RE: Measuring grade on hills
I have a older DeLorme Topo mapping program, and it is able to diplay the grades while going over the planned route.
You could also display average grade, peak uphill and downhill grades. It would also total the feet it climbed and decended during the route. In other words, if you have a topographical map with your route on it, and counted each foot that you go up or down along that route, this is what is given as a total with the DeLorme program.
It has been a while since I have used the programs.
With Google Maps, you can check Terain, and see the area elevations. However it is not showing the grades of each hill.
Fred.
RE: What Is This?
Are you asking about the white thing hooked up to the propane tank?
Or the RV?
Or something else?
I have a L5 instant water heater, it has hose fittings that might be used to hook up between the water line and RV to pre-heat the water going into the RV. At 1 GPM, it can warm 55F to about 105F, while at 2 GPM, the normal shower rate, you will only heat the water from about 55 to 85F, and allow using the water heater to take showers for a really long time. It looks like the white box you have in the picture.
Fred.
RE: air?
With 80 PSI in the tires, they will be a bit stiffer sidewalls than lower pressure. So it will handle better in the curves, and be less likely to sway or have the rear of the truck "Push" into the curves while going down a hill.
If the tire is lower pressure, then the weight of the trailer hitch can push the back of the truck sideways a bit into the curves.
I think the tire pressures recommended is fine. Remember you will be adding say 700 pounds to the hitch, and that can take 300 pounds off the front axle, and transfer it to the rear axle. Tighten the weight distribution bars might take 150 pounds off the rear axle and re-distribute this to the trailer and front axle. But still you are adding a significant amount of weight to the rear axle, so 80 PSI is a good thing.
If you will not be towing a long time, you should reduce the pressure in all tires to about 60 PSI. A short tow at 60 PSI will not hurt anything, but you might notice more wiggle in the rear of the truck if there are heavy winds.
Fred.
RE: installing a house toilet in our trailer
Have you seen home toilets that use a pressurized water tank to flush the toilet? I put one in my house back in 95, and it never needed to be flushed twice! It used only about 1.2 gallons per flush, and according to the brochure from the manufacture, it put out 13 GPM for about 1.5 seconds, to clear the bowle and can dispose of 13 ping pong balls in one flush. So that type of tank would not need to be flushed before driving. Still the top might slide off the tank. A small velcrow strap should keep it in place.
The problem? Well you guessed it - the 1.2 gallons of water with each flush. So you can fill a 30 gallon tank in about 20 flushes. That should provide enough capacity for a really long weekend, with two campers. Not so long with a family of 5. So no problem in your situation, with full hookups, and no long dry camping weekends.
The weight of the toilet, held upright while going around curves might become a problem. You will find out if the hold down bolts try to break free, or damage the ceramics that hold them down.
Good luck!
Fred.
RE: DIY Insulating with spray foam kit
Hi,
I was reading about a dome home. It was inflated, then steel put into place, with spray foam installed to the steel framework. After it cures for 24 hours, they can shut off the fans that had been holding the waterproof membrane in place.
What peaked my interest was that the foam spray person required supplied air respirator to install the foam. The air inside the dome became so toxic a conventional respirator would not work right.
So the stuff they sell on the hardware store shelf is not what the pro's can apply. It has to be made much less toxic, and therefore is not the same stuff.
Fred.
RE: Navistar RV is gone.......Hello new owners
Here is the website for the new company owners.
http://www.alliedsv.com/
They seem to have dozens of manufacturing buildings all over the United States.
Fred.
RE: 3,500 max tow capacity.
If you have a truck to tow that fifth wheel, why not look at a Lance travel trailer, pull it with the truck, and use that as a vehicle to get around town while at your snowbird area?
Lance makes some nice small trailers, something you can live in for weeks at a time if required, but will make driving to your winter home something you look forward to. Not such a heavy trailer as your fifth wheel, something that should provide great mileage, because it is much shorter than the fifth wheel. Being about 12' tall and 8' wide makes a lot of air to push out of the way, but a 8' tall and 8' wide is much smaller.
Good luck in your search.
Fred.
RE: Rinnai tankless water heater -
It might have to do with the 120 volt power supply, not in most RV's while dry camping, and the lack of ability to run the system on a cold night. Many will turn on at 35F to keep it above freezing.
You can plan on installing a drain adjacent to the unit to completely drain the water heater before driving on a freezing day. Even driving will bring a lot of outside air through the heater, completly freezing the water solid on a 30F day. This can burst the pipes, and of course freeze damage is not a "Warranty defect". Also if the unit does try to cycle on while in a moving RV - who knows where the flames will go or get pushed by wind? So if it has not been tested, I would not allow it to go into a RV if I was the designer.
Maybe they have tested them, and the compartment got to warm around the heater while driving the test RV.
Fred.
RE: Trailer tongue mounted bike rack mod
Hello everyone, take a look at my bike rack bracket for the toungue of my trailer over on the Jayco Owners forum.
Bike rack bracket mod
Great idea.
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc471/tslarson7040/Finishedandreadytoinstall.jpg height=320 width=480
It looks like it will work great. I hope it does not wiggle to much with all that weight about 5' above the mounting point. All that height can bend things because of the length, a little pressure is multiplied by the 5 feet of distance, so 35 pounds of pressure becomes 150 foot pounds of torque.
Fred.
RE: Looks like it is raining Class C Expedition Vehicles
With a 4 wheel drive, you can get stuck much farther from a paved road than a 2WD. (I read that in a magazine a few years ago) I guess the idea is to take it to places with reasonable roads to drive on. The locking rear axle will provide some extra traction, and reasonable fuel mileage. You do pay a penalty when installing 4 wheel drive, if you don't need it. An extra 400 pounds and extra complications to the drive system cost about 10% in fuel economy.
Fred.
RE: Low Buck Dually Build
The fish the size of your kids - it is all worthwhile!
SO they where going to part out the F-350 just because the transmission was going bad? What a great deal to get that truck. The older 7.3 should outlast a couple of transmissions.
Fred.
RE: Here is something you would not see much in the US
We have more refined roads going to the National Forests. We have no need to forge a river with the RV. If we wanted to go off road as a sport, we can tow a smaller Toyota 4X4 and take it from the campground to the off road areas.
There was once a converted helicoptor. It was made from a large military surplus helicoptor, one with a 5 ton lifting capacity.
Fred.
RE: Spray on Roofs
I have seen the Rino liner cost is over $100 per running foot, so a 30' like mine would be well over $3,000, more than I wanted to pay.
I installed Herculiner on my roof, basically a brush on bedliner material. Cost was right around $1,000 with all the cleanup supplies, mask, and the 5 gallons of material at $125 each gallon. Only adds about 25 pounds to my roof.
It does smell for a long time. About a week to get the chemical odors out of the RV. IT is nice that there is no more white streaks going down the sides of the RV.
Another manufacture makes a 2 part coating made just for RV's. Easy to apply, less toxic than Rino Liner or Herculiner, and has a longer "Pot" life once the catalystist is put in, if the product is kept below 55F.
Fred.
RE: Rear-end lube change
I know some guys that have used the Royal Purple with good results. Since all oils are rated for use, I don't think you can go wrong with similar rated products. You must be preparing for many differential oil changes if purchasing 5 gallons!
That 10.3L diesel engine is not feeding it's power into a 14" rear end made for a pickup. The rear axle is huge, and 5 gallons is probably close to what will get drained out of there.
Fred.
RE: water tank replacement
Tank-Depot.com
Call them and ask.
My guess? THe prior owner probably thought "How do I reach in there and clean the tank? Then got out a hole saw, and you now have a easy wash tank system. That leaks when going around a corner. Opps!
You might be able to get a 12" square patch, and glue it over the hole. Or O-ring and screw down the patch, so you can remove and clean again?
Fred.
RE: Solar power
Hi,
I have a larger than average solar system, purchased a little bit at a time. Started with a pair of 45 watt panels back in 94 that worked great to keep all the batteries full. But the newer class A, the battery would still go dead while camping, so we expanded with a 75 watt panel, then a pair of 120 watt panels in 1999 for $429 each (on sale!).
Now days you can get a 100 watt panel for very close to $100. Pick a 12 volt nominal panel, and you could use a switch to turn it on the days you are camping, and turn it off the other days, not need to spend money on a solar controller. Mount it on the roof, and leave it there.
SunElec.com
However I would highly recommend installing a PWM solar controller. Many are only about $65 for a 10 amp rated controller.
What I did was install gray UV rated direct burial wire (home Depot 10 gauge - they sell 25' rolls). Down the refrigerator vent, to the closet, the controller there, then to the battery.
Start with one panel, then expand as you need more power. The CO meter, LP gas detector and refrigerator use about 35 AH daily, about what a 120 watt solar panel will put back in a sunny day.
For panel mounts, I used 6" long peices of 2" angle aluminum with 3 - 3/16" holes and #10 screws into the roof, and 5/16" hole for a 1/4-20 bolt with nylo nut into the solar panel, takes two wrenches and time to remove the panel, so safer.
Good luck!
Fred.
RE: Running generator on Natural Gas
Most LP gas regulators run at 11 inches of water colum pressure, while a Natural gas regulator is only 6.5 inches of pressure.
Also 1 cubic foot of LP gas is 2,000 Btu's while natural gas is only 1,050 Btu's give or take a few Btu's.
So you should need about twice the cubic feet of natural gas compared to LP gas, for any given load, and also the inlet pressure is 1/2 of what you would expect from a LP gas inlet line.
So if there is a 1/4" diameter hole in the line to let in LP gas, you might need a 3/8" hole for the natural gas line.
Fred.
RE: 1986 Chevy G20 3/4 ton, 6.2 Diesel
You don't have a turbocharger, so unless one has been installed, don't try towing much of anything.
I had to drive a 2500 truck with a 6.2L diesel, while it got 16 MPG, that was nice, but it had a difficult time getting out of it's own way. I don't think the horsepower rating was over 150. Even the 350" gas engine had more horsepower and torque.
Fred.
RE: Detroit Diesel 671 fuel issues
The older engines could take a lot of sulphur in the fuel, and it can expand the o-rings, and keep everythign well sealed.
You might have a small air leak from the lack of sulphur. Be sure to look at the engine once you get it running.
Also never use starting fluid on a diesel. Your older engine might take it, but still I would not recommend it.
If you are out of fuel, take off the air filter, and have a can of WD 40. Spray that while cranking, and the engine will run fine on WD 40 as long as you keep spraying it.
Yes 10 more gallons should bring up the level enough to make a difference. Probably need 20 or more to actually start driving the RV again. Lucky for you, your engine can burn just about anything. A buddy had a 8V71, and he bought fuel from a local airport, what had been drained out of airplanes. Really cheap too, only about $0.35 back in the late 70's when diesel was around $0.95.
On aircraft carriers, all they use is jet fuel to power all the auxillary engines, forklifts, generators, anything that was not run on electricity.
Good luck!
Fred.
RE: Luxury Diesel SUV as tow vehicle
Get a Excursion and expand the garage, or build another garage!
You really do want the tow vehicle to outweigh the trailer - if possible.
Fred.
