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RE: DOES THIS BUDGET SOUND REASONABLE?
For what it's worth.....
For meals, the cheapest is eating in. For eating out, we budget $10 per person when traveling. We do stay under that including the tip. We eat at Cracker Barrel (breakfast and/or supper) and end up eating "leftovers" for lunch... it we even feel hungry, or all you can eat Chinese buffets.
We keep costs down by staying in a parking lot. We are set up to where we do not need to run a generator for more than a couple hours in the AM and a couple hours in the PM. This allows us to recharge house bank (we run a 12vDC water pump and inverter powers lights, electronics on LP range, 110VAC stove vent and TV/DVD) plus heat the water (AC only water heater) and cool the freezer and refrigerator back down after all the opening/closing to cook supper. Parking in parking lots isn't free if you have to run a generator. But if done right, you can save quite a bit over a campground. We feel parking in parking lots is a matter of convenience rather than a method of saving money.
Monthly stays in private commercial parks drops our lodging costs down to $13.33 for a $400/30 day month park. $400 is our current max that we are willing to pay. So far we have not paid that. Our lowest was $350 and we currently pay $375. Being 30 amp also keeps costs down.
If you keep moving, your using more fuel and paying short term camping fees. Pick a central location and daytrip or really work a town to see everything there (in a cheaper fuel use vehicle or using public transportation which is in many towns even small ones).
Many public parks (city/county) are free for the first night. Others are pretty cheap. We don't qualify for a senior discount. I use Don Wrights campground books and then look up more info on the parks... usually on http://www.ultimatecampgrounds.com/uc/index.php
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lornaschinske
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03/07/13 04:58pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Homemade Generator
http://theepicenter.com/tow02077.html
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lornaschinske
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03/06/13 07:41pm |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: The Perfect Beach/Lake/Pool/Recreation Bag
You can make your own
Beach bag made from Fiberglass window screen
Another one
And another one
Patterns to buy ... one is almost identical (or it is based on what I can tell) You can also buy the brightly coloured mesh at this site too.
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lornaschinske
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03/06/13 07:37pm |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: Propane quick connect question
You cannot "double regulate" the LP. We have found that we have to "T" off before the RV regulator if we use either our table top grill or the Dynaglo Tagalong LP heater. Both of these appliances have the regulator built in allowing us to either use the 1 pound disposable tanks or off a 20 LP BBQ tank.
You can get LP quick connect fittings from many places. We have usually bought the various "Mr. Heater" brand of LP fittings from ACE, Tru Value and Home Depot.
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lornaschinske
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03/05/13 10:34am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Outside Motion Light...
Why not use a Solar Motion Sensor Light. We just leave one of those little sidewalk solar lights beside the door. I no longer want a motion sensor light. We used to have one on a shed back when we had a house. The silly bats learned to trip the thing so the bugs would be attracted to the light and they would have a buffet.
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lornaschinske
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02/08/13 09:24am |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: Allure flooring issues
Hi, I was convinced that I was going to purchase and install the Allure flooring available at Home Depot in my Motorhome. However the sales rep said it was not meant for Motorhomes because of the environmental conditions experienced. He said that the product needs to be kept at room temperature, and that is not the case for a Motorhome in Ontario Canada that is parked for the winter in very cold conditions. He said the adhesive tape loses its bond and the pieces start separating. I don't know if this guy is blowing smoke or if what he says is true.
If you have the Allure flooring in your Motorhome, please comment.
Thanks. Bill
You do know that we have to take lots of classes on the products sold in the stores. And with every new product, we take a couple more classes. Unlike some big box home improvement stores, Home Depot likes to give their employees training so they can be knowledgeable enough about the products they sell to help the customers make the best decision for their projects. I've worked there almost a year and have taken hours of classes relating to the various departments I work in in addition to my "regular" position.
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lornaschinske
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01/28/13 05:47pm |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: Fithwheel cook stove
The oven in the wedgewood vision doesn't cook. It takes 2-3 times longer to bake anything. 30-45 min for biscuits for example. I would like to replace it with a house type propane range. Is this possible?
I have a 30" GE Profile LP Gas range in our bus. Works great. Uses less LP than the 22" RV range that we had in a Class C. Only thing I do not like is I have to remove the 4 cast iron grates and flame diffusers from the top of the glasstop range every time we travel (which isn't much). I store them in the bottom drawer of the range. Small inconvenience for having the large range.
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lornaschinske
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11/14/12 05:50pm |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: my hydronic heater
Lorna - I was joking about the school bus seat haha...
... I am at a disadvantage of mounting more things inside cabinets with the POPUP camper...
Some folks don't know how other things are built. You might look at the Hydronic Cabin Heaters heat exchangers that many marine stores sell.
We used to have a popup too. 1974 Apache Roamer... no canvas!
http://www.freewebs.com/schinskeapache/Apache%20Pop-up%20Aug%202004.jpg width=640
Moderator edit to re-size picture to forum limit of 640px maximum width and to make clickable link shorter
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lornaschinske
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11/10/12 02:16pm |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: my hydronic heater
...
I had thought about trying to locate an old school bus hot water heat exchanger. Momabear probably wouldn't let me mount the school bus seat in the trailer anywhere haha...
What does a schoolbus seat have to do with anything? Those rear heat exchangers simply hang off the seat frame. They aren't part of the seat. We have ours hanging under the bus floor between the two center beams with a return air vent cut thru the steel floor. The seats (all of them) were recycled years ago. Our rear heat exchanger is rated at 90,000 BTUs. That's not a typo. We have found that everything on our BlueBird seems to be overbuilt. And that's the reason we decided to use a schoolbus as a platform. That and our bus was fairly cheap. By the time we finish the conversion, we will still have under $6K in it (including purchase of the shell).
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lornaschinske
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11/10/12 10:04am |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: my hydronic heater
For a cheap version (in other words the one we put together) try a dedicated vintage Bowen LP water heater (now called Atwood) with a Hott Rod installed. Take the rear heat exchanger from a school bus (we used the one from our bus, but you can probably find one in a junk yard.. 2 1vDC fans are on the heat exchanger and it was originally under a bench seat so it's not a wimpy tiny thing). Added a 7L DC 12V Brushless HHO CPU Cooling Water/oil pump from Amazon ($24.50 + 6.49 shipping) and pet safe antifreeze solution. Now we have a cheap hydronic heater. Old idea. Read about it in an article (A Simple RV Hydronic Heating System by Jim Phypers 1991) that I chased thru several websites before losing it completely, except for the copy I have saved on my computer. With a few modifications, it was a good choice for us. By using a dedicated water/fluid heater, we don't worry about the antifreeze contaminating the potable water.
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lornaschinske
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11/09/12 09:44pm |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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