Quick Help From the Heat

We live in Florida and it is hot.  Today it made it to 98, so summer has started.  We park Fuse in the sun at home and are always looking for ways to keep it cooler.   When looking around the motorhome  it felt like most of the heat coming in was from the bathroom.

The heat was actually coming in from the skylight over the shower.   I like the skylight and the extra headroom it brings but it was a letting in a lot of heat.   I was trying to decide what to do about it.  A little afterwards I was walking through Walmart and saw a reflective window shade for $3.50.   Bingo!

Photo from Walmart.com

Now it was way too large for the skylight so I was about to cut it to size and stopped myself.  I could just fold it in half and get twice the insulation for no extra work.  

So I folded the shade in half (it had a fold in the middle already) and since I am not a good person with a sewing machine, I just duct taped the sides together and I had it.  

I put some white velcro on the ceiling above the shower and matched it to the edge of the shade and it holds.  Remember, Velcro is your friend.  I did not use much,  maybe 8 - 2" pieces and we were in business.

With the shade in place, very little heat is now coming in from the bathroom. I know it is not the most attractive thing around. We may come up with something nicer in the future but it works for now.   I am sure most people could do better, but for 10 minutes invested and $3.50 out of pocket, it made a huge bang for the buck.

Lake Seminole, Florida Side

Took a day trip to explore the Florida Side of Lake Seminole.   Lake Semiole sits on the border of Florida, Georgia and Alabama and is formed by Jim Woodruff Dam.  It is operated by the Corps of Engineers (CoE) and is a very beautiful place.

It is about 50 miles from Tallahassee mostly via I-10.  We turned off I-10 at the Chattahoochee exit and followed the signs up a little bit and then through the town.  A turn to the north on Booster Club Road and about a mile down the road and you are on CoE property, very close to the dam and into Georgia.   We followed the road and passed the Eastbank campground and up to Chattahoochee Park and River Junction Landing.  

There were plenty of places to picnic high up on a bluff.  A nice breeze was blowing but even with that at 90+ degrees it was still hot.  After watching some boats and eating lunch we were about to leave but caught an interesting sight.  A person was paddling their pontoon boat with an oar.   He apparently ran out of gas in the lake and came back in the only way he had.

From here we went back into town and crossed the Apalachicola below the dam on US-90.  We then went up to the dam overlook.

Through the haze you can see the Eastbank campground.   This is where we are going to try and spend a Saturday night in the fall when it becomes cooler.  We did not go down there this time, but in the past it appeared to be very nice.   I will say that the CoE along the lake keeps everything very well manicured.

From here we went through the town of Sneads and up to Three Rivers State Park. A day pass was $3.00 and the ranger said it was OK to take a look at the campground.  We on in and the campground was fairly nice.  Lots of shade from the trees but the spots were packed dirt.  They did have 30 and 50 amp electrical and water at each spot.  $16.00 /night which did not seem too bad.  

We went on down to the picnic area and it was very nice.  A playground and plenty of covered tables.  Restrooms and a pretty view of the lake.

From here we went back to Sneads and back to I-10.  East on I-10 to Tallahassee and home.   The round trip was about 150 miles.   2/3's on I-10 and 1/3 on secondary roads.  The weather was hot.  In the low to mid 90s the whole way.  The trip computer said we got 16.0mpg.   Overall a pretty fun afternoon.

Bedroom Storage in the Fuse 23a

There is a tremendous amount of storage in the bedroom of the Fuse 23a just like in the bathroom.  There are drawers below both of the beds, storage in the cabinets above the beds and a large storage area under the foot of the drivers side bed.   I tried to circle them in the photo above.

Starting on the drivers side there is a large drawer under the bed.  This is my drawer and I am storing my clothes here.  You can see a pair of long pants, a pair of shorts, a bathing suit, some t-shirts and underwear.   It is a huge drawer and holds lots.  Right above it it a compartment to store the tabletops when not in use.

Above the bed is a large cabinet.  We have elected to put some canvas organizers in it and my wife prefers to keep her clothes/underwear/shirts in these instead of the drawer under the bed.  There is space for 5 of these organizers in this space.  These are from Amazon.   A set of 6 for $16.00.

Under the foot of the drivers side bed is a large storage area.  It is not the easiest to get to since you have to lift the mattress to get to it but it is a large amount of space. We are keeping the chair cushion for the front seat here since we do not use it often.  On a long trip we would probably keep any extra supplies here.

Under the passenger side bed is another drawer.  It is about 2/3 the size of the one under the drivers side bed.  This drawer is Sonya's.  We used a simple method to decide who got what drawer.  You get the drawer you can sit on your bed and get to.  She has not really used it for much so far.

Above the passenger side bed is some more cabinets.  We put in the same canvas organizers.  I am not using these much, but on the end I am keeping my shaving kit.    On this side there is only about 3/4 of the storage as on the drivers side.  The other space is used by the system monitors.  There is space for maybe 4 of these organizers on this side but we are only using 3 of them.  We are keeping the Fuse documentation and the divider curtain  in the space next to these monitors.  

Like with the bathroom, the Fuse has an impressive amount of storage for such a small RV.  I have been very impressed.

Bathroom Storage in the Fuse 23a

I have been impressed by the storage located in the Fuse.  Tons and tons given the size of the vehicle.  A huge portion of this storage is located in the bathroom.

Most of the storage is located in the drawers and closet located behind the toilet.   Now since we keep the Fuse set up for traveling you are going to get a real look at how and what we are storing so everyone is going to have excuse the lived in look. 

The closet is pretty big.  Designed to hold coats and shirts.  Not full-length dresses.  With that being said, when we punched the Fuse we expected to use the closet way more than we have.  As you can see in the picture, we are just storing odds and ends.  Our broom, swiffer, flip flops, some beach towels and the front shades.  A few hangers for the few clothes we have not been bringing are also in here.

Another cool feature we thought we would be taking advantage of is the built in storage along the side of the closet.  As you can see we are not using it.

The storage we are using is the two drawers behind the toilet.  

In the top drawer we are keeping all of the bathroom dos and ends that you just have to have.  Blow dryer, sun screen, insect repellant, and bottles of other stuff.

We decided to keep the towels in the bottom drawer.  When used, we are hanging the towels on the bar above the shower to dry.  So far the setup of the bathroom drawers is working out for us.

Not much in the medicine cabinet other than the first aid kit and some extra band-aids.  We have needed the extra band-aids for the blisters we have gotten.

And in the final space, under the sink we are keeping the extra Toilet Paper and some cleaning supplies.  Note that we have the TP stored in a large ziplock bag.  When we first got the Fuse we had a leak in the sink drain.  I got it fixed but we now have picked up the habit to protect one of our most precious supplies.

Like I said up top, the Fuse has lots of storage.  For a 4 day trip what we are carrying has been fine.   but we have plenty of extra space so we can expand as we find holes in our plan.

New Duvet Covers

We got new duvet covers for the Fuse.   The first ones we purchased were sateen and though they looked nice, they just did not feel right on my skin.   The solid color matched pretty close but the new pattern looks even better.   And the best part, they are nice cotton and breath well.

We purchased them from Wayfair.   You can get them at:Lola Duvet Cover Set by Simple Luxury.   Color is Navy Blue, Size Twin.  The price was not too bad either: $41.00.

Kitchen Faucet

Align Series Faucet (Image from Moen Web Site) 

I am pretty sure that the kitchen faucet is a Moen Align series faucet.  Information on it can be found at:
Align spot resist stainless one-handle pre-rinse spring pulldown kitchen faucet - 5923SRS - Moen

This is just a note copied over from the yahoo Winnebago Fuse RV group.

Winnebago Fuse Documentation

This question has come up several times so I figured I will take a shot at answering it.   What sort of owners manual and documentation comes with a Winnebago Fuse?  I am going to try and answer that.

When we did the owners walkthrough for my Fuse, we were given a messenger bag full of documentation.

It had in it:

• A duplicate of the VIN ticket that is located in the driver's side door
• The Operator's Manual

• This manual is also located online at the Winnebago Documentation Site.  You can download a copy yourself at: http://winnebagoind.com/resources/manuals/pdfs/Operator2016/16Fuse.pdf
• A Operator's Manual Supplement with all of the individual manuals for all of the appliances
  
  
  
  
• It has owners manuals from the manufacturers for everything from the refrigerator to the generator.  Maxair fan to the Jensen entertainment center and everything in between. 
• 34 different manuals consuming around 200 pages of information
• The 6 books from Ford on the Transit chassis/tires/electronics like you would get with a car
  
• A dozen or so small books that did not fit into the supplement or were attached to the furniture 
• Lazy Days threw in the build sheet and a couple of various RV club applications, sales person cards, coupons
• An extra set of keys.  Each set has 5 keys:
1. A key for the Transit  (transponder key)
2. A key for the outside storage compartments  (shiny triangle key)
3. A key for the normal cabin door lock  (small black key)
4. A key for the cabin deadbolt lock (big black square key)
5. A key for the water fill (small gray key )
• A funnel to fill the DEF tank by hand
• A wrench for the lug nut covers

It did not include several things that you can download from Winnebago. This includes the electrical diagram and the plumbing diagrams.    

To be real honest it was very complete.   You would need shop manuals to be more complete.  From a users perspective, it seems to all be there.