Chad Heiser

As we have discussed, I have double towed all over the western US from CA to as far east as OK and all the states in between along the southern US. From OK, I went north to ND and then worked my way back to CA. I have hit every state in the western US (except WA and OR) double towing. I know I was over length in most of those states, but I never got a second look from any troopers or highway patrol (and I passed a lot of them). I understand if I do get stopped, I might be subject to a ticket, but in my mind that is the cost of the lifestyle and being able to bring my toys.

I’ve always liked your truck.

Excellent. See you guys in June. Very good. We need our rally photographer/videographer. 😜 I also assume that means both of you guys still like us after we had to leave you in Quartzite.😄

Cherry Creek State Park in Aurora, south of Denver is a nice little oasis in the greater Denver metropolitan area.

Just an update on the rally. We have 19 site reservations confirmed already, which is the most we have ever had this early. 😀 The announcement has only been out for about a month, so I am very pleased with the interest so far. I know there are several more people who have told me they will be coming, but haven't made reservations yet. It is looking like this could be our largest group yet. Congratulations to those of you who made reservations early. You were able to make your wine tour reservations with me. Unfortunately for the rest of you, the wine tour is sold out! Last year it took several months to sell out. I guess the word got out on how much fun it was, because the seats went fast this year. 😉 I am also pleased to say that more than half of the reservations so far are newcomers to the WCR. I am looking forward to meeting you all. I am almost done with the schedule. I am just waiting to here back from one possible presenter. Once I have the schedule nailed down, I will post it and send it out to all the attendees. For those of you who are considering coming, please make your reservations. The park should have plenty of sites left for us, but they are not unlimited. See you in June!

Excellent. Have you sent me an email yet? I’ll get some additional information from you.

Glad to have you.

I responded back.

I use Copilot on an iPad mounted to the dash of my rig. The app works well and the RV version of the app allows you to set parameters for the size of your rig to help avoid low bridges/tunnels, etc. I have been very happy with it while traveling. I also use google maps for checking out routes and to get aerial views of locations. The combination has never steered me wrong yet and I have a pretty big rig when I am running down the road so that is important to me.

Looking forward to meeting you and thanks for the offer to put on a driver safety seminar.

I know that some attendees have SXS's and may or may not have them with when you come to the rally. I don't really have time during the week of the rally to add a day of riding, but I am thinking about going out for a ride after the rally is over, before we leave the area. Is anyone interested in tagging along? I'm thinking about Tuesday the 23rd as the day for the ride. I thought I would put this out early so people interested can plan accordingly. For those of you that don't own a SXS of your own, but might want to go, there are a couple of places in the area that rent them. A quick google search can point you in the right direction if you are interested. Let me know what you think or if there is any interest.

The rally is shaping up to be a good one. I have quite a few people who have already made reservations and a bunch more who have told me they plan to attend, but just haven't gotten around to making their reservations yet. If you plan to attend, please contact the park and book your spot directly (the sooner the better) and then email me. We have a good mix of new attendees and returning friends already. I am working on finalizing another wine tour (it was such a hit last year). I also just booked our painting class/art project instructor who has been there every year (also another very popular seminar). If you would like to attend either of these, let me know. There is an additional cost at the rally for each of these events. The wine tour is in the works. I will update that price when I have it. The painting class is $20.00 per student (to cover the supplies and instruction). I will be sending out an email to those of you who have already confirmed attendance once I have the wine tour finalized. I am also considering putting together a seminar on building a trailer testing plug. I have one that was given to me by a previous rally attendee and it has come in very handy for me and several other people that I have loaned it to. We would actually build them at the rally if anyone is interested. There would also be a cost associated with this (for the parts). Let me know if there is any interest in doing this. If there is, I will put a little more effort into sourcing parts to get an idea of what the actual cost would be. I started down this road, but didn't want to get too far if there wasn't any interest. I know they are doing a similar project at the ECR, so I thought I would steal the idea for the WCR. 😎

I have been out of town for a little while so I haven't been posting much, but I have heard from several of you regarding rally attendance. It looks like we will have a good mix of first time and returning attendees so far. The range day is already in the works. I am also looking at another wine tasting day, but have not made contact with the tour company yet to set that up. I have a couple of new presenters who have volunteered to give seminars and am always looking for others out there. If you plan to attend and have a topic you would like to share with the group, let me know. It should be a good time for all. If you are going to attend, remember to make your reservations directly with Ambassador and then email me with your planned attendance so I can update my records.

What type of receptacle are you plugged into? It sounds like a standard 15 amp (or possibly 20 amp) garage GFCI outlet? If so, then at 23 amps you are trying to pull too many amps through the outlet and that is why it is tripping. When plugged into a standard outlet like that, you need to be very conservative on the power usage in the rig. Set the refrigerator and water heater to propane instead of electricity for starters. Electric heaters are high draw power users also. You would be better off using your forced air propane heater in the rig instead. Your batteries will have nothing to do with tripping a 120 volt outlet. The batteries are part of the 12 volt system and the shore power cord is part of the 120 volt system. The only place where the two systems interact is the battery charger powered by 120 volts charging the 12 volt batteries (in a standard set up).

Truma Aquago Comfort https://www.truma.net/water-systems

When I extended the WCR to a week long event last year, I added a wine tour to the agenda. It was a big hit and will be on the agenda again this year. Thanks for the suggestion though. I am always looking for new ideas.

That’s too bad. Hopefully you’ll be back out this way next year.

Truma makes an on demand water heater that is (in my opinion) much better than the standard tank RV water heaters. We put one in our current 5th wheel when we ordered it and have been extremely happy with it. I won’t go back to a standard RV water heater again. It is propane only and will give you an unlimited supply of hot water (assuming you don’t run out of water or propane).

Excellent. See you in June.

I gave an explanation of the wiring in your other topic.

I installed a rear bench seat out of a medium duty truck. It was slightly narrower than my sleeper so I built end tables with cup holders and hidden storage on either side of the bench. The framing for the seat was installed with four bolts (drilled holes through the floor of the sleeper). The bolts have large fender washers to keep everything in place. This worked with my rear AC equipment that was under the old bed. I have also mounted an AGM battery bank and inverter under the seat. The seat has three integrated lap belts. It works very well and was easy to do. I have pictures of it in the truck link in my signature below.

I just helped Mr. Cob install a winch on his truck. (We just finished it tonight.). He built a single arm that mounts into a receiver on the side of the bed. The winch then mounts to the top of the arm with another receiver. The winch sits up on the arm high enough that it is even with the smart bumper when the car is on the deck. It is a simple and effective design. I wired everything up for him. I ran 2 gauge wire (bigger than came with the winch) from battery lugs to a storage box under the front of the bed. The wires come in through the side of the storage box with rubber grommets for protection. The winch Mr. Cob bought came with a set of resettable breakers. I mounted the resettable breakers in a plastic box because the breakers were mounted to some bare metal. I mounted the plastic box on the inside wall of the storage box up high next to where the wires come into the box. I then mounted the winch solenoid next the the plastic box. The positive battery cable comes into the storage box then into the plastic box and connects to the breakers. It then comes out the other side of the plastic box and connects to the appropriate terminal on the solenoid. The negative battery cable comes into the storage box and goes directly to the appropriate terminal on the solenoid. I came off the solenoid to an Anderson connector with two more more 2 gauge wires. Mr. Cob and I built a control panel out of some 4” by 2” angle I had laying around. I mounted the winch rocker switch and the connector for the wired winch remote to the front of the control panel. I mounted the Anderson connector to the back of the control panel. I mounted the control panel to the top of the box just inside the door in the upper left corner. The rocker switch and wire remote connector are wired back to the solenoid. All the wiring is up out of the way. I then ran cables from the winch to another Anderson connector with enough length to reach the Anderson connector in the box. It is very simple to connect the winch to power with the Anderson connectors. It takes less than a minute to install the winch arm, winch and connect it to power (not including getting the parts out from were ever they are stored). Mr. Cob has some pictures he can post of the set up. It came out pretty good and is very functional and easy to set up and break down (just two pieces and one wire connection).

Bummer. We won’t arrive until Thursday. Looking forward to our first trip to Q.

2020 West Coast HDT Rally Monday June 15th, 2020 (arrival day) Monday June 22nd, 2020 (departure day) Ambassador RV Resort Caldwell Idaho. http://www.g7rvresorts.com/idaho/ambassador/ Please call the office at Ambassador RV Resort (888) 877-8307 between 8:00 am & 5:00 p.m. MST to make your reservations. When making your reservations, please mention that you are a member of the WCR HDT group. Ambassador has weekly and monthly rates if you wish to stay at the park longer. 26 sites have been set aside for our group (more can be made available if we need them) Sites will be released back to the campground in May so please make your reservations early. After you make your reservations please email me at chadheiser@att.net so I can get you on the attendees list. There will be a Rally Fee of $20.00 per rig payable at the rally to help cover some expenses. Rally T-shirts will also be available for $20.00 each. When you email me, let me know how many people will be in your party, their names (for name tags) and whether or not you would like T-shirts (and what sizes). The agenda is under development so if you have any ideas or suggestions please pass them along. I will put out an official agenda once I have it all nailed down. If any of you would like to volunteer for a presentation, I am happy to have you. We are looking forward to seeing lots of folks! 2020 HDT West Coast Rally Schedule.docx

Looking forward to seeing you when you get here. Hope it isn’t too difficult to get out of your place. Safe travels.