Electric Cord Reel

[0533]

While in Jacksonville last week the temps got down into the low 30's. I stayed in their RV parking area for the night and when it was time to bring the bus into the bay 8AM I started to button up the bus, pull in the slide and put the power cord back in. When I turned on the button the reel motor seemed sluggish and in fact required some help to actually get the cord in, but it did retract.

When I got into the bay I went to extend the cord and plugin, I got the cord about 3 feet out when a large clump of dirt puked out from the rubber slot, I mean a large amount of dirt, good old growing soil. I was really surprised by this as I use a cloth each time I retract the cord to wipe off moisture and dirt while the cord is retracting.

The Prevost guys took a look and they first said too bad its a Marathon as the reel is sitting in the middle of the bus and is hard to access, bad start.

Anyway after the dirt puking event the cord would barely come out at all. It even appeared to be stretched or wound up funny like it had been twisted or something. John at Prevost said to unwind the entire cord and untwist it and rewind it in and see if it helps, it did somewhat but not much.

I am now convinced that the previous owner might have allowed some dirt back on the reel and it finally came off in the cold wx like a clot or something and that there may be more.

has anyone gained access to a Marathon reel lately?? I looked at the drawings and it appears that I need to gain access through the Curbside water bay (tanks for water) to the right of the tanks etc back into the middle.

Any real time Marathon XL experience would be appreciated.

[adamdegraff]

Hi Bruce,
not sure mine is the same as yours, but my electric cord reel is quite easy to access. On the drivers side, 3 bays back (or one bay up from the plumbing bay) I have a carpeted, pressure fit, access door with a handle on it. If I remove that door, behind it are my two reels. One for my fresh water hose, one for my electric cord. Very easy to reach. The electric cord gets pulled in and dropped into a plastic bucket, where it kind of just coils up like a snake. If you like, I can take some pictures and email them to you.

As for fixing the electric cord reel motor... well, now I know nothing about that:-)

~Adam

[0533]

Hi Adam,

I have a few odd aspects that use up extra space including RVAC Air Conditioning in Bay 3 on both sides. On the drivers side bay 3 I also have 2 bottles of propane, as my bus is both electric and gas 2 burner stove, so I am thinking that I either will find access in bay 4 on the curb side to the right of the water and waste tanks, just guessing here but I will know soon.

[adamdegraff]

That is one wild bus!!!!!


~Adam