes I could find. I suspect that bought me some time and a couple of degrees.

We were winter camping once and the temp dropped to 14*F overnight with blowing winds. We did freeze up solid that night but fortunately no damage. I now keep a few gallons of RV antifreeze in the coach when we winter camp. I can winterize the thing in about 10 minutes so sometimes I'll do that before going to bed.

[jbreezy]

Good advice, Pconroy, thank you. Sounds like you have the process nailed. Good idea with the pool noodles too.

[Jagiven]

Welcome aboard! We love our 2012 23B. I have done a lot of modifications.

Like to hear more about your new drain valve. I'm thinking when mine dies, to install something like yours. Like to know more about the parts and install.

Two other favorite mods. Remove the panel under the sofa. Cleaned up the utilities under there. It now stores shoes and a case of water.

Other favorite item, complete rebuilt the front dinette. It now has a full pass through storage. The drawer is gone, but the face is there. You can see in my signature this mod. There is a bit more to it than that.

As for October camping, do it all the time. Typical last campout is MEA weekend. Most years it gets down to the mid to low 20's, so far no issues. All the plumbing is inside except for the tanks. To help keep the pipes warm, we just keep the cabinet doors ajar, to let a little more warm in. I would recommend adding a couple electric mattress pad heaters to your fall gear. Outside edge of the bunks can get mighty cool on a 20 degree morning.

I do keep 2 gallons of rv antifreeze in the garage. Most years it is not an issue. There have been a few years, mid week I have blown the water lines clear, and added a little antifreeze to the traps. If the heat is not on, higher risk of damage.

Have fun!

[jbreezy]

Awesome mods, Jagiven! I hadn't heard of the under couch or dinette mods, but I will certainly be ripping these off

Thanks for the tips on the cold in MN, very helpful. Nervously looking forward to it but I also know what October is capable of up here. Good times.

As far as my fresh water drain valve replacement - very easy and I think about $9. I took off the existing plastic spigot set up. It's a single piece. On the front it had two screw holes for mounting and then on back it had a barb connector that you can clamp the water hose to. I'm sorry I don't remember the dimensions but I just brought in my old piece and matched them up. In brass, I didn't find a single piece unit. But I found that barb connection piece with a male screw end (if that's what it's called). And found a brass faucet with a female end and just connected them. and then I re-used the same mounting spot (a small piece of aluminum extended out past the bottom of the trailer) and the same mounting holes. Also kept the same water hose and clamp running from the tank to that barb connector piece. Really nothing to it and no leaks. Oh and I did use thread tape when connecting the barb connector to the faucet.