Lou Schneider

The land north of the border crossing is the Quechan Indian reservation. They operate the large parking lot at the border and have a hotel/casino at the I-8 exit.

I started out with Open Office, then switched to LibreOffice when it split off following the Oracle purchase of Sun Microsystems and the Open Office project. Both work very well and are Microsoft compatible in look and feel, doing everything I need. The main drawback (and it's minor) is they save files using the .odf (Open Document Format) extension after Microsoft claimed copyright protection on their extensions (.doc, .docx, etc.) Though you can choose to use one of the Microsoft extensions when you save the file.

A lot less heat than you think, John. You have to account for the efficiency of the inverter. If a 3000 watt the inverter is 90% efficient at high power (most are) the maximum waste heat will be 1/10th of the input power, or 300 watts. The rest of the potential energy goes out to the loads. I used to tune broadcast transmitters that way, for maximum output and minimum exhaust heat. When solid state transmitters came out with Class D switching power devices (the same method used in modern inverters) it became possible to see a 50,000 watt transmitter sending less than 5000 watts (17k BTU/hr) of waste heat out the exhaust. In most cases the transmitter just dumped the heat into the room where an exhaust vent or an air conditioner carried it away. A far cry from the 30-40% overall efficiency of tube transmitters.

Where do you hide the 100 gallon fuel tank? Or was that supposed to be 300 miles? Either way, there are plenty of gas stations in every town.

A solar panel disconnect is required on residences it's so the Fire Department can shut off the power coming down from the panels before they start fighting a fire. Usually the first thing they do is yank the electric meter so the grid power is off but in a solar installation the panels (and inverter) can still energize the building's wiring. Hot wires aren't a good idea when you're spraying water and swinging fire axes inside a burning building.

Keep in mind the inverters will still be hot with shore power unless you have a way to disconnect their inputs from it while working on them. A pair of 50 amp outlets and a plug going to the trailer will do the same thing as a transfer switch.

The only trailer I've seen with decent slideout insulation was my 1999 Arctic Fox 26x with a non-flat floor slide. Most other trailers have thin floors and ceilings in the slideout, which translates into thin or no insulation, especially in the floor. In the Arctic Fox, the slideout stayed the same temperature as the rest of the trailer. In my Sunnybrook with a similar floorplan I can feel heat radiating from the slideout's ceiling in warm weather and in cold weather the floor is colder than the rest of the trailer, making the slideout uncomfortable to be in when temperatures are above the mid 90s or below the mid 40s. The Arctic Fox didn't have these issues. The slideout's poor insulation means the Sunnybrook's main room has noticeably more heat gain than the non-slideout bedroom, even in mild temperatures with the windows open.

How about this ... a genuine VW/Audi accessory to allow filling a standard size tank inlet from a high flow rate diesel nozzle. https://www.amazon.com/TDI-Diesel-Fuel-Nozzle-Adapter/dp/B00696Y74O I assume it fits the nozzle snugly enough not to leak or pop off in use.

Darn, too bad I didn't think of that sooner. 😄

The Winnebago 31D has a 56% Wheelbase to Length ratio (220" wheelbase / 393" (32ft 9in) length). That makes it one of the better Class C's in terms of wheelbase to length. It's when the wheelbase to length ratio gets down round 50% or less (looks like the house is balanced over the rear axle) that handling problems manifest themselves. JD Gallant documented this 30 years ago in the beginning days of the RV Consumer Group.

Too bad the Washington Post wants you to buy a subscription to read the article.

Beware of the length of the rear overhang if you're looking at a long Class C. Some Class C's have very large rear overhangs that make the house look like it is balanced on the rear axle. This gives a shorter turning circle, but the long rear overhang makes the RV more susceptable to crosswinds, passing trucks, etc. When the wall area between the axles is hit by wind it affects the front and rear axles equally, so side winds make the RV lean or drift to the side. This is easily and naturally corrected by steering into the wind. A long rear overhang creates sail area behind the rear axle that pushes the RV back and forth. Wind hitting behind the rear axle pushes the RV into the wind while wind hitting between the axles pushes the front end in the opposite direction. This creates more wander that you have to countersteer against.

Figure on using about 700 Kb per hour for standard definition streaming, 1.5 - 3 Mb per hour for HD video (depending on quality). In other words, streaming an average of 1 hour a day of SD video will use up just about all of a 21 GB monthly data plan. https://www.androidcentral.com/how-much-data-does-streaming-media-use

Bear in mind Visible's plan is intended to be used on a phone with a built-in hotspot that will only let you connect one device at a time. Installing the Visible SIM in a Jetpack technically violates the Terms of Service. Visible may not be enforcing it now, but they could in the future and you'll be without service.

Bush Winch is another drive wheel winch from Down Under. It uses adapters that clip onto the drive wheels and guides that clip onto the front wheels to keep the ropes aligned. Dual 3.4 ton (6800 lb) rated ropes gives it 13,600 lbs pulling power. https://www.bushwinch.com/ And a pair of Youtube videos showing how it works: https://youtu.be/trrEKbc6uqE https://youtu.be/jK1sFAohWko

Lithium batteries can be drained to their full capacity, so figure a pair of 100 amp-hour lithiums can deliver 4 times as much usable power as a single 100 AH lead acid battery that should only be drained to the 50% level.

I thought Ford uses leaf springs on the F53 chassis? Chevy had the airbag assist coil springs up front.

Unless it's designed with a light in the lid to scan slides, a flatbed scanner just reflects light off of the surface of a slide. You'll get better quality with a purpose made slide scanner that projects light through the slide, the way it was intended to be viewed. I scanned my father's slide collection last summer using a Kodak Scanza slide converter. The price wasn't bad and the feeder tray made it easy to insert the slides one at a time while pushing out the previous scanned slide.

The larger one woke me up but I went right back to sleep and checked the news when I woke up this morning. Didn't feel the aftershock. It felt about the same as last year's Ridgecrest earthquakes, neither caused any damage here.

A funny story ... some years back I was taking care of mountaintop transmitter sites and we bought a 25 Kw diesel genset to install at one of the sites. The contractor we hired to install the generator said he'd take it up there on his flatbed equipment trailer behind his Ford 4x4 pickup. This happened while I was on vacation, and when I got back I found the generator and trailer abandoned in a creekbed at the bottom of a 2000 ft. canyon. The road to the site goes up to the top of the mountain, then descends about 100 ft. to the transmitter site before becoming a narrow trail and continuing down the other side of the mountain to the creek. Turns out the contractor overshot the turn into the parking area and tried to back uphill, to no avail. Having no other choice he continued driving down the road until the trailer got stuck in the dry creekbed. We took a Caterpillar down to the creek, chained the trailer to it and hauled the trailer and generator back up the mountain. When we got to the top I showed him how to lockout the surge brake on the trailer before trying to back up.

Your picture shows 4 wires going to the electrical connector. Normally they're Tail Lights, Left Turn and Brake lights, and Right Turn and Brake lights. The white wire going to the opposite polarity socket is usually ground, but it may be used to take 12 volts to the brake hold off relay with ground returning through the hitch. Get a 12 volt battery, attach the negative side to ground and take +12 volts to each of the connector pins and see what happens. Be prepared for a large spark if the white wire is actually ground.

Unless the trailer comes loose while you're backing down a boat ramp. Then the trailer goes into the drink unless the relay sets the brakes when the electrical cable pulls apart.

Because some salesman thinks 1600cc or 1.6L sounds a lot more impressive than 98 cubic inches. Same reason they call a movie place a "theatre" instead of a theater.

Damage to US 95 is minor and it's expected to re-open by end of work today (Friday). It's just a slip crack across the road that raised one side an inch or two.

Marcel is right - your trailer has a surge brake that applies the trailer brakes whenever the tongue presses against the tow vehicle. It's purely mechanical, no electronics are involved. The plug is strictly for the trailer lights. The trailer is probably light enough you don't notice the brakes applying when you back up in your truck. The answer is to block the movement of the acutating arm if you don't want the brakes to apply.