Hey thanks so much again, and especially for the tip on the online Ford chassis manual, which I also found and downloaded. We purchased the 2013 ACE 29.1 just recently, from a large and long-time local RV dealer. Recall items are all done. It's a one-owner California unit, our first RV, and something we've waited for until now that we're retired. It looks great, and I thought that "everything worked" and was in good nick when we left the dealer's lot. But the things I'm finding are fairly minor, and I want to be able to take care of it myself when possible, so the learning curve is much appreciated. I could take it back and ask them to fix it, but I suspect that I'd be without it for a long time. Also the quality of the repairs would be unknown to me, and I wouldn't be learning anything about doing it myself.
For instance, recent rainstorms here revealed a sealant leak in the roof at one of the skylights. I found that some of the original sealant on that and other places was cracked quite a bit. So I did my online homework and removed the inside liner of the skylight while a few sunny days and ventilation dried everything out. Then I went up top and thoroughly acetone-cleaned ALL of the sealants around all vents, skylights, etc., and then used a quart of white brush-on Flex-Seal liquid rubber to totally coat, fill, and cover the sealants all over the roof. The stuff goes on very nicely and is pretty easy to work with. The roof certainly looks great now, and the Flex-Seal appears to have done a beautiful job on the sealant & TPO roof material, so I'm hoping that it's good.
I've also replaced the front windshield drapes, which had an outside lining that was disintegrating from sun exposure. I ordered direct from Gary Manufacturing here in California. I got perfectly fitting replacements that look great and I think will endure better.
With my electromechanical engineering background I'm pretty adept with most "nuts-n-bolts-n-volts" kind of things, although automotive is not really my area of experience. I have a good Fluke multimeter and of course a super-useful 12V lamp-type test probe. I'll definitely keep all your advice in mind, including about the battery disconnect switches. I found a great Youtube video about those BCC units at this link, which shows all about the latch relays and everything in that box. You're certainly right that replacing that or working on it would be a real pain.
P.S. We are expat Canucks. My wife is from Lethbridge. Maybe we'll see you out on the road sometime!
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