Shipshewana & Elkhart: RV Upgrades, Service Centers, and Local Highlights

[Steven@147]

Tami and I are up in the area staying at the flea market campground. We're right across from the service center. 12 bays and all are full. Lady at the campground office said they are booked up through the end of the year. Looking through the windows I see at least 4 Brinkleys, getting various work done. One looks like it was in an accident.

This morning we're up at the crack of dawn to get the rig closed up and get it down to JC Refrigeration to get our fridge converted to 12 VDC dual compressor at JC Refrigeration. We did have to pick a day to get that work done when the flea market is open, anticipate lots of traffic getting through town.
Then tomorrow we have to get the rig down to Bradd & Hall to get our new furniture installed. Also hope to get our awnings replaced while we are here and going by MORryde to get some parts to rebuild the cushioned pin box.

We will be up here for a couple weeks getting work done, flea market crawl, visiting Bontragers Surplus, eating great food and visiting friends, and getting our wallets lightened.

A couple days ago we left Myrtle Beach / Charleston Patriots Point areas, very hot / humid 90's miserable. Now up in northern Indiana, cool low 60s at night, dry & dusty, we both have allergy stuffy nose problems.

 

[huntr70]

Which Service Center is that?


Never mind....I see now it is the Shipshewana Repair center.....

 

[JKJavelin]

We have had extensive work done at this service center and they are top notch. They apparently do warranty work for Brinkley since there are always some there. The techs all have worked at the various factories there and know how they are put together.
JK

 

[JKJavelin]

Which Service Center is that?


Never mind....I see now it is the Shipshewana Repair center.....

Shipshewana RV Park and Service Center

 

[Chaps2018]

Be sure to visit Rise'n Roll Bakery | Amish Goods Baked Fresh Daily if you have never been. The bakery goods and lunches are fantastic.

 

[Dale G]

My wife, Tammy, and I were just there getting our POS Furrion DC refrigerator replaced by the DC 17cu/ft JC Refrigerator Dutchaire. They are really great people and we love the new refrigerator.

If you love great quality ice cream you need to go to Vanilla Bean Creamery across the intersection from Blue Gate Restaurant in the downtown area. It’s is owned by Amish and is all made with fresh milk products. The Coffee Toffee is incredible.

Dale

 

[Steven@147]

Having a good time visiting the area, Oh Yes, we have taken full advantage of every place mentioned, like the restaurants, the Blue Gate, meat & cheese store, E&S bulk foods, Das Dutchman Essenhaus, Bens soft pretzels, Bontragers Surplus parts, the Mercantile building where the restored carousel still operates, of course the flea market, Bonneyville Mill where we bought some fresh mill ground Buckwheat and corn meal flour. I haven't had buckwheat pancakes since I was I kid !
Too many places to mention. We went to the RV MH Hall of Fame and Museum also. Put some videos up on our YouTube channel.

I think we are going to include an annual visit to the Flea Market RV Campground and the area when we come up to visit the kids each year. Takes me back to my youth on our farm and we lived around a lot of Amish / Mennonite farms.

Today we are taking the MORryde tour and their Service Center. I need some MORryde parts, however they don't have a walkup parts counter at their facility's but they said I could get some parts after the tour.
I was a little surprised at the MORryde facility on Sterling Ave when we visited to set up the tour, its not what I expected. The Service Center was very busy yesterday.

 

[el Rojo]

Thanks for the write up Steve. Brings back old memories from when we ran the National Rally.

 

[Captcolour]

We will be up for the National Rally next Friday. If you like old cars, the Gilmore Museum is pretty awesome. About 90 minutes away.

 

[Steven@147]

The MORryde tour this morning was excellent. Shaun was an excellent tour guide ! He said they had ramping up production of the IS from 20 a week to something around 200 / week. He didn't try to sugarcoat anything and talked about the disc brake caliper bolts loosening up. He said that using red loctite was acceptable and seem to be solving the issue.
He also said they were using Red-N-Tacky grease for the rotor bearings and talked about the oil filled rotors.
Took us through the IS production, laser cutters, stamping / bending presses, and metal fab production areas. He showed us an RV frame they are producing for a company for their off road RVs. He also kind of hinted about something new coming for 5th wheel hitching.

Tours are every Mon 9AM, Wed 10AM, Thu 9 AM
A few pics

 

[TNFLineage]

For entertainment catch a musical at the Blue Gate Theater. 5 star cast, acting and singing.

 

[Captcolour]

This morning we're up at the crack of dawn to get the rig closed up and get it down to JC Refrigeration to get our fridge converted to 12 VDC dual compressor at JC Refrigeration. We did have to pick a day to get that work done when the flea market is open, anticipate lots of traffic getting through town.
Then tomorrow we have to get the rig down to Bradd & Hall to get our new furniture installed. Also hope to get our awnings replaced while we are here and going by MORryde to get some parts to rebuild the cushioned pin box.

How's all the work going? You like the new fridge mod? Any pics of the new furniture?

 

[Steven@147]

How's all the work going? You like the new fridge mod? Any pics of the new furniture?

Oh Yeah !
The fridge mod is working beautifully. It took them about 3 hours to get the job done and we couldn't be more happy with their work. JC Refrigeration now has Aaron do the work from a different location in Shipshewana called RV Adventures. It's on Rte 5 just north of town.

We can now keep ice cream in the freezer. The fridge also cools down much, much faster to the set temp than ever before, Like when you go to the grocery and load up the fridge.
From my very basic calculation it's pulling a little over 6 amps if both compressors are running. When we moved from Shipshewana to where we are now, was about 3 hours drive, it didn't pull down the batteries much at all. It was very nice to get to our new spot, plug in to the grid and the fridge was still ice cold. Never had to even think about running with the propane on, as the line is disconnected and plugged at where the old fridge line was.

The new furniture is super nice, very soft and very comfortable. Tami says her legs do not stick to the new ultra leather. Yes we paid a lot more for the lambright ultra leather (basically double the RecPro cloth) but it was worth it. The recliners are Not heated or have massage but we never used that much anyway. We also opted for the aux power pack for the recliners, so if the main 120VAC power goes out and the theater seats are reclined, they will still operate for several hours. The power pack recharges once main 120VAC power is restored. We took the RV to Bradd & Hall in Elkhart to have them remove the old and install the new furniture. Took them about 1.5 hours. They have multiple 30 amp external power stands where you can plug in your RV while you wait. You can even get there a day before (after 4 PM) your install and camp out in their driveway.

Extremely happy with our mods !

 

[Steven@147]

Oh Yeah !

From my very basic calculation it's pulling a little over 6 amps if both compressors are running. When we moved from Shipshewana to where we are now, was about 3 hours drive, it didn't pull down the batteries much at all. I
snip

Extremely happy with our mods !

I probably should explain a little better, the new fridge power draw using my basic seat of the pants calculation view, how our new fridge conversion is hooked up, what converter we have, tow vehicle capabilities, and LifePro4 batteries.

Converter - we still use the WFCO 9855-AD converter (auto-detect). Yeah, I know.
Fridge Wiring - 12VDC is directly connected to + and - buss bars using 10 awg, + fused, wires.
Batteries - two 100ah LifePro4, bluetooth capable, each battery directly feeds the buss bars.
Auxiliary Charger - LifePro4 battery charger (not a converter) mounted on wall next to the batteries.
Tow Vehicle - RAM 3500 single 220 amp alternator, no DC to DC charger.

The WFCO converter will not always stay in lithium mode, but it does charge the batteries up to 97%, although very, very, very slow. If the batteries ever get under 90%, like after towing for hours, I disconnect the WFCO converter / charger from the batteries by using the original OEM red key battery disconnect switch, then use the aux lithium charger, which is directly connected to the + and - buss bars, to fast charge the batteries back up to 100%.
Once recharged, I shut off the aux charger and reconnect the batteries to the WFCO then it will keep the batteries to @100%.

Our Ram will only put out @ 4-6 amps to the RV charge circuit out through pin 4 of the seven way plug.
Going down the road I can monitor the RV lithium battery state of charge (SOC) using a Bluetooth app. I have only monitored them once towing since the fridge conversion. But with both compressors and cooling fans running on the new fridge conversion, towing, at times both batteries report @ -1.43 amp draw or about 3 amps total. At other times the batteries report a 0.00 amp draw (compressors shut off on the fridge). I could fix this by installing a DC to DC charger in the truck, but right now I don't see it as a real problem.

So I figure since the truck will only put out @ 4-6 amps to charge the RV batteries, and the batteries sometimes report about a -1.43 draw while towing, the new fridge conversion is pulling somewhere around 6 amps. Thats how I came up with my seat of the pants SWAG 6 amp number. I could find out exactly how much the new conversion pulls by putting my clamp on amp meter on the + wire, just haven't done it yet.

 

[Captcolour]

Our Ram will only put out @ 4-6 amps to the RV charge circuit out through pin 4 of the seven way plug.
Going down the road I can monitor the RV lithium battery state of charge (SOC) using a Bluetooth app. I have only monitored them once towing since the fridge conversion. But with both compressors and cooling fans running on the new fridge conversion, towing, at times both batteries report @ -1.43 amp draw or about 3 amps total. At other times the batteries report a 0.00 amp draw (compressors shut off on the fridge). I could fix this by installing a DC to DC charger in the truck, but right now I don't see it as a real problem.

I only have one standard battery so had JC install the DC to DC charging. When I got the new truck, drove up to have them wire the new truck for it. It is so nice not having to worry about the refrigerator. Set it and forget it!

 

[fmartinmn]

Tami and I are up in the area staying at the flea market campground. We're right across from the service center. 12 bays and all are full. Lady at the campground office said they are booked up through the end of the year. Looking through the windows I see at least 4 Brinkleys, getting various work done. One looks like it was in an accident.

This morning we're up at the crack of dawn to get the rig closed up and get it down to JC Refrigeration to get our fridge converted to 12 VDC dual compressor at JC Refrigeration. We did have to pick a day to get that work done when the flea market is open, anticipate lots of traffic getting through town.
Then tomorrow we have to get the rig down to Bradd & Hall to get our new furniture installed. Also hope to get our awnings replaced while we are here and going by MORryde to get some parts to rebuild the cushioned pin box.

We will be up here for a couple weeks getting work done, flea market crawl, visiting Bontragers Surplus, eating great food and visiting friends, and getting our wallets lightened.

A couple days ago we left Myrtle Beach / Charleston Patriots Point areas, very hot / humid 90's miserable. Now up in northern Indiana, cool low 60s at night, dry & dusty, we both have allergy stuffy nose problems.

Hi Steve, good to hear you are still traveling and enjoying RV life. Nice upgrades, enjoy. Frank.