disposable eating ware, versus washing dishes
Which do you prefer when you go camping?
I started off doing the disposable thing with plastic utensils, paper plates, paper cups, etc. I figured, like everybody, this was the way to go for simplicity. The thing was though that this method generates HEAPS of trash. Since I do a lot of boondocking, and don't always have access to a dumpster, this resulted in bags of trash sitting around inside my small rig, or locked up in the tow vehicle stinking it up. If I left the stuff outside, then animals would get into the trash and spread it all over the place. Handling the trash I realized was becoming a real nuisance.
I have since gone to using real plates, cups, utensils, etc. Yes, it means I need to wash more dishes, but I am already having to wash the pots and pans used to prepare the food anyways, so washing a few more plates and cups is not really that big a deal, and doesn't consume that much more time. It has made for a little more gray water, but not to where it poses a problem. My HTT has big holding tanks on it thankgoodness. Since doing this, On a typical camping trip, I only generate about 1 20 gallon bag of trash when camping with 1 or 2 other people, and that's mostly packing material for the food products, so the trash odor is not much of an issue either. I've simply found that it's easier to store and dump gray water than it is to store and dump trash...plus the gray water is stored out of sight, underneath the rig in the holding tank.
What are your thoughts on using disposable paper product to eat with, or do you use "real" eating materials that are washed and re-used?
RE: Sleep Number Bed's Customer Service!
I've heard those things peddled on the rant radio stations constantly around my local town. Typicaly, mail-order ads for things on lesser-patronized media outlets tend to not meet expectations, and have terrible customer service. I just assumed Sleepnumber was one of them simply because of their advertising tactics. Good stories like this change my view of them :) Glad to know there is still companies out there willing to go the extra mile for their most valuable resource!
RE: So, what's with propane prices?
I have noticed that you pay for convenience too...When Buying propane at RV parks and other places whose core business is not propane or other fuels, you will pay more. I've taken my propane bottles to a local fuel oil distributor's office, and gotten the cheapest rates. They deal with filling propane tanks much larger for people's homes. It's no skin off of their back to fill my 5 20 pound cylinders when they fill their 500 gallon delivery truck at the same price!
RE: Gas/Electric Hot Water Heater?
Electric heating elements in the WH are great, but Jkment's issue made me think of up a good point...there is only but so much wattage in a 30 ampere hookup!
An electric water heater element takes up about 1500 watts of that avaliable power. This leaves you with only enough wattage for one more "big ticket" high wattage item. This can be an electric heater, the Air conditioner, or the microwave. Running more than two big high wattage appliances is for certain to blow the fuse in your park outlet. The electric WH element is just one more thing to be mindful of to turn off when you want to warm up your morning coffee in the microwave while you got your electric heater going!
RE: Heat Strips or not?
I am going to go against the grain here and say I advocate the the heat strips in the AC unit, and here's why:
First of all, the heat strips are a great supplement to the furnace. No, they won't heat the entire rig, but when plugged into power, they will reduce the amount of propane you use on really cold nights. On modestly cool nights (50 degrees or so and higher), they will carry the heating load on their own. The trick is to set your thermostat to what is comfortable, and let the furnace kick in when the heat strips cannot do the job.
Using the AC unit to distribute heat in a HTT is a good idea. The problem I have when running just the furnace is that the heat from the propane furnace does not really make it to the bunk ends all that good. The blower on the AC unit takes the warm air in the middle of the rig, and blows it to the ends. With the heat strips on, it warms the air even further.
Lastly, I do not like plugging in an electric space heater. I am sort of clumsy, and having a heater sitting on the floor, or cords running around is just something waiting for me to trip over it. I don't like anything sitting in the floor at all! The heat strips have the same heating capacity (1500 watts) as a plug-in electric heater, so they produce the same amount of heat. The nice thing too is that the air conditioner is already wired for high current draw, whereas the outlets may not be. Besides, I really don't trust those cheap Chinese heaters from discount stores, as the quality of many other products at these stores is rather iffy at best.
If you really desire for more electric heat, versus running your propane heater, you still have the option to do what Thumper mentioned. This is because the outlets in most rigs are on a different circuit than the AC unit. With a plug-in electric heater, and the heat strips going, you will have a total of 3000 watts of heat, or about 10,000 BTU
RE: What ODD things have you seen RVers do?
I was at a flying J last year about this time filling up my rig with fuel when a MH pulled into the next pump over. A man gets out of the rig, and puts the fuel nozzle in the tank, then goes and opens a compartment, noses around inside, closes it and walks back into the MH. The next thing I hear was him fussing at his wive "I didn't pick up the hose, I though you did!" This went back and forth for a little while, then he walks back outside, hangs up the fuel nozzle and gets in the MH. Wife is outside giving hand signals "forward, back back, closer...Perfect!" I then see him come around to the side of the MH with the sewer connection. She opens the dump station, and then he takes off the cap and pulls the handle!!!! Brown water stats spewing all over the place as he tries to modulate the flow out out the valve so it will hit the hole in the ground. One thing was nice is that they thoroughly rise off all the ground where they had spilled sewage all over the ground, but the smell was rather oppressive. By this time, I had driven over to the store to buy a few things, and I could smell the odor all the way over there!
Do you really want to ride in these things?!?!
I have been working on an electrical and cabinet project in my little Palimino, and I had to take the microwave oven out. When I did that, I realized what little was actually holding the darned thing in! It's just held in by 4 wood screws fastened into the framework of the cabinet. I imagine it would not take much force to strip those wood screws out of the cabinet. So, in even a small fender-bender, I imagine it would not take much to dislodge the microwave oven, and send the 50-pound beast hurling out of the upper cabinet, and through the TT uncontrollably.
Now, yes, nobody rides in a TT while going down the road, BUT I am guessing that motorhomes are built pretty much the same way inside as travel trailers, so the same issue applies. What about the other appliances too? I imagine a side impact collision could get pretty nasty if it were to knock a stove or fridge loose, and even result in a broken propane line.
Yes, making an RV "crashproof" would involve a considerable amount of additional weight, but I would think just simply adding a metal brace to the back of the MW that fastens it to the frame would do wonders for the safety factor...and my peace of mind! I have rode in friends' motorhomes before, but after disassembling my own TT, I'm a little apprehensive about riding anywhere but in the cab!
RE: Oak fascia on ceap cabinets
In actuality, real wood is stronger and lighter than MDF covered in veneer, or that tape fascia stuff. MDF fragments and splits enterprisingly easy compared to real wood
For those that don't think Astros cannot haul weight...
Apparently, the world's largest man doesn't think that. He is having a 1989 Astro modified so he can get around in :)
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/us_world/Worlds-Fattest-Man-Pimps-His-Astrovan.html
RE: rip DVD videos to the internet
most of my video clips are under 5 minutes in length anyways, so Youtube's limit shouldn't be a problem...Thanks Guys :) this helps out a lot!
RE: What brand/model of CB?
This is the one I own:
http://www.peanutcbshop.com/Cobra-29-Soundtracker.html
It is an extremely good radio to use in urban / city traffic. I use it regularly when traveling for work around Interstate 95, and 64 between the DC and Norfolk areas. I primarily use it for listening for highway trouble, but occasionally talk on it.
I reserve most of my chatting for the 2meter and 70centimeter HAM radio bands ;)
RE: What brand/model of CB?
I highly recommend one of the newer Corbras with the DSP filtering. The DSP filtering makes a world of difference when it comes to clearing up much of the band congestion and noise common on the CB band. It makes the stations you are trying to receive literally "pop out" of the background noise and distortion.
If you do not get a CB with DSP filtering, get one with an RF gain knob. This reduces the sensitivity of the receiver when you need it, like when traveling through a big city where there is heavy band traffic. This helps reduce the background noise as well. You can then turn the RF gain back up to full when you are out in the open for better recieption
rip DVD videos to the internet
how do I rip DVD videos like ripping CD audio? Windows Media player has something for audio CD's but not for DVD's. I took some old 8mm camcorder footage and copied it to DVD using my DVD-R deck. I now want to post the footage on Youtube and facebook for friends to see.
RE: A novice's question about laptops and electricity
Some laptops have direct 12 volt power adapters avaliable. These are OK to run directly off of 12 volts because they have voltage regulators in them. The problem you are probably experiencing is that the wiring behind the lighter socket thingy as you call it in the wall of your camper is too small for the power load your laptop pulls.
There are two things you can do to solve this problem, neither are particularly easy or inexpensive. The best and sure-fire way to fix the problem is to install a 12 volt "lighter" style socket yourself. You will want to wire it with 12ga wire or larger from the socket to the battery, or the converter in your rig. The second method is that you can buy a larger inverter and wire it up to the battery in your rig. Next, you will want to plug the 120 volt shore line cord into the inverter. You will now have 120 volts at all the outlets in our rig, and you can plug your computer's 120 volt adapter in and use it anywhere in your rig. Note...although you have 120 volts avaliable, it's not much. Don't go and try and run "big ticket" items like the microwave, AC or the fridge off of the battery!
RE: Add heat to A/C unit?
I look at this in a different way...The heat strips in a rooftop AC unit I believe is much safer than sitting space heaters around. Space heaters could have something dropped on them, or they can be kicked or tripped over easily. There is also the issue of wiring overload. The Air conditioner on the roof is designed to draw lots of power, so most RV manufacturers put 12ga wire to them. OTOH, most wall outlets have 14ga wire going to them. You also have the factor that plugs don't always make perfect connections in their outlets, and they can overheat when large amounts of current are drawn through them. Yes, the blower does make more noise than a floor heater, but no more noise than the thing makes during the summer.
The only disadvantage to using heat strips in a rooftop AC unit is that your floor will stay chilly. Heat rises, and if it's put in at the roof, well, it just stays there! I find the heat strips though work extremely well in my HTT for warming the bunk ends.
RE: "Texting"...why?
One reason I do have my phone/blackberry in church is that I have an online bible program on it. It has all the common English translations of the Bible on it, so I can look at a passage in several different translations and compare them at a click of a button. To do this with paper Bibles, I would need to carry an entire stack of Bibles with me! The Blackberry though, fits right into my pocket....so don't think someone is being rude when a Bible passage is given out, and you see some people reach for their phones and start tapping!
RE: black & white vs black and white AAARGHHH!!!
I just wish they would have used one standard, or another, but using both standards in the same rig... now that's just plain bad!
RE: "Texting"...why?
I haven't seen it mentioned, but am I the only one who benefits from texting because of bad hearing? It's very frustrating for me to talk on a phone, when I have to ask people to "slow down" or "speak more clearly". They usually do for a few seconds and then go right back to what's normal for them.
YES! Even with someone like me that has extremely good hearing, cell phones have annoyingly bad fidelity. The audio is choppy and drops syllables, and percussive sounds like "b" "D" "t" just all sound the same. This, I think is the reason why cell phones are so dangerous to use while driving...they require a significant amount of brain power to interpret what the far end is actually saying.
Nope. Texting in church is still very very rude, disrespectful and irreverent. I just turn my phone OFF, or on vibrate, when I am in church. It's got a little button on that does that. I can live without a phone for an hour or two.
Yes, it is disrespectful to text in church, but you did not read the entire note I placed... The idea is that when someone invaribly attempts to call while in church, in class, or when engaging in a one-on-one conversation, instead of stopping to talk on the phone, one can just text back to the caller, "I will talk to you later, I'm busy"
I am not speaking of engaging in a text conversation with someone while in church, but just sending them a SINGLE message back indicating your status that you cannot talk at the moment! This, I think satisfies the need of the person calling that needs immediate contact (If they didn't need me immeditely, why are that phoning!?!?) and also does not rudely break off the interaction with the party in person
RE: DTV Switch Over is ON
Wait till the switch is fully completed before you go condemning digital TV recieption. Many stations are running their analogue stations on their high-power transmitters, on their taller antennas. The digital antennas are usually located lower down on the towers, and on lower power temporary transmitters. After the switch, the temporary transmitters will be taken offline, and the digital signals moved to the high-power transmitters and the taller antennas that once transmitted the analogue stations
RE: "Texting"...why?
I think texting is a good etiquette thing. There are times when answering a phone call and engaging in a conversation would be rude and obnoxious, like in the aforementioned church, but there's also movie theaters. There is also the times when you are engaged in an in-person conversation, and your phone goes off. It's easy to text "I'm busy, call call later" or something like that. Texting is one-way, and doesn't require immediate attention, unlike a phone call, which must be answered instantly, and the person on the other end tended to. There's also no worry that you will get caught in a never-ending phone call when you don't have time to talk!
For those of us like myself who have issues with verbal communication, texting is great. I own a Blackberry and use it constantly for communication much more than making phone calls.
