Sealing up hose and cord openings

[Dreamers]

Hi everyone. We finally have our motorhome, a 2022 35’ Fleetwood Bounder. My question is, how do people seal up the openings provided for the hose and the power cable?  The Bounder has nice round openings in the water hookup and power compartments that have threaded caps. The openings are plenty big enough for small animals to get in. What do people use to seal these up when they are in use?

[usbusin]

A rag stuffed around the hose/cable.

[Kirk W]

I use copper scouring pads which can be found in most kitchen supply stores or from Amazon. Just run the hose or power cord through the center of one.  I used to use steel wool pads but those will rust and need to be replaced frequently. You could also use stainless steel pads.

  

 

[TXiceman]

Marine supply places often have a bronze wool pad for cleaning boat bottoms.  

Ken

[Dreamers]

31 minutes ago, TXiceman said:

Marine supply places often have a bronze wool pad for cleaning boat bottoms.  

Ken

Thank you

[GlennWest]

How about spray expanding foam?

[bigjim]

They will sometimes chew through softer stuff like foam.  Not always and it is better than nothing. I got a pretty good pile of acorns in the storage area for my electrical cord and behind my breaker panel many years ago.

[franco-bolli]

When I worked for the radio company, taking care of remote repeater buildings, we did a combination of foam and steel wool.  Steel wool to block the hole, and then foam to close the hole and make it airtight. The rodents didn't like running into steel wool while digging in...

Can't do anything like that on a removable cord, so recently I've been using synthetic sanding pads to block up the shore cord hole while we've been out.   I loosely wrap it around the cord and close the door on it. It blocks up the extra space around the door opening for the cord.  They have a fair amount of abrasive to them, depending on the grit size you choose.

 

[TXiceman]

3 hours ago, GlennWest said:

How about spray expanding foam?

Foam is like cany to rats and squirrels.  The bronze wool will not rust.

Ken

[GlennWest]

I didn't know. But I have never in rv had a problem with rats or squirrels.

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, GlennWest said:

How about spray expanding foam?

He wants to prevent mice and such entering via his shore power cord or fresh water hose openings. 

[Dreamers]

On 7/6/2022 at 5:03 PM, TXiceman said:

Marine supply places often have a bronze wool pad for cleaning boat bottoms.  

Ken

Thank you

 

On 7/6/2022 at 1:03 PM, Dreamers said:

Hi everyone. We finally have our motorhome, a 2022 35’ Fleetwood Bounder. My question is, how do people seal up the openings provided for the hose and the power cable?  The Bounder has nice round openings in the water hookup and power compartments that have threaded caps. The openings are plenty big enough for small animals to get in. What do people use to seal these up when they are in use?

Hi again. I wanted to thank everyone on my first reply but it went to just one answer.  I was hoping you would tell me that Joe’s RV supply sold replacement caps designed to fit around hoses and cords. A cone shaped stopper cut in half with a hole in the middle would work great if the holes and stopper could be sized right. I guess that doesn’t exist though. We will try the scouring pad ideas first. I want something not too hard to setup and breakdown since we don’t plan to tow anything.  I am anticipating some day trips from the campsite. 
 

Dreamers (soon to be living that dream)

[sandsys]

46 minutes ago, Dreamers said:

I want something not too hard to setup and breakdown since we don’t plan to tow anything.  I am anticipating some day trips from the campsite. 

Good luck with that. We did it for years with 24' rigs but when we went to 35' we found it too hard to park it most places other than campgrounds and Walmart so wound up buying a car to tow. With the 24' rigs we could fit into one parking space if we could back in so the tail end hung over grass but that did not work with the 35' motorhome.

Linda Sand

[hemsteadc]

Rags, but I keep baited mousetraps in strategic locations when that fails.

[57becky]

After having a hip replaced years ago, I used a piece of the foam wedge that they strap to your legs to hold them in position, and cut an oversized cylinder from the foam, then cut a slit half way through the foam.  After connecting the water hose, I just push the foam around the hose and into the hole where the water hose is.  Has worked great, but after using the foam plug for six or seven years, it has gotten a bit worn.  To solve that problem, I went ahead and had the other hip replaced last October, so now have a new piece of foam to make a new plug from.

[Dreamers]

On 7/9/2022 at 5:46 PM, sandsys said:

Good luck with that. We did it for years with 24' rigs but when we went to 35' we found it too hard to park it most places other than campgrounds and Walmart so wound up buying a car to tow. With the 24' rigs we could fit into one parking space if we could back in so the tail end hung over grass but that did not work with the 35' motorhome.

Linda Sand

We are a little worried about it. I did fit into 2 places at Costco recently. It was off to the side by the loading docks, so lots of room to maneuver. I have an e bike that we’ll carry on a rack. I was hoping to find something light weight that would carry both of us short distances. We’ll see how it goes. 

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, Dreamers said:

We’ll see how it goes. 

Unless there is some other reason to prefer not towing a car of some sort, as long as you get something that can be towed on all 4 wheels it is really a very simple thing. I do understand the hesitance as I went through that also but was amazed by how easy it was. The only real disadvantage to towing is that you can't back the RV safely without unhooking the towed car but that isn't a major issue as long as you plan for it. In 12 years that we were fulltime in a 36' class A with a tow car, I only remember having to unhook 2 or 3 times that was not planned that way. Pretty much any car that you can tow will track inside of the tracks left by the RV because your motorhome is much wider than the car you might tow. It probably costs about 1/2 mile per gallon of fuel also. If you do go full-time then I strongly recommend towing. For the time before you can most likely get by not towing as long as you plan ahead for where you will be. It is handy to have the house with you in a class A for touring but it can be very inconvenient if you with to visit attractions that do not have parking provision for one. My suggestion is that you make some early trips that avoid difficult parking to get used to driving and parking the RV, then consider towing a car. It really isn't difficult to live without a tow vehicle for vacation & weekend trips, if you plan ahead. Parking is one of the main reasons that Walmart stores are so popular among fulltime RV people. 

[2gypsies]

2 hours ago, Dreamers said:

We are a little worried about it. I did fit into 2 places at Costco recently. It was off to the side by the loading docks, so lots of room to maneuver. I have an e bike that we’ll carry on a rack. I was hoping to find something light weight that would carry both of us short distances. We’ll see how it goes. 

We towed a Jeep which gave us unlimited fun traveling the backcountry and joining other groups to do day excursions.  We could never RV without a car/truck to explore once we got to our RV site.  You would miss so much and waste time trying to find a parking place for a RV.  Also, you'd get much better fuel mileage for touring that a RV would give you.  It was common for us to tour and area for 100 miles in all directions.  Touring the national parks wouldn't be as much fun.  Parking is a nightmare even for cars.  Your Ebike is not the same thing for siteseeing. Weather also would limit you. I guess it depends on how one RVs.  Towing a car is so simple. We could have a disconnect finished in 5 minutes and connecting 10 minutes or less.  In 8 yr. we only had an emergency disconnect once - in Alaska.  By the way, I once read a report of a grizzly chasing a biker!  Also, you wouldn't be able to tour Going-to-the-Sun Rd. in Glacier Nat'l Park the highlight of the park.  The motorhome limit is 21'.  Same with the beautiful Chiso Basin campground in Big Bend Nat'l Park and a starting point for awesome hiking trails - where 24' is the limit to be on the road.  I hope you rethink your plan. 

As to your stated issues, we bought a sewer hose rubber donut & slit it in one place. We put our sewer hose through the opening of the RV and then fitted the donut around the hose to seal the opening. There was about a 1/2-1" opening left & we stuffed it with a bronze scouring pad cut to fit.  The pad was reused; not tossed when moving the RV.  Putting the donut in & the scouring pad took about 30 seconds!  We didn't have an opening for the electric hose but if so, I'd just use a scouring pad to fit around the opening.

Edited July 11, 2022 by 2gypsies