It looks like we are going to be using the RP-171 a lot more than we had originally planned.  Being our first RV, we were taking baby steps - only figuring in the range of a half dozen trips this summer.  To put it blunt, last week we just got blindsided by finding out that my FiL has "Stage 4".  So now we are going to attempt to go to their beach cottage every-opposite weekend during the workable season, maybe as many as 20 trips by the end of October. So to a certain degree this is going to become a towable master suite for this year. The HVAC will get heavy use, and we will use the toilet on an emergency basis, but the kitchen will see next to no use this year. My main goal is to make my wife's trips as stress free as possible during this difficult time.

These are the immediate mods I have planned:

1) Letter the Rpod - to cheer my wife up.

2) Add a light blocking curtain to the master bed entry - so my wife can watch TV etc at the dinette if she is up in the middle of the night.

3) Install reverse lights - well... because light.

Any other "must have mods/fixes"? I am going to have the advantage of a shed full of tools down at the cottage, and to be honest I am going to need to distract myself a lot when there, so please suggest away...

EDIT: based on the thread about the faucet, that will get proactively swapped out before our first "real" camping trip (going to the beach is this summer will be closer to Glamping...).

Buy extra throw pillows to be comfortable while sitting at the dinette watching TV or lounging in bed reading.

Add decorations, pictures, and touches of home to the walls.  My wife found a large vinyl decal for the front wall at Hobby Lobby that says "Wherever we are together, that is home", they have a ton of others to choose from.  Help it to be a place of comfort where she can take refuge from the stress of dealing with a family member with cancer.

Install a wall mount iPad or tablet holder in the bedroom area, to watch movies or surf the net while relaxing.

Since it sounds like a lot of short trips, maybe skip the r-dome and go with a pop-up awning or clam enclosure that is easy and quick to put up and take down.  Include a few folding chairs to sit outside and enjoy the beach view.

All that being said I am a stage 3 Non-Hodgkins survivor myself.  I bought the camper about a year ago when I was going thru chemo.  My wife thought it was nuts, but it was on my bucket list for a long time and I wasn't sure how much time I had.  Worst case, I got a few good trips. Best case, a lot of good trips.  So far it's been best case.  I will say for sure that taking the missus camping helped relieve the stress of what she was going through with me.  Best of luck...

Thanks for all the thoughtful ideas. Many of your suggestions are in the direction of what we have been thinking, so it is great to get some first hand feedback. That is a good point about making sure she has iphone access somehow, if T-mobile isn't strong on the beach she will lose her mind. I am already planning to put a 12v LCD TV/DVD somewhere in the bedroom, so that she can turn it on for background noise during her afternoon naps (very noisy boardwalk). We were planning on skipping the R-dome, and just getting a nice portable screenhouse from Cabelas. But I really like your idea of incorporating artwork, she was a dual major with art as secondary, maybe I will surprise her with some supplies to make some stuff for the pod while we are down there - art therapy. Best of luck to you as well.

Good point. Being in Oregon I often forget you non-HRE folks!

My sister had T-Mobile here in FL and once you got 20 miles out of town or away from an interstate highway, it was dead as a doornail for 3G/4G wi-fi service.

Just be careful, if my missus had her way, it would look like someone hosed down the inside of the pod with Pepto Bismol and bubble gum and have it looking like a New Orleans cathouse in no time.  

At least we compromised and went with some neutral colors, reds and browns. 

I have noticed T-Mobile seems to be more urban focused. Even in the MA suburbs the signal is weak depending on where you live, random unexplained dead spots.  My signal at home is garbage, I have to use a "wifi calling" cell router connected to the net, but I live on the far side of a granite mini-mountain with 200' of rise behind me.

We could use one up here in New England. It could be "The Platinum Pothole LTD".

I want to look up the manual, and see what Bluetooth functions it has. The only thing I have found is that you can control the entertainment unit with your phone. I am trying to determine if it has additional functionality, as well as options for connecting our phones for music playback.

EDIT: after searching the forum, it looks like the JWM6A from 2015 is close enough (link below) The unit appears to have USB music playback, which is my preferred method.  It seems to have Bluetooth playback too, if I want to experiment with that. This is good, streaming Pandora will be very helpful.

https://www.jensenrvdirect.com/downloads/dl/file/id/730/jwm6a_owners_manual.pdf

Flexco 24" double steps pn 

I did have to expand the back holes a bit, but other than that it fit my 177 perfectly.

There is already a recent thread about the shower attachment that seems to be favored by Podders. Go to the second page of this forum, that is where the thread is located. There are plenty of comments that should help you decide. The unit is relatively cheap for an upgrade. I plan on getting one in the summer, so we can use the outdoor shower to hose off all the beach sand and salt.
 

Vann