A while back I mentioned that we got some enhancements while at NIRVC. A couple of those were the addition of the Safe T Plus steering control system, and Koni shocks.

The Safe T Plus steering control system is a cylinder that mounts between the frame of the RV and the steering mechanism, to help smooth out wobbles in the steering due to wind and such, and help with control in the event of a tire blowout.

Our coach has independent front suspension using air bags, which gives a pretty smooth ride, but could be a bit bouncy on rough roads. The Koni shocks help to reduce that bounciness.

Here are some pictures looking under our coach; the yellow tube is the Safe T Plus, and the two red tubes are the Koni shocks:

Our coach has a water filter in the wet bay, to help ensure clean water:

We recently changed the filter while sanitizing the water systems; here’s the dirty one and a clean one:

That was actually the wrong filter, so I got the correct one:

For drinking water, one filter doesn’t really cut it with some campground water supplies, though. So I purchased a Clearsource Ultra three-stage water filter system, with a 5 micron rust filter, a 0.5 micron bacteria filter, and a virus-guard filter:

Our coach now has five filters between the water supply and our fridge water dispenser: those three, the aforementioned built-in filter, and the filter in the fridge.

I also bought a potable water hose to go between the tap and filters.

When first hooking up the hose and filter, I flushed them out by draining directly into the sewer:

Then hooked them up to our coach:

Ideally I’d like internally-mounted filters, and perhaps a water softener. One day I might arrange that, using the small bay on the other side of the coach. But for now, I’ll deal with the external filter unit; just another part of setting up at a site. Worth it for cleaner-tasting water.

While at the FMCA convention, one of the things we bought for our coach was a carpeted cover for our dash, from Shade Pro.

We just told the vendor our coach model and the color, and they had it ready for us the next day.

It has a grippy back, cutouts for the vents, and a separate piece for the pull-out passenger tray:

Occasionally we need to lug a bunch of heavy or awkward things, e.g. several packages from Amazon from a campground mail room to our coach. So a recent purchase was something to help with that: a compact foldable wagon:

It folds and collapses to a compact size, with a protective cover:

And unfolds easily, with a telescoping handle:

It doesn’t take up much room in the basement of our RV (under other stuff):

In use:

While we probably won’t use it very often, I expect it’ll be very handy when needed.

The windscreen on a motorhome is a big hunk of glass, which is great for driving down the road, and sometimes nice for views from a campsite, but when the front of the coach faces into the sun, it can be like a greenhouse, significantly heating up the coach.

Many people solve this by adding some sort of shade to cut down the glare; from something basic like a reflective shade inside like you might put in a car, to something that attaches to the outside, often made of fabric that lets one see out but nobody can see in.

A popular brand of shade is Magne Shade, which uses window-mounted magnets to easily and securely attach the shade.

They can even have custom printing on the shades, to add more personality. Since our domicile is in Oregon, and we used to live in the foothills of Mount Hood near Portland, and we thought a reddish image would suit our coach, we chose a royalty-free image of the mountain reflected in Trillium Lake at sunset, cropping it to center the mountain in the image.

The manufacturer provided a rendering of how it would look:

Manufacturing took several weeks, then we received the shades:

We installed the shades ourselves. One of the first steps was to arrange the shade on the windshield, temporarily attaching the magnets on the inside. My ladder was very useful (and one of the reasons for buying it):

Then it was time to stick the magnets to the glass; here’s an interior magnet, that secures the shade via another magnet sewn into the shade:

A view of the interior magnets from outside, without the shade:

We attached exterior magnets across the top… which turned out to be incorrect (more on that later):

To aid with installation, we stuck the magnets to an inverted cake pan (they are very powerful, so we needed to take care to keep them separated):

We also got shades for the side windows. Here I’m preparing to install the driver one:

I attached the magnets to the side shades, in preparation for installing them:

After positioning the shades, the magnets are stuck to the glass, and the shades removed for 72 hours, to let the double-sided adhesive cure:

When not in use, the shades are stored in a bag:

Adding the shades is easy; just lift them into place, and they stick and align automatically; they came with two poles to help reach the top:

We also got covers for the mirrors:

Here are the shades when first installed, before they had worked out their wrinkles from shipping:

Notice that there are color-matched covers for the wipers, too:

A view of me standing outside from inside:

After installation, we had four magnets leftover… oops:

We had followed the installation instructions, which said to use four external magnets across the top:

But apparently for our coach we didn’t need that; we should have used interior magnets. So at our next campsite, we corrected that.

Here I’m using the windshield wiper to aid unrolling the shade:

I used my ladder again to remove the four exterior magnets across the top, and replace them with interior ones; it was pretty easy:

Like so:

That is tidier when the shade isn’t in place, and seems to hold it more securely.

Here are some pictures of the shades installed:

Mirror cover:

Driver side:

Passenger side:

We’re very happy with the shades, both from how they look, the extra privacy they give us, and the heat management benefits:

A couple more shots from another campground, without the palm tree shadow and site label:

Highly recommended!