Randyretired

Solar provides so much more while boon docking I find myself coming up with new things. We recently added a small freezer and now I am looking at a small mini split. Solar has come down in cost so much that it opens up things I never would have considered before. Jack's suggestion of maximizing panels from the start is good advise.

Solar can be very beneficial for boon dockers but sizing the array to ones expectations is important. Knowing how much solar is needed for the power requirements is necessary to avoid spending to much or being disappointed. In the past I have helped install solar on a couple of RV's only to have the owners disappointed because they expected more. It also seems wise to consider using larger than minimum for things like wire size and maybe even controllers so that simple additions are possible. We started out years ago with a 50 watt panel when solar was rare. It was expensive but it was good for our weekend fishing trips. Now we have 1060 watts and we are considering adding a little more.

Most major cities and a number of smaller cities have soup kitchens where one can get a nutritional, safe meal. By giving to support this seems like a better option and then I know what my donation goes toward. As I said this type of giving is supported in the area I live in. If you prefer to give haphazardly that is your choice.

Where we live they advise giving to the food kitchen and the food charities and please don't give to the beggars. Help feed them but don't support their habits or money grabbing. When we worked in down town a coworker and friend used to offer someone asking for money a hamburger at the drive in. Not one ever accepted his offer.

We had a neighbor some years ago that liked deer so they fed them. What follows deer soon arrived! Mountain lions and a few bears. The division of wild life talked to them but it only sort of helped. The division also had to come shoot a couple of deer due to advanced waisting disease.

A couple of years ago we took a short boat ride from the Riverside Casino. It just goes in front of the casinos and up to the dam. People that needed to loaded first and if necessary there was first floor seating. Short and inexpensive but informative and entertaining. We also took a boat ride on Lake Havasu on a boat that carried just 6 passengers. Each with their own captains chair. This boat goes through Lake Havasu and up the Colorado River into the gorge to Topok. They also served a small lunch. I can't remember the name but it left from London Bridge and it was a great experience. Very relaxing. Plenty of available camping in these areas but best times are early spring, maybe April or in the fall.

If you have a cell phone you probably have a pretty good idea. I was part of a business that used a lot of cell phone size batteries (1000s) and some lasted a lot longer than others and some didn't last very long. I just had the battery replaced in my phone and the damage caused by the swelled battery fixed. Hopefully the warranty is good on these large packs.

We have lived in the high country in Colorado for years and for some of that time we had cattle. We love the wildlife and enjoy seeing them from a distance but infrequently it is to close. Bears, coyotes, skunks, bobcats and even a couple of mountain lions to close. We have come face to face with a few snakes, mostly bull snakes but thankfully nothing that big.

The mail we used to receive from the bank had a do not forward statement and it would not forward. The bank then became concerned because the mail to us was returned. Turned into a mess! We use an app now and no more mail.

I have a Sam's Club cc that gives 5% cash back on fuel almost anywhere and use gasbuddy to find the cheaper stations. The cheaper stations are usually busy for diesel, so they have good turnover. Other than that just think of all of the fun you are having instead of the cost.

Our 2 door Dometic is working okay AFTER we replaced the cooling unit. The original quit a few months after the warranty and Dometic wouldn't help. We also went with an Amish unit. If or when it fails again we will buy a residential fridge.

I can't believe we drive RV's all about and use terribly inefficient RV appliances and since you are on a RV forum I assume you accept or maybe even do that and you are worried about someone using a little more power to light their home! Residential lighting doesn't use a lot of power. There are politicians that think we should use mass transit and only drive electric vehicles when absolutely necessary. That would really save a lot of pollution but I am guessing many of us would prefer a choice. In my opinion your calling me out on this is misplaced and insignificant.

I purchased LED's years ago and I experienced many of the problems discussed here. However, the recent advancements have proven so good that we have them in our house and RV. I really like them. When I changed my shop to LED's the improvement was fantastic and saved me money. Even though I can't imagine going back to incandescent I think a person should have a choice.

Thanks, I didn't know that. We are planning a new house on our property that is only a couple of miles from Grand Mesa National Forest. We can ride out our driveway. Most of the trails are limited to 50" wide. There are enough trails to keep us exploring new trails for years. The trails also connect to 2 other National Forests for even more trails.

Our old Teton came with gauges on the 40 pound propane tanks. These are fairly accurate.

I had Radial Karatomy (pre lasik) years ago and it really complicated the cataract surgery. My surgeon had me see another doctor that had a knack for determining the correct lenses. He did pretty good but if I had the records it would have been better. Still the cataract surgery helped a lot but I wear glasses.

What I was trying to say if the DC to DC converter fails the slides and Jack's are without power. This can be very inconvenient. A 12v battery for backup could be mighty handy.

All of the different side x side ORV's are interesting and bigger seems to be the norm. However in Colorado there are literally hundreds of miles of trails limited by width of the ORV. Many are limited to 50" or narrower and more trails are built every year. For those of us that like side x sides that leaves only one for these trails, a small Polaris.

I don't have much to add to the technical specs but a cheap converter without a battery could fail. Moving the slides and jacks on a Teton is difficult without power.

Microwaves are rated for the cooking output. The total power used is usually a few hundred watts more.

I just had an address assigned to a property in Colorado. A visit to the county planning office along with proof of ownership was needed. Fill out a form and in time an address is assigned. I have done this here a few times. If the address is not already in range of the addresses the USPS has then you encounter a lot of not a valid address problems until they finally update their files.

There are usually fuses on the side of the converter. Mine typically blow when the batteries go bad. Sometimes these fuses are melted from the excessive heat created by charging bad batteries, making them a little difficult to remove.

A bumper pull small trailer is often lighter than a 5er. For a small trailer I would think with the right hitch setup it would pull just fine. A 16-18' light weight trailer behind a heavy duty 1/2 ton truck should be a good setup. All 1/2 ton trucks are not equal. Be sure to follow the manufacturers towing guidelines. Most feel that it is important to stay well under the maximum for a comfortable setup.

GY reimbursed us for the tires and the damage done to both sides of our 5er when all 4 tires failed on one trip. These tires were only 2 years old but it turned out GY was already aware of the problem. The tire dealer told me that he dealt with a number of like failures and in a couple of cases GY replaced the remaining tires where there was only 1 tire that failed. The way I feel about this is GY knew they had a problem and didn't try to stop the dangerous problem. I am sure you can imagine the hastle of trying to find all new tires one at a time just to get home. Changing the tires on the side of the road was precarious to say the least.This was many years ago and I haven't bought a GY tire since. It would appear that they still do business this way.

Sounds like Quartzsite during the show. A MH became stuck and the owner wondered over to see if my HDT could pull him out. First try it wouldn't move. In just minutes there was a whole crew of people from different nearby areas helping to dig. He was unstuck in no time.