Jump to content

Steven@146

Validated Members
  • Posts

    96
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About Steven@146

  • Birthday 07/06/1956

Optional Fields

  • SKP#
    150264

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    https://www.youtube.com/@tsrvadventures3219

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Where Ever We Are
  • Interests
    Enjoying Life

Recent Profile Visitors

582 profile views

Steven@146's Achievements

  1. Been using RVTW for 4 years now. Yes it does take a little time and experience using it. It has a lot of options you can choose to use or not. I recommended it to a couple we met that said they were not tech savvy at all and it looked to complicated. I gave them a little tutorial and made up some simple trips and showed them the versatility of the tool. They ended up loving it and they get better the more they use it..
  2. We had kind of the same problem with our RAM getting a "Check Trailer Brake Wiring" (intermittent short to ground) or "Trailer Brakes Disconnected" (hard short to ground) messages from our truck. The problem was the trailer brake wires running inside the axle tubes. The wires inside the axle tubes had frayed down to bare wire rubbing on the inside of the axle tubes and caused an intermittent or hard short to ground in the trailer brake system. I replaced the brake wires on the RV axle tubes, running the new wiring on the outside back side of the axles. I soldered the wire connections and covered them with sealer heat shrink tubing. I used corrugated plastic split tubing to protect the wires and used tie straps to attach the wires to the tubes. Solved all our problems. Here is a link to a YouTube video I made repairing our brake wiring, it might help you. https://youtu.be/iF4wVd_MCs8 Disclosure - Our Youtube channel is Non-Profit so we don't make any money from them.
  3. Back when I got my Class A NCDL I was told the driving skills test was only given at the DPS Mega Centers. I don't know if that is still true but a little google search says the closest Mega Center to Livingston is North Houston. I took my driving test at the mega center in Austin. From what I recall you can take the driving skills test at any of DPS Mega centers through out Texas doesn't have to be the closest one to Livingston.
  4. Good discussion. We do a little of everything that you all have been talking about. We do have a fire "resistant" safe in the RV and most all of the documents like passports and a few hundred $ (just in case) are in a fire proof bag inside the fire "resistant" safe, key or digital combination. However, like you say probably end up ashes if the RV burned to the ground. I think they will still replace burned cash if it isn't too burned up. We also have a "Go Bag" in the truck. We have run into one campground that would only take checks/cash, no credit or debit cards. I haven't wrote out a check in years. Use CC for refueling, restaurants or other purchases and multiple CC from different banks in case a card is compromised so we are not stuck waiting for a card to be replaced. Watch the postings to our cards very closely and have cancel card on speed dial. Only use debit cards at grocery stores or WalMart and sometimes get $20 or so back. For irreplaceable documents/items you could always get a bank safety deposit box near a family member and have them on the list so they can get into it as well, just in case. Then they could send you what you need or copy/notarize it and send it to you.
  5. You people are an inspiration to us young folks, coming up on our 5 year FT anniversary. We are still loving every day!
  6. We would second what Kirk said about the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge - We stayed at a campground on Lake Lawtonka near Lawton OK and had a great time. Also visited Medicine Park and had a couple meals at the Meers General Store and hamburger restaurant that will take you back to the 1900s. We got a pass to get on Fort Sill Army Post and visited the Army Museums there, excellent! Civilians can get a Pass to get on the Army Post. We stopped by the Native American Cemeteries and Burial Grounds also inside Fort Sill. Geronimo, Quanta Parker and several Native Americans are buried on Fort Sill. Fort Sill is one of the oldest Army Post in the country dating back to the middle to late 1800s and the old Calvary Post. Inside the Wildlife Refuge we visited the Holy City of the Wichita MTS and Mount Scott. We had a great time! This is the best part of fulltiming for us, visiting all these places around the country. Lots of history to discover!
  7. There are so many variables involved , peoples age, health, types of people, type/style of RVs, work/retired, expectations, capable of making self repairs, financially stable, flexible life styles etc. As for us - we have had our current rig for 4.5 years, been fulltiming now for 3 years, 45 years together, mid to late 60s, both on Medicare, very capable of making repairs. With military service and working in corporate America, the wife and I left "home" when we got married, moved and lived in different parts of the country. We have been "nomads" since the day we got married. That makes it easier for us to blend right in with fulltime RV living. Our domicile is Texas, winter home port Galveston. We are in good health, financially stable, retired, No real big problems with our rig in over 20,000 miles. In 3 years on the road we have taken 2 very long trips around the country. Stayed in many campgrounds, visited many popular State and National Parks. one trip over 9000 miles, one 5000 miles, otherwise traveling to see family. You have to really like and get along with the other person you're fulltiming with. Pick the right rig for you to fulltime in. Biggest frustrations for us - inconsiderate people, and those who can't control their dogs or kids. Some campgrounds that cram RVs into sites like sardines. But fulltiming means these frustrations don't last very long, then you move on. Things like trip planning and reservations in advance are just the things you have to do, but is not frustrating for us. Finding the local grocery or restaurants is fun adventures for us.
  8. In addition to our water softener and PI power monitor, a Vizio sound bar that was the most economical addition to our RV. We also installed La Crosse technologies remote temperature sensors so we can monitor the temps in the cargo bay and elsewhere. We added recirculating fans inside our Dometic absorption fridge, that has made a big difference.
  9. That would probably work, just like an apartment. I know they tried to resubmit our address but remove the "#". The store tried all kinds of things, but the application just wouldn't go through, kept flagging the address. First time we've had a problem since we first got our Escapee's address 4 years ago. Both of our banks, and our two credit card companies, all of our insurance companies and investment companies have never had an issue with our address. I just thought it was interesting, it's not like we needed another credit card but we could have saved a combined 30% on our Bass Pro / Cabela's purchases, then canceled the card. Yeah, we like their Red Head and Carhart clothes and like their camping supplies, we're hooked like a big mouth bass!!
  10. We ran into a situation when recently applying for a card at Bass Pro, they kept rejecting our application because they didn't like our Escapee's address. I don't know the specifics of why they didn't like the address, don't really care cause we were only applying to get some additional discounts on stuff we were buying. It was just an interesting occurrence, I don't know if it had anything to do with the current conversation or not.
  11. Installing a power monitor and adding shock absorption rubber feet to our power converter. Another great addition was when we installed a water softener in the cargo bay.
  12. I don't think a person can really fairly compare the Auto manufacturer industry to the RV industry. Automobiles are bolted, screwed and welded together and mostly robots do the work. A huge amount of engineering goes into the drive train, braking, suspension and ride quality. Very precise, calibrated and strict tolerances. Most Autos do not weigh 10,000-20,000 +# and not like a rolling earthquake going down the road, also most people do not live in their Autos. Yes there are safety related problems in the Auto industry, air bags, faulty electrical system etc, but the NTSB isn't hounding the RV industry. RVs are mostly handmade. Mostly manufactured with a collection of things produced by other manufacturers which gives the manufacturer plausible deniability, if a Lippert frame fails its their fault, go talk to them as an example. Loose tolerances, no strict calibration or tolerances. Just barely good enough, until recently mostly old school technology, but not nearly overly engineered systems like autos. Yes some welding but by hand labor, and bolted together but mostly pin nailed and screwed together without the use of calibrated hand tools. There is a lot more man made labor involved in the construction of an RV than the Automotive industry. The regulatory agencies involved in both are very different. The contractual relationship between the dealers and manufacturers is totally different. Auto manufacturers can shut down a dealership, not so in the RV world. Coming from the trailer side of the RV family, all of the RVs manufactured today (in the US) are owned by the same big 3-4 RV manufacturers, with a couple exceptions Brinkley comes to mind. If a new RV manufacturer pops up with a better idea and starts to gain market share they are quickly bought up and molded into the fold. These same manufacturers all set on the RVIA board, they make the rules. The fox is guarding the hen house. Also the insurance industry is not driving constant safety changes into the RV world like they are in the Auto industry. There are just too many differences to compare the two industries. I don't know first hand but maybe the Motorhome side of the RV family is a little better constructed and regulated as far as the frames and running gear are concerned but still owned by the same big few RV manufacturers. If the RV industry really wanted to make an immediate big noticeable improvement in customer satisfaction, they should start with the dealership service departments, mostly terrible, absolutely terrible. However the RV manufacturers have no control over the dealerships. I guess we consider ourselves pretty lucky, as we went into RV ownership with our eyes open. Researched, read, toured factories, crawled through more RV brands before purchase than I care to recall. At the time in 2018, we thought we picked the best per price point with our fulltiming needs out of the bunch and took our chance. We were not wowed by bling, and nixed hydraulic systems that leak and computer networks and one control software. Give us an old fashioned on/off switch and basic leveling system that works! Our rig is a 2019 and we have had no major problems with it like windows leaking, broken ripped out frames, suspension, tires, electrical, we have had minor issues with water line leaks. The electrical wiring is atrocious, haphazard at best but we have had no problems with it so far. Our rig had a 1 year warranty on most things, 3 years on some and like 7 years on the roof. The roof warranty is just the material not a total roof warranty. It has never been back to a dealership for repairs, recalls 1. Friends of ours just last year bought a New Horizons 5er, almost twice the price as ours, nearly every window leaked really bad, I helped him tape up all the leaking windows just so he could tow it back to the factory for repairs. i guess what I'm saying is we have not been surprised, did, got as much education and researched RVs as we could, made a decision, bought one and are now living the fulltime life. We knew what we were getting into.
  13. I see your point Kirk but then again if a forum or any social media wants to stay around they have to grow, change , adapt with the users needs/wants, If not they will die. That's ok about the younger Xscapers taking over, they will replace us older folks and they will get old and retire as well and then they will look back to their old days on the forum. I limit my social media, one forum specific to our manufacturer, Escapee's and of course Email. The wife is on Facebook, but I refuse to use it. I don't want to waist my time reading so many forums or IRV pages. I'm on early in the morning and then off, or like now when its too hot to do anything outside like fishing, hiking, biking. We have a YouTube Channel, non-profit, but ours is 95% about our adventures, the places we have been, the history of the places we visit, traveling and once in awhile a little about repairs and fulltiming. I have a 5 foot walking stick that is over half covered both sides with park and places medallions. I do look up how to videos, seeing it being done is a whole lot better than reading about it. We had to replace one of our slide skies. There is one channel I look to for the latest RV products, gadgets. I don't ever post pictures or upload something like a fulltiming budget accounting excel spreadsheet or maintenance/repair tracking spreadsheet, here because it is to restrictive,. but on our manufacturer forum we share everything and can upload almost anything and links to videos all the time. This site has helped us immensely when we first went fulltime almost 3 years ago. We are in our late 60s, kind of pups compared to you "older" people 🙂 I would post pictures of our new Stowaway bicycles but I'm not going to try and figure out how to limit my picture size just for this site.
  14. We've had our Grand Design Solitude S-Class now for 4 years almost 5 years now. It's been great but was built in the fall of 2018. GD makes the Momentum, Solitude, Reflection, Imagine, Transend. Their customer service has been great the only couple of times we needed. Our RV has never been back to a dealer, never will be!
×
×
  • Create New...