JimK

The OEM tire pressure sensors on my Ram truck are rated for 7-10 years and 100,000 miles.  I had one fail at about 5 years and 50,000 miles.

30 minutes ago, sandsys said:

I hope that future generations will decide they don't want our excessive lifestyles. Minimalism rules!

Linda

The population of the world has increased by a great many billions during my lifetime.  That increase has not slowed and the world population continues to increase at a high rate.  In addition the vast majority of the world's inhabitants are living a meager lifestyle and striving to reach some semblance of first world lifestyle.  

That might give some indication of what is likely to occur over the next few decades and it will not be minimalism, but more and more consumption of resources at a rate the world has never seen.

23 hours ago, Kirk W said:

As one who has lived long enough to have seen clear evidence of climate change, only those in complete denial can pretend it isn't happening. The only debate is what is causing it and what, if anything can or should be done about it. 

Perhaps looking at the facts would help.  Take a look at the Min Max snowfall amounts for US cities.  You will quickly see that there has always been a lot of variability.  Every time there is an extreme event it is natural to look for an explanation such as climate change.  Certainly the popular press has latched onto this.  Again the facts show a lot of variability extending back in time since careful measurements were made.  Climatologists are struggling with the "attribution" issue.  It is beyond difficult to determine how much effect in the variability is potentially due to climate change and man's impact.

Again, look at the facts instead of parroting popular opinion.

U.S. Snowfall 1900-2019: A Decade-by-Decade Look | Weather Underground (wunderground.com)

It is fashionable to blame climate change for every extreme in the weather.  I wonder if even the experts can guess as to the importance of the change versus the extremes that have always occurred.

Certainly there have been extremes for as long as I can remember and I am older than dirt.  I remember many decades ago when the West was experiencing a long wet spell.  It got so bad that the Great Salt Lake was eating roads and the railroad line and was threatening to flood inhabited areas.  In the 60s and 70s there were some really cold spells.  I remember climatologists talking about the possibility of at least a mini ice age.

It seems clear that some climate change is occurring and might be a major threat but that certainly does not explain major shifts in weather and short term shifts in climate that have always occurred.

15 hours ago, Kirk W said:

I don't know about SD but can assure you that it doesn't in TX and they don't care if you use # or PMB as both are legal. .....

I don't see where this discussion has anything to do with what a State "cares" about.  The issue is using a PMB as an address that might not be acceptable for getting a mortgage.  Even opening a new checking or savings account can be an issue.  When I moved to NY, I rented an apartment while I was looking for a house.  One bank would not accept a $10K bankers check to open a new checking account.  The refusal was firm and I ended up going to another bank to open an account.  I certainly never mentioned that I was planning on moving within a few months.  

Years before when I only had a PMB address, I was able to walk into a Wells Fargo branch and instantly open a new checking account.  Sandsys could certainly be right and what worked in the past may not work now.  My days of full timing are over but I still recommend that others do not use "PDM" as a part of their address.  You never know who might not want to accept a check or even a credit card if you do not have a more permanent appearing address.  

1 hour ago, sandsys said:

That's another case of how it used to be. Now that many businesses have access to the postal database that tells them what is at that address they know without you saying so whether it is a business or residence. Oh, there are so many things we can no longer get away with!

Linda

I am not sure that would have made any difference.  I already had a Chase Bank account setup in my previous State of residence.  I merely changed the mailing address and had new checks printed with my SD mailing address.  I did the same with my other financial institutions and with my heathcare insurance.  I also made the official change of address with social security and Medicare. 

In addition the State of SD also assigned me an address, the Yogi Campground where I stayed to qualify for residency.  That was also my address for voting.  

This is such an old thread it may not be worth an additional response.  Anyway, when I was a fulltimer with a SD mailing service, I never used "PMB".  Instead I used the street address with just the number of the mailbox.  The address could have been just an apartment number, instead of a mailbox number.  I never lied about the address but I also never made it an issue.  The nature of my address was never questioned and was accepted by Chase Bank, other financial institutions and insurance companies.  

I never tested it for mortgage purposes.  By then we were renting and used that address even though our driver's licenses were from SD.

I was not familar with this RV so I looked it up.  I think it looked like a great choice for full time travel for at least a few years.  It depends on the individuals.  My wife and I like to travel and visit National Parks and other areas of great beauty.  We are out an about all day typically hiking and always doing photography.  We avoid RV parks and similar camping areas and often stay in dispersed camping areas.  We rarely camp more than a week or two at one location.  A small trailer like this would be perfect.  

The fresh water tank is pretty minimal and so is storage.  A pickup truck with a covered 8' bed and another 10-15 gallons of water would fix both issues.

I hate to say it but the simplest solution would be to continue with ion exchange to protect your fixtures and Hw tank from scale build up and then buy bottled water just for drinking.

The wand will not remove scale from the Hw system.  At least not enough to make a difference.  Scale build up requires adding 100% vinegar to the Hw tank and allowing it to soak at least overnight.  Even that will be only partially successful.  Frequent use of vinegar is not recommended as it can cause pitting and deterioration of the tank.

The water softener you bought works by ion exchange.  The resin in the softener is initially saturated with sodium ions.  Magnesium, calcium and other mineral ions are removed and replaced by the sodium; hence, the salty taste of the treated water.

There really is not a good alternative solution for a convenient and cost effective system.  The next step would be a way more costly approach such as reverse osmosis.

EDIT:  I just noticed there is a detailed discussion of water softeners in the Full Timers forum.

After years, I still have had no yellowing, flaking or other issues.  If the time comes, ZEP sells a stripper specifically for their acrylic waxes.  Dilute ammonia also works.  The stripper, a bucket, a mop and about an hour should do it.  

I realize this is an old thread, but for anyone who reads this and is interested, I highly recommend ZEP finish.  As mentioned in the detailed instructions above, surface prep is very important.  After that applying ZEP is quick and easy consisting of merely wiping the surface with a rag dampened in ZEP.  A minimum of 4 thin coats are recommended.  It took me an entire day, mostly in prep work removing old oxidation.  I did that in 2013.  Every year or two, I wash the RV and apply another thin coat.  After all these years the RV still looks great, has a shine, beads up water.  Even more important there are no black streaks and dirt just rinses off.  I often just spray the RV and don't even bother with soap.

There is one downside.  The ZEP finish shines and looks good but cannot rival the high gloss finish you can achieve with a good paste wax.  Of course that great paste wax shine only lasts a few weeks and ZEP can last for years.

Initially I was concerned that ZEP did not include a UV protectant.  That does not seem to be at all necessary.  The ZEP treatment seals the surface and prevents oxidation.  In doing research, I also found that paste waxes contain only minimal amounts of UV protectants, too little to be of much use and what is there deteriorates quickly in the sunlight.  My RV lives uncovered, outdoors in harsh winters and blazing desert sun.  The ZEP finish seems to last forever.  If I ever need to start over, I have a gallon of ZEP stripper and can start over.   The only issue I have had is on the nose of the RV.  A few million bug splatters dried on.  At the end of my trip, months later, I had to scrub them off and reapply a few coats of ZEP.  Typically bug splatters just wipe off without damaging the ZEP finish.  The storm of bugs that hatched near Klamath was an exception. 

3 hours ago, noteven said:

This truth is known to DC electric people:

Amp hours is amp hours. Once they are gone, you gotta put 'em back. 

Actually you not only have to put them back but you need to put back about an additional 5-10%.  Those amps flow into the battery bank very slowly.  Once you have theoretically put back the used amp hours plan on another 2-4 hours of charging at 14.3 volts.

When it comes to shower water, I follow Sandsys's protocol.  I set an egg timer for the length of time needed to heat water for a shower.  I heat the water so I can take a shower without adding cold or needing to adjust the temperature.  For dishes, I heat a kettle of water.  

You will quickly find this is not the forum for small and light.  

Small, light to me means a van conversion or truck camper.  I am partial to truck campers for a couple of reasons.  One is simply resale.  Pickup trucks have really good resale value especially compared with the high depreciation of an RV.  Either one means  you can park in a standard parking spot.   You can pull into a campground or rest stop, spend the night and leave without any sort of fuss or set up/take down.  Both will do well with fuel economy and maintenance costs.  I am not sure about van conversion but there are plenty of choices for truck campers that are really well made.  I have a Northstar Igloo which is 17 years old and in like new condition with minimal repairs and maintenance needed over the years of heavy or full time use.  

If you want something small, I recommend you do lots of research and decision making before visiting a dealer.  RV dealers seem adept at upselling big and heavy.

Anyway, back to the original question.  If you want to handle up to 30 amps with a 20' extension cord, you need a minimum of 10 gauge.  I am puzzled how you plan to run air conditioners, refrigerators and lights off of one short extension cord.

You have stated you plans and decision on buying an RV.  Do you have any questions or need additional information?

I have full timed in a truck camper.  No way would I want to spend more than a long weekend in the "camper" you have.  If you are determined to stay in an RV, I recommend you consider starting over with a different rig.

9 hours ago, Bigthinkers said:

 
I've been reading various forums and in various online groups for 3 years and see a LOT of issues crop up. I'm not worried about that, but I'm realistic about it. I don't see us doing major electrical/engine/plumbing/etc overhauls, but I do think we should be able to work together to figure out some basics.

 

I think this is the main issue.  If you read RV forums you will see every issue, every problem, every repair that ever happened.  Odds are you will see few or none of those issues.  

I bought an extended warranty when I got my truck.  I don't plan on doing any repair work myself.  I also pay to have oil changes and other maintenance done in the shop.  

Again, for the RV we had only one repair in two years of full time use.  I had Camping World replace the solar controller.  With additional years of part time use, we have had some other repairs.  I replaced the water pump.  That was about a 10 minute job with a couple of screws, a snap on electrical connection and two hoses that connect without the need for tools.  The CO/propane detector died twice.  The first time I had a dealer replace it.  The second time I did it myself.  Again that was a 10 minute job with two screws and two electric wires to connect.  I also had to replace the $15 ignitor for the water heater.  The other maintenance/repair issue is checking for water leaks.  I have had two and should have been more careful checking the seals on every square inch every year.  A little caulk fixed both issues.  

If you list out all of the issues and repairs for a house, I am sure there will be many more.  In less time than I have owned an RV, I have spent thousands on tree trimming and removal, over $20K on a new roof, and lots of minor repairs.  

Maybe you will feel better if you stop reading the horror stories on the RV forums.  

First I see nothing wrong with the wife taking a lead on RV issues.

Second, what sorts of maintenance and repairs are you concerned about?  We bought a 5 year old RV, had solar added and made some minor upgrades.  That was about it for our 2 years of full time RV travel.  In 60K miles, we had numerous oil changes, a couple of minor truck repairs and not much else.  All of that was handled by the Dodge dealers in the area.  We replaced tires at Sears.  Again, that was done for us.  We also had the solar controller burn out.  We had to visit Camping World for the part and I had them do the install.  

There should not be a lot of maintenance or repairs needed.  Just don't buy a piece of junk that needs work.  Don't buy an overly complex, overly large unit.  There should be very little that you need to do outside of simple things like periodically sanitizing the fresh water system and dumping the waste tanks.  There is typically way, way more work to do with upkeep on a house or condo.

Almost every RV is set up to use antifreeze.  For my RV it takes well less than a gallon and less than 5 minutes.  It takes just about the same time to dewinterize.  My system is not set up for blowing out the lines.  On top of that I would be concerned that the blowout would not totally empty all areas of the plumbing.  Ten minutes once a year is OK with me.  Especially since it takes hours to sanitize the system for use and this year I also had to descale the HW tank with gallons of vinegar.

Be careful about the post office mail forwarding to begin with!   Weeks and even months after setting up mail forwarding, the post office still delivered some of our mail to the old address.  One important piece of mail was completely lost and it included a check for several thousand dollars.  Instead of relying on the post office request address changes with every place that sends you first class mail.

When I was full timing, the average was 30K miles a year.  Now I only take part time trips of about 4 months duration.  The trip always involves driving from the East coast to the Western States and is typically about 15K miles.  A lot of my driving is done in spurts.  I am old, tired and lazy, but I can still drive through the Midwest at 600 miles a day.  It is easy with a truck camper.  I typically drive about 2 hours in the morning, make a pit stop and drive another couple of hours.  Then I stop for at least an hour.  I jump in the camper, fix a hot meal and take a nap for up to an hour.  I drive 4 more hours and repeat.  Then I drive 4 more hours before landing at a Walmart or rest stop for the evening.

23 hours ago, DestiYemm said:

The most important thing to know about carpets is that they need to be cleaned. Seriously, at least once a year. The carpets are very warm and cozy, but there is also a lot of dirt and dust on the carpets.

I doubt this will help the OP, but a few years ago I decided to try carpet over the original sheet flooring.  I went to Lowes and got a piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting which I cut to fit.  I did not need to fasten it or finish the edges.  The rubber backing keeps it from sliding.  When it starts to get dirty, I just pull it out, hang it over a rope and beat on it like olden days.  Once a year I wash it with Lysol and water.  It still looks like new and I could easily replace it for $50 and an hour of work.  After a day of hiking, I enjoy being able to walk around the camper with no shoes.  Even on cold night, a midnight trip to the bathroom with no shoes works well.

I am having a hard time understanding the forum guidelines, but it seems this was a personal attack.  

I have no interest in questioning the OP's choices.  At one time or another, many of us visit friends/relatives or otherwise stay in densely populated areas.  For that reason this seems to be an important topic.  For those situations, it seems important that we understand our rights and understand and comply with the laws.  It also seems important to avoid confrontations and understand how to deal with any potential confrontation.  Again, I conclude that sort of information does not fall within the forum guidelines and needs to be researched elsewhere.