Chad Heiser

Sea Level makes the best tank monitor in my opinion. For battery monitoring, you want a Shunt based battery monitor. My preference is Victron. Their BMV 712 has a small remote display you can mount somewhere convenient or you can use the VictronConnect app with it via Bluetooth. The SmartShunt just uses the app via Bluetooth with no physical display.

I like Surge Guard for their ATS with surge and other protections built in, but it is expensive. If you are just looking for an ATS only, then Progressive Dynamics is my top choice.

I have a power cord reel at the back of my 46’ toy hauler and a standard twist lock 50 amp receptacle at the front of my 46’ toy hauler. I use an adapter to go from the twist lock to standard NEMA receptacle and then have an 18’ 6 AWG 50 amp extension cord. The two plug ins run to an ATS in the trailer so only one can send power to the trailer at a time. This set up works well for me. I can use the front or rear plugs or add length to the rear cord real with the extension cord. It provides lots of options. So far this year, I have probably had to use the front plug about a 1/4 of the time at the places we have stayed since I got the trailer in June. I am happy to have the options for convenience sake. I currently am mooch docking on a family property and have a standard 12 AWG extension cord run to the front of the trailer from the garage on the property. I then have 15 to 30 and 30 to 50 dog bones connected to get a bit of power to the trailer at the front receptacle. As I said, it is nice to have options.

The wire is typically just run through the underbelly. It may take removing sections of the coroplast or at least undoing some of the screws holding the coroplast up to pull the wire back and relocate the shore plug connection. There may be some zip ties holding the wire in places.

I am slowly getting completed registration forms from attendees. So far we have approximately 40% first time attendees. I have also received 5 or 6 registrations from people who were not on the original email blast, so it appears the word got out to at least a few of those who weren't on the early notification list as well. For those of you who are registered at Ambassador, but haven't completed the Rally Registration Form, please go here and complete the form.

Not quite as fast as last year, but still went quickly.

The 2023 West Coast HDT Rally is scheduled for June 12-19, 2023. The rally has opened up for registrations. An advance email went out Monday to past rally attendees and all those who signed up for the rally email list through the contact form on the rally website (HDTWCR.com). As of lunch time today (Wednesday) there was one site still available at Ambassador for potential rally attendees during the rally. I know this doesn't leave much room for those not on the rally email list, but it is the process we have in place. If you want to get advanced notice for future rallies, please sign up for the email list through the contact form on the website. Ambassador RV Resort is our host campground for the rally. It is a beautiful park and has huge sites that work nicely for our large rigs. Unfortunately they have a limited number of those sites available for short term rentals and this limits the number of rally attendees we can host. We discuss this every year at the rally and so far the consensus of the group is to keep using Ambassador as our host facility even though it limits the number of attendees. We always have a high number of first time rally attendees at each rally, so I know it isn't keeping people from the opportunity to attend, but it does limit our overall numbers. If you would like to attend the rally, but can't get a site at Ambassador, there are other options in the area. Canyon County Fairgrounds/O'Connor Field House on the other side of the interstate from where Ambassador is located has 15 Full Hook Up sites available. For Elks members, the Caldwell Elks Lodge, one exit west on the interstate from Ambassador, has 8 spaces with water and 30 amp power (they utilize the fairgrounds for a free dump station). There are also other commercial RV parks in the area. The Caldwell Campground & RV Park is off the next exit past the Elks Lodge and Abundant Life RV Park is also in the area on the same side of the interstate as the Fairgrounds, but a bit further east. You can also still contact Ambassador and get added to the wait list there. We are still 8 months away from the actual rally, so I am sure there will be cancellations for various reasons which will open up sites at Ambassador along the way. If you have any questions about the rally, feel free to ask or comment here. You can also contact me directly at chad@hdtwcr.com.

The provided screws work fine. They are all I typically use. On large panels like yours though, I always use six mounts per panel. That means twelve of the smaller screws holding the panels to the roof. If you are only using four mounts per panel, I would prefer the larger screws you are using.

I never recommend flexible panels either. There are some very specific installations where they would be your only choice, but generally they area bad idea. This is just one example of why they are a bad idea.

These are the mounts I use. They are two piece Z-brackets. Sometimes I leave the curved section, but most of the time I hammer the curve flat. If I needed additional height, like it sounds you do, I would add the appropriate width aluminum flat between the two pieces of Z-bracket and bolt everything together. I would not go too tall with this method, but to get the 7 inch clearance you need it would be easy. These will give almost 6” of clearance by themselves. For the size panels you are discussing, I use six of these brackets (three on each long side of the panel). I can’t remember if a Teton roof is curved or not. If it is curved, the brackets on the ends of the panels will have to be longer than the brackets in the center of the panels when mounting the panels perpendicular to the roof to keep the panel flat across the roof.

Kirk’s diagram is how to do it.

And big fines potentially if caught doing that over the road. 😮

We stream regularly with both of the Mobley sims. I do get some buffering on occasion, but it is usually app/provider specific. Some streaming services are much better at compensating for different or varying bandwidths than others. On occasion I will reset the modem when I am experiencing issues, but that is rare. Maybe once a month or so.

This is not widely known, but Grand Design has six (I think) mobile RV techs that travel around the country going to rallies and other events who fix Grand Design RV’s out in the wild (usually at no cost to the owner). When traveling between events they are instructed to stop and assist any RV they see that appears to be in need of assistance (again usually at no cost to the owner).

I have one Mobley sim in a desktop LTE WiFi router at home and another one in an Insty connect WiFi router in my RV. Both routers are on 24/7. I have not noticed and speed issues with either of them and they are my only source of internet in either location.

I have several friends with Grand Design RV’s and I have done installations on quite a few Grand Design RV’s as well. I have been in and around their 5th wheels, toy haulers and travel trailers. Overall, for the market segment they are going for, I like their rigs. I would have no problem owning one of them.

Saying that oil companies don’t want to build refineries is not completely accurate. I can tell you for a fact there has been a long standing attempt to build a new oil refinery outside of Belfield, ND. With all the production from the Bakken field (a massive oil deposit) it makes better financial sense for the producers to pipe the oil direct to a local refinery and then ship refined fuel rather than crude oil. The company has been working at getting the refinery built for years. They were sued by environmental groups and had to jump through other governmental whoops. Just as all of the hurdles were getting resolved, the new administration came in with a perceived anti oil agenda (this is not intended to be political, it just is what it is) and that threw another wrench in the works and caused the brakes to get pushed on the project again. I have a vested interest in this company moving forward with their plans because they intend to do part of it on some family property. It has been very frustrating seeing all the hurdles they have had thrown in their way. I personally would love to see more refineries built in the US. We have plenty of our own oil and should not depend on foreign sources to meet our needs.

I don't know if Texas offers this, but in California you can register a vehicle as PNO or planned non-operation. It keeps all the paperwork on the vehicle current with DMV and the fee is significantly less than actual registration. However, when the vehicle is in PNO status, it cannot be operated on the road and if caught operating it with PNO, there are penalties greater than the original registration would have been. I would check with Texas DMV and see what they say you need to do or what options they offer.

Solar generators are a bit of a misnomer. They are basically just batteries in a box with an inverter attached to provide 120 volt power. They may also include some type of suitcase style solar panel set up to recharge them. Personally, I would rather spend that money on adding those components individually to my rig (but that is my preference) to supply my power. You can usually do this more cost effectively. If you have a need for limited power away from your rig, they could be an option though.

Congratulations. That is a similar setup and vintage to my rig (although mine is a Kenworth). You should enjoy it. By the way, you didn’t have to buy a truck before you could attend a rally. We still let LGT owners come and park in the back. 😜

Command Electronics sent me 50+ new led light boards for my 2017 DRV as well (back in 2017). I replaced them as they would go bad. I still have a box full of those boards in my shop.

Everything worked out. The old trailer got totaled by the insurance company. I was thankful for that because I didn’t want it back after the damage it received. We lucked into a brand new DRV Full House toy hauler. It was the model I was trying to convince my wife to buy and was custom ordered to almost the exact same specs I would have ordered it with (it actually had a couple of things I wouldn’t have thought to add). The people it was ordered for ended up not being ready to take it, so we stepped in. The timing couldn’t have been any better, so all is good again. The HDT survived with only some minor cosmetic damage, so that was lucky as well. We have been traveling a lot since the incident and I am leaving again in the morning to head to a Rolling Retreats to do some work and get some work done. It has been a very busy year.

If you don’t want people in your home who haven’t been vaccinated then ask them before you let them in. It i# your home and your choice. If they choose not to answer then you don’t have to let them in. Personally, I could care less if someone has been vaccinated or not. I am responsible for me and no one else. If I want to be cautious and take precautions, it is my responsibility. I can’t control what other people do. Obviously if someone is outwardly/obviously ill, then I will avoid them. If they are not obviously ill and I am comfortable with them then whatever happens happens. I am out in public settings all the time and have no idea who has or has not been vaccinated. I also have customers coming to my property regularly and I am in and out of their rigs the entire time they are here. I take basic precautions and live my life.

I’m not sure why everyone is talking about commercial licenses. Cory (Vegas Teacher) asked if he needed a NON-Commercial Class A license. Nevada, like California, Texas and some other states, requires a NON-Commercial Class A license when towing heavy combinations. Tahoe Shark is also a Nevada resident and had to get a Non-Commercial Class A to tow his heavy 5er with his HDT. I don’t have Nevada’s specific code section to reference, but I know from conversations with Tahoe Shark (who did the research) that you can’t legally tow a heavy 5er with an HDT (or any tow vehicle) without the higher level of license.

I have received literally hundreds of solar panels shipped to my home. In all those shipments, I have only had two panels broken on arrival. I did not find the breakage in either instance until days after arrival when I opened the packages. In both circumstances, I called the manufacturer who shipped the panels to me (two different manufacturers) and received a replacement at no cost in a day or two.