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JimK

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Everything posted by JimK

  1. Your batteries should not be dying in only 3 years unless you ran them down to a very low charge. What do you mean by showing signs of sulfating? In any case the first place to look is your current charging system. Is it 3 stage? Does it have a bulk/absorption charge that hits 14.3 volts and will maintain that voltage until the charging amps drops to a couple of amps? If your charging system is not up to standards, you might need to replace the charger. Next have you done an equilization charge? Check with your battery manufacturer. You will need to charge at somewhere around 15 volts for the recommended time period.
  2. This is the wrong lifestyle for meeting single, middle aged women. You will find very few on the road, in RV parks or places like national park campgrounds.
  3. JimK

    Ollie

    Please do not leave your RV at Walmart. Walmart is very welcoming to RVers. Let us keep it that way and not abuse the welcome.
  4. I never had an issue with my SD drivers license. Renewal can be done online once every 10 years.
  5. I consider my TPMS all but essential. I only had one leak due to tire damage. A sharp rock actually went through the middle of the tread of a new tire. Even then we did not actually need the TPMS. My wife heard the leak when we stopped for the day and at that time the tire still had near full pressure. You can take your chances and be lucky....or not. I would rather know in advance if I have a tire issue, am loosing pressure and are likely to have a blow out. If our tire damage had occurred a little earlier, we could have had a blow out at highway speeds and our truck camper and truck would be unlikely to survive the event.
  6. Bingo. If you fully charge the battery, disconnect charging and allow the battery to set with no draw or charging you should have a voltage of about 12.9 at about 70 degrees. When the temperature drops you will see a decrease in voltage, again with no charging or no draw. Then if you actually do draw some AHs from the battery and go to fully recharge you will enter true insanity. Let us say you pull 20 AH from a 100 AH battery. It would make sense that you merely recharge by that amount. NO.... The battery will not be at full capacity. Instead you need to overcharge the battery. After you have replaced the 20 AH you need to continue charging at 14.3 v until the battery will maintain that voltage with about 1 amp of applied charging. That can take several hours. It the process is interrupted, you will virtually need to start over on that several hour process. At that point you can switch to float charging by maintaining 13.3 volts. The "overcharging" is not something you need to do everyday especially for a battery which is barely used. It should be done at least every couple of weeks. Depending on the battery design you may also improve life if you do an equalization charge cycle every few weeks or months. You need to check with the manufacturer for the exact specs as there are some differences especially between AGM and non AGM battery types. Batteries are not efficient when it comes to pulling out AHs and replacing those AHs.
  7. Replace the igniter. You don't want to know there was nothing wrong with the board, but your problem will end.
  8. Absolutely not. As pointed out by another forum member, I made no mention of your lack of education or lack of ability to learn. I certainly did not mention gender. What is apparent is that you are just throwing opinions about the 4% rule and have never researched it. Here is a quick summary. The 4% rule is based on historical, Monte Carlo projections and other research. The 4% rule allows an inflation adjusted 4% withdrawal each year with a high probability that the nest egg will last for 30 years. In order for the rule to work, the annual returns on the portfolio need to be 2% plus the rate of inflation. That is a sort of worthless number because returns are likely to vary considerably each year. The Firecalc internet site provides a powerful tool for accessing outcomes for different time periods, different withdrawal rates and different investment allocations. Firecalc projections also indicate that the stock allocations in the 30-70% range are advised. With lower allocations, the risk of running out of money increases substantially. Over 70% does not increase the safety and means hoping for higher returns with higher volatility.
  9. As pointed out in the article, the 4% SWR is a guide that is especially useful when planning and at the start of retirement. Because the 4% rule is designed to be safe, it is indeed often the case that portfolio performance is better and additional amounts can be withdrawn. Also a great many people do not understand the 4% rule and do not apply it correctly. I don't understand why the Motley article did not mention there are well researched and easy to use tools for adjusting withdrawals as needed later in retirement. I would guess they are trying to pretend that they have some special knowledge of this issue.
  10. You can argue but it might make more sense to spend a few minutes online and learn about the 4% rule and how to use it.
  11. The 4% rule predicts $60K adjusted for inflation. A flat $50k is not going to be worth much 30 years from now. In fact based on historical averages it will be worth about $15k in today's dollars.
  12. Wrong. The 4% rule is designed to last 30 years before depletion of the portfolio. It also requires a minimum of about 40% invested in stocks.
  13. No, the 4% rule means having $1.5 M for a $60k annual withdrawal. That is for retirement ar age 65. You need more to retire at a lower age.
  14. The average American knows almost nothing about personal finance and the results speak to that. The average credit card debt is huge. The amount that most people have to see them through retirement is often zero to very little. People will rush to pay off a mortgage, tying up all their money, when they don't even have an emergency fund or the resources to maintain the house. Sadly, despite knowing almost nothing and living with a bunch of mythical beliefs, they want to continue to be their own doctors. It is sad because there are plenty of trustworthy financial institutions which will provide free or low cost advising. It is sad because the outcome of doing it yourself is almost always horrible.
  15. A regular RV toilet is completely different in design from a cassette toilet system. The toilet, flush mechanism and cassette tank are integrated and installed as a unit. There is a gasket seal between the toilet bottom and the cassette. The system has to be designed so that the cassette can be removed but once installed there are no leaks, ever. That alone precludes trying to use some other toilet. It would be very difficult to built a toilet system which uses both a cassette and a black tank. I don't think there is any such unit available. I can certainly understand the downside of a cassette. It needs to be emptied much more frequently than systems with large black tanks. That is a nuisance if you camp with dump stations or full hook ups available. But it sure allows a lot of freedom when dump stations are not available.
  16. A 7% gain on top of inflation is the average over decades and decades of analysis. Sure the results can vary considerably over the period of a few years. I am planning for a retirement that lasts decades. That is not unreasonable. For a couple aged about 65 there is about a 50% chance that one will live into their 90s. When it comes to investing, people always remember the bad times and give those times way more importance than they deserve. In the lifetime of most of us, there have only been a couple of major setbacks: the dotcom bust of 2000 and the great depression of 2008. I was not day trading or speculating during the dotcom growth spurt. I had most of my savings in more conservative funds and the drop was not too bad. I did see a major drop in 2008 as did everyone else. Many people did the worst possible thing and sold at the bottom of the market. For others who did nothing, they were whole again within 2 years. I worked with an advisor, made even better choices and was whole again in about 18 months. Firecalc (just google it) is a great tool for seeing what can happen in the best and worst of cases. Firecalc shows that a portfolio of about 50% stocks will almost always cover a 4% safe withdrawal rate. As to my returns. I stated a 3 1/2 fold increase since 2008. If I look at the time period before the 2008 crash, I am at about 3 times. If I look from the absolute bottom at the end of 2008 until now I cannot even remember the change, maybe 6 fold. Anyway day traders try to capture increases on a daily basis. Other speculators may be looking at changes over weeks or months. I am an investor. I am interested in what happens over years and years. Those of us planning for a long retirement need to think about at least 2-3 decades.
  17. Maybe this discussion should return to the issues the OP posted. First came the question of when to retire. The OP conflated that with also starting to take pension and/or SS benefits. The OP also provided a lot of misleading data about morbidity and mortality. Instead, consider some actual facts. The median household income in the US is now about $60K. Median pension and SS benefits are less than half that amount. Those (again the median) individuals who have planned ahead will have assets to cover the remaining $60K/year. Those without will have to drastically cut back on their costs and standard of living. Assuming some reasonable financial planning, it often makes sense to retire, live off of other assets and defer taking SS. The reason is simple, for each year deferred the annual payout increases by 8% plus any COL increases. No guaranteed investment plan comes anywhere near that return. When it comes to planning all of that anecdotal information about death is irrelevant. Most of us would want to have a retirement plan that will handle a reasonable expectation of age of death. It makes sense to look at actuarial tables. For a couple retiring at about age 65 there is about a 50% chance that at least one of them will make into their 90s. Some people spend money as fast as they get it. They want to do the same with retirement benefits.
  18. You have put forth your plan. I don't know if you are looking for validation and approval or advice. I cannot give validation or approval for your plan and I know hardly anyone follows any advice. I will just tell you how I handled retirement on a limited budget and how it worked out. When I approached retirement, I calculated I would need to work to about age 70 to afford to live in my high cost of living area, Long Island, NY. We downsized and put the house on the market. When the house sold, I resigned and we set out full time in a small RV. Expenses were very low. Fuel costs were about what I had previously spent commuting to work. Utilities dropped to under $10 per month for propane. We spent most of our time in National Parks, national forests and the great scenic areas of the country. Camping averaged $7/night. Even food costs dropped since we ate much simpler, quicker cooking meals. After 2 years, my wife got a strong itch in the way of grandkids and wanted to return to Long Island. By that point our investments and very low expenses had given us the money. We returned, bought a house. We did remodeling including partitioning the house and adding a second kitchen. We own the house but my daughter and her family occupy the other half and the rent they used to pay goes into paying the mortgage, taxes and utilities. They are also built in house sitters while we travel a few months a year. As for being debt free, I mentioned a mortgage. We did not need the mortgage to pay for the house but with rates well below 4%, we took the maximum mortgage the bank would allow, $330K, and maintained that amount in our portfolio rather than tying it up in the house. After 5 years, the $330K investment has covered the cost of the mortgage and we are ahead by $100K. In the 10 years of preparation and retirement, my portfolio has grown by 3 1/2 times. All of my investments have been relatively conservative with about a 60:40 stock:other allocation. Most is in mutual funds managed by Fidelity and by TIAA. Sure the stock market goes up and down and often has major corrections. Even so over the long haul a 60:40 allocation returns about 7% annually on top of inflation. Again, I doubt you want advice, but if you are willing to listen, learn something about investing and financial management. Then find a trustworthy investment house and let them manage your money with an allocation that makes sense for your situation.
  19. You will notice that your list is mainly RV parks and the dumps are for registered campers only. If the information is up to date, it does appear that the Farm and Feed has a dump in addition to the Maverick gas station. As to dumping a cassette. There is no disassembly or reassembly. There is a simple latch that allows removal. I do need to turn the spout to the dump position and remove the cap. That is a 10 second operation. Unless I need to walk a substantial distance to the dump, 2 minutes is a generous allowance for the entire operation. The flushing system is extremely efficient and I can go for a couple of weeks before I need to add a few gallons of water. If I am at a regular dump, I would also rinse the tank a couple of times adding another minute to the operation. That is not at all necessary since I add chemicals to the flush water. Again, none of this is fun. I don't think anyone could enjoy dumping a cassette or a black tank. If I spent my time with hook ups and "camping" in RV parks, I would certainly prefer a black tank.
  20. I have tried the pour over funnels with screens. There are a couple of downsides. The screens let through too much solid material. They are also difficult to clean. If you use a screen type coffee maker like the one for Target, it works much better to also use a filter. Again that removes the solids and makes cleanup easy. Of course, if you use a paper filter, then the screen is of no value. So you might as well just use the melitta funnel. Melitta makes funnels of different sizes which can be used for a single mug of coffee up to the quart sized one that I recommended.
  21. I drove past the Maverick today. It is the only dump in the area except for the RV parks. There are thousands of RVs in dispersed and BLM campgrounds. I did not even try to stop for diesel. Every pump was full and there was a long, long line for the dump. I did not need the dump. I had started the day doing the 2 minute chore at the outhouse at Windwhistle campground. My Moab area stops will include the BLM campground outside of Canyonlands. Last year at this time the dump was closed. I also plan on staying along the Potash river, no dumps, and also at BLM Hittle campground, no dump. All of these places have outhouses for my 2 minute chore. Later I have a reservation for Arches campground and will stay for 4-7 days. Again, no dump but numerous outhouses at different locations in the park.
  22. Exactly and the OP is traveling in a small class c so advice that would pertain to a mobile home or equivalent makes little sense.
  23. I rarely need to wait until the cassette is anywhere near full. The average is typically more like 20 pounds or less. I dont dump in a public toilet if anyone is around. It is a simple process ... pour and flush. It is a lot simpler than dealing with gloves and hoses, tank flushes and the cleanup. You will find the vast majority of us with cassettes would never want to have a black water tank. On top of that I don't need to arrange my travels to find a dump. Tonight I am at the Goosenecks of the San Juan. No dump, but there is a vault toilet. Tomorrow, Muley Point. No dump, no vault toilet. The next night or two will be Natural Bridges. Plenty of vault toilets, no dump. Then Wind Whistle near Canyonlands. A vault toilet but no dump. Then I plan a week or so in Arches. Vault and flush toilets, but no dump.
  24. For the toilets in most RVs, I would guess 9 gallons is not going to last long...a few days at most. For a small RV I recommend looking for a unit with a Thetford cassette toilet. I believe my cassette hold about 6 gallons. Very little water is used for flushing but even so it only lasts 2 people for maybe 3-4 days. The big difference is dumping. If you have a fixed black tank you are going to need to find a dump station every few days. In many areas were I travel those are few and far between. Dump stations can be absent even in major national parks or they can be few and far between. For example, I will soon be staying in Arches.. no dump. I am also visiting some of the areas of Canyonlands...no dump. I visited the Mammoth area of Yellowstone. The nearest dump is Madison campground and it would take hours going back and forth. Yesterday I was in Hovenweep...no dump. With a cassette toilet I have no issues in any of these areas. I just use any vault or flush toilet. Dumping is no fun no matter how you do it, but I don't want to try to plan my travels around finding a dump station every few days.
  25. Needless to say, but the sock does not sound very sanitary or desirable. Years ago on one of my canoe camping trips I thought I would make my fortune with a coffee "bag". It works for tea but never caught on for making coffee. I have seen commercial coffee bags but they are rare and I have never tried them.
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