Quick reminder: the original water heater in this motorhome was not a propane unit. The water was heated by the engine, via some coolant lines running all the way from the engine to the rear of the vehicle, where the hot water tank was mounted. It worked good - as long as the engine ran for a long enough time to heat the water. Parked for a few days at the same spot without running the engine meant no hot water. Not very useful...
It's not that a water heater is an absolute necessity. One can live very well without one - as long as you don't feel like taking a shower in your own shower!
Dad wanted to put in a standard, propane-heated water heater in the Blue Whale, like in any RV. The thing is, these units are quite expensive. So Dad was waiting for a good deal.
And the good deal came last summer. A friend of mine told me he'd just took the water heater out of his popup trailer. He told me he wanted to free some space in his camper, he'd never used the water heater, he didn't even know if it was working or not. I jumped on it and brought it to Dad, who tested the unit, and found it in perfect working order.
So that water heater is now installed in the Travco.
It was installed at the rear, in the same spot as the original one. It's actually under the bed area, driver side.
It was installed at the rear, in the same spot as the original one. It's actually under the bed area, driver side.
Since the original unit didn't use any propane, there was no exterior access door for the water heater. With the help of his friend Gerry, Dad cut an opening in the side of the Blue Whale. Also, there wasn't any LP gas line back there, so Dad had to install one. Finding the appropriate couplings and gas line proved more difficult than the installation itself.
Dad installed added a winterization kit to his water heater, which will greatly simplify the winterization process at the end of every season.
Dad repainted the exterior access door with a metallic gray spray paint.
Work is done, the unit works perfectly. A few pictures:
