Blue View - Repairing the Fuel Filler Door on Blue

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Blue View - Repairing the Fuel Filler Door on Blue

The fuel filler door on Blue is rather unique. It is located just aft of the driver’s door, and can’t be opened without first opening said driver’s door. I like the arrangement except for one teeny-tiny detail - the little tab on the edge. It’s put there to make the door easier to open when it’s time to fill up, but it has a tendency to catch on my pants pocket as I exit the driver’s side, especially when we’re parked in a tight space and I can’t open the door all the way. On at least one occasion, I’ve exerted enough leverage to actually break the hinge that holds the filler door.

It’s not cheap to repair… the dealer wanted $485. As it turns out, the repair is quite simple and a whole lot less expensive to do it yourself, once you discover a couple of little disassembly tricks. Watch our video that describes the process…

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Blue View – Comparing the Cost of Owning a Van vs Owning a Boat, Part 2

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Blue View – Comparing the Cost of Owning a Van vs Owning a Boat, Part 2

Now that Blue has been part of the family for a year now, I thought it would be a good time to take a reckoning of what he's cost us, and compare that to the cost of owning Nine of Cups. Last week in Part 1, I tallied all the fixed costs – those dollars that don't change much whether Blue is sitting in the driveway or carrying us across the country. This week, I'll total up the operating expenses. These are the costs like fuel and maintenance that do vary more or less directly with the amount of driving we do.

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Blue View – Comparing the Cost of Owning a Van vs Owning a Boat

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Blue View – Comparing the Cost of Owning a Van vs Owning a Boat

Over the years that we lived aboard Nine of Cups, we obsessively kept track of the money we spent on her. Since Blue just celebrated the first anniversary of his adoption yesterday, I thought this might be a good time to make a reckoning of what the various costs on Blue have been, and then compare the costs of living aboard a boat with the cost of living in Blue.

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