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[VAL] Mini Stash - McD stirrers



Hi Gang,

Every so often a problem comes along that's no big deal, yet is a real 
inconvenience at the moment. One of those occasions occurred recently.

After a 200 mile run, we stopped for the day and I went inside - only 
to find the plastic air conditioner filter housing on the floor. It had 
fallen out because one of the four plastic snaps (1/8" x 1/2") holding 
it in the housing had cracked, thus releasing it from the housing.  The 
snap hadn't broken off but was no longer able to exert its' share of 
pressure to hold the filter housing into the air conditioner's body. 
The other three snaps were in good condition.

In my Mini Stash box I've collected an assortment of small plastic and 
wooden utensils. Some are typically used for stirring cream in a cup of 
coffee.  With a few trial and error comparisons, I noticed the spade 
portion of a McDonald's stirrer was an exact fit between the slots 
where the snap was located.

By breaking off two spades, applying superglue to one side of both, I 
secured one spade on each side of the cracked snap with locking pliers. 
The next morning when I released the locking pliers, the glue had 
completely dried, the snap was repaired and the joint was stronger than 
when originally made.

After cleaning the filter and re-inserting it in the housing, I put the 
housing back into the air conditioner body. All four snaps held it 
securely. Problem solved?

Today we made the run from Bayou Segnette SP in New Orleans along I-10 
and north on I-59 to the COE Campground in Collinsville, Mississippi. 
When I went inside our trailer, the filter housing was still in place. 
Yes - problem solved!

Sometimes solutions to problems are no farther away than combining a 
little ingenuity with the odds and ends we accumulate during our daily 
activities.

Terry