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RE: What tires do you suggest?
Everyone has their favorites when it comes to tires. We got excellent use out of the OEMs on our Roadtrek and decided it was time for new tires last fall. I researched extensively and read past posts on the subject on this forum. Finally, I decided to go with what I had before: Bridgestone. The more I read the more I became concerned about sidewall strength and a maxed out 3500 Chevy. We could not be more pleased with our choice and the tires' durability and ride.
We did pay a bit of a premium for the tires compared to some others that probably would have worked fine. Here is something we can all agree on: the only thing between you and disaster is a few square inches of four tires (maybe 6) in contact with the road and at 70 mph and an emergency situation, a few bucks saved may be the worst investment of your lifetime.
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PSW
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05/12/13 08:16am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: New TV AND Memory Foam for RT 210P
FLSTFI,we had the same experience. Our RT 210P has the twins like yours and after six years, we redid the tv and added the foam.
Foam: I found a 5 pound 4 inch thick queen sized pad at Sam's Club and bought one for our queen size bed at home and got instant relief to a little hip discomfort. So, bought another one (about $85) and cut it to fit the RT. Here is what I did. I laid out the foam on top of a sheet on the garage floor and laid both existing RT twin pads side by side on the foam. Then, I carefully outlined the pads on the foam using a laundry pen with a fine point. That gave me the layout. As you know, the RT mattress pads are odd shaped at the top to fit the rear door design. Then, I rough cut the foam in half seperating the two pads for finish cutting. You will find that a queen will perfectly make both RT pads with a few inches in all dimensions for trimming.
Then, I took each half and set it on a couple of saw horses with a sheet of plywood on top of the horses, thus making a cutting table. NOW, here is the fun part: I cut the foam with an electric kitchen knife! I researched the net for how to cut the stuff and came up with that answer and watched a couple of youtube.com clips of people cutting the stuff with a kitchen knife. I couldn't believe how smoothly it cut the foam. Put "cutting foam with an electric kitchen knife" on the youtube search engine and you will see for yourself.
The results were perfect. You can then make a slip cover for the pad or make one by simply wrapping it with a sheet and wash the sheet after a trip or two if necessary. You end up with the RT dual density foam and a four inch pad of quality memory foam on top of it and IMO it just sleeps great.
As to the tv: carefully measure the size available for you to work with. Measure from the top of the existing tv over to the side wall and then to the edge of the cabinet on which it is mounted. Also, be mindful of the height you can get by with for the mechanism to work. I found an Hitachi tv (again, at Sam's) that was advertised as ultrathin (also an important consideration)that worked perfectly, although I had no idea Hitachi made tvs. The dimensions available to you in terms of space in the RT dictate your tv purchase and limit it. I did not install the base that came with the tv, but rather just mounted it to the existing RT mount by drilling a few new holes ( in the mount, not the tv!) and rigged up that way. Our RT has the pantry option and that is what the tv is mounted on in our unit. I then bought a small, ultra thin Sony dvd player and put it on the bottom shelf of the little "pantry" which is really just a small cabinet.
Please excuse all the detail, but I did specifically what you want to do and wanted to share with you all my research and results. In summary, the Hitachi turned out to be perfect and a great little tv and the bed pads are super.
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PSW
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05/09/13 06:58am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: New Mexico visit
We spent a night at Bottomless Lake State Park a few miles outside of Roswell a couple of years ago. Nice park for a day or two and you are really out in the open country, which is what we wanted. After all, we were going to Roswell to see if we would see "them" :).
My DW went along with all this and we both actually enjoyed the UFO stuff. Kind of a hoot.
If you go from Roswell on up to the Baloon Festival, you might think about going through Ruidoso. Nice NF campgrounds around there and Lincoln, NM, is an interesting look into the past and right on the way.
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PSW
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05/07/13 06:41am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: 1990 Roadtrek
mobilefleet is right on target. One thing to consider is the size of the generator. I investigated an external generator a bunch last fall when I was thinking about buying a 25 foot travel trailer. What I learned in particular was this: that keen Honda 2000 watt generator will not run most all RV ACs. They say 2000, but the continuous duty cycle is(as I recall) only about 1600 watts. Not enough juice. You will really need a 3000 watt generator. The standard on most Bs on the Road is a 2800 Onan and they work well but are known to be loud. Honda does make a 3000 watter that should do the job, but the weight goes up a lot..dry weight is about 135 pounds.
Now, the hitch rack mobilefleet mentioned will sure carry a 100 pounds easily. I have the very rack he mentions. The problem that comes to my mind is that it would be a two man job to put that baby up on the rack. Yamaha and Honda and others make invertor generators that are all much quieter than the conventional genset. Some guys that have these things on their trailers build an accoustical shroud to cut down on the noise of loud generators, the cheaper generators are very, very loud.
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PSW
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05/04/13 05:53pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: house batteries
Roadrunner16, your profile shows you with a 2008 RT 210P, which I am sure is the same as my 2007: twin six volt batteries. Ours lasted over six years and I replaced them last fall with new six volt golf cart batteries form Sams. They work great. If this is your first replacement of the batteries, take a look at and see when your coach was manufactured or the date on the batteries. I bet it is six years. I consider that a good life span.
Incidentally, I replaced the Chevy battery at the same time. An OEM starting battery that is over six years old was introducing the Fear Factor in yours truly. I didn't want a starting failure way out in the boonies, but I do carry a heavy duty set of jumpers long enough to go from the coach batteries to the chassis battery.
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PSW
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05/04/13 05:40pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Use of generator while going down the road?
I always take our RT out at least once every few weeks year 'round. The vechicle part of your RV needs exercise as well as the generator.
I run the AC off the generator going down the road all the time. In the winter, our Roadtrek AC is a heatpump and I run it full blast on heat for that hourly exercise. You save nothing by NOT using that generator ...........you spend a lot of dough on repairs as you discovered.
Being a bit old fashioned (although mechanics tell me it is no longer necessary) I also run the dash air on all my vehicles every now and then in the winter. By the way, we can cool our RT210 solely with the dash air going down the road regardless of the temp and we live in an area that frequently exceeds 100F in the summer. I have never fully understood why folks must run their coach AC to cool it down but I know many do that very thing.
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PSW
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05/04/13 06:01am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: What Did You Do To Your Class B Today ?
Overbrook, the great thing about being retired is you can go when you want to and work around weather. We take a lot of short trips. You are right about Crater of Diamonds. It is a very nice and interesting place. We have camped in a lot of state parks around the country, but few can compare with the quality, cost and general attractiveness of Arkansas state parks. Tourism is much more important there than most folks realize and they really go out of their way with hospitality.
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PSW
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05/01/13 09:16am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: What Did You Do To Your Class B Today ?
I went out to the garage, looked at our RT and just shook my head. Another short camping trip cancelled. We love to run over to one of the fine COE or State of Arkansas parks for a few days in the spring. Since the weather forecast is for 70% chance of rain for the next several days and possible snow in NW Arkansas, I guess we will again postpone. Today in Oklahoma City it will be 82. Tomorrow it will be a high of 42. This weather is so unpredictable it is really difficult to plan.
Normally, by late March or certainly by early April we have had great weather stretches and good camping days. The operative word, I guess, is "normal". So, no camping but all serviced and ready to go when and if.............. In the meantime, cover up the flowers and 'maters!!
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PSW
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05/01/13 08:09am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: 2005 AS Interstate quirks/gotchas?
I have heard of the ten year rule, of course. I have never seen it enforced anywhere I have been in over thirty years of RVing. That said, if your rig is an obvious piece of junk it could be a way to move you on down the road.
I really, really doubt if more than one percent of park owners could tell my 2007 RT 210 from a 2005 RT 210.............or a 2012 RT 210.
I doubt if any of us B ers are going to stay at those Class A oriented high dollar parks and I certainly am not going to buy a park space anywhere. That would nullify why we all bought Bs in the first place.
I think we all grow weary of this "political correctness" group and their rules. I bought my RVs over the years to enjoy and have fun, not to spend a moment with the Park Police or their ilk.
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PSW
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04/30/13 07:31pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Chevrolet Roadtrek Refueling
I have that problem with out RT at times. I just hold the pump handle out from the RT and elevate it, holding it more in an upward position rather than the normal downward position where the handle rests of the receiver tube. Sometimes, this helps. I must admit I have just given up at times and found another station.
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PSW
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04/27/13 05:55am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Roadtrek Galley Light Over Sink
That thing IS hard to get off......harder than it should be. You were lucky to have found that bulb so easily. LEDs use less juice but 5 watts on 12v means you are using only an amp about every two+ hours if you are not connected to shore power. Not a big deal. I really had to get my 2.5 readers and a good work light on that sucker to figure out how that lens came off although most come off in a similar fashion. It's good to remember using a hair dryer to warm them up a bit before you pop the lense if they are really tight. That sure helps to prevent cracking the lens.
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PSW
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04/26/13 07:23pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Ultimate road trip
Sounds marvelous! Enjoy the journey. The Hill Country of Texas is a lot of fun and beautiful in the spring. If you have junk you don't want to carry, get a big box and pack it and UPS it back to someone in Florida so you will have more room for less hassle.
We all learn this lesson the hard way. We have been RVing for thirty years and still make the mistake. Less is truly more.
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PSW
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04/26/13 07:18pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Roadtrek Galley Light Over Sink
Well, you got me curious! I went out and looked at mine and checked it out. I removed the clear plastic lens cover by simply mashing upward on the cover at one end and then gently prying the lens cover from the base fixture. In other words, it snaps on but is very tight and I couldn't pry it loose unless I used my left palm to push up and then pried it from side with my right hand. Not that easy, really. It wouldn't take much to break the cover removing it. You will note three very small indentations on each side of the lens cover where the cover meets fixture. The three on the cover are male and the matching ones on the fixture are female. True on both sides.
It is usually easier to get these kinds of covers off if you heat the snap point areas a little with a hairdryer, taking care to only get them gently warm.
The bulb is a 12v 5 watt specialty bulb that looks like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Plusrite-5102-Long-Life-Festoon-Lumens/dp/B0080I61YI/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1366851275&sr=8-6&keywords=12+volt+5+watt+xenon
These come in a lot of sizes so be sure to check the length of your bulb. My bulb measures about 31 or 32 mm.
Personally, I would just buy a small 12v bulb, solder two leads on it and solder them in place before I would hunt or order one bulb. This thing functions as a nightlight and in almost seven years we have not used it. The rest of the fixture consists of two conventional rv flourescent bulbs commonly available.
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PSW
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04/24/13 07:05pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: RV bathroom faucet issue
After reading this post regarding faucets, I took a look at the kitchen faucet in our Roadtrek. I have no knowledge about PWs, but man I gotta tell you, I don't think I have the courage to ever try to replace the faucet in my RT. Simply put, with an undermounted sink and a Corian countertop, I don't think a fly could hardly get up in there to do the job. I did have a small leak that had started from the top of the thing, but I was able to tighten it and shut that down completely. The only way I could figure out how to do the under the counter replacement would be to cut out a couple of shelves that are in the lower part of the cabinet and are put in there in a slot on either side, a sort of tongue and grove type installation. Then, I think I would have to take the drain pipe out to make room to get my hand back in there and would probably have to use a mirror and light to see what I was trying to do.
I replaced a faucet in a Class C once and it was easy as pie. All of our Bs share a smaller size and less work space on just about everything. I am sure glad your PW job was doable. Roadtrekers, beware!!
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PSW
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04/19/13 05:18pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Re: Question on RoadTrek Bumper Cover
That seems like an excellent price to me. I shudder anytime I get near a body shop.......too many hammers and fumes!
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PSW
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04/19/13 05:08pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Window AC for B Van
Unless your useage is going to be frequent, you might think about a portable unit like this:
http://www.target.com/p/haier-8-000-btu-portable-air-conditioner/-/A-12213123#prodSlot=medium_1_3
Then, you could just put it in when you want to use it. Again, that is a simple solution for occasional use. We had one of these portables a few years back and it worked effectively in a seldom used room where installation of a window unit was simply not possible.
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PSW
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04/18/13 06:51am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Season Opener! - (2nd attempt...)
By golly I admire your spirit!!!
You New Hampshire folks are just tougher than us Okies!
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PSW
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04/17/13 06:53am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: TOWING A VEHICLE (TOAD) WITH A CLASS B
It may not be practical for your situation, but we are going to be somewhere 700 miles from home this summer for several weeks. After looking a the towing situation, cost, hassle, etc. we decided on a simple solution: my wife will follow me driving our Jeep GC. I can buy a lot of gasoline to and from for the Jeep for what it would cost to buy tow gear and perhaps use it only once or twice.
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PSW
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04/11/13 07:00am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: BLACK AND FRESH TANKS NEEDED
Take a look here:
http://www.plastic-mart.com/category/34/rv-holding-tanks
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PSW
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04/11/13 06:56am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: 2013 Winnebago ERA Model 70A Twin Bed
posting withdrawn. sorry.
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PSW
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04/11/13 06:51am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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