My last post - Alpine Coach burned

[Gary - K7GLD]

IN some ways, might be the best thing that could have happened - in the face of national economics and fuel costs, chances are you'll get more in an insurance settlement than you could sell the rig for - and if you REALLY want to resume the RVing lifestyle, I'd bet that quite soon you can buy a similar rig and pocket some leftover $$$ in the process - but sorry for the traumatic experience and loss just the same...

[EngineerMike]

Until I fixed the brakes w/new master cylinder, my rode was attached to my emergency braking system, which EngineerAnnie complained about profusely:

[OldForester]

Dale,

I think you had Lifeline batteries like me, and you installed them new, and as you know they have short terminals. Your suspicion on a hold down strap contacting a battery post or a cable too close to a hold down strap is probably as good a guess as any. I know when mine were installed 3 years ago the installer covered the hold down straps with heater hose to keep them from potentially contacting the terminals. I check those straps and the hose periodically for the same concern. Hopefully, from my perspective you are right on your guess, so I'll check the straps and the connections a little more frequently as a result.

[ghoststories]

Best wishes to you.

[Dale777]

Originally Posted by Dale777

Albins are similar, but its a Ranger Tug R27. See this link:

R-27 | Rangertugs

See this link for the tugnuts forum:


http://www.tugnuts.com/index.php

By the way, while cruising around Ft. Myers Beach in Florida, I organized the very 1st Ranger Tugs Florida Rendezvous. See this link for that TugNuts forum topic:

TugNuts view topic - Ft. Myers Beach Rendezvous - Feb, 2012

My sister Cindy took photos shown at this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodelf...57629391834695

Incidentally, Cindy is a very serious watercolor artist, in addition to her photography. See this link for samples of her work:

The Watercolor Art of Cindy Daunis - Home

[Renipladlo]

Dale we will miss you, and hope the cruising you are doing now is less fraught with the many repairs the rest of us will have. Although limited to waterways, a boat is nothing more than an RV on the water, so if you can get into it easy while on the trailer between waterways, you could use it on dry land. At least the specifications show a holding tank.

FWIW - When last fall I went to Lifeline batteries to get new AGM's and as we were installing the new ones, it was readily apparent that without some riser type posts for some of the connections and a piece of insulating material in the left rear corner (toward the center and rear of the coach) arching of the batteries to metal of the compartment would occur. We used very (high and thick) cardboard to prevent that vibration (read road shocks) from causing this problem. I suspect even with the battery hold-down bars, etc, that vibration, road shocks, etc causes the batteries to move around in that space some. Once we are home, I plan on seeing if I can get some of the ¼ to 1/2” thick rubber we used under transformers (230/500 KV-high voltage transmission type) which is very hard and would not allow movement and or arching in there. I still have the hold down bars, and I might get some liquid electrical tape in sufficient quantities to pour it into a wallpaper tray, then submerge those bars into it, several times which would coat them to 1/8” thickness. Then I could reinstall them on the bars which I did not remove. I will also coat the threaded rod bars with the same stuff which would cushion them and prevent them as an arching source. As I figure out the best way to safeguard this compartment, I will write up a process and take some pictures.

Since I did that battery change, I periodically check to ensure that no terminals are in some way heading toward a conductive surface to cause the same thing as described above. It’s a good idea once you have arrived and set up the coach to open up the doors on the batteries/engine compartment and do a good visual inspection and check the oil and transmission fluid levels. The next morning or the morning before you plan on departing, check the air pressure of the tires.

[frankdamp]

Glad you both survived. When we decided to buy a motorhome, many of our boat-owning neighbors couldn't understand the decision. My response was that one piece of rock covered in fir trees looks a lot like all the others. Also, you can't visit the Grand Canyon, Zion NP and a lot of other places in a boat! Pkus, at 15 knots and 10 gallons/hour it's an expensive way of seeing that scenery!

Maybe in your part of the world, the marine environment is more interesting. Good luck in your travels at less than 20 mph!

[EngineerMike]

I can vouch for the fact that the marine environment can get pretty interesting real quick. EngineerAnnie & I were trolling along in our 16' aluminum boat in the Sea of Cortez a few miles from shore on a calm sunny day, all by our lonesome a mile or more from any other boat. Suddenly about 50 feet from the boat, the sea surface rose up about 3 feet, pouring off the back of a whale. Get's your attention. Annie said, "let's get out of here!" I turned the boat to troll in the animal's wake, and she screamed, "do you want it to flap this boat with that big tail?"
Yes, it can get pretty interesting on the water.

Then there's the story about Overboard John. Trolling along on a calm, sunny day 5 or so miles from shore and no boats in sight, lines in the water, and Oops! he falls overboard. True story. Boat trolled on without him. So he started swimming. Coupla hours later some Mexican fishermen, who detoured significantly to see what was splashing in the water fished John out of the drink. Good thing he can swim. Then 2 years later, he did the same thing again.
If you're ever in the town of Mulege in lower Baja, stop in at Jungle Jim's & see if Overboard is tipping one back at the bar. Say Hola to him for me. Maybe he'll take you fishing.

[Renipladlo]

All - in my boating days (Ranger Bass Boat - top speed around 75 MPH - which is fast on the water when you are less than 14" above it) I wanted to be safe on the water so I took the USPS-US Power Squadron Boating Safety 8 week course. I learned lots of stuff I did not know. Regardless, I always wore a life jacket and had a kill switch lanyard attached to me when under main engine power. I took a few barge waves on the Columbia River which filled the boat with water before I learned how to prevent that, glad I had two bulge pumps. When fishing, I kept the LJ on, because the big cruiser boaters don't know how to read 5 mph and no wake zone signs with one hand holding the beer, and the other caressing the bottom of the scantily clad bikini girl with the other, some of those waves were 4 feet in height. My plan was to turn the ranger toward the middle of the channel, and get out of the stump field I was fishing in before those big waves got to me, and I was always successful following that plan, never got water in the boat when just fishing.

Another comment on RV pricing, economic conditions, etc. We are in Yuma, AZ, and a couple of streets over, a fellow has a 07 Monaco Dynasty 4 Slide with 400 ISL Cummins all the bells and whistles for 160K, it has 50K miles or so on it. Reason he is house poor, and won't use the MH any more. That coach most likely new was in the 450-500K price range when purchased. The 2012 Model lists for 590K at a dealer in Palm Springs, CA. Won't sell many of those with fuel heading for 5 a gallon.

[RVNeophytes2]

Originally Posted by Dale777

As a few of you already know, as I was driving my Alpine Coach towing my Jeep Grand Cherokee near Denton, TX, it caught fire...

Holy cow, Dale. Sorry to hear. If you get hungry for RV'ing, come down to Granbury and we'll go burn some diesel!!

'Hope to see you pop up with a new rig in a year or two, when you get the fever again.

[Dale777]

For those of you interested in salvage of my burned 2006 Alpine Coach Limited 36FDTS, see this link:

Salvage ALPINE COACH LIMITED for sale WHITE 2006 year Dallas TX

[Basil Shannon]

This thread made me take a close look at my battery cable installation. Everything was good except that the positive lead from the chassis batteries to the chassis positive stud was touching or could potentially touch the threaded rod battery hold downs in two places. A few zip ties and I felt better.

If you haven't already, you might want to poke your head into the battery compartment just in case.

[EngineerMike]

There are two major safety problems I've been harping about at rally gearhead sessions, both having to do with things that migrate over time as we roll, rumble, and jostle down the highway. Hydraulic lines and electrical cabling (both battery cable and wire looms) have some amount of tension on their original installation, requiring pressing/pulling/tensioning into place w/zip ties (which thou shalt not cut with your Swiss Army knife) and tend to bend into some more natural feeling alignment over time & miles if you let them.

A tech recently hauled one Alpine owner under his rig to see how the frame rail was chafing thru insulation on his starter cable (woulda been a dead short from starters to frame if not caught more or less by accident, and verrrrry exciting if it finished the job, tho not in a good way). Ditto w/hydraulic lines that might chafe through- you could lose steering & brakes in about 90 seconds if a hose chafes thru & ruptures (hydraulic pump does maybe 10gpm at pressure, and you carry maybe 6.5 gallons hydraulic fluid, YDTM).

For this reason for all DP's (probably holds true for most largish gassers too), I recommend a basic safety check on the chassis every 2-3 years to check for leaks, chaffing, low hanging hoses, cables & looms that might catch a recap. Last one I did, there was a loose furnace duct polishing the parking brake drum. The one before that, the battery cables were all well secured, but there was up to 7 volts leakage across a wet spot on the flooded cell batteries to the holddown and 70% of the battery cable connections including those on both chassis & house disconnects were loose enough I could get the cable ends to wiggle on their studs by hand, which isn't good for electronics or charging. All it takes is maybe 3 hours every 2-3 years.

Also helps to do a visual of all battery connections including holddowns, maybe once every 3 months. You would think these things would take care of themselves, but no. Peace of mind- priceless.

[Old Scout]

As usual--good points EM....It is interesting that the last three or four fires in Alpine coaches [not verified] seem to have followed in close proximity to the installation of new AGM batteries, and that the fires occurred while going down the road--hum???? Anyway, two additional thoughts: 1) early on I removed and discarded the plastic battery cover on my 03--I like the idea of inspecting the batteries almost every day and the plastic cover discourages routine inspection; 2) I thoroughly hosed off the batteries everytime I wash the coach. Guess there is some chance that copious amounts of water being sprayed on the bats could cause a short but I have never had an issue--maybe I am just luck?????