The weather is finally changing!!!!! I am so excited to see the sun!!!!!!
Started to change our unit around for the summer season. We put all the winter stuff away & started to drag out the summer stuff! This requires a lot of thought, as there isn't alot of room for everything. Even though we went through everything when we moved here, we had to do it again recently.
A good way to decide if you really need something (clothes) turn all your hangers backwards, pick a time frame (6 months, 1 year... whatever works for you) and after that time frame, whatever is still backwards - get rid of it! you obviously haven't worn it, so why keep it?
My problem was mostly shoes. I got rid of a good majority of my clothes and shoes this week.... it freed up a LOT of space..... :)
We cleaned up the outside of the unit the other day. We found a few products that don't work at all when cleaning the outside. We found that the RV Black Streak remover DOES NOT WORK!! We went into our local Canadian Tire and found a bright purple bottle of a product called SUPER CLEAN, just spray it on the brush and it cleans it first try! It also makes your unit looking like it just got a fresh coat of wax. Now we are waiting until it gets really warm to clean the roof and re-seal all the seams.
We have day / night shades in our unit, and we have had to have 4 fixed already. Puff went online and checked youtube for some ways to fix them, and went and got everything he needed to fix ours. He did a great job!!!!! The longest one took about an hour... so not so bad at all. Now they work perfectly!
It is interesting to talk to others in the park, young & old. We have met some older people & Puff has helped them out with small things around their unit, we have met a young guy who offered up a wash mitt when he saw us washing out cars. We met another older gentleman who had his motorcycle painted by a friend of ours who has passed away.... small world! Each person has something to pass on to the other, so be friendly and be open to others ideas.
The sun is shining, so off I go....
till next time
Crickit
Sunday 7 April 2013
Thursday 28 February 2013
Pyramid of Doom
Pyramid of Doom
Brown Mound
Pooh Pooh Hill
Hurdle of Turd
Call it what you like, it is all the same. My trailers, motor homes, campers hand holding tanks. Depending on the size of your unit you should have at least 2 or more. One tank is referred to as the "Grey Tank". This tank holds the waist from your sinks and or shower.
The second tank is called the "Black Tank". This tank holds the waist from your toilet. Both tanks are separate in that the only place they are joined is at the drain point, so there is cross-contamination of fluids.
While your camping if there are no sewer facilities you keep the valves closed till you find a sani-dump. A sani-dump is a drain to the sewer where you can hook up a hose and drain both tanks. Many camping facilities have these dumps as your leaving the park or campground.
For us being stationary we have a sewer hose hooked up 24/7. I have two grey tanks and both the valves are open all the time (there is some debate if this is wise or not). If I was to close all the valves I would be opening them every other day if not sooner. It doesn't take long to fill 40 gallons when you have a kitchen and bathroom sink, plus a shower filling them up.
The black tank I need to drain about once a week depending on how much it is used and how often we have company over. We flush our toilet just like every other house hold with the exception that out toilet does not have a "toilet tank". Hence when we flush the amount of water that gets flushed at the time of departure depends on how long we hold the valve open for. In a normal house the solids fall down a pipe and exit to the sewer, in our case the solids fall down a pipe and into the tank. There they wait for the weekly "flush". Not wanting to fill the tank so quickly, we were perhaps a little to sparing on the amount of water being flushed. This results in a pyramid of waist forming where the pipe enters the tank. If it goes unresolved it could block the pipe and prevent the toilet from flushing and if left long enough solidify into an even more difficult mess to clean.
Ask me how I know..! There are all kinds of remedies to fix the problem from vacuum trucks to water flushing valves, water hose down the toilet, cleaners, filling the tank and driving around, etc. Lesson learned in that it takes more water to flush the brown down. How much water does it take may need to be a government study with years of research, federal grants and a few million of our hard earned taxes.......OK....just kidding.
Also note it is wise to make sure those tank valves are closed all the way to prevent the fluids from draining off and leaving the solids behind, this too can cause a mess. The proper order to flush your tanks when the time comes is: Black Tank first, then close this valve, second is the grey tank. This way all your waist water from the sinks washes the pipe, drain, valve and the hose. Close all the valves and the drain valve, remove hose and clean with water, chances are you will not run into a brown mess. Run a good volume of water down the inside of the hose, at the same time slowly pull the hose from the drain in the ground and wash the outside of the hose. I still use a good pair of rubber long sleeve gloves every time..!
P.S. make sure you have enough hose in the drain in the ground or place something heavy on the edge of the hose. You wouldn't want the hose to pop out of the hole and spray you or others with waist.........and yes, I have seen it happen.
Brown Mound
Pooh Pooh Hill
Hurdle of Turd
Call it what you like, it is all the same. My trailers, motor homes, campers hand holding tanks. Depending on the size of your unit you should have at least 2 or more. One tank is referred to as the "Grey Tank". This tank holds the waist from your sinks and or shower.
The second tank is called the "Black Tank". This tank holds the waist from your toilet. Both tanks are separate in that the only place they are joined is at the drain point, so there is cross-contamination of fluids.
While your camping if there are no sewer facilities you keep the valves closed till you find a sani-dump. A sani-dump is a drain to the sewer where you can hook up a hose and drain both tanks. Many camping facilities have these dumps as your leaving the park or campground.
For us being stationary we have a sewer hose hooked up 24/7. I have two grey tanks and both the valves are open all the time (there is some debate if this is wise or not). If I was to close all the valves I would be opening them every other day if not sooner. It doesn't take long to fill 40 gallons when you have a kitchen and bathroom sink, plus a shower filling them up.
The black tank I need to drain about once a week depending on how much it is used and how often we have company over. We flush our toilet just like every other house hold with the exception that out toilet does not have a "toilet tank". Hence when we flush the amount of water that gets flushed at the time of departure depends on how long we hold the valve open for. In a normal house the solids fall down a pipe and exit to the sewer, in our case the solids fall down a pipe and into the tank. There they wait for the weekly "flush". Not wanting to fill the tank so quickly, we were perhaps a little to sparing on the amount of water being flushed. This results in a pyramid of waist forming where the pipe enters the tank. If it goes unresolved it could block the pipe and prevent the toilet from flushing and if left long enough solidify into an even more difficult mess to clean.
Ask me how I know..! There are all kinds of remedies to fix the problem from vacuum trucks to water flushing valves, water hose down the toilet, cleaners, filling the tank and driving around, etc. Lesson learned in that it takes more water to flush the brown down. How much water does it take may need to be a government study with years of research, federal grants and a few million of our hard earned taxes.......OK....just kidding.
Also note it is wise to make sure those tank valves are closed all the way to prevent the fluids from draining off and leaving the solids behind, this too can cause a mess. The proper order to flush your tanks when the time comes is: Black Tank first, then close this valve, second is the grey tank. This way all your waist water from the sinks washes the pipe, drain, valve and the hose. Close all the valves and the drain valve, remove hose and clean with water, chances are you will not run into a brown mess. Run a good volume of water down the inside of the hose, at the same time slowly pull the hose from the drain in the ground and wash the outside of the hose. I still use a good pair of rubber long sleeve gloves every time..!
P.S. make sure you have enough hose in the drain in the ground or place something heavy on the edge of the hose. You wouldn't want the hose to pop out of the hole and spray you or others with waist.........and yes, I have seen it happen.
Sunday 17 February 2013
Little Tricks and Tips
Hey All
Not much new and earth shattering to post. We are all cleaned up from Christmas and have had a few nice days to be able to get outside and keep up on a few things there.
I hurt my arm/shoulder at work a few weeks ago, so big heavy things are not being done right now, not that there are a lot of things to do....lol.
I was able to build an enclosure for the nose of our coach, built from 2x4 and light plywood. I am hoping to use this area for small painting projects and small things to be etched. I am by some peoples definition an artist with an airbrush. I am hoping to break into the glass etching side once all set up. We have been looking at skirting for the side and back of the coach to help keep the cool air from surrounding us...lol.
There are several local companies who can sew together a "skirt" and mount it to the side of the coach, for each company there are different ideas and ways to do it. So we have been exploring those avenues. Even went to a local RV show to expand our brains however we were disappointed by the lack of vendors and products. So we returned home with our un-expanded brains...lol. We will keep searching till we find something that suits our needs, it has to be able to be packed up as small as possible and stored away for travelling, as well as easy to attach when we arrive at our new destination, without taking hours to do either.
As for other tips. Keep the outside clean..! It would seem one beast to RV'ers is the black streak demon. These are the black streaks that you see down the side of an RV. I believe they are from the different sealers used on the roof the seal and plug holes or around fixtures that protrude. Not being able to coat this area or change it we are forced to wash it. Tried the Camping black streak remover sold in stores was not impressed. Someone suggested some C.L.R., maybe next time..! One thing that did work very well was a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It would be a long day to have to wash the whole unit with one but very it did the trick, good thing there are only a few spots with black streaks. I am also using a soap that has wax built in it. I washed one side of the RV about a month ago and the black streaks seemed to come off that much easier and faster. I will continue to use it....can't hurt..!
Another good trick was the suggestion of rain X on the shower doors on the inside. Yes, had to say that cause someone is going to say why put it on the outside of the doors....lol.
As for other tricks I have a 30ft hose for washing and outside stuff. My suggestion is to buy one longer than your unit or at least as long as....not all water connections are conveniently located. Same thought applies to power cables..!
I am very glad I was able to have a set of parents who liked to go camping and as such I am not new to the RV world. Many things I take for granted as knowing already seem to be such grand ideas for others....well I do have almost 75 years combined experience from my parents and myself, not all full time but we are now..!
Happy on peeps..! Any ideas or other suggestions and comments are always welcome..! There is always more than two ways to "skin" a cat..!
Puff
Disclaimer:
P.S. NO cats were harmed or meant harm by this posting.
Not much new and earth shattering to post. We are all cleaned up from Christmas and have had a few nice days to be able to get outside and keep up on a few things there.
I hurt my arm/shoulder at work a few weeks ago, so big heavy things are not being done right now, not that there are a lot of things to do....lol.
I was able to build an enclosure for the nose of our coach, built from 2x4 and light plywood. I am hoping to use this area for small painting projects and small things to be etched. I am by some peoples definition an artist with an airbrush. I am hoping to break into the glass etching side once all set up. We have been looking at skirting for the side and back of the coach to help keep the cool air from surrounding us...lol.
There are several local companies who can sew together a "skirt" and mount it to the side of the coach, for each company there are different ideas and ways to do it. So we have been exploring those avenues. Even went to a local RV show to expand our brains however we were disappointed by the lack of vendors and products. So we returned home with our un-expanded brains...lol. We will keep searching till we find something that suits our needs, it has to be able to be packed up as small as possible and stored away for travelling, as well as easy to attach when we arrive at our new destination, without taking hours to do either.
As for other tips. Keep the outside clean..! It would seem one beast to RV'ers is the black streak demon. These are the black streaks that you see down the side of an RV. I believe they are from the different sealers used on the roof the seal and plug holes or around fixtures that protrude. Not being able to coat this area or change it we are forced to wash it. Tried the Camping black streak remover sold in stores was not impressed. Someone suggested some C.L.R., maybe next time..! One thing that did work very well was a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It would be a long day to have to wash the whole unit with one but very it did the trick, good thing there are only a few spots with black streaks. I am also using a soap that has wax built in it. I washed one side of the RV about a month ago and the black streaks seemed to come off that much easier and faster. I will continue to use it....can't hurt..!
Another good trick was the suggestion of rain X on the shower doors on the inside. Yes, had to say that cause someone is going to say why put it on the outside of the doors....lol.
As for other tricks I have a 30ft hose for washing and outside stuff. My suggestion is to buy one longer than your unit or at least as long as....not all water connections are conveniently located. Same thought applies to power cables..!
I am very glad I was able to have a set of parents who liked to go camping and as such I am not new to the RV world. Many things I take for granted as knowing already seem to be such grand ideas for others....well I do have almost 75 years combined experience from my parents and myself, not all full time but we are now..!
Happy on peeps..! Any ideas or other suggestions and comments are always welcome..! There is always more than two ways to "skin" a cat..!
Puff
Disclaimer:
P.S. NO cats were harmed or meant harm by this posting.
Saturday 12 January 2013
Choosing an RV..?!
Well I guess looking back, this should have been the first posting to this site, however it is here now.
So you have decided that you want to start camping or taking trips in your own unit. Well some questions you need to ask yourself would be: How much can we afford? How often are we going to use it? Where are we taking it? Do I need to change or upgrade vehicles to pull it? Where am I going to store or park it? And lastly how big do we need it to be?
So lets take a quick look at each one, I am going to try and hit the highlights as I have owned all but one style of the units but I have also done some RVing in all of them!
Campers - Campers are small units hauled in the back of your truck. They are limited to the size or your truck's box and truck's GVW = the bigger the truck the bigger the camper you can haul. They can be a pain to load and unload especially if by yourself, however once you have arrived at your destination you can drop the unit and have your truck free for?? Hauling a camper also means you are able to tow something be it a boat or trailer of some sorts. No special license is required, just the comfort of the driver to haul the unit.
Trailers - Trailers are units that hook up to a receiver hitch on your vehicle. Once again the trailer is limited to the size by what your vehicle can haul, IE: a big full size truck can pull a larger, heavier, longer trailer than say a Toyota SUV. A trailer once again, like campers, can be unhooked and left at the camp site again freeing the tow vehicle to be used for whatever. Should you be using a truck, the box is also empty for other items. A trailer or ( T.T. = travel trailer ) can be a long unit to pull, my suggestion would be to make sure you are comfortable driving as you can run into tight turning areas or areas that require backing out of. I have seen many a fight from my parents with regards to this.
Motor Homes or Buses - These can range from short ones of 14 feet to 40 feet long and longer! These units if properly equipped can also tow a trailer. Once again the longer the unit the more comfortable the driver needs to be. Long units do not turn on a dime and backing them up should you have a trailer can be a nightmare. My only complaint with a MH is that before you can go anywhere, everything needs to be stored or stowed away, unless your pulling a car.
5th Wheels - Sometimes called 5ers can be short or long. Once again the length or size of the 5th wheel is limited to the size and GVW of the truck. 5th wheels are pulled by mounting a 5th wheel hitch in the box of the truck, the hitch looks exactly like a big rig or 18 wheeler driving down the highway. Once again like a trailer, 5th wheels can be dropped at the campsite and you have your truck free to do whatever. Down side, the box of your truck has the hitch in it so, you have very little room when hauling in your box. The hitch itself can be very heavy to remove but two men can usually handle it fine. Should you be pulling a long unit your skills should be like that of a commercial truck driver.
5th wheels, buses and trailers can come with whats called a push out or slides. A section on the side of the unit that with power or hydraulics moves out like an extension or accordion and gives more room inside. Hell I have even seen a camper with a slide. Units bought in British Columbia that weight over 5500 kg are now requiring a special license called a "Heavy Hauling Endorsement". This or a class 3 license is needed to operate these units, I hate to see what the fines are if caught without it. Much like having the boating course to operate a boat the HHE or class 3 is to make sure the driver is capable of operating the unit safely. There is a fee for this new endorsement on your license and a road test as well, you will be driving the unit around town with the examiner.
So, there are some basics and the names. At this point in time I can not think of any I have left out, sorry if I did. Should you be considering a unit my BIGGEST suggestion is research!! Once you have narrowed down what your looking for go look, touch, test driver, what ever. Don't settle, don't make do. Settling leads to two-foot-itice.....lol. In our case we planned on living and travelling with our unit. We plan on parking in one spot and exploring the surrounding area, then after some time, picking up and moving. We wanted a large enough unit to have all the amenities of home as it is going to be our home. It took us 4 years almost in looking and talking, touching and driving to dealerships 6 hours away to decide.
I hope this helps you in your quest and remember........happy on peeps!
Puff
So you have decided that you want to start camping or taking trips in your own unit. Well some questions you need to ask yourself would be: How much can we afford? How often are we going to use it? Where are we taking it? Do I need to change or upgrade vehicles to pull it? Where am I going to store or park it? And lastly how big do we need it to be?
So lets take a quick look at each one, I am going to try and hit the highlights as I have owned all but one style of the units but I have also done some RVing in all of them!
Campers - Campers are small units hauled in the back of your truck. They are limited to the size or your truck's box and truck's GVW = the bigger the truck the bigger the camper you can haul. They can be a pain to load and unload especially if by yourself, however once you have arrived at your destination you can drop the unit and have your truck free for?? Hauling a camper also means you are able to tow something be it a boat or trailer of some sorts. No special license is required, just the comfort of the driver to haul the unit.
Trailers - Trailers are units that hook up to a receiver hitch on your vehicle. Once again the trailer is limited to the size by what your vehicle can haul, IE: a big full size truck can pull a larger, heavier, longer trailer than say a Toyota SUV. A trailer once again, like campers, can be unhooked and left at the camp site again freeing the tow vehicle to be used for whatever. Should you be using a truck, the box is also empty for other items. A trailer or ( T.T. = travel trailer ) can be a long unit to pull, my suggestion would be to make sure you are comfortable driving as you can run into tight turning areas or areas that require backing out of. I have seen many a fight from my parents with regards to this.
Motor Homes or Buses - These can range from short ones of 14 feet to 40 feet long and longer! These units if properly equipped can also tow a trailer. Once again the longer the unit the more comfortable the driver needs to be. Long units do not turn on a dime and backing them up should you have a trailer can be a nightmare. My only complaint with a MH is that before you can go anywhere, everything needs to be stored or stowed away, unless your pulling a car.
5th Wheels - Sometimes called 5ers can be short or long. Once again the length or size of the 5th wheel is limited to the size and GVW of the truck. 5th wheels are pulled by mounting a 5th wheel hitch in the box of the truck, the hitch looks exactly like a big rig or 18 wheeler driving down the highway. Once again like a trailer, 5th wheels can be dropped at the campsite and you have your truck free to do whatever. Down side, the box of your truck has the hitch in it so, you have very little room when hauling in your box. The hitch itself can be very heavy to remove but two men can usually handle it fine. Should you be pulling a long unit your skills should be like that of a commercial truck driver.
5th wheels, buses and trailers can come with whats called a push out or slides. A section on the side of the unit that with power or hydraulics moves out like an extension or accordion and gives more room inside. Hell I have even seen a camper with a slide. Units bought in British Columbia that weight over 5500 kg are now requiring a special license called a "Heavy Hauling Endorsement". This or a class 3 license is needed to operate these units, I hate to see what the fines are if caught without it. Much like having the boating course to operate a boat the HHE or class 3 is to make sure the driver is capable of operating the unit safely. There is a fee for this new endorsement on your license and a road test as well, you will be driving the unit around town with the examiner.
So, there are some basics and the names. At this point in time I can not think of any I have left out, sorry if I did. Should you be considering a unit my BIGGEST suggestion is research!! Once you have narrowed down what your looking for go look, touch, test driver, what ever. Don't settle, don't make do. Settling leads to two-foot-itice.....lol. In our case we planned on living and travelling with our unit. We plan on parking in one spot and exploring the surrounding area, then after some time, picking up and moving. We wanted a large enough unit to have all the amenities of home as it is going to be our home. It took us 4 years almost in looking and talking, touching and driving to dealerships 6 hours away to decide.
I hope this helps you in your quest and remember........happy on peeps!
Puff
Thursday 10 January 2013
Power and Our Home - Puff's View
Hello
I am sure many of us don't think about power and water with regards to how does it enter our home and how do we use it. It is fairly simple on the RV side with regards to our coach a few exceptions which are our choices.
I already covered the water hose and how to insulate it for the winter time and cold weather. Should it get below -3c we and all of our neighbors will turn on the taps in our homes and let the water run. Now before you get all upset the water usage it is the only practical thing to do so we do not freeze and or blow lines up.
That being said we are off the power side. In our coach like most others we have a combination of 12volt and 110volt. The 12v is just like the power from your car's battery, in our case we have the same kind of battery. Our 12v battery is a little different in that it is designed for use in an RV or boat, in actual fact we have three 12v batteries wired in parallel to give us a super 12v battery. It is still 12v just a much stronger, longer lasting supply of energy cause we do not want to be discharging our battery all the time. Now there are many things that work off the 12v in our coach. We have lights, the water pump ( when not hooked up to city water ), the electric spark for the fridge and the hot water tank and the exhaust fans in the ceiling. I may have missed something or not....LOL. Our fridge can run on propane or 110v depending on what settings I select, hence the fridge will turn itself on when running on propane just like a everyday fridge however it needs that spark to ignite the propane. The hot water tank is the same principle.
The 110v in our place is the same once again as the power in your regular homes. I have an over sized power cord the plugs into our coach and then a box outside ( supplied by the RV park ) and we have power! Items in our home that require 110v are the TV's, microwave, air conditioner, washer and dryer, ceiling fan and fire place. As you can see nothing on the list is essential.
Should we have a power outage I will still be able to cook ( stove and oven are propane ), Furnace is propane so I will be warm, I will have lights cause they are 12v, I will be able to take a shower ( hot water tank is propane ). What else does a person need?! OK we will have to find a laundry mat open and working for some clean undies but I have enough to last a few days...LOL.
Should the outage last more than day or so we have purchased a small generator to help out. I do not plan on running anything large off the generator as I said it is a small 1500 watts. I plan to hook up a battery charger which I purchased from our local Canadian Tire, on sale I might add! The plan is to start the generator up, plug in the charger and hook it up to the batteries. My power situation will not change, everything will be the same I am just charging the batteries, your car does this automatically while driving I am just using a generator. I may be able to run something else small but will have to see when the time comes, if it comes! Now some of you may ask why not just install or start the built in generator. Well our unit did not come with a generator installed, it is an option and can be done however it is very costly. My first quote came in around $6,000.00...........a little hard to swallow!! My small unit was again purchased from Canadian Tire ( NO I do not receive endorsements or work for them..LOL ) at a cost of $180.00 and the battery charge is a heavy duty unit on sale for $59.00, grand total of $239.00 and and extension cord. Anybody can see the cost savings instantly, yes I will have to get off my but a start it rather than pushing a button inside my coach to start the on board unit but getting off my but will not cost me $5,761.00
Other than a few minor exceptions here and there regarding some difference from coach to bus and smaller units that pretty much covers it. There were some other options like buying a big enough generator to run the whole coach but then we are talking more money, more weight and taking up more space not to mention there is a whole bunch of other electrical issues when hooking up a larger unit. Some other day if asked I might elaborate!
From the warm and dry happy Crickit and Puff Coach.........hey C.P.C......not bad! Oh and BTW, just because I am warm and well feed while the power is out does not mean this is an invitation for all to join me for dinner. OK, OK, fine......dinner at my place but bring your own towel and shampoo...LOL
Have a great day!
I am sure many of us don't think about power and water with regards to how does it enter our home and how do we use it. It is fairly simple on the RV side with regards to our coach a few exceptions which are our choices.
I already covered the water hose and how to insulate it for the winter time and cold weather. Should it get below -3c we and all of our neighbors will turn on the taps in our homes and let the water run. Now before you get all upset the water usage it is the only practical thing to do so we do not freeze and or blow lines up.
That being said we are off the power side. In our coach like most others we have a combination of 12volt and 110volt. The 12v is just like the power from your car's battery, in our case we have the same kind of battery. Our 12v battery is a little different in that it is designed for use in an RV or boat, in actual fact we have three 12v batteries wired in parallel to give us a super 12v battery. It is still 12v just a much stronger, longer lasting supply of energy cause we do not want to be discharging our battery all the time. Now there are many things that work off the 12v in our coach. We have lights, the water pump ( when not hooked up to city water ), the electric spark for the fridge and the hot water tank and the exhaust fans in the ceiling. I may have missed something or not....LOL. Our fridge can run on propane or 110v depending on what settings I select, hence the fridge will turn itself on when running on propane just like a everyday fridge however it needs that spark to ignite the propane. The hot water tank is the same principle.
The 110v in our place is the same once again as the power in your regular homes. I have an over sized power cord the plugs into our coach and then a box outside ( supplied by the RV park ) and we have power! Items in our home that require 110v are the TV's, microwave, air conditioner, washer and dryer, ceiling fan and fire place. As you can see nothing on the list is essential.
Should we have a power outage I will still be able to cook ( stove and oven are propane ), Furnace is propane so I will be warm, I will have lights cause they are 12v, I will be able to take a shower ( hot water tank is propane ). What else does a person need?! OK we will have to find a laundry mat open and working for some clean undies but I have enough to last a few days...LOL.
Should the outage last more than day or so we have purchased a small generator to help out. I do not plan on running anything large off the generator as I said it is a small 1500 watts. I plan to hook up a battery charger which I purchased from our local Canadian Tire, on sale I might add! The plan is to start the generator up, plug in the charger and hook it up to the batteries. My power situation will not change, everything will be the same I am just charging the batteries, your car does this automatically while driving I am just using a generator. I may be able to run something else small but will have to see when the time comes, if it comes! Now some of you may ask why not just install or start the built in generator. Well our unit did not come with a generator installed, it is an option and can be done however it is very costly. My first quote came in around $6,000.00...........a little hard to swallow!! My small unit was again purchased from Canadian Tire ( NO I do not receive endorsements or work for them..LOL ) at a cost of $180.00 and the battery charge is a heavy duty unit on sale for $59.00, grand total of $239.00 and and extension cord. Anybody can see the cost savings instantly, yes I will have to get off my but a start it rather than pushing a button inside my coach to start the on board unit but getting off my but will not cost me $5,761.00
Other than a few minor exceptions here and there regarding some difference from coach to bus and smaller units that pretty much covers it. There were some other options like buying a big enough generator to run the whole coach but then we are talking more money, more weight and taking up more space not to mention there is a whole bunch of other electrical issues when hooking up a larger unit. Some other day if asked I might elaborate!
From the warm and dry happy Crickit and Puff Coach.........hey C.P.C......not bad! Oh and BTW, just because I am warm and well feed while the power is out does not mean this is an invitation for all to join me for dinner. OK, OK, fine......dinner at my place but bring your own towel and shampoo...LOL
Have a great day!
Thursday 27 December 2012
Puff's View
So, from the male side of things..!
3 months in.......would I do it again, in a heart beat. This has been by far the best move we have made and trust me, we have made a lot of moves.
As you have read from previous posts this is not something we jumped at without thinking and planning it through. The only glitch if you can call it that, is that our house has not sold however, it is being rented out and covering the payments just fine.
Getting settled took a little longer than I thought it would. I have been camping in some form of RV since I was in diapers so this is not new to me. My parents also had a boat so I was familiar with that side of things as a lot overlaps from the RV world to the boating world.
We do not plan on moving our home for the next few years so I would recommend placing it on some concrete blocks or other solid base. I have 6 jacks with an auto-levelling system ( this thing is so cool, when parking I turn the system on and raise the front jacks to enable me to unhook the 5th wheel pin. When the truck is clear I push the "Auto Level" button and the coach does the rest. 4 more jacks drop from the rear 2 in front of the axle and 2 behind to first touch down and then reposition the front ones if needed for height and unit levels itself within 0.1 degree..!!! ) How slick is that, and when hooking back up to the truck it does the reverse and brings to front to the unhook position, right back where I started. I can't imagine levelling a coach without it.
2 grey water tanks, one for the shower and other for the sinks. 1 black tank. As we are not moving I left the vales for the grey tanks open all the time, just make sure to run lots of water after using the sink for sink related things. You wouldn't want things to get hard and plug the drain lines up. The black tank is the opposite. I leave the valve closed and only drain it when it is full, this allows all the $#!& to swim down the drain hose which is connected to the sewer. An indicator panel tells when the tank is full. If you were to leave this valve open all the time there would not be enough slant or water flow to push the material out of the tank and down the drain, it would then sit and settle. This would not be a good thing. It has been done and there are ways to fix it but I am not going there tonight. Our coach also has a built in black tank sprayer, a separate water hose is hooked up and flushes the tank when you have emptied it helping to clear the tank of anything left behind. Once again and excellent feature and almost a must have on a large coach. The drain hose outside connects to the sewer via a normal RV sewer hose, I have taken the liberty of slipping it into a 4" piece of white PVC pipe. It looks better than a hose just hanging there and it is also keeping the entire length of hose at a continuous angle to the sewer connection thus there is no flat spot for things to stop moving at. The hose was a snug fit but it works.
We are hooked up the city water, a regular RV hose with a regulator is connected up. From a bad experience last year with my daughter living in our other 5th wheel, this hose is insulated. Once again it is a regular hose and I wrapped it in the grey hose insulating foam then a heavy duty duct tape and more insulation and more duct tape. The last layer of tape is black to help absorb the suns energy in the winter to help prevent freezing. Some people have added an electric hose warmer or line warmer, I am sure you have seen the orange tape wrapped around someones hose. It has a sensor to tell it when it's cold and to turn on thus preventing freeze ups. I am hopefully optimistic that it will not get that cold..!
We have electricity, water, sewer and a great view. Electricity is included in our pad rent so we use the electric fireplace and a small space heater, it helps in the bedroom to take the chill off. Yes, electric fireplace..!! The windows are double pane and the coach is well insulated keeping us warm and cosy.
There are a few more neat features but I will cover those in a later post. So from the guys side of things I am most impressed and happy with my choice.
Keep the jacks down and awning out with the wine glass filled......happy on RV buddies..!!
Puff
3 months in.......would I do it again, in a heart beat. This has been by far the best move we have made and trust me, we have made a lot of moves.
As you have read from previous posts this is not something we jumped at without thinking and planning it through. The only glitch if you can call it that, is that our house has not sold however, it is being rented out and covering the payments just fine.
Getting settled took a little longer than I thought it would. I have been camping in some form of RV since I was in diapers so this is not new to me. My parents also had a boat so I was familiar with that side of things as a lot overlaps from the RV world to the boating world.
We do not plan on moving our home for the next few years so I would recommend placing it on some concrete blocks or other solid base. I have 6 jacks with an auto-levelling system ( this thing is so cool, when parking I turn the system on and raise the front jacks to enable me to unhook the 5th wheel pin. When the truck is clear I push the "Auto Level" button and the coach does the rest. 4 more jacks drop from the rear 2 in front of the axle and 2 behind to first touch down and then reposition the front ones if needed for height and unit levels itself within 0.1 degree..!!! ) How slick is that, and when hooking back up to the truck it does the reverse and brings to front to the unhook position, right back where I started. I can't imagine levelling a coach without it.
2 grey water tanks, one for the shower and other for the sinks. 1 black tank. As we are not moving I left the vales for the grey tanks open all the time, just make sure to run lots of water after using the sink for sink related things. You wouldn't want things to get hard and plug the drain lines up. The black tank is the opposite. I leave the valve closed and only drain it when it is full, this allows all the $#!& to swim down the drain hose which is connected to the sewer. An indicator panel tells when the tank is full. If you were to leave this valve open all the time there would not be enough slant or water flow to push the material out of the tank and down the drain, it would then sit and settle. This would not be a good thing. It has been done and there are ways to fix it but I am not going there tonight. Our coach also has a built in black tank sprayer, a separate water hose is hooked up and flushes the tank when you have emptied it helping to clear the tank of anything left behind. Once again and excellent feature and almost a must have on a large coach. The drain hose outside connects to the sewer via a normal RV sewer hose, I have taken the liberty of slipping it into a 4" piece of white PVC pipe. It looks better than a hose just hanging there and it is also keeping the entire length of hose at a continuous angle to the sewer connection thus there is no flat spot for things to stop moving at. The hose was a snug fit but it works.
We are hooked up the city water, a regular RV hose with a regulator is connected up. From a bad experience last year with my daughter living in our other 5th wheel, this hose is insulated. Once again it is a regular hose and I wrapped it in the grey hose insulating foam then a heavy duty duct tape and more insulation and more duct tape. The last layer of tape is black to help absorb the suns energy in the winter to help prevent freezing. Some people have added an electric hose warmer or line warmer, I am sure you have seen the orange tape wrapped around someones hose. It has a sensor to tell it when it's cold and to turn on thus preventing freeze ups. I am hopefully optimistic that it will not get that cold..!
We have electricity, water, sewer and a great view. Electricity is included in our pad rent so we use the electric fireplace and a small space heater, it helps in the bedroom to take the chill off. Yes, electric fireplace..!! The windows are double pane and the coach is well insulated keeping us warm and cosy.
There are a few more neat features but I will cover those in a later post. So from the guys side of things I am most impressed and happy with my choice.
Keep the jacks down and awning out with the wine glass filled......happy on RV buddies..!!
Puff
Tuesday 25 December 2012
MERRY CHRISTMAS
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
It is the first Christmas in our new home...... and it turned out great!!! We had our kids over for gifts and breakfast. What started out as a few hours ended up as the whole day! We watched movies, chatted and had a fantastic dinner!!! We were even fortunate enough to watch the snow fall ... although it didn't stick.
From our family to yours..... Merry Christmas!
till next time
Crickit
It is the first Christmas in our new home...... and it turned out great!!! We had our kids over for gifts and breakfast. What started out as a few hours ended up as the whole day! We watched movies, chatted and had a fantastic dinner!!! We were even fortunate enough to watch the snow fall ... although it didn't stick.
From our family to yours..... Merry Christmas!
till next time
Crickit
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