RE: Converting to TT to save on fuel costs?
With the truck and trailer in my signature, the worst I've seen was 7.9 mpg, holding 73 mph on cruise, with a moderate headwind. Normal is 9ish and that's without babying the gas pedal too much.
Blues,
Dave
RE: Grey Water Fills in 3 Hours!
I'm not saying every ounce of water touching the ground should be potable. I'm saying don't dump your grey water out on a campsite, unless you can drink it.
You have a simple means of not doing it, conserve use of water and fill your grey tank...if you need more then your tank handles go dump it where it is supposed to go or get a rig that can handle how much grey water storage you need.
I've never seen tenters throw water out under their tent, and I've never seen a tenter dump 40 gallons of dirty water under their tent. And normally they set up their tents on the parking pad (usually by CG rules) Most tenters do their hygene in the CG showers and restrooms, obviously with some exception.
Yes (I admit it), I have let my grey water run out onto my lawn in the spring too, but I don't like doing it, so I normally don't. If a camper does it in a campsite, this would be done every day a camper is sitting in the site. Or are you the only special one that can dump grey water on your site? Why don't you always bring your grey water home and dump it on your front lawn?
I can't believe anyone in their right mind would defend emptying their grey water onto the campsite???? Hmmm...maybe that is why they do it at night, so no one can see, and why they annonymously defend it here, because they KNOW IT IS WRONG. I see them doing it, I'll turn them in, and I don't care what campground they are in, the CG won't like it....that I gaurantee!!!
I suppose I kind of see your point. Perhaps the difference of opinion is because I've never taken an RV to a campground and am not accustomed to that kind of camping. I've routinely dumped my full grey tank on the ground in broad daylight (private property) and it is impossible to tell it happened within a couple hours. Months of doing this two out of every three weeks does not result in dead grass, build up of solids, or increased bugs (on the third weekends I tow the trailer into town to dump black & then use the grey to flush the hose).
Blues,
Dave
RE: Weight Vs. Wind
I went from a 2800 lb (dry) 19' hybrid to a 5800 lb (dry) 28'. The difference is definitely noticeable, but the wind profile changed substantially too. If I were to guess, I'd say the difference in handling is mostly due to increased hitch weight and the decreased fuel economy is mostly due to the increased wind profile.
Blues,
Dave
RE: Grey Water Fills in 3 Hours!
Until you take a quart of water straight from your grey tank and drink it, don't you ever do this!! IT AINT JUST WATER!!!
Would you drink a quart of dog piss? They put that straight on the ground! :E
Blues,
Dave
RE: Grey Water Fills in 3 Hours!
You don't care if food scraps (no matter how small), or soap, or coffee grounds goes to the ground? Imagine if everyone did that, or are you special? How about the people using the site after you? What if they are tenters? Hmmm, let me think....food scraps on the ground...what would that attract? Ants, moles, chipmunks, racoons, bears, etc...well at least in Wisconsin, other areas may attract other things too???
Are you referring to the same tenters who don't have a grey water tank so they just wash their coffee cup, pot, pan, utensils, hands, and teeth over the ground? ;-)
Blues,
Dave
RE: How long does it take to set up your TT?
20 minutes to half an hour depending on how much of a hurry I'm in. Usually I take my time and have a couple of beers during the process. While I'm doing the outside stuff, the wife gets everything ready inside.
What he said, except the beautiful woman doing the inside stuff in my trailer doesn't yet have claim to half my stuff. :B
Blues,
Dave
RE: BAL Tire Locking Chock
I bought a pair from CW a few weeks ago and the change was immediately obvious. I would highly recommend them, especially at $20 off per pair.
Blues,
Dave
RE: Lost A Window While Driving!
Wow, after seeing how many times this has happened, I think the manufacturers may want to explore a new design. Seems to be costing a lot of people a lot of money.
Who do you suppose the majority of that money is going to? :R:B
Blues,
Dave
RE: how many of you have generators?
I really have a hard time understanding exiting a airplane before it is on the ground...
so you can actually teach someone that it is a prudent thing to do...
isn't education grand...
Perspective is a funny thing. After a couple thousand jumps, I'm usually much more nervous landing in a plane than jumping out of one. I think it's a control thing, but regardless, it makes me laugh at myself every time. :h
Blues,
Dave
RE: how many of you have generators?
6 months out of the year I just have a regular job and the other 6 months I operate my skydiving school 90 miles from home every weekend in addition to the regular job. I did this the last three years without a generator because there was a nearby place to with hookups, but we're currently in construction at a new location and won't have our RV slots operational for another couple months, so I bought a generator. When working 7 days a week with plenty of 12 hour days, I want to be able to have the comforts of home when I knock off for the evening. AC, a nice dinner, a few glasses of wine, and a movie (or having friends "over" for beers and skydiving videos)...either way, a generator is necessary both at the time and to keep the batteries charged. Additionally, I've only ever boondocked when camping, and that includes an annual week plus trip I've made to northwestern Montana the last 10 years...the nights can be downright cold and burn through quite a bit of juice. This year I'm going to try a weekend above the snowline, just to see what snow camping is like (and snow towing).
OK, so that was the long answer. The short answer is that my justification is the same one as I use for having a trailer at all instead of tenting it, i.e. creature comforts are nice. :-)
Blues,
Dave
RE: Tow Mirrors for 2007 Tundra
I found Tundra tow mirrors for my 2008 on eBay for $350. I had McKesh which were great but now I don't have to take them on and off.
I considered the tow mirrors but heard complaints about them being noisy. I opted for the regular power retractable mirrors which work well enough for what I currently do (don't tow that often and only a couple times a year in any sort of traffic). If I towed more often or in heavy traffic I'd buy a set of Tundra towing mirrors and just swap 'em back & forth a couple times a year.
Blues,
Dave
RE: Whats better? Weber Q220 or Broil King PORTA-CHEF
I have the Weber and am reasonably happy with it. It's about half an inch too tall to fit in my pass-through, so it has to be stored on the floor in the kitchen when towing or away from the trailer. The folding cart for it fits in the pass-through. It worked great for me for three seasons without any trouble, but has given me intermittent flow problems so far this season. I brought it home yesterday and tonight I'll be replacing the regulator and the hose adaptor. If those don't fix the problem I'll be ordering a new valve and burner tomorrow. As frequently as I use it, I consider this a perfectly reasonable need for maintenance.
Blues,
Dave
RE: anyone else's weekend plans washed out?
The weather was just ok in eastern Washington. Arrived at the trailer Friday afternoon and was greeted by 40+ mph winds, but they tapered off within a couple hours. Put a hard start kit in the AC and my generator now runs it, but I didn't end up needing it all weekend. Had varying cloud cover, a couple brief showers, and fairly steady 10-25 mph winds, but overall it wasn't that bad. The weather induced nap Sunday afternoon was a nice departure from the norm and that night was pleasant enough to enjoy a big bonfire with a dozen or so friends. I was VERY pleased with how quiet and stable the trailer was in the winds compared to my previous hybrid. :-)
Blues,
Dave
RE: PTCR and start capacitor installation, do I have this right?
I don't know the answer, but I'm very interested to hear how it works out. Could you report back when done?
Good luck!
It was a 10 or 15 minute install and worked great. I didn't think to kill the microwave breaker before firing up the AC, so it lost power for a second during the AC start-up then beeped back on. The trailer now has AC, which makes me very happy. :-)
Blues,
Dave
RE: Water pump is WAY LOUD...what is best isolator solution?
I installed a small accumulator tank and I found it made a difference, both for noise and the way the pump operates.
Ron
I did that and put half of the hose kit from CW on mine. Only half (the outflow side) because the inflow side was attached strangely, in fact I think it's gonna suck trying to disconnect it to winterize. Anyhow, these two changes made a huge difference. Now, in the bathroom, I can't really tell that the pump is working except there's water coming out when I'm not hooked up.
Blues,
Dave
RE: stabilize or level??
If the trailer is not level side to side, you're going to need someone to hook up to it and pull the low side up on Lynx blocks or chunks of 2x6 or something similar. Then you use the tongue jack to level the trailer front to back. The stabilizer (not levelling) jacks on the four corners (set on Lynx or wood) should get rid of a lot of the shaking when people walk, but not all of it. I recent added these (tire locking chocks) to replace the plastic chocks you kick behind the tires and they work great at minimizing the shaking when people walk. Between all of these things, you should end up with a level trailer that barely moves at all when people walk.
Blues,
Dave
Black tank management at seasonal site
I've been RVing for a few years, but haven't ever spent extended time on hook-ups. We're currently in construction at the airport where I spend most weekends and I should soon have a set of full hookups available. The thing is I don't know what to do with my black tank. I don't think I want to leave the valve constantly open, as that would almost certainly lead to dried solids in the tank, valve, and hose. I'm cool with accumulating each weekend and just dumping the tank every Sunday evening before I head home. The potential problem I see with that is odor management. I'm told I shouldn't use chemicals as they can wipe out the microbes in the septic system, so what can I use to keep everything clean and odor-free without killing all the good bugs the waste will run into when I drain the tank?
Thanks,
Dave
RE: Anyone selling because of gas prices?
Note: All the Tundra parts are built or manufactured elsewhere they are "ASSEMBLED in San Antonio".
If you read the rest of the sticker, you saw that 75% of the parts are American or Canadian, and the only identified MAJOR source of parts was Japan at 20%. My favorite in recent years has been those "buy American" folks driving PT Cruisers despite them being built in Mexico for a German owned company. Also, anyone towing with a Dodge truck built in approximately the last decade can't claim to be driving anything more "American" than a Toyota Tundra. Question - What nationality would you consider this? ;)
Blues,
Dave
PTCR and start capacitor installation, do I have this right?
So last weekend I couldn't get my (new) Yamaha EF2400I to start my (new) Coleman/RVP Mach 3 Plus (13,500). I checked with the manufacturer of the AC unit and they confirmed the unit did not come with a hard start cap. installed. I ordered the kit and got the following parts plus a bit of "plumber's tape".
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/1481/startcap1cropgo8.jpg
The directions make the install sound pretty straight forward, but the drawing of the PTCR doesn't exactly match up with the shape of the item they sent. Basically, the directions are to put the PTCR on one side of the start cap, the red wire on the other side of the PTCR, the yellow wire on the other side of the start cap, and run both wires to opposite sides of the run cap. "Side" means each adjoined set of two male fittings, right? Looking at the fittings and geometry of the two parts, this seems to be the only way to put them together.
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/4633/startcap2croppc2.jpg
And the vertical view of the kit, hopefully ready to put in the unit.
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1208/startcap3cropzf3.jpg
With the PTCR sticking out over the edge of the start cap, I'm a little concerned about whether the they'll stay together. It seems like I could put some electrical tape over the PTCR and tape it to the cap, but I don't know if one or both parts get hot (thermally). Would I be looking at a fire hazard? Also, I can't look at the AC unit from home (it's 85 miles away) and I can't access the internet from the trailer, so I guess my last question is whether the top of the start cap looks approximately like the top of the run cap should, i.e. 4 male ends divided into two sides. Presumably the run cap should already have two wires on it, on opposite sides, and the ends of these two wires go on the unused male ends on each side, and polarity doesn't matter. Are these correct assumptions?
Thanks,
Dave
RE: Is it comfy on the road inside a slide-out RV?
My trailer isn't particularly roomy with the slide in, but I can get to all the kitchen and bedroom stuff. The floor of the slide pops up in the last two inches of travel and blocks the corner of the bathroom door, but that's easy to deal with. Hitting the slide out button for a second or two (with the locking bars still in) rotates the floor enough to allow the bath door to be opened.
Blues,
Dave
