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RE: Tie Down an Electric Awning
We sewed up our own 4x10 awning to mate with a 10x10 FirstUp quickshelter. It creates a 10 x 14 outdoor screened porch for us.
The fact that the awning is attached at the front to the sturdy quickshelter makes it remarkably wind resistant.
An overly elaborate solution for you but very good if you could use the extra outdoor covered space.
Less than $100 for a well-engineered FirstUp at WM. Adjustable heights.
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bananadanna
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09/07/08 06:37pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Question about electrical upgrades
Did you want to consider replacing the converter with an inverter/charger? Sure is nice to power at least some of your ac devices off battery power.
The solar guys usually offer custom cables. I got mine from New England Solar.
Should be some previous threads here about homemade cable crimpers---that's the only way you want to attach a fitting. A piece of garden hose is useful for measuring your cable lengths as it is similar to the stiffness of battery cables for figuring out any bend radii.
You'd like to attach positive and negative cables to opposite ends of your battery bank. Not too hard to figure out the terminal layouts for future six volt batteries of the same size and leave no more slack than needed for the future set up.
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bananadanna
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09/06/08 02:56pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Having trouble justifying costs
I am surprised by how many people buy things they can't afford. The demographic for pickup truck buyers has an awful lot of people making less than median household income. A news story calculated that a compact car would run $15000 less to own over 5 yrs. Real money to many of those truck buyers.
We bought a used cargo Sprinter (and did a DIY conversion) to save more $$$.
It was a requirement that it be able to be a (low miles) daily driver to replace an existing vehicle.
Also a requirement for no special storage.
My DIY is designed to haul many canoes and I almost always have other boaters along to split the fuel costs.
We love to drycamp and that requires special outfitting but does help minimize camp costs.
A dedicated-purpose, limited-use B that you have to pay to store doesn't sound too good a fit if you're not the kind of household that can pay cash for it. But many of us have our passions and they can be affordable on a budget if you're willing to sacrifice enough other pleasures.
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bananadanna
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09/04/08 07:56pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Is 12 feet too far to run cable for a 2nd house battery?
Don't confuse the current rating of a wire size with the real concern. You do not want any voltage differential between the batteries in your bank. Losing a tenth of a volt would not matter for running devices but would be a substantial drop in the amp-hour capacity of the longer distance battery.
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bananadanna
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09/04/08 07:33am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: BATTERIES/SOLAR...PROBLEMS...HELP
OK, I've searched and read and read...now I need guidance. I have two 12vdc 105ah batts in parallel, supplemented with two 15watt photoelectric solar panels in parallel. We are very conservative with juice, but when we camp the batts (one year old) will still drop to about 11.5vdc in about a day, and I have to start the genny. I have a progressive dynamics converter with the charge wizard so they come back fairly quickly.
If you're flattening two batteries a day that implies you're consuming in excess of 100 ah (1200 w-hr) a day. We run an electric-only fridge, limited micro, induction cooktop, lights, stereo, small electronics, diesel furnace on a budget of about 600 w-hr/day. No solar but we get about four days before half-charge on a 420 ah bank.
Sounds like 150w of solar would have a tough time managing 1200+ w/hrs.
You could have 300w of panels or 150w and upgrade the efficiency of your consuming devices.
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bananadanna
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09/03/08 10:47am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Screen rooms - do you have one?
We really like our 10x10 Walmart FirstUp. Many clever engineering details to make it strong and easy to put up or down. We also have the optional screenset and the solid wall set.
My signature shows the home-sewn awning that attaches it to our van for a 10x14 space that is bugproof. I spend a fair amount of time in blackfly, no-see-um, mosquito territory and need serious bug and rain proofing. Our mated awning allows us to keep the side door of the van open as we wish.
The FirstUp is substantial at about 40 lbs and very sturdy. It'll survive substantial wind when staked out. Since my awning gets attached at all four corners it'll survive wind that would harm a conventional cantilever awning. I think adding a substantial quickshelter to tie to would benefit many people with awnings.
We generally put up the FirstUp for any stay longer than an overnight. We're down to about ten minutes for set up. A sudden thunderstorm caught a group of us at dinner and we got the quickshelter up in under three minutes with all the extra help.
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bananadanna
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09/03/08 10:21am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Intro and DIY Wanna-B #2
Those shelves look good and useful.
I think you'll have a challenge beating that futon frame into submission. Fractions of an inch saved are so useful. I love folding furniture but there's a lot of structure there.
Sofas are usually more comfortable if the seat slants down a bit like your futon frame. But the tradeoff is the loss of a "daybed" that could be had if it the supports were simple and level. Good for solo trips. Typically, the back would drop flat somehow for "double bed " night use.
If you can't gain enough daytime aisle width with this frame I think you should consider building your own from scratch. I rebuilt my "folding-atv-ramp" bed about three times before the details improved to my liking.
Dan
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bananadanna
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09/02/08 10:41pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: another generator question
If you did not mind a little cord shuffling you could consider getting a pair of Honda eu2000i gens and a parallel kit. Most fridge and freezers can tolerate a little "down time", especially if you're trying to be careful about opening them.
Worst case is running the a/c with both for much of the day and night on both gens. You'd have to shut the a/c down once in a while to boost the house loads.
Otherwise you could let one gen maintain the fridge and freezer and the other the camper loads.
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bananadanna
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08/29/08 05:25pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Macintosh and Music?
Rumor is that Apple is about to launch a $15??/mo music subscription service. Supposed to include a large majority of its iTunes catalog.
Would be legal and satisfying for those of us easily bored with a few thousand tracks of our own...
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bananadanna
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08/28/08 05:18pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Is it hard to find nice wooded sites with 110V electricity?
A 3 way fridge run on 12 V is very inefficient. An all electric fridge, available on Sportsmobile, is very efficient running on 12 V.
Apparently induction cooktops aren't new. But apparently there has been some kind of a breakthrough in the technology, since there are small portable units for around $100. I read about it on a site somewhere touted as new technology , but I must have misunderstood and it's just a breakthrough.
By the way, for people who have induction cook tops, what kinds of pots and pans can you use on them?
Thanks for the info about the storage compartment under the floor. How do I know if my DYO plan would allow one?
Can you get a built-in conduction cook top on a Sportsmobile?
Thanks all
I had the impression that most 3 way fridges when not running on propane used the electricity to heat an element to power the same gas absorption mechanism. Hence something like 2x or 3x as much wattage compared to the electric-only models.
If a magnet sticks to your pot, it'll work on an induction burner. Cast iron works great. Copco enameled steel pots and pans are also good. The nonstick-coated steel frying pan that came with my Sunpentown is fairly light but great to cook with.
My single burner happened to fit nicely in the recessed top of my propane locker so I stopped trying to install it somewhere. It sometimes follows us to friends' potlucks as it does well as a warmer or extra cooking unit. When we stay at powered sites we'll use it on the picnic table as well as for the inside kitchen.
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bananadanna
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08/23/08 08:08pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: New Improved solar cells???????Help
There is at least 50% more yearly insolation in AZ than in MA. Implies that you can get the same watt-hours in the Southwest for 2/3 the price in New England. We drycamp under shade a large majority of the time---except when we're somewhere trees don't grow much.
So you may find that more shore power, more batteries, more alternator time, or more frequent gen use all work cheaper/better than solar panels at their present cost.
Efficiency upgrades to lighting, insulation and furnace might stretch your batteries further and could be better $$$ spent, too.
We like all the toys, too---laptop, stereo, microwave, ac/dc fridge, induction burner, lots of small electronics. Judicious use in camp allows us about one day per battery. We have a 2000w psw Prosine inverter/charger/monitor--about the same wattage as a household outlet will provide. Four agm batteries (420 ah) give us enough capacity to treat them gently. It also helps to suck up amp-hours quickly when connected to shore, alternator or gen.
I think the inverter camping world should be divided into two categories: small, cheap inverters for people who only need it for small consumer electronics; and fancy 2000w expensive inverter-chargers with big battery banks for those needing to power a big amp draw like a micro or a continuous draw like my electric fridge.
We have a portable Honda eu2000i gen as the lightest, quietest solution we could find for extended-stay camping. But our biking and boating wonts usually mean enough miles every few days to eliminate any need to bring it most of the time. You can skimp on batteries some if you're willing to recharge more often.
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bananadanna
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08/21/08 03:04pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Prevent tanks from freezing while dry camping
As posted..anti-freeze. The stuff made for RV's is best, it is NON-toxic. The automotive stuff is. If you had a small drip around the valves and an animal found it, it'd kill it.
No, it's not that toxic. It's sweet, so animals will drink a bunch. A few drips won't do them in.
1-2 teaspoons of ethylene glycol may kill a cat, 3-4 tablespoons a medium size dog:
antifreeze poisoning
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bananadanna
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08/20/08 06:43pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Ever installed propane????
I am curious, as I am in the process of a DIY minimalist B build. Is there any reason not to use a rear hitch cargo carrier to transport a propane bottle and have a line/quick connect like I see for natural gas (like the way I have my BBQ hooked up to city gas at home)? (other than potentially doing a Ford Pinto if you get rear-ended hard enough...) Then just unplug it and remove when not using the vehicle for camping. Are there special rules for the type of propane bottles on travel trailers?
I looked hard at this question for my DIY. The gist is that a propane canister needs to be protected by a frame member when stored on the outside of the vehicle. Hence trailers have them mounted on the A frame. Storing on the roof is generally illegal and storing at the rear of the vehicle requires some crash-strengthening, like a welded guard.
So most vans mount them on the undersides, between the floor beams.
I used an alternate solution which was to store my bbq tank inside the van. That required a gasketed propane locker with both floor and side wall vents. I could have built one in the spirit of a sailboat fuel locker but chose instead a commercial plumber's cabinet. It doubles as a laptop-camera-valuables locker since it is a reasonable strong metal cabinet with enough room. Good solution for me---the bbq tank readily moves to the picnic area for meals.
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bananadanna
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08/20/08 06:10pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Is it hard to find nice wooded sites with 110V electricity?
Well, Induction cooking is not new, its actually been around for quite some time, over 15 years. These cooktops run on 220 volts and draw ALOT of amps, have you priced one? Well over $1000.00.
We put in a Sears Kenmore 4 burner induction cooktop into the stick house 22 years ago for $500. You'd think it was brand new since the surface stays cooler than the pots and pans. Easy to clean and really hard to burn yourself let alone set anything on fire. It shuts itself off if you let a pot boil dry. The 220v is used to make it really fast to a boil.
A propane burner transfers 35-40% of the heat to the pan and the rest to the environment. An electric resistance heater does 60-70% but is slow to heat, hard to adjust quickly. The magnetic induction transfers over 80% and is instant on-off between full power or a simmer. That's why we put one in the van. The Japanese and Koreans love them; ours is a Sunpentown 1200w online for $129.
Since we mostly drycamp without our portable generator we use the 700w nominal (1100w actual input) microwave and the mag cooktop with a little discretion. We are also supporting the continuous 18w average draw of the fridge. The lighting is very efficient and mostly its just the stereo and laptop use to consider. We get about 4 days in camp with our 420 ah battery bank.
But any grocery errand we run or trip to the river or other mileage will quickly dump amp-hrs back into the bank and allay any concerns about a second bag of microwave popcorn.
Note that the energy content of the upcoming Chevy Volt with a bank equal to 14 of our batteries is equal to 1 gallon of gasoline. With that in mind, we mostly heat water and cook outside on propane burners and a propane bbq.
On the rare occasion that we have shore power in camp we turn into wastrels that cook everything in the micro and on the induction cooktop while leaving--gasp--four 10w xenon lights on at once. (It is actually good to plug in twice a month on the road to let the Prosine's charger top off the battery bank.)
If I didn't have a boat rack and liked to park in full sun, a couple of solar panels would mostly eliminate the 5% of the time I want my gen along.
Personally, we love the drycamp sites and hate the noise of any generator. Extra batteries buy you extra days of quiet.
If you're running air conditioning you need substantial power from shore or gen set. If you need the cold air a Yankee might get away with 10% of the year on shore power and skip the big gen.
In cool weather if you need pollen-filtered air then you might look at running an a/c on fan alone or perhaps modifying a Fantastic Fan to push its air through a carbon filter like the cabin filter on the Sprinter. We could not keep all our doors closed and depend on a quality antihistamine instead.
My 5'3" wife can carry the Honda eu2000i (2000w) gen herself. It's prime virtues are its low noise and its light weight. They are so easy to handle that many folks will buy two for a slaved 4000w output to run an a/c. But we could live without our gen completely without cutting off many options. A night at a motel or a week on shore power could be tolerated. A gen set and roof a/c take up room and weight--your needs may be different than my limited ones.
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bananadanna
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08/16/08 04:10pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Is it hard to find nice wooded sites with 110V electricity?
I'd have no problem paying more for a private campground site if it had the type of site I like. I guess I should have said something like " with space around it for privacy and the land is in its natural condition " instead of "wooded". When I camp out it is to be in nature. I'd actually prefer to tent camp but my husband doesn't want to do that. I would use a fan and do without A/C but he has allergies- so we can't be letting fresh air in
I figure when we're traveling in the B we'll pack a screen house (DH is very susceptible to bug bites.)
Sounds like we have similar camping tastes. We reluctantly stay at private campgrounds. Camping at state and federal sites with hookups is typically tightly spaced. Summer season aggravates the crowded conditions everywhere.
Drycamping or offseason camping provides many more choices. You can solve the summer heat problem by throwing money at it with built-in gen sets and avoiding "restricted gen use" sites. Harder to solve the summer crowds.
Camping trips near MA eliminates most boondocking. We mostly drycamp in New England at state parks or the White Mtns in NH. Maine is an exception, with much wilder options.
Our longer forays to the West offer extensive BLM and boondocking choices. Our last trip to southern Appalachia gave us eight forest land campsites backed up to a different babbling brook or river. Much easier in the shoulder seasons.
We have survived happily without a/c by limiting the summer trips south of the Mason-Dixon line and avoiding "swampland". We just tried two July weeks in TN and NC. Great sleeping weather above 2000 ft in NC. A hotter, more humid week lower in the TN Smokies---perhaps closer to our tolerance. We have not regretted the absence of an a/c in the many offseason trips to AZ and TX or elsewhere. It would be different if we lived in the South.
DW suffers from allergies more than me but the thought of staying in a closed up B for any length of time is unthinkable to us. Perhaps a different story in a larger vehicle. Sure your hubbie is cut out for outdoor life?
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bananadanna
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08/15/08 03:39pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: bug screens
I've always admired bananadanna's outside room but in a Lexor that looks like it would take up a lot of space to store.
My 4x10 side awning that mates with the 10x10 FirstUp has a small skirt but uses the screen walls from the FirstUp. I do store the four frame bars on the edge of the roof rack. The rest fits into a pillowcase.
I'm especially proud of the rear door shower/screen room. It is one piece and slips over two pieces of attached pull-out bars. Another pillow case size stuff sack. There is also a Kelty medium CarPort that hinges to the roof rack. That works as a giant umbrella and allows you to use the 5x8 screen doors in pouring rain. About 6"diam x 48". I might replace this with some arched tent-poles and some receiving holes in the pull-out bars but love the present simplicity of the shower sock. (The side awning is tight and arched enough for rain storms to allow the side door to remain open anyway.)
Two shower curtains and a (generally useful) mortar tub plus our 5-gallon PowerShower bucket complete the shower option. We find the PowerShower spray a nice addition to our outdoor kitchen for a hot rinse.
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bananadanna
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08/15/08 09:43am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Help with wifi
And campgrounds are not known for wall-to-wall wifi coverage for campers running wifi from inside their metal cans....did you try your laptop inside their office?
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bananadanna
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08/12/08 10:21am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Anyone Added A Large HDTV?
I like bananadanna's idea on a modest size front projector system, which could be used indoors or out...:B
I often paddle whitewater with amateur groups and we make videos of our runs. When we paddled the "Deliverance" river, the Chatooga, we had a lot of river footage. After some laptop editing we borrowed a large television from the park ranger and set up some chairs after dark. I think we had about half the park bring their chairs over to see the river carnage that night. What a hoot! A projector/screen combo would have been ideal for the large crowd.
My "home theater" distance rule-of-thumb is that if you sit closer than the screen diagonal you might be able to tell the difference between a 720 and a 1080 display. We're about 96" away from our 78" screen at home and its terrific for sports and movies. Commercials with 60" hamburgers can be a little overwhelming.
Dan
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bananadanna
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08/12/08 10:11am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: need advice on using rv as temporary home
You might want to stop in at the CountryAire campground near Charlmont MA on Rte 2 and have a talk with some of the campers with permanent trailers and some with largish 5th wheels. Should be similar temps to where you're at.
A few miles west is a traditional mobile home park on River Rd next to the Deerfield River. You could probably get a good sense of comparison by talking to both sets of owners.
Could be a suitable abode for sale in one of those locations. Also possible to stay at the campground or mobile home park and be nearby if your site wasn't ready or if local zoning prevented continuous stays at the farm.
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bananadanna
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08/12/08 09:45am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Outside shower, Quartzsite
We use a $4 Home Depot mortar tub to capture the water from our shower-curtained outside shower. We're usually camped either in a dispersed area or near enough to an outhouse to empty there.
The mortar tub is black and I'd think the 1.5 gallons we typically use would evaporate quickly in a desert location.
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bananadanna
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08/12/08 12:53am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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