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Forum
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RE: Solar Help
I followed the rough rule of thumb of 1 Watt of solar panel output for every 1 AH of battery capacity and it turned out to be more than adequate with our 220 AH of battery capacity and 200 Watts and 11 amps of solar panel output. We never drop below 80% DOD and usually it takes less than 3 hours after sunrise in any kind of weather except rainy days to get back to 100%.
A good panel to consider is the 140 Watt Kyocera which is well made and good size in terms of length and width (narrow enough to both fit in a space and to not be affected by shadows from anything on the roof) for RV's and very reasonably priced.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 07:42pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: MiFi Service
We bought out the Verizon plan for $175 and switched to Millenicom and have 20GB for less than 10GB with Verizon. No worries about running over the penalties from Verizon are steep. Check the many complaints by Verizonwireless customers on the company's own community forum for overbilling of these "overages".
We cannot get cellular phone service at our house but we can connect to the cell tower for 4G data. I added a mast with a parabolic grid antenna tuned for Verizon's 4G band and a Surecall signal booster and a LMR-400 cable and get an adequate signal at the house. On the road we use the same Surecall RF signal booster and I mounted a Digital Antenna for 4G on the roof of the RV and ran 240 series cable through the roof. This makes all the difference between getting a signal and not in a great many places we have stayed.
The RF signal boosters all use 5-12v DC power and work with either a 12v cigarette adapter or a 110v AC adapter so they work at home or on the road.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 06:18pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Sisters, Or dispersed camping
I buy the maps for the forests in an area from the USFS website. It makes trip planning a lot easier and the maps show the dirt roads and dispersed camping areas that you will not find on any other maps. Best deal around.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 05:52pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Test drove a new Chevy D/A Dually today
What I appreciate on the new trucks is that they also stop quickly as well. My '98 Chevy took a country mile to stop with any amount of trailer load and even when not towing and no passengers. 4 wheel disc brakes were much too long in coming.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 05:50pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 1T Pickup special rules and regulations?
I wonder how many people in Kalifornia simply tow with smaller (less capable) trucks JUST to avoid the idiocy of the GVWR cutoff in that state?
You did not understand the information provided. In California there are extra fees for commercial trucks, as is the case in all states. The wrinkle is that California classifies all pickups as commercial vehicles regardless of the GVWR. A mini-truck owner pays a higher fee than the person driving an SUV that cost twice as much. They are copying the strategy of former governor Ronald Reagan to tax the poor and give tax breaks to the rich. For lots of fat cats this wonderful progam was later extended at the federal level which is why Romney pays a 10% tax rate on his millions of dollars of ill gotten gains - capital gains that is and with hedge funds there is a wonderful loophole that was not created by accident that classifies their fees as capital gains even though they risk none of their own money. Golden rule applies with the tax code.
The only way to get around the pickup tax in California is to have a camper welded to the truck bed and I do mean welded. Applies only to pickups so a Class B or other motorhome is taxed solely on gross vehicle weight.
In Utah the weigh scale police want ALL vehicles with a gross vehicle weight over 10,000 lbs. to stop and be weighed.
With RV's it is easy to cross over into commercial vehicle territory but actually California is one of the friendliest states in this regard. On the east coast the laws vary from city to city and the tickets are expensive.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 05:48pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Equilizer hitch needed on 3500?
The need for a WDH depends upon the trailer tongue weight and all the truck manufactures specify the trailer weight where a WDH is recommended. GM for its heavy duty trucks recommends a WDH for any trailer over 5,000 lbs. and a WDH with sway control for any trailer weighing more than 7,500 lbs. The GM trucks can handle a trailer up to 16,500 lbs. with a ball hitch if it is the right setup.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 05:24pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Full Synthetic or Synthetic Blend
Living in Los Angeles I would not use a synthetic blend. The advantages with the 5w40 oil is when driving in sub-zero weather. Not a lot of that in So CA. The downside of these oils is polymer shearing which translates into less protection for the engine's main bearings.
Towing or heavy hauling transates into severe duty and per the manufacturer's recommendations I change the oil and filter more often than if the truck was used to commute to work each day. With a 5k oil change interval there is zero benefit to use a synthetic over a SAE grade mineral oil.
If synthetics lived up to the hype it would be used in every big rig on the highway and every taxi cab in the world and it is not being done.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 04:44pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: engine mods
4.10 gears will help a good deal in keeping the engine's RPM's in the max power band while towing at 60-65 MPH. With tall gears the engine is challenged especially with the older vehicles with 4-speed transmissions. With the GM 6-speed transmissions the first 4 gears are all underdrive and 5th and 6th are both overdrive gears.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 04:39pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Claiming a first come campsite
Not sure why this was such a complicated question. With many BLM and USFS dispersed camping areas there is no host and no ranger and it is first come get a site. We travel with a slide-in camper on a truck. No trailer and no toad, only the truck.
If we want to drive to a trailhead to hike for the day or drive into town for supplies or to a lake to go fishing we leave the campsite with our truck. I do not want to be a captive of the campsite during our entire stay in an area. If we have a boat trailer or toad or travel trailer to park in the site it would not be a concern, but we do not. Reality is that most of the places we go most trailers would not fit or even most motorhomes even without a toad.
Thanks for the people that provided constructive suggestions. Guess we will buy a couple of cheap expendible folding chairs and use a cable and lock to secure them to a table or fire pit grill.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 04:35pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Claiming a first come campsite
My understanding is that on a federal first come first served campground such as NPS or BLM is that unless you are ready to occupy you are not supposed to leave any thing to "claim" the sight. I don't know what to suggest other than that. We arrive and setup and done, if we don't get a "choice" site then so be it.
I will say that it ticks me off to arrive at a site and see a lawn chair or cooler sitting there with nothing else. They are taking a site and not using it for a day or so and to me that just aint right. If you want to be the "first come" then set up and use the sight!
Steve
Not sure why one would do it any other way. Set up, go pay the tube, have fun you are done.
Problem is that if you pay the money in the tube no one who comes after you knows what spot you have paid for!
The quote is from BLM "Camping equipment and/or a recreational vehicle is set up at the site to clearly indicate the site is taken."
So that is the BLM policy for their campgrounds.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 04:21pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Charging a deep cycle battery with lighter guage wire
Run 8ga as it is not that much larger in diameter but provides double the cross section area of a 12ga wire and so delivers more current to your camper battery.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 04:19pm |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: Yard dolly or trailer mover?
With a search you need to know the right term and it took me quite a while to find "trailer tug" was the one I needed. I went with an AC powered unit as it provided better braking on a sloped area and did not want another battery to deal with in addition to the ones in the RV, cars, boat.
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wintersun
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05/22/13 04:17pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Help with gun selection
The hip waders should be lined to keep the snakes at bay but a bite on the arm or face is likely to be fatal. If she could see the snake in time to carefully pull her firearm and shoot the snake she would also have time to put distance between herself and the snake.
If an alligator grabs her and starts to spin her she if not going to be able to do anything about it with a firearm.
If a wild pig sneaks up on her in a rice field she would have to be asleep to not see it. Pigs are nocturnal animals anyway and she is not likely to encounter them during the day while doing her field work.
Allowing someone to carry a firearm is more likely to get them in trouble as they will have a false sense of security that is not justified.
To be sure of taking out an alligator or a large feral pig at short range I would want a Marlin Model 1895 in .45-70 caliber or a Remington 7000 in .30-06. One shot with the .45-70 and the animal will definitely be down - assuming the shooter hits the animal and not the person held in their jaws.
Of 13 people attacked and killed by alligators in the past decade 12 were in Florida and 1 was in Georgia. None were in Texas. Odds of your wife getting hit by a drunk drive on her way to work are considerably higher - especially in Texas where it is OK to have an open container in your car so long as you have a passenger who can say it belongs to them. There are more than 1000 alchohol related fatalities in the state of Texas each and every year. Texas has the dubious distinction of leading the nation in this area and in 2012 more there were more than 2500 victims of drunk drivers in the state.
No victims of alligator attacks.
Interesting link
http://www.statemaster.com/graph/hea_all_att-health-alligator-attacks
Grand total of 15 alligator attacks in Texas in the last 65 years.
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wintersun
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05/21/13 08:30pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: California- San Diego and up. cheap/boondocking places
California coast in the summertime and cheap do not go together - pick 2 of the 3. Often north of Ventura the worst months to be along the coast are July and August unless you like maritime overcast days and lots of wind. The coldest month is February and it gets warmer month by month to a peak in September and this last month is the best time to be in California or in May. Better weather, fewer tourists, and off-season rates.
Lots of state parks with senior rates and also BLM lands and county and city RV parks that are more difficult to find but will have great rates. There are campgrounds that are first come first serve so if you arrive by noon you have an excellent chance of finding a space.
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wintersun
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05/21/13 07:58pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Cali beach or waterfront
Guide book by Tom Steinstra is a good place to start. Lots of places for day use by RV's and fewer with overnight options. My personal favorite is Gold Bluff beach in northern California - very wild and primative beach you get to share with a herd of elk.
North of Santa Barbara your options improve considerably and often you can have miles of beach to yourself.
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wintersun
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05/21/13 07:50pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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Claiming a first come campsite
Curious as to what people do when they go to a first come first serve campground without formal registration. BLM for example states: "Camping equipment and/or a recreational vehicle is set up at the site to clearly indicate the site is taken."
I don't want to leave valuable gear at a campsite to show it is "taken" and we don't want to have stay parked in the space. Interested in what people have done successfully in this situation.
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wintersun
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05/21/13 07:45pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: quality control
Lance and most other economy level RV manufacturers have low volume and pay high costs for materials and have a lot of labor costs for every unit they make. One cannot compare them to luxury units selling for 2-10x the price or to cars and trucks. They have to make them affordable and have a profit margin for the dealers that resell them.
I have no problems with the quality control at Lance or most of their design and engineering approaches. I have my wish list naturally of areas where I would pay extra for something different and I intensely dislike the way the industry uses caulk to temporarily weather seal EVERYTHING on the exterior. But I know that a camper made to Air Stream standards would be at least double the cost and if looking at both campers on a dealer's lot I would probably buy the Lance.
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wintersun
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05/21/13 03:29pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: looking for tires
I replaced the stock Firestone Transforce 265/17R75 with Nitto Terra Grappler 285/70R17 tires to get the additional rear payload capacity of 7500 lbs. and noticed an improved ride and reduced sway with the new tires.
I came across two types of Nitto Terra Grapplers though and one was rated at a much lower load capacity though in the same size. Check the exact capacity of the tire you buy to be sure you get the expected rating and check the sides of the tires before they are installed.
One downside I have noticed with the Nitto Terra Grapplers is that the tread design does a poor job of chucking out gravel picked up on the road. I end up having to use a screwdriver to pry it out after a trip.
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wintersun
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05/21/13 03:20pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: What Are The Upsides & Downsides To Driving A DRW Truck?
If dually trucks only downside is that they cost a couple thousand more to buy and need an extra pair of tires then why do you suppose that 99% of the trucks on the highway are SRW pickups and why are 80% of the people pulling 5th wheel trailers using SRW pickups?
A DRW pickup is needed for a camper setup that is going to way in excess of 4500 lbs. but that is a small minority of truck campers. Current 3/4 and 1-ton trucks from GM exceed the 1-ton trucks of 5 years ago in every regard and will handle any 10' camper being sold today. Ford and Ram make less capable 3/4 ton trucks for marketing purposes but even their 1-ton SRW trucks have enough payload capacity for all but the 11' campers - where you do gain that super critical dry bath.
As for general hauling other than campers how many people put anything even close to half the payload capacity of their pickups into the bed? I can see no benefit of a large and wide DRW pickup with a huge turning radius and a 11' slide in camper over a Class C motorhome and quite a few big drawbacks, especially in terms of available and easily accessible cargo space.
This is really a great example of rationalizing a purchase decision that has already been made for largely emotional reasons.
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wintersun
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05/21/13 03:14pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Just passing along some prayers for the midwest
Great timing - Republican deficit vultures are currently pushing for a 28% decrease in the budget for NOAA which includes the national weather service. Penny wise and pound foolish? Humanity seems to be in short supply in Congress.
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wintersun
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05/21/13 02:58pm |
General RVing Issues
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