mptjelgin

That is my kind of owner! The last two private parks we've stayed at as we make our way to Maine specifically prohibited washing of RV's or other vehicles.

Hi Rayne- I've looked at the on-line documentation available for your GoPower IC2000 Inverter/Charger and the remote display/control unit. It looks like a good quality inverter/charger with many features, but it does not appear to have the capability of measuring amp-hours in/out like a battery monitor. As far as settings for the inverter/charger, it appears that the factory default settings will work perfectly with your AGM batteries. It is unlikely that your 40 amp MPPT solar controller will have the battery monitoring capability, but once you find out the brand name we can see. Mark

Hi Rayne- With two, 100 amp-hour batteries you've got a total of 200 amp-hours of capacity, but the 50% recommendation would be to only use 100 amp-hours to prolong battery life. Here is what 100 amp-hours of available capacity means: You can pull 100 amps for one hour, 25 amps for 4 hours, 10 amps for 10 hours, etc. Think of it as a milkshake. The harder you suck on the straw the faster the milkshake is gone!! Realistically you will draw different amounts of power at different times, so it is difficult to go by amps or time without keeping close track of what is happening minute-by-minute. Voltage can be somewhat useful for determining state-of-charge (how much energy remains in your batteries) For AGM type batteries 12.3 volts at rest is considered an indication that the batteries are down to about half charge, but the at rest part is the catch. You will almost always be drawing at least some power from your batteries, and perhaps charging with solar as well, so they are not "at rest" unless you make a specific effort to disconnect all loads and let them sit for a while. Which is hardly convenient while you are trying to live. And knowing amp draw only tells you how much power you are pulling from the batteries at that moment (how hard you are sucking on the straw...), so is not an indicator of overall remaining capacity either. The best way to track battery state-of-charge is with a battery monitor. It keeps track of how many amps you are pulling at any given time, and subtracts it from the capacity. If wired correctly, it will also keep track of how much your solar is putting back in, and knowing those two things you have total knowledge of where you are in terms of remaining battery capacity. You mention a 2000W pure sine wave inverter with a monitor/controller. Many of those devices will do exactly what I described as a battery monitor, so you may already have what you need. If you let us know what brand of inverter you have, along with model number/designation of the monitor/controller perhaps we can give more specific advice.

The couple of times we've had the stinky water heater we've followed the sanitizing procedure of putting a 1/4 cup of chlorine bleach into 15 gallons of water in the fresh water tank and then running the hot water faucets (using the pump from the fresh water tank) until smelling the chlorine coming through. Once you've got the water heater full of sanitizing solution leave it for an hour or so and then flush the entire system of the chlorinated water. You might as well open the cold water faucets and sanitize the entire system while you are at it. Might be worth a try before following the more involved procedure outlined above.

This woman came on several of the bird walks that we led and was definitely not homeless. She was previously in the military and had found this alternative lifestyle that suited her well. She had a very expensive bike that she enjoyed riding daily, as well as quality binoculars and a camera that she birded with. While she was certainly outside of "the norm" she seemed very happy and well adjusted.

We were hosting at Goose Island State Park last fall and met a young woman who was full-timing in a tent, and had been doing so for several years. She drove her small hatchback from park-to-park and set up camp for a week or two at a time. She was very comfortable with what she was doing, but it certainly isn't our cup of tea!!

We are on the East Coast (only) plan and got the notice as well.

Single axle trailers are more prone to the "wagging tail" issue where they oscillate side-to-side with increasing amplitude. It can be managed with proper loading and sway control devices, but if you've seen it happen it can get scary fast!

Roadtrek has done this in the other sub-forums as well, so don't feel singled out!! My favorite is his thread asking why people fulltime, in which he almost immediately began explaining why it was such a bad idea and why he doesn't do it. His other favorite subject is what a terrible "investment" RVs are compared to his beloved sticks-and-bricks property. He hints at it a bit with the "... and equity..." statement in his post above, and I'm frankly surprised he didn't go whole hog with it. Starting to show a bit of restraint!! I really don't understand what he is looking for on these forums, other than a soapbox to let others know about his specific life choices. Odd behavior indeed...

Got a little garbled. You sent a picture of your license plate?

Question: DirectTV is asking for the form to be filled out (easy enough) and a photocopy of the "Vehicle Registration Forms". In Texas there is the title (which we don't carry with us) and the vehicle registration which is a windshield or license plate sticker. Any thoughts on what to send in that will satisfy them?? Thanks.

Got ours today as well. Must be book keeping time over at DirectTV!!

We have used a dish on a tripod for the entire time we've been full-timing (9+ years). We just replaced our 18" Standard Definition dish with the larger High Definition, 3 -Satellite Direct TV dish and have been setting it up in about the same time (for us, 5 - 10 minutes from getting the equipment out to being finished). We often stay in forested areas so having the flexibility of moving the tripod out into a more open "window" has been necessary in several areas. The TV4RV link given above is a good resource. They can get you completely set up once you've decided which company (DISH or DirecTV) you go with.

I agree. 9700 pounds of towing capacity is nothing to sniff at and the Tundra has a very good reputation, so you shouldn't have any issue finding and safely pulling a trailer that meets your needs. I'll second the Arctic Fox suggestion. They are made in La Grande, Oregon and we toured their plant a couple of summers ago. They make their own frames in-house and that is a big plus in my book. The overall quality is good as well. I see Arctic Fox fifth wheels and travel trailers fairly often in our travels, especially west of the Mississippi so can't imagine you'd have too much trouble finding a dealer in the states. I have no experience with the various brands of travel trailers currently available, but in general the better trailers weigh more and cost more. This is due to stronger frames and running gear, heavier (stronger) construction, cabinets, etc. Most of the appliances will be similar across the various manufacturers so I'd concentrate on the "bones" of the trailer as a primary item.

I'm trying to find where that statement was made. Can you help me out??

I love Julie. She recognizes me on sight even if she hasn't seen me in a year. And she's done it since the second time I went in!! Blows my mind!

Why? Our lifestyle leaves a very mild energy footprint. While we do burn more fuel when we're actually underway, we live in a very small house in climates that generally require little heating or cooling. Day in and day out our energy needs are tiny compared to most Americans who are living in 2000+ sf homes and are either heating or cooling them for significant portions of the year. We can often get by on only what our 560 watts of solar provides, and otherwise seldom draw more than 30 amps total. It would be interesting to see numbers on "total amount of energy consumed" between a full-time RV lifestyle and a more common sticks-and-bricks lifestyle.

Newmar outfitted their big fifth wheel trailers with tandem wheels. They had eight tires on two axles. They were very well built trailers that weighed north of 20k pounds.

The LiPo batteries most commonly used to power RC aircraft use Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LiCoO2) chemistry. These batteries are designed to produce amazing amperage for their size, are are often loaded at a rate that completely discharges them from full in 5 minutes or less. In some extreme cases they are completely discharged in less than 2 minutes! They are also commonly charged at rates of up to 3C (or even 5C), and their energy density is significantly higher than the Lithium Iron Phosphate(LiFePO4) used for the applications being discussed here. In many ways Lithium Cobalt Oxide outperforms Lithium Iron Phosphate. So why isn't this chemistry used in the more widespread automotive applications? Because the Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LiCoO2) chemistry is sensitive to damage. An RC battery that is punctured or even significantly damaged will generally self-ignite with some spectacular heat and nasty smoke. RC batteries are also fussy little things regarding how they are charged, discharged, stored, etc. Failure to treat them right results in very short life.

Same question as Kristin above. We are nearing the end of the term on our Good Sam Roadside assistance. We've only used it a couple of times but they have done a good job when we needed them. With SKP's being about $30 less expensive I am considering a change over, but could sure use a little feedback from those that have done so .

I've had one instance where the tiny Post Office in Medina, Texas required me to fill out a form requesting General Delivery, and questioned me closely regarding how long I'd be in the area, how many parcels I intended to receive, etc. When I asked the reason for the questions I was told that I'd be required to rent a PO Box after a certain amount of time/number of parcels. Long story short, this particular Postmaster was a known "hard case" and once she was gone the questions stopped as did the requirement to fill out the form. It appears that individual PO's can impose requirements based on the wishes of their management.

In our experience the majority of private campgrounds have a prohibition against washing RV's on site. A few will allow it with an extra charge, but most (that we've stayed in) clearly state "No washing of rigs allowed".

There are no acids in concrete that "leach up with moisture". In fact, concrete is a very alkaline material. But it is permeable and can wick moisture under some circumstances. When parked for long periods of time I air up my tires to maximum pressure and put them on impermeable plastic cutting boards.

You have imposed an unnecessary time limit on yourselves. If you aren't ready, don't buy it. I assure you that in 6 months, or a year, or whatever you'll be able to find a perfectly good RV for the price you want to spend. There is no perfect RV, and folks very seldom get it right (whatever that means...) the first time anyway. When you get caught up in the "this is the one and it's only available for the next few days" mentality you are more likely to make a bad decision.

My 2019 F-350 is rated to take a 30mm (1.2 inch) nozzle, and fill at up to 20 gallons per minute. I've used a truck pump once. It had an obviously larger nozzle and it filled quickly. What I don't know is if there are even larger nozzles out there.