RE: Sun-Lite Discovery: mpg ?
The Discovery would have the same leak potential as any pop-up, which isn't a huge risk IMO. Yes, there are always downsides to buying discontinued things. Anyway I would like to find out what mpg might be expected towing one of these.
Sun-Lite Discovery: mpg ?
I'd like to hear from anyone who has towed one of these SunLite Discovery trailers and can say what gas mileage they got while towing. The way the roof lowers about 20 inches really looks like it would cut down a lot on wind resistance. That would put it only 8 or 9 inches higher than my TV, I think. I've just recently learned of these Discovery trailers and am eyeing a couple of used ones.
Thanks!
RE: What if we drilled our own oil?
I am convinced that we need a new energy policy in the USA. We should do the following:
1. Quickly phase out subsidies for production of ethanol from corn. Farm land needs to be kept in food crops to avoid food shortages and unnecessary reduction of essential soil micronutrients.
2. Enact legislation that will encourage new refineries to be built in the USA. Refinery capacity is the main bottleneck. We need new refineries... not just for consumer consumption, but because our military requires a steady source of fuel, too.
3. Have short term investment tax credits for oil companies who move quickly to develop the recently discovered oil field in north central US (Dakotas, etc.). I heard that this new pool is almost as large as Saudi Arabia’s.
4. Put new nuclear power facility projects on a fast track. Nuclear electric generation plants are safe, incredibly clean burning, and dependable. As part of this, we need to change the laws so that nuclear waste may again be recycled. The remaining unusable waste is very compact and needs only a modest sized space for storage.
If we announce all of this, you can bet that OPEC will immediately drop their price on crude oil and raise production. Fuel prices will fall. Food prices will stabilize, too.
RE: Camping in Michigan
I hope you leave yourself a couple of days to explore the shoreline north and south of Ludington. Nice things to see and do along there. Silver Lake SP has dune buggy rentals and sand dunes, also the nicest looking lighthouse I've seen. Ludington SP has a nice lighthouse too. Frankfort is a quiet little town. Sleeping Bear Dunes is definitely worth seeing. Charlevoix is a pretty town with little shops along the street. I really like the tree-overhanging 'tunnel' drive from Harbor Springs to Cross Village on C77. Then of course there's Mackinaw City's shops, the fort, the bridge, a whitefish dinner and some famous fudge for dessert. If you get that far north you may as well take the boat ride to Mackinac Island... I always enjoy riding a bike around the whole island when I go there... no cars allowed so it's peaceful and scenic.
RE: TT sat for 8yrs, how to clean mildew from seal areas +?
Something with bleach should work. I used Tilex and a car-wash-style soft bristle brush broom on my TT when it got mildew stains and it took the stuff off very well. Used it on the house's vinyl siding, too. I don't think it would hurt the seals.
RE: Questions about becoming a Transport Driver
I thought about this line of work about 10 years ago and bought a book on the subject. It was written by a guy who had been doing it for a few years. At that time he estimated that one could clear about $18,000/year with loads going one way, but if the person was really aggressive about contacting other companies and looking for loads going back the other way he could clear maybe $30,000. That was when fuel was waaaaay cheaper, so no idea whether pay has kept up or gotten better or worse.
The thing about getting backhauls is, you are self employed so you're free to seek them, but there's never any guarantee you'll get one for the particular run you're on.
The author said you have to really, really love driving. And it's not conducive to sightseeing or dawdling. You have to hustle to make a living at it, point A to point B as short and fast as possible. It's lonely, tedious work. Ask yourself: would I enjoy being an over the road trucker? Because even though you are in your own pickup, the lifestyle is much the same as if you owned and operated your own big rig. (Only, the pay isn't probably as good for transporters as for truckers with a CDL.)
Whatever you decide, best of luck.
RE: an unpleasant experience
Did you check all the windows and locks after they left? My aunt used to have a TT and had a similar experience. They took a long time to look at it, then agreed to a lower price than advertised. They decided not to take it because they could not agree to method of payment. My aunt and her husband went away for a long weekend one holiday and when they got back the TT was gone. Fortunately, my aunt's DH had thought to write down the lic number of the car that they drove (it was out of state). The police were able to find the TT and it seems that the people were waiting for my aunt to leave and they helped themselves with the intent to sell it.
They could never make off with our TT, it's in the back yard and DW (who is home 99% of the time) can see it thru the window from where she always sits. Besides that, they would have to lift 2 privacy fence sections to get into the back yard. :) :)
It's true, I jumped the gun and told him what I needed to do if he had a cashier's check, before even finding out IF he had one. I never did find out what he had for certain. He just got uppity and left. If I had it to do over I'd listen more & talk less. (But from his reaction, I think the result might have been the same anyway.)
I didn't think much of a man who would shake hands on a deal and then back out 2 minutes later, either.
RE: an unpleasant experience
Not sure I understand the cashier check thing. If the person was coming and knew there would be any possibility of dickering then they wouldn't have brought a cashier's check made out for the exact amount. Seems like he would have just brought cash so it would be easier to pay the exact amount AFTER dickering. Would he have expected you to refund any differences from the cashier's check? I know I wouldn't be willing to refund any overages from his check.
Sorry that it got you all wound up though. I think I would have asked him to leave the minute he questioned your apprehension in taking his check at face value!
I'm not sure either... I don't think I would carry ten grand in cash around in my pocket, though. Maybe he had a cashier's check for nine thousand and the rest in cash? I don't know, probably never will.
an unpleasant experience
Due to my wife’s medical bills and other financial needs, I put my TT up for sale on rvtrader recently. Sunday a man from Arkansas called about it. After getting info and dickering a bit, he said he and his wife were coming to look at it.
So that evening they showed up. They spent a good hour and a half looking over every inch of the trailer inside and out, lying on the bed, sitting on the sofa and even the toilet, you name it they checked it out. I even left them alone for a while so they could talk without me. And after hemming and hawing between them for all that time, the man finally said, “We’re just not as taken with it as we thought we’d be and we’re not going to buy it... sorry to keep you out here all this time.” (By now it was 10 pm).
So we get out of the TT, just making smalltalk and standing there a bit, and he says, “You know, if you’ll knock another $200 off, I guess we’ll take it.” I considered briefly and said ok, and we all shook hands on the deal!
Then I asked him what form of payment he had brought. There had been mention on the phone of him stopping by the bank for a cashier’s check or something, so I said if he brought a cashier’s check, no offense to him but because there have been problems with forged cashier’s checks nowadays (my wife’s sister lost a car by taking one of those) I wanted to be cautious. I said I’d trust him to take possession of the trailer if he’d trust me to mail him the title when the payment cleared my bank. And I commented that I’d get my signature on the title notarized (required in Okla.) before mailing it.
Well, suddenly he starts to argue with me about whether the title signature really has to be notarized; he claims he’s a policeman and he knows for a fact it doesn’t, “at least not in Arkansas.” And the next thing he says is, “I just don’t feel comfortable with this deal; we’re going home.” And off they went.
When I went in the house I realized I was totally wound up, tense, and anxious. The whole thing was nerve-wracking! It took a long time to calm down enough to go to sleep, and even the next morning the whole thing was bothering me. I kept trying to figure out if I’d insulted him or what.
But after thinking about it for a long time, I wonder if my wife’s hunch is right... she says they probably were con artists with a bogus cashier’s check! What do you think?
RE: question about highway 22 over the Teton Pass
I towed westward over Teton Pass once, and going downhill I had to shift to first gear to hold back my popup. That said, in first gear it wasn't the least bit scary or dangerous... but the folks behind me weren't happy with my slowness.
RE: Carbon Monoxide Detector Bad?
Are you sure the alarms are FALSE?
The OP did say it was sounding even out of doors. Sounds bad to me.
These detectors are pretty sensitive. They can be mucked up by the presence of fresh paint, aerosol sprays, things that give off chemicals into the air. Who knows, maybe the formaldehyde in your RV made it go bad. :E
RE: Can I get some digital camera advice?
The A470 has no optical viewfinder. If you ever have trouble seeing the LCD in bright sun or enjoy using the VF anyway, you'd miss it if you bought this one. Otherwise a fine camera.
The A720 and A570 are very similar, but the 720 will reach farther with the optical zoom. Handy for shooting wildlife sometimes. Either one have image stabilization, which is nice for low-light shooting without flash and for those far-away telephoto pictures. I have the A710 and like it.
Enjoy your new camera!
RE: Photography - White Balance
Speaking of RAW mode, digital P&S cameras take RAW pictures but generally don't give the user the option to save it as such... it automatically is saved as jpeg. However, some folks recently figured out how to make certain Canon models save the files as RAW if they want to. A bit of software called StereoDataMaker, or SDM for short (free download), is put onto the SD card where it can be accessed. The camera can be 'booted up,' so to speak, using this software... the camera's firmware is in no way tampered with so it's nonintrusive and can't damage anything.
In addition to allowing RAW file saving, some of SDM's other features include a more precise battery meter, separate histograms for the three color channels (clipped areas will flash on the LCD image), and the ability to fire the camera (or more than one camera simultaneously) via USB remote. The latter feature allows a person with two Canons mounted parallel to take 3D (stereoscopic) photo pairs (that's why I like it).
There's more info at http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/sdm/index.htm if someone is interested. Also there's a StereoDataMaker Yahoo group that just started up.
RE: Mackinac, Mich to Bay City, Mich eastern route?
There's a new casino kind of between Standish & Pinconning, if you like that sort of thing.
I would recommend unhooking around Alpena or Harrisville and driving your TV to Negwegon SP... no camping there, and (last I knew) a dirt two-track to get there, but it's a quiet and uncrowded beach.
RE: equal-i-zer questions
If you ever trade for a different TT with heavier tongue weight, you'll be equipped. Other than that, no advantage that I know of.
RE: Kidney failure, Erin's at rainbow bridge
Outliving our pets is one of the tougher things we go through in life. But we are richer for the experience of having known them.
Mike
RE: New National Park Law
You go to Alaska and 4 out of every 5 people at the favorite fishing sites have a firearm strapped on their side. Would you like to go to Yellowstone NP or Yosemite NP and see 1/2 the people walking around with a firearm strapped on? You laugh at the thought, but pass a law like he proposes and you will see them. Firearms have a place and I believe in the 2nd amendment, but not to carry in a place like a NP with so many children and foreign tourist around.
Wouldn't bother me any. But then I'd be one of 'em, .45 ACP in my belt holster. I like the idea of having a deterrent in case I cross paths with a predator out in the woods.
My oldest brother had a handgun with him while hiking in the Yellowstone area a while back... a bear came along, running fast... the bear was headed right in his direction but probably didn't realize he was there. A couple of shots in the air caused the bear to change its course, which seemed beneficial to my brother at the time.
Why do I feel it's ok to allow loaded firearms in national parks? Because I am responsible for maintaining my own safety to a great degree. Police and guards and such can't be around 24/7 to protect me in the woods. A firearm is a useful tool in that task. It is always possible to come around a rocky outcrop, or even a cinder block CG building, and run smack dab into a startled critter that might decide to fight instead of flee. Why take away a tool that can help me protect myself in the wild, just because someday someone somewhere just might hurt another person with a gun? The rationale seems to be that you have a lot of people visiting the national parks and therefore loaded weapons create an unusual danger risk. Yet that rationale falls apart when one considers that:
1. concealed carry is legal in plenty of big, much more crowded cities, and even open carry is legal in NM cities, but it has not created such inordinate danger there; and
2. the vast bulk of national park land is wilderness, populated not by people but by animals with long fangs and sharp claws.
RE: Another WDH question
Absotively, posilutely, it will work. Don't settle for anything less!
My Rockwood is almost the same size (23'8") and weight (3400 dry) as your TT. I got the Equalizer with the 1000 lb. bars just in case I upgraded later to a larger TT. Works just fine.
RE: Financing 2008 Flagstaff TT
I used my credit cards.
Seriously! I'm paying 4% on one and the other one is variable... started at 5.25% and topped out at 8.5%, but headed back down now as is the prime rate. So I'm running about 6% interest overall. I pay more than the minimum each month.
It's sorta nice not having a lien on the trailer. :D
