Jim1521

Wife has Plan F through United American Insurance. We’re been extremely happy with them. I turn 65 next year, and was planning on going Plan F with them. Looks like that’s not gonna happen.

Did he let him go on his way, or did the OHP make him drop the trailer?

Interesting that the OHP based his weight rating solely on the axle rating. I wonder if he had a book or some reference document that said “axle X has a max rating of Y”?

I’ve spent the last 15 years living in SW FL (Fort Myers). Loved it, and used to tell people (seriously) that Tampa was too far north for us. Last June we sold it all and are now full-timing. We will stay in FL for the winter (because we love Florida), but we’re going to try Port St. Joe, up in the Panhandle region. We reserved a site on the water (~ 50’ from it) at an RV resort and marina. We stayed there a year ago in May (before Michael came through) and fell in love with the place. We’ll be there 1 November - 1 May. Literally booked it 365 days in advance to make sure we got the spot we wanted.

OP is going to have to stick to TT due to the Armada being an SUV.

If you’re only going to need it for a year while renovating, I’d strongly suggest you look at used in the 2013 year or earlier. Look at trailers that have “good bones”. There are a lot of experienced people here who can recommend good ones.

Of your 3 choices I only have first hand experience with Grand Design. I currently own a GDRV, and would not purchase another. We just spent the past 14 months deciding on a new fifth wheel. GDRV was the incumbent, and they did not get on the short list. Their construction is not that good - certainly not for the price that they demand. I just saw this video yesterday, and it's a rather strong indictment on GDRV Imagine - and probably many others in this industry. Arctic Fox seems to get really good reviews, and many people that I have talked with speak highly of them. I don't know anything about Bullet.

The C2 apparently just came out with a refresh in March of 2019. The more I look at the C2 the more I like this approach. Especially like the fact that I don't have to snake a cable down through the walls . I hate the thought of cutting a hole in a brand new trailer, so as long as I can find a 12v source up there on the roof somewhere, I can get the C2 powered up and running. Disappointed that it doesn't support 802.11ac, but it'll be more than fast enough for what I need.

Thanks Carlos. OK, so now that I've got the taxonomy down my next question would be that of the Togo Roadlink C2 integration. In my RV I have my own WLAN architecture consisting of a controller, 3 x 802.11ac APs, and separate SSIDs (one for WORK, one for PLAY, which are also on separate VLANs for broadcast control). I create bandwidth contracts for the two SSIDs, and assign lower QoS tags to the PLAY VLAN traffic. I use the Pepwave Surf SOHO router for my Wifi-as-WAN connection to the park wifi (I have a separate VLAN that I negotiated with the park which affords me 50 Mbps of bandwidth carved out of their 100 Mbps pipe to their ISP). As I read the Roadlink C2, it creates its own wifi network for use inside the RV. There is no Ethernet port. I believe that I could simply use the wifi-as-wan interface on the Pepwave router to connect to the C2 wifi network, and then continue to use the Pepwave as my wired connection into my controller. That way I don't have to change anything inside of my existing network (other than pointing the wifi-as-wan to the C2). Will that work?

I looked at the Togo plan earlier. I have question that I can't seem to get answered. They say "unthrottled", but then they go on to talk about "network management" later in the same breath. I'm a network engineer and to me (in the wifi and Ethernet world) unthrottled means that there are no speed restrictions put on the link. I also know that "network management" is another term for QoS. So while they won't be restricting my speed (per se), they can put all of my traffic down in the lowest QoS prioritization bucket. So is this what they mean as well? Unthrottled (i.e. 150 Mbps link speed), but all my traffic going to Pr1 (lowest priority) once I hit a certain threshold? We literally are using about 500 - 800 GB per month, so that's why "unlimited data" is important to me. I have no allegiance to T-Mobile; I've never used them before. I've always been on AT&T for both work and personal cellular service.

Hi Cherie, Thanks for that great email. Yes, I saw that the Pepwave equipment is a little long in the tooth. I've been using their Surf SOHO MK3 for a couple of years now. I'm going to give those links you ref'd a good reading this evening. Many thanks. JP

Thanks for the information regarding T-Mobile's coverage. I am a little bit concerned about that. Let me add some info. We'll only be using it in Port St. Joe, FL and Blairsville, GA. We aren't planning on any heavy traveling, mostly in Florida. Any time that we'd be traveling, I'll be on vacation so it won't be a huge deal breaker if I have to use my AT&T wireless phone as a hotspot. In looking at T-Mobile's coverage map I can see that in both of my areas that I'm staying at, I should have more than adequate coverage. But marketing maps don't tell the whole story, so I'm going to wait until I get there (1 November) to actually make the decision. Really hoping this works out, as no one offers an unlimited - unthrottled - data plan. Just discovered that T-Mobile has a Test Drive plan.  30-days or 30 GB of 4G LTE for free. I'm going to try this once we get there.

Thanks Chalkie. Yes, I saw that they’re using 600 MHz out in the GOM for connectivity to the rigs (also I think I saw they’re also using 700 MHz RigNet).

Years ago, they had a deal with USAir for airfare from PHL-RSW for $125 r/t. That was the only reason I signed up with them as we were regularly flying to Ft. Myers. They did away with that program, and after that I found absolutely no value in them. They do not represent me (IMHO) in any of their stands.

I've been talking with these folks for a couple of weeks now. They have a relatively simple architecture (Pepwave router, external antenna) that they run over T-Mobile's network to provide unlimited, unthrottled data. Initial investment is about $1,000, with a $99/month run rate. So far, from talking to them it sounds like it will meet my needs (still working full time with lots of VoIP, Zoom, file transfers, etc.), as well as the fact that we both like our Netflix, etc. Is anybody using this cellular solution? I'd like to get some firsthand stories from users as to how well it works for you. Thanks.

We used one and were very happy with the outcome. Putting it on was very easy. I simply tied a rope to it, hoisted it up on the roof (not as difficult as I thought it was going to be), rolled it out the length of the trailer, draped it first over the street side, then over the curb side, climbed down the ladder and finished the job. 1-2 hours tops. When we came back in the spring we found the trailer clean and in the same condition as we left it. We got the Classic Accessories SkyShield™ Travel Trailer & Toy Hauler RV Cover-Model 8T

Find the floorplan that you like the best, walk through it, sit down, stand up, lay down, stretch out, pretend you are both cooking in the kitchen together at the same time, then go into the bathroom, one stand in the shower while the other pretends to shave or put makeup on, etc. Go into the bedroom and pretend one is getting dressed while the other is getting clothes out of a drawer or closet. Then make notes on how much room you had. Was there enough? If so, mark it with a + sign on your list, then wash/rinse/repeat with the next floorplan. If not, figure out what were the most important actions that you made (i.e. cooking, bathroom, bedroom) and look at other floor plans with an eye towards those actions. For example, you may discover that you really need a 1,5 bath model, or you need one that is mostly kitchen, etc. The point is: take your time, do your due diligence BEFORE you spend any money.

yes, that is correct. I don't recall who it's currently with. When I spoke with them, they said they were negotiating with all four of the major carriers in the US.

LWD, I’ve been looking real hard at the RVDataSat solution. I too am still working, and I’m in the WiFi business working remotely. We consume a lot of data (about 600 GB streaming Netflix, video conferencing, etc) monthly. At our summer location I have great WiFi and no bandwidth restrictions or problems. This winter we’re going to another site in FL, and I’m going to have to either rein in DW or come up with an alternative. Did you do the install yourself or did you pay to have it done? I’m looking at their Option 4 ($99/month-to-month). Are there any other fees, etc? What UL/DL speeds are you typically getting?

CA is beautiful - my wife is from San Jose and my company HQ is out in Silicon Valley. Being from the East coast, I had never really seen the beauty of Yosemite or the Pacific Coast as a whole until my wife showed me around on some weekend trips when I’d fly out there for business meetings. However, as beautiful as it is, I have no desire to go visit it with a 44’ trailer being pulled by a 20’ truck with Florida tags. I’ve read too many anecdotal stories to convince me that there are plenty of other beautiful places in this country to visit that don’t present many of these California problems.

I use SBI in Green Cove Springs, FL for our mail forwarding service. I contacted Lee County Tax Collectors office (we just sold our home in Ft. Myers, FL). Per their instructions, I went online with the FL DMV and simply changed my address to the GCS mailing address, but instead of the box number used the license plate of my RV as my residence (since that is where we "lay our heads"). They then transferred me over to Lee County Voter Registration. I explained to them that we sold our home in Ft. Myers, but that we still consider ourselves as Lee County residents. The supervisor that I spoke with was very familiar with this situation. She said that for voting purposes they would continue to use my old Ft. Myers address, but that they would use my Green Cove Springs, FL address as our mailing address. I explained to her that we're keeping our doctors in Ft. Myers, continue to visit friends and family there, and that our intention is to eventually move back to Ft. Myers when we're done traveling. She said that she was comfortable that we met the "spirit and the intent" that we were maintaining our residency there, and she re-validated our voter registrations documentation, and we will be sent absentee ballots via the mail. Having accomplished all of this AFTER we sold our home and went full-timing makes me at peace with the whole domicile question.

Are you keeping property in California? If so, you may need to consult with an attorney. There is more to "establishing a FL domicile" than just filling out a form. I recently went through the process. In my case, I was already a FL resident (been so for nearly 20 years). However, once I sold my home, while I was still considered a Floridian (by domicile), the answer is "it depends". We have a proven "audit trail" that we are still Floridians. We've kept our doctors; we registered to vote in Clay county. We maintain our affiliations with churches and schools in the Ft. Myers area. In short, we're more than just Floridians on paper. In discussions with a lawyer, we learned that if a state wants to come after you (i.e. California), and you still own property there, continue to use your same doctors, etc., etc., etc., - California could make a very valid case that you are still Californians, and come after you for property taxes, income taxes, etc. Congratulations on retirement.

Tried them. They were one of the most expensive.

I have not been a fan of Camping World; pretty much know them only by reputation. However, recently when we were shopping for our Sleep Number bed, they beat everyone around by at least $300, so I ordered from them. Drop shipped directly from the factory, so we had no problems. I don't like their management; I think Marcus is a slime ball (based on public comments he made, as well as the publicity stunt he pulled using the American flag as a business prop) so it's only going to be as a last resort that I purchase from them.