Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: In praise of my awesome Indie mechanic...


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Desert Captain

Payson

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Joined: 02/19/2011

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Posted: 08/07/23 02:32pm

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I have been using Carl Shirley {928 951-3500} here in Payson Arizona for all of my mechanical/RV repair needs for nearly 3 years and he is hands down the best I have ever dealt with. Not only is he a great RV technician {who is happy to make house calls} he is also an ASE certified mechanic with his own shop sitting on 3 acres about 4 miles from our home.

When we were camping at big Lake a few weeks ago a gully washing Monsoon storm generated the first leak I have seen in 10 years and it was just a very slow, minor drip that only happened at the height of the storm. I called Carl and he said "No problem, I've resealed lots of RV's drop it off on Monday.

The fiberglass roof on my Nexus is one piece with one piece endcaps front and rear. When I got home from that last trip I went up on the roof and did not see anything that looked like any kind of opening/crack. Carl stripped off all of the original caulking {our coach is 11 years old all of which having been spent in uncovered parking in the Arizona sun} including the endcaps, vent pipes, air, refrigerator and AC vents etc.. and resealed everything using two coats of Dicor self leveling lap sealer which he has used for years. Here are a few pics of the resealed roof:

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Two additional Monsoon downpours gave his work a thorough test and not a drop found its way into our coach. The reseal job came to $670. Since he had the rig at his shop I had him change the oil/filter and the fuel filter on my Generac 4Kw generator. Despite spending about 70 percent of our time off grid it only has 110 hours on it as our DC usage is minimal and the two AGM group 27 house batteries carry us typically for 3 to 4 days.

Lastly about 6 months ago the dash AC on our E-350 lost nearly all of the air flow out of the vents. The fan ran fine for the defroster and we still got nice cold air that limped through the vents by convection but it too needed work. Once I described the symptoms he called out the problem immediately. A vacuum line that controls the AC actuators directing the fans output through the dash had been compromised. He correctly attributed it to a rat chewed vacuum hose and spent a couple of hours replacing the hose and recharging {for good measure} the AC system.

The total bill for the reseal, AC repair and generator maintenance came to $950. I use Carl for all of my mechanical, RV Technician needs and recently had him do the 30,000 miles service on my 2019 Honda Ridgeline along with rebuilding the power steering system in my brides Toyota Solara Coupe. His services always come in at just about half of what a dealer quotes and I appreciate the fact that every dollar I pay him goes into his pocket. I am happy to refer friends to him for their needs as well and he reciprocates by always finding time to take care of mine.

Simply put... Win - Win!

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PartyOf Five

Wheaton, IL

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Joined: 07/18/2016

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Posted: 08/07/23 08:47pm

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That's great, and thanks for a nice write up. I know some of the folks here use rvservicereviews.com and I've found it helpful as well. Perhaps a positive review there, or at Google-?

PartyOf5 appreciating our Creator thru the created. 5 yrsL 50k, 49 states & 9 provinces.

May you find Peace in all you endeavor.