Naples

Tom and I went to visit a friend of his just North of Naples, Florida. Steve is a sales person for a large company that sells landscaping equipment to the many golf courses and country clubs in Florida.

We parked the RV at Steve’s friend’s house, Angelo. Angelo has a very interesting home. His home is really nice, but the great part is he bought the lot next door to him and built what looks like a home but is really a very large garage.

Steve and Angelo are car guys, and they both are connected to industries that are perfect for MotorSilk and LubriSilk applications. I gave them product to use in their test vehicles and look forward to seeing their results when we talk again in the next month or so. It was nice to grill out by the pool and finally start enjoying some of the warm weather I expected from Florida. Here's a few pictures of the RV parked in front of the Garage/house and a picture of the beautiful 427 engine in Steve's 1964 Ford. Thanks to Steve and Angelo for their hospitality.

I've Struck Water

Pump #2 now purchased and installed, I had running water again. Yea!
I put everything back together and finally organized all the lower storage bins. It was a good feeling. Okay, now I am mobile again. I went to a local RV park and emptied everything I needed to empty and filled up on everything I needed to fill. (I use generalities since the actual details are still a little scary to me!)


Next stop, Naples, to visit another potential MotorSilk and LubriSilk customer. I love being back on the road!

This Maintenance Work Sucks!

I started out Saturday morning ready to replace the water pump. My first realization is that I should have practiced a few contortionist moves before taking on this job. The pump is located in the lower storage area so I was basically half way in the storage bin and bending in some strange ways. I have the bruises to prove it.

Eventually I got the old pump out and developed the plan to install the new one. Well, I learned that plastic connectors can be tightened too much. Unfortunately, I realized this only after installing the new pump and realizing it doesn’t work. I cracked the inlet tube so it was sucking air instead of water. Sigh.. Oh well, I need another pump. Luckily I called Lazy Days before driving the 35 minutes and the parts department closed 15 minutes earlier. I did end up treating the storage door hinges with MotorSilk and they are already working smoother.

I closed everything up and with my head held low I went into Tom's house to take a shower.

Maintenance

Let’s see, I can hear the water pump running and there is no water, but where is the pump? This activity reminded me of driving around Portland, being able to see where I need to be, but not being able to get there.

With the help of Tom B. we located the water pump, but more importantly saw all the other partitions, shelves and basically a whole lot of hardware that needed to be removed before you could get to the pump. After a day of reaching, cussing and various knuckle busting cuts, we exposed the pump. It was clear it needed to be replaced, so now I hit the trusty internet to find a pump.

It turns out just outside of Tampa is the largest RV sales, service and everything to do with RV’s store, Lazy Days. I went there on a Friday and purchased a new pump. Saturday would be install day. I was excited I was going to have running water again. BTW – thanks to Tom and his wife Janet for allowing me, well insisting I use their shower while I couldn’t use mine. Let’s just say I pushed the “I don’t need a shower” envelope a bit too long!

Connections

Tampa has been fruitful so far on making connections for potential MotorSilk customers with fleets and landscaping companies. In between meeting with potential customers, I had to deal with the water pump problem. Luckily Tom did know a very talented guy who helped me with several RV issues.


Ted Kempgens and Tom Bambard of Creative Motion Concepts have a great shop and have their talented hands into all sorts of automotive activities from racing to auto related motion filming. Ted was very interested in MotorSilk and once he understood it used Boron he knew it wasn’t like other additives. Our initial meeting went well and they were more than willing to help me with the water pump problem. I would bring the RV back the next day to start working a a fw issues.

Headed to Tampa

Now having learned the art of putting out the awning in Daytona, it took a little time figuring out how to put it back in. This learning about the RV stuff never seems to end!

I finally left Daytona Beach and headed to Tampa. I have a great contact in Tampa, Tom, and he has set up some meetings to discuss MotorSilk. Tom has a lot of connections in the car world and my plan is to get him trained on all the benefits of the products and have him be my contact in the Tampa Bay area.

The drive was nice, but I started to have water pump problems when I left Daytona. Not the engine water pump, the water pump for sinks, shower and yes, flushing. I was also driving with the driver’s window open for the first time and the air felt great. That’s the good news. The bad news was I heard a strange noise of something rubbing. Well, after over 4 thousand miles so far, I should expect some maintenance. I hope Tom has a mechanic contact also.

Daytona Beach

I pulled into Daytona Beach and drove directly towards the Atlantic. I needed to see the waves. I decided to stay there a few days and see if I could scope out a place to park during speed week, that starts early February, and a place to be prominently parked for the Daytona 500. I had planned to park in the infield, but thought I may get more exposure for MotorSilk outside the track as opposed to being sandwiched between two other RV’s.

I parked and checked out the Atlantic for awhile (forgot the camera, oh well) got out my handy RV park guide and decided to spend a few nights at the Daytona Speedway RV Park. I got parked in my spot and hooked up and noticed the two 5th wheels close to me were washing their campers. After a month of snow, salt and road grime, the MotorSilk RV needed a bath.

Of course half way through the washing, the maintenance man told me I had to purchase a permit for washing. It was a great deal at $5.00. I got pricing on RV parks and the infield for the weekend of the Daytona 500 and it is a fortune. The lowest I found was $700.00 and going all the way up to $2,000.00.In talking to a few people I have another possibility that I’ll talk about later. In the mean time I was finally in warm weather, in my shorts and able to give some care to my living quarters. I’m not missing the cold!