On last summer’s trip, we suffered in hot locations, when even our two air conditioners were insufficient to keep the RV interior cool.  I decided to install a third generator.  The living room has a ceiling fan installed in a recessed bezel, so there’s already a hole in the interior ceiling and a 120-volt line (see stock photo below):

I removed the ceiling fan and its mounting bezel.  I then drilled four holes in the corners of the interior ceiling hole so I could identify the corresponding location on the exterior roof.  Up on the roof, I found the four holes and cut away the roof’s rubber membrane:

I then cut out the roof section, revealing the interior below:

The air conditioning unit mounts to the roof, and the air distribution module mounts to the interior ceiling:

All done:

To run all three air conditioners while driveway camping, I removed the three air conditioners’ power connections from the breaker panel and assigned an external extension cord to each air conditioner (see here for details on why this is necessary).  We then tested our new monster generator with the three air conditioners:

The generator was able to handle to load without issue.  Looks like this summer’s trip will be much more comfortable than last summer!

To make our summer trip more interesting, we decided to take along a pair of motorcycles.  We purchased a pair of Bashan Storm 250 Dual-Sport motorcycles.  We named them Lewis and Clark, so we could say things like “We explored the desert with Lewis and Clark.”  They come in a box from China and look like this when assembled:

Of course, we need a way to carry the motorcycles.  Ultimately I’d like to convert our 5th wheel into a toy hauler, but for now the quickest solution is to mount them on the front of the truck.  I started with a store-bought front hitch receiver:

I then welded two more receivers to the bar, one of each end:

The triple receiver mounted:

I bought some steel and laid out how I thought the rack would be configured:

We adjusted distances using clamps and tested the fit:

I screwed the rails to be beams and then welded everything together:

I then cut and bent up and welded the end of the rail as a rear wheel holder:

Lewis and Clark on the rack:

The rack installed:

Since the motorcycles block the truck’s lights, I welded a receiver to the front of the rack and fabricated a light bar using some steel and a snowplow light kit:

I had to remove the truck’s headlights and splice into the wires, then run wiring harnesses out to the light bar.  Using toggle switches I mounted under the hood of the truck, I can route power to either the truck’s lights or the snowplow lights:

All done!

Lewis and Clark are ready for action!