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JimK

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Everything posted by JimK

  1. I guess my RV has some insulation under the flooring so it has never been very cold. Regardless of the actual temperature, vinyl floor can be uncomfortable for bare or stocking feet. I put down some indoor/outdoor carpeting from Home Depot and the floor feels much warmer. There are a lot of choices that look decent and are very inexpensive. I can easily pull the carpet out for cleaning and even use soap and water after prolonged use. I have no doubt that shirting would also help but I am not sure if the expense and effort would pay off. It probably depends on the amount of floor insulation.
  2. It sounds like you have thought this through in addition to all the helpful suggestions. I have a couple of additional ideas for you to consider. I would not bother with shirting. Even a relatively poorly insulated, three season RV should do well with Portland winters. A small electric space heater should be all you need and will be less cost and be less nuisance than dealing with propane heating. I would however recommend propane for heating water. Just turn it on 20 minutes before you need it and then turn it off. A small 20# tank should last a couple of months for cooking and hot water. I would follow up on the 10 amp service. An upgrade to 15 or 20 amps would be a big help with running a space heater and you could even run an A/C unit for the few days a year that would be needed. In addition to the outlet, you need to look at the distance between the outlet and the RV. Depending on the distance you will need a 10 or 12 gauge extension cord and you will need to keep it off the ground and out of the way. Your grey water system should work fairly well depending on the local soil conditions and drainage. Keeping the waste water volume down will help. I typically get by with about 1 gallon per shower and a total of about 3 gallons per day. Keeping food particles down will help minimize odors. A simple SS mesh screen for the kitchen sink helps a lot.
  3. Have you spent any time in Portland? Winters are not cold. Daytime temps are almost always above freezing even in the Dec-Jan dead of winter. Even nighttime temps rarely get more than a few degrees below freezing. A little heat tape and/or pipe wrap should do it for the water system. You can avoid that on the fresh water side if you just periodically fill the water tank and then disconnect the hose. Utilities are the concern. First a 10 amp service does not sound right. Home wiring is almost always 15 or 20 amps. If that is all you have, that should work fine for lights, battery charging and a small space heater. You would need to turn off the space heater if you use a microwave or other major power hungry device. Waste water is another issue. Even minimal dishwashing and showers can generate at least 5 gallons a day and trying to get by with less becomes difficult. Even if not illegal, dumping 5 or more gallons a day of grey water will be an issue. That would result in a smelly, boggy mess over time. You should resolve that issue before you proceed.
  4. We bought a used, 2004, Northstar truck camper in 2010. We fulltimed for a couple of years and have used this same RV for many, many months and about 100,000 miles since then. It works and looks as good as it did back at the start except for the mods which have made it even better. We have no desire for anything newer or bigger.
  5. ☺️ I have a vinyl floor in my RV but have never bothered with using floor wax. Instead I bought a piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting and cut it to fit the irregular floor shape. I can pull it out and shake or beat the dirt out. After considerable use, I usually take it out, hose it down and hang to dry. I have traveled with house trained cats but never with a dog.
  6. Zep products are sold at Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart and most hardware stores including Ace. There are a couple of formulations that seem quite similar. I have used the high traffic floor finish. There is another formulation called wet look.
  7. Anyone checking the forums will find some negative comments and also find that many of us have had great success: little or no maintenance, no flaking, no yellowing and durability lasting for years and years. I believe most of the different results are due to surface prep. It is essential to strip off old carnauba wax. A heavily wax RV will take several moppings with stripper or dilute ammonia. I would even recommend scrubbing the entire RV with Bar Keepers Friend or Bon Ami and a kitchen scrubber. If you do a google search you will also find some interesting facts on UV. First, acrylics are highly effective in blocking UV light. No additives are needed for an acrylic finish. Second, you can find studies on the effectiveness of UV additives in carnauba wax products. The additives are minimal, mostly there for advertising purposes, and even the minimal UV protection deteriorates within a few weeks. That said, I do agree that Zep is not for everyone. The shine may not last for long, but a carnauba wax finish can have more shine than a Zep finish. Some people enjoy waxing the RV. I have a neighbor that does. He goes on short trips several times a year and washes and waxes before every trip.
  8. At this time of year many of us are cleaning up our RVs and getting ready for warm weather RV travel. I posted my recommendations on a different forum and thought it might be of interest here. Six or seven years ago, I did my Spring cleaning including washing and waxing the RV. I used a popular "premium flagship" wax and was disappointed with the results. Even after two full rubbed on coats the results were splotchy and uneven. I used lots of ammonia and wax stripper and recoated with Zep. I applied several very thin coats. Now all of these years later the finish still looks great with no flaking, no yellowing or deterioration of any kind. The black streak problem is gone. Streaks and dirt just rinse off even without using soap or a mop. Every year or so, typically in the Spring, I do a thorough washing and re-apply another thin coat of Zep. There is minimal work with no buffing or rubbing needed. I just wipe down the RV with a rag lightly dampened with Zep. If you decide to try Zep, proper surface prep is essential. As with any wax job, you first need to scrub off any dirty and oxidized areas and of course also remove those black streaks. There is one additional step. You need to go over the entire RV a couple of times with a mop and dilute ammonia or other wax stripper. You also need to plan on doing at least 3-4 thin coats of Zep with about an hour of dry time between each coat.
  9. I am 75. My last solo trip was before Covid. It was 15000 miles over a 4 month period. I am planning a similar trip for this Fall. I have a host of medical issues including chronic fatigue so I compensate. As an example on my first day, I leave midday to minimize the traffic. I still have 2 nasty hours of driving in heavy traffic to leave Long Island and pass the NYC area. After that I drive for another hour or so and stop early for the night at Cabelas in Western PA. I have no concerns about driving on the open road with little traffic. I get a late start around 9 am. Because of my half pot of morning coffee, I do a quick pit stop around 11 am. A couple more hours of driving and I stop for lunch. I typically spend an hour, a half hour or less for lunch and another half hour or so for a nap in the camper. I then drive for typically 3-4 hours. In the Fall-Spring months, I would be finished for the day at that point; i.e., about a total of 7 hours and say 350-400 miles of highway driving. Often in the Summer months, I do another snack/lay down rest and drive for a few more hours. I avoid driving at night. I avoid pushing it. I take my rest stops and naps and I still manage to drive long distances. If not so already, I highly recommend you learn how to use your nav system, a separate Garmin, or my favorite Google maps on the cellphone. You can do your searching with voice commands and then do a quick screen check. I recommend doing this off the road. I don't plan my highway stops in advance. Instead I go by the conditions and how I feel. I usually pull off the road an hour or so before I plan to stop and check for areas ahead such as truck stops, rest areas (only in certain locations) and often Walmart supercenters or something equivalent. Do this early in case your first choice is a disappointment. You might also want to consider how to maintain alertness and keep yourself interested on the road. I sign up for a cheap introductory offer for Sirium/xm radio and surf the stations. I also like books on tape. I spent a lot of time about how to cope with highway driving because it is typically the most exhausting. Even for long trips my highway driving is typically minimal compared with the usual days where I might stay at a location for days or as long as a week or two. Even out West my drives between destination locations are typically less than a few hours.
  10. We can all give you examples of situations where you need an address even just a mail forwarding p.o. box. Those would include issues such as replacement of expired credit cards and annual vehicle registration stickers. You will need an address for your banking/financial institutions, medical and vehicle insurance. If you ever have an issue with the IRS, any government or financial agency, you will never be notified by email. You will receive a physical piece of mail instead. Bottomline is you absolutely need a mailing service or other address. If this is an issue with cost, then most mailing services will allow you to set up an account at very low cost and pay a small fee for forwarding your mail upon request. When I was full time, I often went a couple of months or more before asking for my mail to be sent to the local post office, general delivery. The cost was a few dollars and I got my mail the second day.
  11. Out West many self car washes have outside bays for RVs. I don't think I have seen them in the Midwest or East. Anyway washing is the best solution. I did try Bounce dryer sheets. They sort of work if you don't have many bugs and are willing to take quite a bit of time trying to remove them. A couple of really good coats of wax on the front of the RV will help. When I switched to Zep acrylic finish, it worked much, much better than regular wax in keeping the RV clean and bug free. All measures failed me once. I will never forget driving around Klamath Lake when a bug hatch was on. I must have hit tens of thousands of them in a few miles. They baked on for a month and by then it was too late. I had to do a lot of scrubbing and repeated washing once I got home.
  12. It is not that they ignore the sound, they don't hear it. If you listen to others who have bear bells and are hiking, you will quickly find out that you cannot hear most of them except if you are very close. It gets even worse if there is some wind and noises in the woods. Bears do not hear any better than we do.
  13. The best defense is probably a little thought and common sense. I suppose even the most woods savvy person can encounter a bear and not walk away. That is extremely rare. On the other hand some of the stunts I have seen from tourists makes me wonder why there are not more incidents. I was hiking on a major trail in Glacier NP and several sets of hikers were coming down off the mountain and showing off their closeup cellphone pictures of a mother bear with two cubs. A few days later a mother moose and calf were in a crowded parking lot. Mom was upset because the calf was curious and wanted to see the tourists. Instead of backing up, people walked closer to take pictures. I was sure mom would attack to defend the calf but both eventually wandered off without incident. Later that year another idiot was killed because he thought it was a good idea to take a picture next to a bison.
  14. Kirk, the training you received matches what I have seen and been told. Most black bears will leave if you yell at them. A grizzly is likely to be threatened and attack. In either case, walking slowly backwards is the best choice. For all of you who think a handgun is going to stop a large bear, consider that you can "kill" the bear but it will kill you before it dies. I am pretty good with firearms but no way would I feel confident making a good shot on a charging bear let alone killing it before it was on me. Bear spray is way more effective. If you have ever seen a canister discharged you know what I mean.
  15. I have hiked a lot in bear country. I am also very skilled with firearms. Unless you are willing to carry a major piece of artillery, I would much prefer bear spray over a firearm. It can take a lot to stop a big griz when you have just have an instant to shoot. I once saw someone discharge an expired bear canister. It was impressive. I think you could divert a herd of attacking bull elephants with one. The other positive result is the bear is taught a lesson but unharmed. Again most of the concern is due to massively overreacting to a very rare occurrence where there is usually more to the story. I have encounter numerous bears on backcountry trails. As a rule they want to avoid you even more than you want to avoid them. Make some noise when hiking and you will be lucky to even see a bear.
  16. Note the statistic from the article: bears in the Yellowstone area have killed 8 people since 2010. That is really not much considering the millions of people who visit and the hundreds of thousands who hike and camp in the backcountry areas every year. An extremely rare death due to a wild animal catches our attention. Strange when we seem to get used to 40000 deaths a year due to traffic accidents. We consider Covid licked when the death toll drops to the current rate of a bit under a 1000 per day. Should I even mention the close to 300,000 annual deaths attributed to medical errors?
  17. You have had some valuable input and close to a month to think about this. If you are still interested I have some additional considerations. First, every "good" job I have ever had required considerable effort, dedication, commitment, time. Any "remote" job is likely to mean that you need to be in contact with bosses, fellow workers, clients or all three. That will greatly limit where you can go and stay. I wonder about your vision of living full time in an RV. What is it you are looking for? Cheap living. You can typically live with lower cost and more comfort when not traveling in an RV. Are you planning on parking the RV and staying in the same place for long periods of time? If so, then there can be some sort of "community". Otherwise, not so much. Actually in my travels the "community" was virtually non-existent. I traveled through the National Parks and other areas of great scenic beauty. I did not sit in the same area and when I did I was not sitting in the campgrounds but was out hiking, taking pictures, exploring. None of that would have worked well when trying to handle a "good" job especially because I had no consistent internet or cellphone coverage. I would guess a third of the time I lived as a full timer, I had neither. Anyway, RV living means different things to different people. Consider carefully what you are looking for. Consider other options that might work better to meet your long term goals. You could save money now and later on afford to take off for months or a year or two without needing to work. You could hunker down, live that minimalistic life while working and retire at a young age.
  18. You might want to start by contacting Cruise America. I am not sure about now, but at one time they had a popular program of selling used RVs and buying them back. Costs were accordingly high, but that can beat the issues of trying to buy and sell for a relatively short term trip of a few months.
  19. I think Kirk is looking for those small, unique places like the world's largest ball of string. Otherwise, I would agree, the Smithsonian is high on my list. Especially because I met my wife there when we both had jobs back in the archival collections. Many visitors do not realize that the public items are only a very small portion of what the Smithsonian is about. The collections, not on display, are extensive and attract scholars from around the world. For another suggestion of lesser traveled places, I would put Alcatraz on the list of unique places. For scenic wonders, Yellowstone would be at the top of my list and for an interesting place not heavily visited, I would put the "Wave" near Kanab, Utah.
  20. As mentioned, start with paying for a thorough inspection, top to bottom. The big issues are possible structural damage, construction/design flaws and worst of all and very common, water damage. If the bones of the RV are solid, I would skip the cost of an extended service plan. BTW, "platinum" coverage sounds very expensive. After many years of RV use and ownership, I have had my share of repairs: cracked vent, leaky water pump, broken jacks, and recently the charger/converter. I have been able to do almost every repair myself. If I had to pay instead, the costs would have been pretty reasonable and minimal. By minimal I mean a few hundred dollars for each repair. If that is a concern to you, you probably can't afford an RV. My next RV trip will cost me over $1000 just in fuel, one way.
  21. I guess I understand. You took an RV trip to get out in nature but now you don't like the weather. Sounds like it is time to move elsewhere.
  22. It sounds like she is taking desensitization shots. These sorts of programs are specific to the individual, their allergies, and the plan to desensitize. You are not likely to be able to just drop in on another allergist and have them administer the correct shot. If you are going to a specific location and there is an allergist nearby, perhaps your wife's current allergist can consult and make arrangements with the new allergist to continue therapy. For a short trip it might be possible for an allergist to provide a dose or two for self administration, but I doubt it. Desensitization means being injected with a substance the individual is allergic to. The idea is to administer small amounts to deplete the patient's antibodies without causing a reaction or stimulating more antibody production. It is all but black magic and something the allergist needs to assess constantly.
  23. The average used car is now selling for twice what you want to spend for an RV. Trying to buy an RV in your price range will be all but impossible. If you up your budget and can find a suitable unit, a dealer should be able to help with the logistics of insurance and registration. That will turn out to be a minor issue compared with everything else. Another issue will be using the RV. Covid has changed RV use since the National Parks and other major attractions are crowded to the point of being absolutely overwhelmed. You will need to make reservations a long time in advance. None of these issues are going to be easy to handle from overseas. Your best approach is likely to plan many months ahead and arrange for a rental and then make reservations for the places you want to visit. Some of the large rental companies will sell you one of their used RVs and you can then sell it on the open market or they will rebuy it. Those rebuy programs were popular several years ago. Perhaps someone else knows the current status of those programs.
  24. The sensors need to be replaced when they die. As I remember the dealer charge was about $70 plus labor which is zero when also replacing tires. So it seems the cost/year is about the same.
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