aknavy
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Posts
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Posts posted by aknavy
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21 hours ago, Alie&Jim's Carrilite said:
Wider net. I think they're booked 18months out right now.
This. Last summer (June) we were there and they were taking orders to start building now. It's only gotten worse - If you order now, you may get it somewhere close to 2025.
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We've boondocked at both, and stayed at WillowWind RV park in La Verkin (Zion). It's 25 minutes from the Zion entrance and across the road from grocery stores.
If you can boondock, Hurricane Cliffs (Zion) and Toms Best Spring Road (Bryce) are great spots that accommodated our train. Both are 20-25 minutes from the parks, and we think way better than a campground.Personally, I would stay at each park, to much time lost driving between the two. Lot's to see and do at both, and between them.
Try to get a permit for Coyote Bluffs while you're in the area.
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On 1/22/2022 at 3:40 PM, Rover said:
We’ve been fulltime for six years now and very rarely reserve in advance. We do of course make reservations for events such as rallies or festivals we want to attend or if we need to be in a specific area at a specific time for something, we will reserve a site to make sure there are no problems.
We are set up well for boondocking so we don’t worry about not finding places and often prefer to boondock. We also have a campground membership that allows us to stay free at many campgrounds but has to be reserved at least three days out. Sometimes we don’t know where we will be in three days or how long we might want to stay. But we try to take advantage of those full hookup stays for a few days when we can, especially after boondocking for awhile.
Actually, being fulltime is an advantage in that we can be very flexible and adjust our schedule or our direction to go wherever the vacancies are.
Happy Travels!
Vicki
This is pretty much the same for us. Fulltime for 5 years, setup for boondocking. We also prefer that, but like to take a break and enjoy unlimited water. We reserve ahead of time for events, but mostly fly by the seat of our pants. We stay flexible, and if we have a specific place we want to be, we check for reservations repeatedly, as there usually is a cancellation that we can snag. Just have to get on it.
For us, we plan out stays/reservations based on families/events/locations that we want to go to, then fill in the blanks with whatever works and is available.Boondocking allowed us to do August/September at three different Yellowstone entrances with zero planning...and didn't pay the exorbitant campground fees in the area.
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14 hours ago, Rotorhead said:
I have started to check and see what I get running BT. So far it appears to be 4.4 mpg. I haven't driven it far between fill ups so I don't know how accurate that is. My question is, if it is accurate what would that mean? Do I have an issue that is causing poor mileage? Injector(s) maybe?
Chuck
Man, I thought I was sucking towing 30k with my 2001 660/D12/Eaton Autoshift. Loaded, running around out west in and out of the mountains, I'm getting about 6 mpg. Bobtail, the little that I do it, the lie-o-meter puts me above 10 mpg. So I'd say that's accurate to +/- 1 mpg. Probably + if I'm telling someone and - if I'm paying the fuel bill. I agree with the others, something is amiss.
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Nice job. I have those sockets in my Amazon cart right now. I was going to add a Painless ignition controlled fusebox as well. Did you just use the existing wires from the cig lighter and power port for power? I've got a USB distributor connected to the lighter socket right now, but it's not ignition controlled, so if I forget to unplug it, it will drain the battery over the course of 7-10 days of parking.
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Second for Rise and Roll.
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6 hours ago, rickeieio said:
On Volvos, look at the pass through block on the driver side firewall. We had some big ones there.
This - I have a pretty good leak on one of the big lines on the engine side here. My suspension stays up for days, but this leak will make me wait a minute to fill back up after stopping for a break. Just need to buy the stuff to fix it.
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Kinda interesting. Would like to see some head to head testing against a Pepwave with external antenna. I see that it's dual sim - can it use both, or just failover to the second sim?
On a different note, when we were at Hill AFB, LTE sucked. Maybe the rest of Salt Lake is better. I was disappointed in our service there.
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On 8/28/2021 at 9:03 PM, agesilaus said:
We are at our favorite spot north of Gardiner on Hwy 89, outside YNP and when we stayed here a year or so ago it was a wide open field with maybe 40 to 50 RV's in it. Got here this time to find that the BLM had 'improved the place'. There are now fewer than 20 spots, all in numbered sites with gravel pads and a gravel roadway. We got one of the last two spots last Thursday, and the place has been mostly full since then. One spot has power/water so I'm guessing it may be a host tho there is no sign and we have not seen anyone at the TT there. Maybe it is meant for a host but they just lucked out and got the empty spot.
So the good: nice level spots with a long distance between sites. The Bad: capacity reduced by at least 70%. It was something of a mob scene last time we were here. If they install a host that may mean they will be charging for spots.
Still a premier BD spot for visiting north YNP. 20 miles from Mammoth.
We stayed there last month. Good spot, but as you pointed out, not alot of sites, and fills up by 5 PM. We went to Hurricane, Utah earlier this summer to find the same thing - it was a free for all when we were there a few years ago, and now there are designated spots. Hope this doesn't continue to happen to these dispersed camping spots, as it cuts down the availability.
On another note, if you cross the little bridge and drive north, there were a ton of antelope when we were there, as well as some deer. -
5 hours ago, 2gypsies said:
I don't understand the question either. Harvest Hosts is not being a farm worker & boondocker. It's a program like Passport America, etc. You stay at a winery, farm or other private properties. No work involved.
Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't understand the question.
You pay a membership fee, and get access to a few thousand hosts - typically wineries, breweries, distilleries (notice a trend...lol), farms, orchards, museums, other attractions, and if you pay extra, golf courses. It's a place to spend a night and not be in a WalMart, Cracker Barrel, or a truck stop. Generally a more appealing location. We have used it for three years, and have not had a bad experience yet. The closest to bad that we have come is driving down 12 miles of gravel road in Kansas to a little farm - the hospitality was still good, but I'd pass on the gravel road in the future. To be honest, we knew ahead of time that the gravel road was there. On the flip side, we have stayed at several vineyards, parked on the grass next to the grape vines. Or on a farm, in a field, with no neighbors in sight. Generally, the hosts are friendly and accommodating.
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On 9/18/2021 at 11:44 AM, Ray,IN said:
aknavy, Does this mean you can become a farm worker and boondock for the harvest season?
Not sure what you're trying to say here.
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Harvest Hosts is a great overnight stay, and occasionally you can stay multiple nights, and some places even have full or partial hookups. It is a way better alternative to truck stops and store parking lots. You pay for access to the platform, the business participates because they get customers. Yes, you are expected to buy something, but you control what you spend. Some of my best short term boondocking sites have been vineyards and farms via Harvest Hosts. Some of the golf courses even allow you to walk your dogs on the course pathways after hours.
If you still work, it's nice to be able to leave on your schedule, not a campgrounds. Many hosts will let you arrive after hours, as long as some body is there. Some don't care when you arrive, just as long as you check in the next day. For those of you quibbling over a $79 dollar ANNUAL fee, maybe Wal Mart is a better place for you. Yeah, I don't pay that much for a site most of the time, but that's an annual fee.We use it pretty often. In fact, our next trip is nothing by Harvest Hosts spaced about two hours apart for 5 days. And we're huge, so we're somewhat limited as to which ones that we can use.
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Just registered, see ya'll there! Looking forward to meeting everyone and getting tips/tricks/ideas.
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We have boondocked at Hurricane Cliffs Recreation area and stayed at Willowind RV Park in Hurricane. Both are 20 minutes from Zion. The RV park is nice, but you will have to park your truck away from your site. Our site was one of their "deluxe" sites, and it was about 50 feet long. Enough room between sites, but nothing extra. Lots of trees. There was one other HDT setup when we were there.
Lot more room if you can boondock, and the weather in October should be conducive to it.
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15 hours ago, 2gypsies said:
How long do you stay in one place boondocking? We had 105 fresh; 65 grey; 45 black and could easily last 2 weeks.
We stay 10-14 days. Use about 10-15 gallons a day unless we're trying to stretch it. I know we can use less, but we like showers, do dishes every other day, and both us and the dogs drink alot of water. While we have a 100 gallon tank on the fifth wheel, I don't like traveling with it full, as it's weight almost directly translates to pin weight on the trailer, so I'd rather travel with the weight on the truck.
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Besides on the deck/in the drom, how are people mounting fresh water tanks? Fresh water is our limiting factor for boondocking. Currently using a 60 gallon bladder to refill, but would really like to carry a couple hundred gallons on the truck. We have a big drom behind the cab and about 6 feet of room behind it, but don't want to block that off with a water tank, as it would block access to the drom, and we put the generator in that area to run when needed. We have a big tank on the trailer, but the water in it = pin weight and the trailer complains if we tow with more than 50 gallons.
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We use 10-15 gallons of water a day. Have a 100 gallon fresh water tank, but do not fill it due to high pin weight and stress on the fifth wheel frame. Travel with 40-50 gallons, which we can stretch to last about 5 days if need be. Have solar for most of our power, but also have a inverter generator for power if need be. We both work, and we are water conscious but not overly conservative.
We run the generator an hour or two at night during dinner/high power draw time just because. We could probably get away with not running it, but why? Shower every 2-3 days, dishes every other day. I bought a 60 gallon bladder and transfer pump, as fresh water is always our limiting factor. Fresh water is pretty easy to find, but I may do a 100 gallon bladder for convenience. We have a 60 gallon black tank, can go two weeks on it. I'll admit, I'm not opposed to trickling a little grey on the ground if I'm in a national forest or BLM land, so grey isn't an issue for us. We also carry a 48 gallon Blue Boy and macerator transfer pump, so we can deal with waste as needed. Bottom line, as you may have gathered from this thread is that everyone is different. Only way to know is to try it out.
With that being said, once you master it and get out of RV parking lots (resorts), you will be ruined for them. We are currently at least a hundred yards from our closes neighbors, separated by trees, great views, and it's free. And we're 20 miles from Yellowstone, and this particular spot is considered crowded. The RV parks around us are full, expensive, and a 20 foot wide spot is considered big. In the last month we've spent three days in a park, and it sucked. Unfortunately, circumstances forced it on us. The only time I look for full hookups is when the temp is going to be over 90 degrees and I'm going to need all three AC's to be comfortable. First world problems. -
I did it with our setup two months ago - 29 foot long singled Volvo and 46 foot triple axle trailer. Had to wait my turn a couple times on switchbacks. But I was following a commercial guy bigger than me, and encountered an oncoming oversize commercial rig. Just know that it's a slow ride - most of it was 15-20 mph.
It wasn't white knuckle - just active driving. I enjoyed the first couple hours, then was ready to be done cause the day was getting long. But I grew up in AK, running gravel roads sketchier than this over the mountains. -
On 6/21/2021 at 5:08 PM, fpmtngal said:
How come you don’t like the Dyrt? I’m asking out of curiosity, I’ve never looked at them before. I’m pretty new at boondocking and have found Campendium pretty good, better than AllStays which seems to list only campgrounds. I’ve only recently downloaded iOverlander so don’t have a feel for how good it will be for dispersed camping sites.
I will admit that I feel uncomfortable depending on dispersed camping recommendations if I’m traveling - I’m afraid of finding somewhere completely overcrowded, or the road in is going to be tougher than it was when the review was written a couple of years ago, or …. I’m also not thrilled about scouting for a spot towing the trailer - I’d rather scout on foot or by truck without the trailer.
Otherwise, the article linked to above is good - be prepared for the conditions.
When planning on boondocking, it's important to plan a back up spot. And have some way to claim a site when you scout it so it doesn't become occupied between scouting and arriving with the RV. We've had a couple end up that way. Sucks, but we were able to find an alternative site. Until we started to travel with a second vehicle, I scouted sites on my bicycle - park reasonably close, and off ya go. A less desirable alternative is to find a parking lot or pull out reasonably close by and drop the trailer.
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Not on the level of previous examples, but I picked up and disposed of two small grocery bags of trash in a fire pit at the spot I'm currently at in Idaho. Amazing how much it pissed me off to see someone leave behind even a little bit of trash. Easily disposed of at the gas station down the road.
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Check out these guys - they are installing Patcraft Crossover Luxury Vinyl Planks in RV's and having pretty good success. They'll answer questions and tell you what they use for adhesive. When I get sick of my crappy looking LVT in the DRV (same as yours, I think), I'll switch to this stuff. Father/son business's. Ernie, the father, specializes in hardwood. His son does both.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1145315955826540
https://www.facebook.com/groups/221768331584448 -
I'm boondocking with solar/Westinghouse Igen 4500. I can limit how much amperage I draw from it, and have it set to 20 amps to keep the noise down when I do run it. My neighbor has one of those super quiet Honda 2000's. It's louder than my Westinghouse when under load. At idle, it's probably a hair quieter. But under load, the Westinghouse is quieter and produces more power. Not sure of the exact Honda model, not creeping on them like that.
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10 minutes ago, trimster said:
My thoughts exactly. I love to build this stuff, but you need to know when to fold'em.
I thought I was all setup with an Auto Hobby shop to work in with lifts, hoists, full set of tools, etc, only to find out their hours had changed and they were closed on the weekend. So back to the campground I went.
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On 7/7/2021 at 4:33 PM, trimster said:
Hitch installed. Whooohooo!
The shop did a great job and did it in essentially one day (picked up the truck 10am the next day). Went above and beyond. If you need work done in the Albany, Oregon area.... Sheet Metal Solutions. Big operation that knows what they are doing.
I was a rush job, they squeezed in. Only $920 out the door. I was expecting way more. Like most places out here, cash saves you 3%+ credit card fee.
I replaced my TSLB with the new version this weekend. The flange/base is a different size, and they moved the bolts from fore/aft to port/starboard. I had to add more 2"square tube to get the height I need. Had to drill 10 holes thru 2" quarter wall square tube and 1/2 inch plate to mount it. In a campground. The shop I was gonna use was closed on the weekend. What a pain in the butt. I think I would have paid the $920 to have it be someone else's pain in the butt. As it was, I broke 3 drill bits, nearly broke my wrist, and crushed a fingertip pretty badly. Drilling thru that much steel free hand is a disaster waiting to happen. Not to mention moving that beast in and out of the hole it sits in several times with no crane/hoist. I think you got a good deal!
Swivelwheel trailer
in Fifth-Wheel
Posted
Both of the swivel wheel trailers that I had with small wheels ran cooler than the fifth wheel bearings. The only issue I had was when I neglected to do bearing maintenance on a used on I bought. I ran around 65 mph most of the time, loaded at full capacity on the single wheel version I had, and at about 75% on the double wheeled version.