JimK

It has been quite a few years since I was a fulltimer but I remember having the same issue. Quite a few institutions want your "real" address and not just a PO (PMB) number. That included my bank, one of my investment houses, my healthcare company and even Medicare. Trying to "reason" with these institutions can be frustrating without any satisfactory resolution. The solution was simple. Never include "PMB" as part of your address. Certainly do not put c/o as part of your address. Instead show the typical street address with the PMB number included. Either just include #your number or enter the PMB number under the line for apartment number. Making the transition in steps also helped avoid any red flags. My online banking allowed me to set up a separate mailing address and I used my new mailing address, minus the PMB designation. I had checks printed with that same address. When I went to SD to establish residency, they wanted a receipt for a one night stay at a motel or campground and they needed some other paperwork indicating the change. A voided check with the new address or a bank statement with the financial details blanked out was all I needed to provide.

I know the feeling. Last time I drove through southern Kansas the winds where horrible. I struggled to keep the RV on the road driving only 45-50 mph. My wife wanted to stop and wait it out, but that could have taken days, maybe even weeks.

Clearly you have not been to St George. It is not cheap. It is a desert area with lots and lots of Summer days over 100 degrees. In addition to being in the desert, it is a cultural desert. The big elephant in the room is religion. There is a very high percentage of Mormons. It is not that Mormons are difficult to be around, but they have a very tight and closed society. Outsiders don't fit in well. If you are looking for areas with lots of other RVers, tens and tens of thousands of RVers snowbird in the Quartzsite, Parker, Havasu area. The vast majority live in their RVs but there are also plenty of residential areas in that part of country. Visit first and stay for a while before making any sort of commitment. There are plenty of other choices depending on exactly what you are looking for. Medford, Or is a lot closer to BC and no more expensive than St George. Be a bit more specific and I am sure you will get plenty of recommendations.

Never, never, ever become involved when a husband and wife are having difficulty with their RV, especially when backing up is involved. You will have better results trying to stop a dog fight. I would help if asked, but otherwise I don't even want to watch the show.

I recommend you carefully read the information posted by Kirk. The recommendations are to cut all ties with your previous State. If you are paying rent or own a house in another State, your intent to change States is not clear. You should also consider that the laws regarding domicile/residency are often vague and confusing. That may not work in your favor. SD is very accommodating to fulltime RVers. They are not likely to know of care if you rent elsewhere. That may not be the case with the State where you are renting. They may come after you for income taxes. Some States are especially aggressive, especially California and New York.

I strongly recommend avoiding any PPO/HMO type restrictions. Find the broadest coverage with the least amount of restrictions. That can be important later. First it helps to avoid restrictions when you travel to different areas. You also want to avoid any need for PC referrals to a specialist. These will make getting care easier and more convenient. There is another huge, huge difference. Not all physicians are created equal. Some of marginal and at the bottom. If you have some complicated issues, you want to be able to find the best. I can give you a good personal example. Over a period of years I developed shortness of breath and my old cardiologist documented poor performance on a stress test. He kept with drug, i.e, "medical" management. A couple of years later my PC referred me to another cardiologist for follow up testing. That cardiologist referred me to a cardiac interventionist who did a cardiac cath and found a totally blocked artery. He had a rough time with the simple cardiac cath procedure and told me no way could that artery be unblocked without open heart surgery. Again, that was not recommended. My primary cardologist agreed. Months later, I found an expert who knew what he was doing. Last week he had no problem doing another cardiac cath, opening the occluded artery and putting in a couple of stents. Again, it is hugely important to have the flexibility to find and the first rate physicians and specialists. That can be hard enough without any insurance restrictions. Sorry I cannot help with prescription drug plans. My wife and I have been through several plans. Costs for some drugs can still be very high with limitations and overall benefits are often marginal. In addition even generic drug costs have been skyrocketing. I have often found the lowest costs are not even through a plan but simply by going to the right pharmacy and using GoodRx. Even then there is no consistency, and the next refill can be at an entirely different cost and cheaper elsewhere. It is more than frustrating especially when the costs run into many thousands of dollars a year. Also avoid drug deliveries by mail. That works poorly when traveling and even at home it seems drugs often come a bit after the previous supply runs out.

The OPD valve should never be used to judge a full tank. At about 11 minutes, this video shows how to fill by volume. The same technique can be used when propane is sold by weight.

For those interested, here is a fairly concise review of propane tank and refilling regulations: Dispensing Propane Safely Training Manual.pdf (solanosdoitbest.com) Recertification is required after 12 years and every 5 years thereafter. Typically for standard 20 or 30# tanks the cost of replacement will be less than recertification. Also note that a 20# tank is designed with a headspace so it can be filled to 20#. That includes the 20% headspace. DOT labeling is typical government nonsense. Tanks are labelled with a tare weight, usually a bit less than 20#. Fill capacity is marked as capacity based on filling with water. A 20# tank will be marked with WC of 47.6 pounds. The conversion is 0.42 pounds of propane per pound of water for a total capacity of 20# of propane. There is absolutely no regulatory reason to fill 75 or 80% less than that leaving a tank only about 60% full. Tanks are best filled by adding 20# to the tare weight. The OPD valve is an additional safety feature.

In 1998, propane tanks were required to have OPD valves which prevent overfilling. The old tanks were allowed to remain in use until 2002. After that point it was illegal to refill the old tanks. In 2002 lots and lots of tanks ended up in recycling or in the dumps. Propane dealers often use scales or volume meters, but this is overkill since the OPD valves prevent overfilling. Again 20# tanks are designed to hold 20# of propane or about 4.7 gallons. Exchange vendors just short the customer to increase profits.

My local propane dealer uses a scale and fills tanks to 20#. A 20# tank is designed to hold that much propane. Depending on temperature that is about 4.7 gallons. There is no reason to grossly underfill tanks except to cheat the customer. After years and years of this ripoff, it now seems to be accepted. That is one reason I try to have my tanks refilled. For my two tanks I would get 10# more than for the exchange tanks.

The $15 refill is not something that is recent. It has been going on for as long as I can remember. Somehow no one seems to mind. If you went to the gas station to get 20 gallons and only got 15, there would be some complaining.

That might be the regulation, but it is not happening! A great many of the filled tanks ready for distribution to customers are out of date and not recertified. The other well known issue is that the tanks are only filled to 15#. There is no safety or regulatory reason for this. It is just an intention shorting of the customer who often does not know any better.

I also exchange expired tanks at either of my local options: Home Depot (Paraco) or Lowe's (Blue Rhino). Both advertise this service and have no issues taking an expired tank in exchange. However, there is still an issue. At either place I am likely to receive a tank that has expired and has not been recertified. It makes no difference whether I turn in a new or expired tank. The expired, uncertified tanks work just fine but no one fill refill them. Most often I refill tanks so this is an issue. At Lowe's the cage is in the garden center and unlocked so I pick out my own replacement rather than just take what the employee grabs. I do not understand why regs are strictly followed if I want to get a tank filled but ignored when I pick up exchange tanks. Maybe this is just a local issue.

I am also very frugal by nature. But some quick numbers will show you can only save pennies by using a small electric heater a couple of hours a day to take the chill off. Running a small electric heater will produce the equivalent of about 1000 BTU/hr. A couple of hours a day means 2000 BTU. A gallon of propane is 91500 BTU. So a gallon is equivalent to using the electric heater 2 hours a day for 45 days. That saves all of about $4. Just use your furnace. That will give you more comfortable, even heat without using floor space for an electric heater or a Mr Buddy. You have plenty of power to run a furnace blower.

Most of us have smaller solar systems and smaller battery banks. Trying to use the batteries for heat would just not work. Your system of about 1000 amps solar and nearly 1000 A/H of battery capacity is huge. With an appropriate inverter you should be able to use a small electric space heater just to take off the chill. By small, I mean something on the order of 300 watts or so. I have a small space heater with 3 settings. The lowest is about 350 watts. That should work but certainly make sure you use the lowest setting and do not use any other appliances at the same time. Even with a large solar and battery bank, I would not do this unless hooked up to A/C power. I would run the regular furnace for a few minutes instead. The cost of the propane is negligible.

As the article you cited points out, moderate use of chlorine bleach is acceptable for a septic system. Moderate use is considered to be about 3/4 cup for a load of laundry (about 15 gallons of water). That is more bleach than I use and I do this once or twice a month, not up to several times a day when doing laundry at home. In addition the bleach I use reacts and is largely neutralized by the food particles, scum and sludge in my grey water tank before the remainder makes it to the dump station. Everyone could bleach grey tanks without causing issues with a dump station. There is another big concern. Many of the black tank deodorizers still contain formaldehyde. To be effective they must kill the bacteria in the black tank and excessive amounts also can greatly reduce bacteria in septic systems. RV 101 Education with Mark Polk: RV Toilet Chemicals Still Have Formaldehyde...REALLY? (rvingwithmarkpolk.blogspot.com)

I have a cassette toilet and I use chemicals to keep the odors in check. I found that after a few weeks of use the grey water tank really stinks. I now use a screen on the kitchen drain to remove almost all the food particles. That helps but the odor still builds over time. Periodically I add a half cup of bleach to the tank and then rinse it a couple of times when I have access to a dump station. Many NFS or NP campgrounds do not have dumps and of course dumps are extremely rare for BLM and bookdocking areas. My grey water tank is small. I have a 5 gallon bucket that I can use for a couple of trips to a suitable place to dump. That might be an area designated for tent campers to dump kitchen water, a toilet or some other suitable place. This works a lot better when dumping grey water that is mostly just shower water instead of grey water that really stinks. Again, a little bleach and rinsing the tank every few weeks works wonders.

How well this will go highly depends on the specific RV, the construction and amount of insulation. I have been in my RV down to the low 20s. It was not suitable!! That included taking numerous steps which helped. I added carpet on top of the vinyl flooring. I had Reflectix covers for the vents, curtains for the windows. I used foam insulation to cover the skylight and dome in the bathroom. I even hung a heavy curtain over the door. Cold air blew in through the kitchen vent. I had to plug that with rags. Aside from the cold, humidity was a major issue making baths and cooking difficult.

I would hope the dogs are small.

There are plenty of people who are full time, many of them work. Is it a crazy idea? Depends on what you are looking for and want to achieve. Are you, your wife and kids content to travel a lot? Think about the social limitations, inconveniences. Are you looking to save money? That may not be the case. You can spend a lot more or less living in an RV. What about your work as an electrician? Are you working for a company that moves you around frequently? Are you working for yourself? If so most tradesmen built their businesses by word of mouth. That might be difficult if you travel a lot. You might also want to consider that many of the best places to visit are not the best places for work. If you plan on working in cities and suburban areas, you might want to visit a few urban/suburban type campgrounds. Many of them are not places you would want to live, especially for children. The better ones can be expensive, even very expensive. If you want more information, you probably should join the conversation and provide more ideas about your concerns and goals.

Again, electric hook ups are the big issue. Try Reno KOA or one of the Reno casino campgrounds.

We fulltimed for 2 years in a truck camper, obviously no washer/dryer and relatively little space. I could not begin to describe our complete wardrobes, but I can offer some suggestions. First do no skimp on foul weather gear. Get a really good rain parka large enough to wear over a heavy sweatshirt or jacket. We rarely needed the rain pants so got by with cheap ones. We spent a lot of time in the desert Southwest, not in the dead of Summer but often pretty hot where we needed clean shirts, underwear and socks daily. We often boondocked in remote areas with no laundromats nearby or convenient. I went to Costco and bought 32 pairs of white cotton socks. I also have 30+ underwear and even more knit T or polo shirts, all with pockets for sunglasses. That sounds like a lot but stacked and folded it takes up a lot less space than you might think. Of course, I also need a few shorts and long Khaki pants, some long sleeved shirts and warmer clothing such as flannel shirts, hoodies, and jackets which I can wear in layers as needed for weather down to the 20-30 degree range. With extra sheets, Laundromat visits can be stretched well beyond a month. When we started out, I got rid of all the old clothing. All the Ts and polos were new and decent looking. All the old jeans went into the trash and 15 years later I still do not wear jeans. Khakis look better, last longer and are actually less expensive. I can go to a restaurant and not look like I dragged in from the boonies. Also even if you expect to spend all your time in the boonies be sure to bring at least some dressly clothing. For me that was a new pair of khakis I kept separate, dress shoes and socks, button down long sleeved dress shirts, a blue blazer with one red tie and one black tie. Finally I highly recommend buying roughly 50:50 blends. Blends last longer, pill less, stain less and they are much better in hot or cold weather. I cannot speak much about my wife's clothing. She actually seemed to get by with less than I had but she did occasionally have to rinse out bras and her favorite shirts to extend trips between laundromat visits. My few years of full timing seem to have permanently changed my wardrobe. I continue to wear mostly new looking solid color pocket Ts or polos. I still have 30+ sets of underwear and socks. No more matching socks for me. I buy several dozen at once. When they start to wear out, I replace all of them at once.

In addition to sandals, there are lots of shoe that do not have shoelaces. I especially like Merrell jungle mocs. Skechers is now heavily advertising their slip on shoes with a special heal designed to slip on and still provide a secure fit.

You did not mention why you are interested in South Dakota vehicle registration but not a DL. Many of us picked SD because they make it very convenient for travelers and because of other advantages such as low insurance costs and no State income tax. If you work in several different States during the year, you can end up with some complicated filing situations. Having a residency in a State with no income tax would make that easier and you likely would pay lower taxes that way. If you want to become a resident, you need to do more. You would then need to visit, change insurance, change your banking and financial addresses and I would also recommend filing Form 8822 to change your IRS address. Getting a South Dakota DL is an instant process. Just turn in your old one and they will give you a new one within minutes.

Assuming there is sufficient headspace, would it make more sense to add some floor insulation instead? I saw a benefit with just carpeting. It would be easy to also add carpet padding. Or for use in a fixed location, as the OP intends, perhaps it would be feasible to add some rigid insulation under the body. Anyway, IMO, the Portland winters are pretty mild and there should be no issues. Light frost at night and a few days with temps below freezing is about as cold as it gets there. A small space heater with a low setting should be all it takes for a relatively small RV. Winter comes late and Spring comes early.