Kirk W

You have brought up a manufacturer that I am not at all familiar with? I did a Google search and found nothing so thought that perhaps you might share a link to their website if they have one...

A valid question. Our first RV was a very mature pop-up that we bought from a good friend for $250 back in 1972. I would say that for the market it was in, it was a pretty good quality product, but it had also been well tested when we got it when it was about 10 years old or more and we were at least the third owners. At the time I knew almost nothing about RVs and had always been a tent camper. Of course, that RV was little more than a tent with wheels and storage. It had no appliances, tanks, plumbing or anything else other than a table, seats and one double bed. But it was a step up from the tent. We only kept it for 2 seasons and then bought a new pop-up. This time we knew a little bit, but not nearly as much as I probably thought that I did. Over the years since we have never had a really bad RV, but probably in most cases more by luck that knowledge. Fairly early in our RV experience I became friends with an RV tech and he taught me a great deal. I don't know that I really did as much research as I should have until we went shopping for our motorhome that we used for a fulltime home. With that one I had learned a great deal, did a lot of research and spent more than two years shopping and studying various RVs in different price ranges. That and our present RV were the only two that I consider I got more based upon knowledge of RVs and less on dumb luck. I do not equate price with quality as there are different levels of quality in most ever price range. I do believe that with good research and education you can choose the best quality product for the budget that you have. We did learn enough to know that the very lowest price group of RVs were probably not up to the demands of constant use for many years and so we adjusted our budget to reflect that, but our budget was limited enough that we could not just buy whatever we felt was the best quality. One of the reasons that I support the RV Consumer Group is the fact that they do their best to group RVs into price/market groups and so to compare and rate similar RVs against each other, rather than one ranking for all. You simply can't compare an entry level RV to the highest priced luxury RV. There is a legitimate market for the vacation use RV even though it may not be capable of permanent use as a fulltime home. The RV which we own today would not serve well in fulltime use, but we didn't pay enough for it to have any expectation of it. We did get a high quality RV if you compare it to the market group in which it falls and I expect that it will fulfill our expectations for our present lifestyle. I very much agree with you, but do not consider that to be the wisest approach. Do you shop for a car with the knowledge that you won't get the luxury of a Cadillac when you buy the cheapest Chevy? People usually learn to shop cars based upon more than just how they look, yet spend several times as much to buy an RV based mostly upon price and appearance. It seems to me that it would make a lot of sense to spend more effort in learning how to find a quality RV than for a typical automobile? The information is available, but you must dig to find it.

Are you saying no frame engineers, or no engineers of any kind? While I can't prove they do have, I just find it hard to believe. Can you support this or give a source for the information? I would have thought that engineers would be involved in design of the RV that rides on the chassis or trailer frame even if they don't design the frame/chassis?? I agree with this, but not just on the subject of frames. Customers buy based upon price and then complain that the cheap RV doesn't have the quality of those passed over because of cost. There is a long history in the RV industry of high quality RV manufacturers that have failed and disappeared into history because they could not sell their products in large enough numbers to continue in business. Each time the economy goes into the dumper we loose a few manufacturers and usually the higher quality, thus more expensive RV builders are some of the first to go. A few manage to hang on but most of us could make up a pretty long list of quality RV companies that failed and went away, if we have been watching them for very many years. It is sad, but true. Educating the potential buyer is the only way that this will ever change, if then.

As I read the DMV website on the subject, you will renew using the receipt from your current inspection and it will then last for an additional 12 months.

It will require that you remove the refrigerator from the RV. Once that is done it will then involve removing the entire cooling unit, which is the largest part of the refrigerator, including the boiler, condenser, evaporator, all coils and associated plumbing. It will mean removal of the propane burner & electric heater, as well as a number of other connections. An experienced RV tech can usually do the job in a couple of hours. Of course, once completed you will then need to put it back into the RV and connect 12V, power and propane again.

Most of them are good but check to see what sort of warranty the company gives you. Will you be installing it yourself? If not you also need to get an estimate of that cost before you make your choice.

Cooling units can be replaced but there is no proof yet that yours is the problem. There are also several circuit boards in the refrigerator which could cause the problem, but since the heat sources are operating but it isn't cooling would lead us to believe that it is the cooling unit. Have you done any trouble shooting as yet? Is it cooing at all? Do you have any fault codes? I don't know that I would agree that most of us are using household refrigerators, but there certainly is a growing trend in that direction. With the improvement in inverter & battery technology it will likely continue to move that way, but I really think that you should do some trouble shooting before we conclude that you need a new refrigerator.

The RV refrigerator has only a very small propane flame and no pilot. What you are seeing is the flame for heating. Is there any odor of ammonia either inside the refrigerator or in the rear access panel? What about any hint of a yellow powder or mud in the rear of the cooling unit? Either of these would be an indication that the refrigerant has leaked out of the cooling unit. To give anything more would require some additional information. If you see the flame that tells me that the 12V-dc power is available and the fuse is not blown. Have you checked the display for any sort of error codes? Are there any panel lights showing? Is there any cooling at all in either the freezer or the chill box? Does the interior light come on when you open the door? You can find a copy of the service manual for this refrigerator on the website of Bryant RV.

I agree with Roger that the major change will be wind drag from the frontal area of the travel trailer. Based upon my experience towing our tt I think that your anticipated 12 mpg is probably in the right general area. Our V-6 powered SUV got about that over this past summer's travels of roughly 5,000 miles. While we have a smaller tow vehicle we also tow a lighter weight RV. From all that I've read I doubt that your frontal deflector will make a very big difference, but the combination you are planning is one that I've never seen used so hesitate to guess. I see truckers beginning to use them so there must be some improvement. I'll be very interested to hear how this works for you.

Keep in mind that you must leave CA in order to change your domicile. While you don't have to sell the house before you go, you can not just do things to claim TX or SD and continue to live in CA until the house sells. One of the key issues will be CA taxes and most find that it is good to submit a partial year income tax report to the state in order to notify the state revenue department of that change. Of course that will also mean that you won't be able to be employed in CA when you do this. I did make some other suggestions in the other thread that you have on this subject. Welcome!

Having lived as a permanent resident in 9 different states and as a temporary one in 19 others I find that all political systems move rather slowly and tend to make more mistakes when they hurry, but TX has moved much more quickly on this problem than is typical of most states. It seems to me that the Escapee staff, other interested parties, and the political delegation representing the RV community and truckers who have sought action have been very responsive. It is true that they still bear watching but then our system only works properly when under scrutiny by those served. There is no solution that will be immune to criticism by those who are determined, and you just can't make everyone happy, no matter how hard you may try. I am sure that they will continue to monitor the results. To Jim and those who worked on the problem, well done!

Some people just prefer to find fault. Why not see what the details are before you start to criticize them?

That first statement is much to broad a blanket statement to be valid. I will be little impacted now that we are part-time as is true for many who have left the fulltime road and who now winter in Texas or base there. But most, if not all of us do understand the implication and many of us are also actively pushing our elected representatives to get a workable solution in support of what the Escapees, trucking companies, and others are doing. But we can't simply leave it to others to get things done abut should all of us take the time to join the action at least to the extent of writing a few letters. I wonder how many of those who post here and keep this thread going have bothered to put as much effort into helping to get this solved by contacting their representatives? As to your simple solution, the catch is that this was done by passage of a new law that has been signed by the governor. The trucking industry has full time lobbyists who should have caught this before the law was completely through the process, but failed to do so. They are as much at fault as anyone and more than most. But to put things back will require action by the TX legislature to change the new law or reascend it. Nothing political is very simple, even if it should be. Our best hope for an immediate solution is via the development of procedures then action by the legislature.

Escapees who use the mail service as domicile are residents of Polk County, but not the city of Livingston. However the complex is just a short distance from the city and has a large economic impact upon it.

I believe that you are wrong on that score since Escapees are active in the lobbying area within the state on a pretty frequent basis but it would be difficult to prove either way.

I'm not sure what an mot is but here in the USA we have license plates on our vehicles, much like yours but those plates are issued not by the national government but by the state of your residential address. Each state sets their own rules but the plates are honored by all other states and in other countries. The cost of the plates is also set by each state and varies quite widely from one to another as do the taxes on them and most anything. In addition, some states also require a safety equipment inspection on an annual bases as well and in this case, Texas is trying to combine the two processes into one and has run into some problems that the legislators failed to consider. That is what the entire debate is about and if they will accommodate the RV traveler or not. To grasp the US system of government you need to understand a little bit of US history in that the country was founded as an alliance of independent nation states who joined forces for things like defense, international business & relations, and some limited other things but each state retained their own sovereignty for internal transactions. Out Civil War was fought mostly over the issue of whether or not one of these states had the right to withdraw from that union. Because of the outcome of that war and for efficiencies of business, travel, and national relations, more and more power has slowly transferred to the federal government while states have lost powers. Even so, the individual states continue to operate many things autonomously, each with their own rules and driving licenses, vehicle registration, and taxes are to a large degree controlled by the state governments.

You do have to contact Escapee's office to get the access account set up if you have not done so. So far there is no way to just sign into the member only part without doing that first.

We will very likely know more when the magazine comes out. My guess is that not all details are set yet.

This has been asked requested for a very long time and I highly doubt the current issue had a lot to do with it, other than to perhaps push it forward just a little bit more quickly. So this offends you for what reason? Is there some problem with them attempting to serve the membership?

Mind sharing your information source on this statement?

Thanks for the info. We moved to TX some 11 years before we went on the road so I really don't remember much of what we were asked and most likely it is different now anyhow. We have changed TX counties since then, once from Tarrant to Polk and three years ago from Polk to Smith but that process is very simple and in the first case was just done by mail. Changing counties seems to be pretty easy probably because the rules are actually set by the state even though the work is in a county office. I suspect that AFChap is correct in this but there are also things about this which have been changed by the federal laws since 9/11 because this is a clear case of reasonable questioning the validity of the claimed domicile. Consider this definition from "The Law Dictionary."

Which office were you renewing in when asked those questions? It must be something quite new as neither Pam nor I remember any such questions when we renewed our licenses a couple of years ago. Were those questions on some form, or just asked by the employee who was doing the paperwork?

On the issue of multiyear registration stickers, I just received this note from the Smith County vehicle registration office in reply to the question if they are still available.

Thanks for the information, Travis & James.

This is exactly the way I read things. It happens a great deal in most legislative bodies. It looks like an easy, non-confrontational issue to use to get things to tell the voters that the legislator can claim to have accomplished. He then acts with no study at all. I am amazed at the way some members seem to take great pleasure in trying to find things to criticize about the "club."