Our Round Trip Tour of America - Summer 2017

We've been doing some detailed planning for our Summer 2017 Tour of America.  We're planning on leaving right around this time next year.  Debbie and I came up with a list of all the people and places we want to visit, so I did some research online and found a trip planning site that's free and capable of detailed trip information.  For now, we put together a complete round trip online showing dates, times and points of interest on a website called Furkot.com.

Here's a summary of our intended route and highlights on where we plan to visit:

• Leaving Florida in mid to late July, 2017 on our first destination to visit with my brother in Greenville, SC.
• Greenville to Allentown, PA via the Blue Ridge Parkway with a stop through Washington, DC.
• Allentown to the Pocono Mountains for a few days camping
• Poconos to Duluth, MN to visit friends with a stop in Chicago.
• Duluth to Rapid City, SD to pick up friends from West Palm Beach, then camping in the Black Hills to see Mount Rushmore and surrounding area.
• Black Hills to Yellowstone National Park camping and sightseeing.
• Yellowstone to Helena, MT with West Palm friends to their family ranch.
• Helena, MT to Seattle area to visit long time Miami friends.
• Seattle to Portland, OR to visit family.  
• Portland to Las Vegas, NV with our son/wife via Pacific Coast Highway, San Francisco and sightseeing along the way.
• Las Vegas to Grand Canyon and surrounding area with daughter and family.
• Grand Canyon to Denver, CO to visit with friends and family.
• Denver to Harper, KS to visit with friends and family.
• Kansas to Florida with various stops along the way to visit friends and family.

Right now, this trip covers more than 10,000 miles and 3 to 4 months out on the road.  We will post a more detailed itinerary as our trip approaches.  Here is an overall view of our proposed route:

Monitoring the Caterpillar Diesel Engine in our Fleetwood Discovery

With my past experiences in maintaining diesel engines, I realized that the diesel in our motohome needs just as much attention as boat engines do.  I did some research for engine monitoring systems that are designed specifically for motorhomes and there aren't too many choices.  Modern diesel motorhomes are built on a couple of different chassis manufactures that have been around for quite awhile and our Fleetwood Discovery 39S rolls on a Freightliner chassis specifically for recreational vehicles.

Freightliner did a good job configuring the rolling chassis with the very popular Caterpillar 330hp 7 liter turbocharged C7 engine that provides many digital sensors that can be monitored via a standard J1939 plug found under the instrument panel at the drivers seat.  When I did a Google search for what was available for the J1939 interface, there were two products that popped up:

• SilverLeaf VMSpc that runs on a Microsoft Windows PC system.  There are advantages to this system in that all parameters can be viewed simultaneously and easily customized through the software interface, but it DOES require a laptop or Windows tablet mounted near the drivers seat.  It can get a bit crazy with the wires running to the engine interface plug and various power cords to keep the PC running, but this system is very robust.  The software is free, but you need to purchase the hardware interface that costs $395.

• ScanGauge, by Linear Logic is a much simpler system that provides the same information about the engine, in a small proprietary display unit that shows various engine data, four readings at a time. This system is a lot less expensive at only $159. 

I decided on the ScanGauge because it is much smaller and much less of a distraction while driving and the price fit my budget.  There is only one wire that provides the data and power and will mount very nicely above the instrument panel of our Discovery, just below and on center with my line of sight looking down the road.

As soon as it arrives and I get it installed, I'll provide a review and report on it's operation.  We're looking forward to a little cooler weather and heading out to our next adventure out on the road, with our new ScanGauge to keep track of our diesel engine performance and health.

Overheating and Radiator Issues - Camping at Jetty Park, Cape Canaveral, FL

Well, we finally resolved our overheating issues after a week in the shop.  The mechanic spent about 8 hours removing the rear bumper, lots of bolts, the hydraulic tank and shrouding to get the old radiator out, including the after cooler that's sandwiched together right behind the engine driven fan.  What he discovered was a completely clogged radiator and after cooler, that wasn't allowing enough air flow through the cooling fins, causing the coolant temperature to go well above normal operating temperatures.

Here's a few pictures showing the clogged condition:

Radiator and After Cooler Removed

After Cooler

After Cooler

Radiator

The installation of the new radiator went quicker than the removal process and a test drive showed normal coolant temperatures (max 192°) running at 65mph.

So we packed up Friday night and early Saturday morning headed up the coast for a week's stay at Jetty Park located right on the inlet and beach at Port Canaveral.  Everything went well on the 2 1/2 hour drive up I-95 with coolant temps never going above 192°.

This was our first lengthy stay in the Discovery and everything performed flawlessly.  Lots of friends and family coming and going and plenty of beach and pool time to relax and enjoy an old fashioned Florida East Coast vacation.

 Ahhhhh, cool drinks on the beach.  It doesn't get any better than this, huh?

Our campsite nestled in under the seagrape trees. It sure made things cooler in the mid-day sun.

We gathered for all the June Birthdays at a local restaurant located right on the waterfront at Port Canaveral.

One evening, just before sunset, it was a perfect evening for a family portrait on the beach.

More Maintenance Required on a Diesel Pusher

So we traded up to a diesel pusher (DP) knowing it would require more maintenance than a gasser, but didn't know we'd have to put it in the shop as soon as we got it.  A couple of weeks after taking delivery of our (new to us) Fleetwood Discovery, it was time to take her out on the highway and see how it handled and to shake down any issues it might have.

We planned a day trip from the coast out to Okeechobee, about a 100 mile round trip and everything went well.  Love the smooth and quiet ride of a diesel pusher.  However as we were returning and just about back home, a bunch of lights came on and the engine was overheating.  We quickly slowed down and pulled off the highway to take a look under the hood.  The radiator surge tank seemed to be low on coolant and we didn't have any with us to top it off, so we added a little water and the engine cooled down enough to get back on the road.  The temp gauge fluctuated between normal and above normal but didn't overheat again.  Just before arriving back home, we stopped to buy coolant and topped off the surge tank and it seemed to be OK.

A couple of days later, I took the garden hose to the radiator fins and backwashed it, hoping to flush out any dirt or debris.  I wasn't satisfied that this resolved the overheating, so I took a short trip out on the super slab and started monitoring the temp, this time, from the engine info display that reads the actual temperature of the coolant in 1° increments.  Sure enough, after getting up to cruising speed (65mph), the temp started rising from 195° up to 215° at one point.  Everytime I slowed down, the temp would drop down to about 205°, but based on what other Caterpillar owners were telling me, it shouldn't go over 195°.



Instead of any further trial and error guessing on what was causing the overheating, I decided to take it in to a truck repair center and have them run a diagnostic check and see what's up.  After confirming the higher than normal temps and a look-see at the front of the radiator, it was heavily caked with dirt on the engine side, typical of rear radiator mounted coaches.  The repair center also did a pressure check on the radiator and discovered there were several small leaks in the core.  That eliminated the need to try and clean the radiator, and a new one is on order and will be installed this week to get us back on the road.

We're looking forward to our Summer vacation up in Cocoa Beach in our fancy Fleetwood Discovery with friends and family.

More info will be added after the new radiator is installed and we're back up and running.

We Traded Up

Well, it's been a year since we decided to become RV campers, and we ran across a deal we couldn't refuse.  The RV Center we purchased our Winnebago from found a 2005 Fleetwood Discovery 39S that met our needs for the big retirement trip we have been planning for Summer 2017 and we pulled the trigger and are now the proud new owners of this beautiful coach.  Here is a picture with us setup at a local RV Park for a shakedown of our latest version of Knot At Sea.

We were fortunate to find a site for the three day Memorial Day weekend and everything went as planned.  Everything functioned properly out of all the systems I was familiar with from our previous motorhome, however this newer coach had a few options I wasn't familiar with, but with a little trial and error, I figured them out.

All in all, everything went well and we're looking foward to our next trip up the coast to spend a week at Jetty Park in Caper Canaveral, FL, and continue our Journeys in a Land Yacht.