|
A month later we went back to Mammoth for July 4th, again two nights. First, before I left the house and was maneuvering things in the driveway, I totally hosed up and scraped the camper against the corner of my garage eaves. Ripped a long tear in the slideout awning and popped the end off of it, it's basically garbage now, and tore through just a bit of the roofing material on the corner. I've patched that, and just accepted for now not having an awning over the top of the slide out (most of our camping has been in the NV desert and not really under trees or anything at all), but man that felt lovely and I've learned to be a bit more careful. On the way down, ate for lunch the best meal I've ever had from a gas station, at the Lee Vining Mobil. Found a nice spot to camp just off the loop road a 4 mile drive from the resort:  No shortage of snow  We had a late lunch at Distant Brewing in town, where we ran into someone who worked at Lance (based a few hours south in Lancaster), and asked us how we liked the camper. If he'd asked a few months later, I'd have had a very different answer for him! More on this later. Afterwards went for a short hike out to Mammoth Rock, and then Twin Lakes, where we spotted the hole in the wall, a lava tube that folks ski through off the back side of the resort   Camped in more or less the same spot that night, moved to another spot about 100 yards away with a bit of a view through the trees. We went to June Lake Brewing again the next day, this time spending a bit more time at June Lake itself, which was very pretty  Something that we noticed on this trip and the one before it that we hadn't before, is that if we ran the 3-way fridge on 12V, it would drain our battery pretty good while driving. I'm pretty sure this did not happen the first view trips, but perhaps that was only because it was colder weather and it didn't have to work as hard. Either way, it was surprising as I'd perhaps naively assumed that the power from the alternator would be sufficient to power it, but seemingly not. I'm not sure if this is normal or if there's something wrong with our setup, but I have at least found some others who have a similar issue and observed that the 12V mode on the fridge we have draws more power than can reasonably be supplied by the alternator and wiring from the truck; though supposedly Lance's proprietary connector and the wiring they require is supposed to be able to carry more. So I've switched to running it off propane pretty much always. If anyone has more knowledge or experience on this I'd love some input. That was the last trip for a while; while it was in the driveway I noticed some sagging under the back of the camper, behind the truck bed, that seemed concerning.    I had the dealer take a look at it, and they determined that Lance didn't properly attach this piece, and it allowed water to get in, causing the sagging. I dropped it off on 8/21, and they put it in for a warranty replacement. I broke my arm mountain biking the next day, so then when it started taking a really long time to get the part I wasn't that concerned at first, but then a month turned into two, and then three, and then four. Lance was extremely uncommunicative the whole time, sent him the wrong part at least once, and finally got the part in December after he had a conversation with one of the higher ups there. Pretty disappointing and lovely response from them, and it seemed it more or less boiled down to them putting all of their parts towards new campers so none were available for mine. Finally got it back two days before Christmas.
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2024 01:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 20:38 |
|
|
My wife was pretty eager to get out for a trip after Christmas since we finally had the thing back, so I browsed some maps for a while to find somewhere that would be plenty snow free a few hours away with a good amount of campable space out in Nevada. We settled on heading out into the Middlegate area, on US 50 between Fallon and Austin. Fallon has a large military base, Fallon Naval Air Station, where TOPGUN is based among other things. As a result there's also a lot of land around there that's dedicated to target/training ranges. We adopted a third (large, 90 lbs) dog since our last trip so this was going to be a trial for him as well as traveling with that many animals in the truck. Big boy sat in the back with one of the window seats folded up, with the two kids in their booster seats in the middle and other window seat. Middle sized boy in the passenger footwell in front of my wife, and the little lady in the middle seat. A win for getting the front bench seat that I had not anticipated.   We drove out in the afternoon, through Middlegate (population 17) and headed south, looking for a camp spot in BLM land. The first promising location had a couple stock tanks and as a result a ton of cattle roaming around; given we had three dogs with us that was not an option. The second spot was real promising with an amazing view, but then there was this sitting right kinda in the middle of it...  While we were close to the military ranges, I was pretty confident we were on BLM land (and not far from a state highway for that matter), but it was still weird enough that I didn't want to camp there (and figured it would be an attractive nuisance for my son). So we went on to the next spot, which had some really interesting rock formations, as it was getting dark. I saw some dark things scattered around the sage brush that I assumed was rusting scrap metal at first, then looked closer and saw that they were dead cows. One dead cow? Ok. Like, 15 dead cows? Not okay. Let's keep looking. Started going further down a dirt road that I was fairly confident would connect us eventually back to US 50 anyway and be reasonably drive-able in the truck, so we just started driving down that figuring we'd find somewhere eventually. Spotted another nice open spot, this time with a dry stock tank, so no cows milling around. But what's that dark spot over there? Ah sure enough, another dead cow. Wife veto, keep going. Eventually we found a spot up on a little knoll in the middle of a wide open area that worked. Started to cook dinner and realized we forgot to put some things back in the camper when we got it back, so we ended up cooking some chicken curry in our percolator.  The view the next morning was wonderful, we've both really appreciated just going out in the middle of nowhere with no other humans within miles. Not like we do much of anything out there, just a real lovely place to be.  Someone had been digging a few yards away from our campsite, presumably for expensive rocks of one sort or another.  Right nearby was a very small firepit and what I thought were little pieces of kindling, but when I picked them up it became clear that it wasn't that at all, and maybe actually petrified wood? I'm no rock or wood scientist, so I'm not certain.  Since we had forgotten some poo poo and didn't want to deal with making coffee and cooking breakfast in our percolator which we would have had to clean, we just drove out and went back to Middlegate for breakfast. Awesome place, solid food, very friendly people with a neat atmosphere.   This trailer we spotted on the way out sure is a thing  While getting a bit of gas at their one pump, I noticed an oops by the gas cap; I guess I (probably me anyway) forgot to make sure this was closed, and it failed while we were driving on some of the rougher roads that morning  On the way home, we stopped at Sand Mountain, right off 50 on the way back to Fallon. A huge amount of Nevada used to be one giant lake, Lake Lahontan, until ~10k years ago, when it started to dry up leaving basically only Pyramid Lake and Walker Lake behind, and a ton of dry lake beds. Over the years wind across the lake beds pushed a bunch of sand into one spot, piling it up into some pretty solidly big dunes now infested by side by sides and dirt bikes. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2024 02:15
|
|
|
We went out for another one nighter this past weekend, somewhere a bit closer, Wilson Canyon. It's on Walker River, which runs along 395 for a bit and past Walker Burger where we'd stopped on the way to Mammoth, and eventually dumps into Walker Lake where we'd stayed last winter. But there's a neat lil canyon on the way between: We camped right by the river at the mouth of the canyon, in an apparently very popular OHV spot, just not when we were there, as it was empty.   We brought a little Solo stove with us to try (Ranger); it was interesting but I'm not sold on it. It definitely seemed to do a great job of making a nice hot fire that lasted, but didn't seem to do a very good job of radiating heat outwards. I'll give it a try a couple more times before deciding whether I want to bother to bring it on future trips. Some more complaints about the camper: First, the cabinet over the sink has a closure that is pretty flimsy and not secure; it flopped open a few times on earlier trips on rougher roads, and now the latch mechanism is just totally mangled and useless and it doesn't close at all, so I'm going to replace it with something else, probably a marine push button latch but if anyone else has suggestions I'd love to hear them.  We also had some issues with the batteries that I didn't fully diagnose yet; I'm not sure how well the onboard indicators of charge really work but it went down to 0 reported charge while just running the heater, the fridge (on propane, not 12v, but still using some electricity of course), and an LED light or three. I ran the generator for a bit and brought it back up to 50% or so (probably should have gone longer in retrospect), and then it went right back down to 0 again. In the morning, as the sun came up and we started getting some solar charge, reported charge went up by 25% or so over an hour, which is definitely bogus since it was reporting ~1.2A coming from the solar and we supposedly had two 100Ah batteries (though I hadn't actually looked at them prior to this and verified). When we got home I took a closer look through various manuals and all of the Lance documentation indicated that we'd have a flooded battery, and suggested topping it off with water once a month in cold weather and once every two weeks in warm weather. Hah, no, we hadn't done that at all, ever, nor did I want to. Why? Because this is the battery situation:  No thanks I'm not loving with that every couple weeks. So I started thinking it might be time to just bite the bullet for a lithium upgrade anyway if I'm gonna replace them, and spent some time looking at Battle Born, a local manufacturer. Today I at least bothered to take a look in there (even more annoying than I thought) and the batteries are _not_ flooded, they're sealed, so at least a failure on my part to put water in them wasn't the problem (Interstate HD27MDC-1, MCA 750 RC 160). So I dunno, I've given them a real full charge and we'll see how they do on the next trip; I'm not terribly itching to drop a few grand on two LiFePO4 batteries but will if I think it'll be a real improvement, as we don't spend any time camping on hookups (at least, not so far). I also removed the microwave for now, since again we're never on hookups and I can't imagine myself firing up the generator just to use the microwave. So a bit more storage space and a few less pounds.  Though it'd be nice to put a door over it; I'll see if I can find a way to find more panel material that matches to fashion one out of.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2024 02:35
|
|
|
Awesome stuff, I love these photo dumps and dream of the day I can contribute. What model of lance camper do you have?
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2024 02:56
|
|
|
Fatal posted:Awesome stuff, I love these photo dumps and dream of the day I can contribute. What model of lance camper do you have? Thanks, glad the  is appreciated.It’s an 855s; the only model with a slide out they offer that’s made to fit in a short bed (6.75’) super duty. We didn’t want a long bed, and the slide out makes it quite spacious inside and has a fold out loft bunk that’ll hold 200lbs so both kids get their own bed.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2024 03:49
|
|
|
That’s pretty sweet! Are the kids beds the benches of the dinette or is there something else? Very efficient use of space, surprised they squeezed in a bathroom! Did you buy it new or used? Edit, found this video explaining the layout, crazy how the bed just comes down from the cieling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqXPy6S9lZs Fatal fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Jan 22, 2024 |
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2024 03:41
|
|
|
Fatal posted:That’s pretty sweet! Are the kids beds the benches of the dinette or is there something else? Very efficient use of space, surprised they squeezed in a bathroom! Did you buy it new or used? Yeah, for summary for anyone else curious the dinette becomes one bed and then there's a bunk that folds down from the ceiling. Takes a minute or so to do, though the bigger effort is just moving stuff around whenever we're going back and forth between bed and daytime configuration. We ordered the camper new from a local Lance dealer; prices have gone up a good bit since we ordered ours, and they had already gone up a good amount before that. But the used ones available were pretty limited at the time and not really much of a better deal either; we placed the order mid 2022 while all things camping seemed in pretty high demand, and ended up getting one of the first 2023 models built when they delivered last January
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2024 04:16
|
|
|
Steve French posted:
I think you found the chupacabra's den  I don't know what's more terrifying, El Chupacabre, camping on an artillery range, or water damage on your camper's roof...
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2024 04:44
|
|
|
I feel pretty good about the repair job I did on the roof, though will be regularly checking on it for signs of deterioration. Would it make you feel better to know it’s more of a bombing range than an artillery range?
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2024 04:50
|
|
|
Apologies for jumping to the end and not scanning the whole thread, but does anyone in here use Starlink Roam? I'm looking into the flat mobile use antenna and curious mostly about powering it, but also any anecdotal info people have.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2024 01:43
|
|
|
armorer posted:Apologies for jumping to the end and not scanning the whole thread, but does anyone in here use Starlink Roam? I'm looking into the flat mobile use antenna and curious mostly about powering it, but also any anecdotal info people have. I have the 2nd gen Dishy on my van. I got rid of the Starlink router and hardwired a 12v adapter and a low-draw travel router into my solar. It used to run off my inverter with the Starlink router which was a total waste of power so I bypassed the need. When it’s running, my solar will fully power it with no battery draw (I’ve got 400w on the roof). I don’t use it all the time nor is it permanently mounted. I put the dishy on my ladder or on the ground depending on where I’m camped. I hate giving Elon money but it works amazing for remote work.
|
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2024 21:42
|
|
|
I have the dish that uhhh isn’t for in movement use. Idk what it’s called. But it was absolutely excellent to have. We did our entire month+ in Alaska working full time (except the week we spent backpacking) and never came close to power issues with 350 watts of solar. It took a bit of learning to understand what campsites it’d work best in but once we figured that out it was aces. gently caress Elon musk tho
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2024 04:10
|
|
|
This is really great to know, thanks! I've been trying to figure out how to spend more time on the road instead of staring at the same four walls at home. Also good to know how much solar is enough! Over the holidays I picked up a second panel (100w flexible Renology to pair with a 140w lightleaf, plus a second 100 Ah LiFePO4 battery to wire up in parallel). I think I may need to recalibrate the battery monitor, something is catterwampus because fully charged it shows that I should have power for days, only to unexpectedly die overnight at 70% indicated charge. I have the Victron solar controller & battery monitor configured to kick off at 10% battery SOC, but I suspect maybe the monitor is cutting off charging before the battery is actually at 100%. Anyone run into similar issues? Also... does anyone have any advice for winter heating? I've got a small 250w electric heatbud that does well into the mid 30s, but I'd love to install something like a Propex propane heater or even something like this standalone diesel heater ducted into a window from outside. How do y'all keep a heated interior when it gets cold out?
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2024 16:01
|
|
|
Catatron Prime posted:This is really great to know, thanks! I've been trying to figure out how to spend more time on the road instead of staring at the same four walls at home. I don't have one myself, but a few friends all run diesel heaters and swear by them. I've hung out in my friend's van while his diesel heater was running and it worked great.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2024 17:25
|
|
|
I have a cheap 5W Chinese diesel heater I installed in my Transit van and it will keep things super toasty even when camped out in the snow at the skill hill. I have a 2.5gal fuel cell that holds the diesel and it lasts forever. I just ran out last trip (and the last time I had filled it was 2 years ago?) I usually run it while hanging out in the van and then turn it off when I go to sleep. I’ll turn it on first thing in the morning and stay in bed til it warms up. I’m going to get an Afterburner controller for it but I need to swap out the control board since mine’s not compatible. Braincloud fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Feb 16, 2024 |
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2024 05:30
|
|
|
Well, I was about to buy a diesel heater, but I may have stumbled on an incredible deal... found one of these exterior propex units along with a new temp controller on ebay from a shop selling a variety of surplus parts and random stuff for 150$ shipped, and it honestly looks brand new. The listing said it was not in working condition, but the guy reached out and let me know it probably works, he just had no way of testing it, which is honestly what I suspected. I'm thinking long term I may try to install it inside the tongue box or do what Bean does and install it under the sink in the galley, but for now my plan is to just pick up some hoses and just set it on top of the wheel fender and duct it through the side window. I could model & 3d print an adapter plate for the ducts that sits inside the window, and seal that up a bit with foam board. Might be a bit janky, we'll just have to see and do some iteration. I'm just reticent to permanently modify anything on the trailer until it's got a few more dents and dings (new car syndrome). I also reached out to Bean Trailer and looks like they'll sell me a second battery tray and extra 11lb propane tank mount as well. They manufacture both in house and it'll just bolt right into the existing tongue box, which will be nice for doubling up the capacity there. Unfortunately I'll have to wait to add the second propane tank mount until I get a tow vehicle with a higher hitch tongue weight capacity, but it'll be nice to have the parts on hand for when that happens. They're really nothing that can be done to bump up tongue weight capacity on an Outback, right? Weight distribution hitch doesn't make sense for a 2,000 lb trailer (not to mention I'm pretty sure it's just not compatible with Outbacks in general), and overloaded strut springs don't really do anything other than help the sag, right?
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2024 16:39
|
|
|
Somewhat Heroic posted:For what it is worth I have been compiling some "b-roll" video clips to assemble a comprehensive review to post on YouTube since there is not a ton of user generated content. Bean has been cranking out trailers though. they are into the 600's on chassis numbers now and it was just over a year ago I took delivery of #270. It has taken me nearly two years to come back to this, but I finally got off my butt and clipped together a review video of our Bean if anyone is interested in that sort of thing. I just sort of uploaded and posted it to YouTube and in three weeks apparently it has been worth the time of three thousand views. I have a few more ideas I am floating around for other videos to make. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjYATEHj2SE I am mostly just really missing camping and can't wait for warmer weather. I am probably 5 weeks away from being able to go somewhere tolerable. I never finished my diesel heater project but that is on my list.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2024 23:09
|
|
|
Somewhat Heroic posted:It has taken me nearly two years to come back to this, but I finally got off my butt and clipped together a review video of our Bean if anyone is interested in that sort of thing. I just sort of uploaded and posted it to YouTube and in three weeks apparently it has been worth the time of three thousand views. I have a few more ideas I am floating around for other videos to make. That's amazing, I actually stumbled across your viddya and watched it the other day when looking for bean/teardrop content on YouTube! You're absolutely right, there just isn't a whole lot out there, and I really enjoy seeing how other folks are utilizing these trailers so I can get a better idea of different ways to enjoy it more myself. Really appreciate you sharing all your thoughts and experiences! Also helps scratch the winter itch, which I'm currently trying to solve for. I think I've got a good solution for heating the cabin for below freezing with the propex heater (just arrived today and looks brand spanking new), and this little electric heatbud works great for down to freezing. Both my batteries have integrated warmers to bring the temp up when it dips below freezing, but I haven't done much testing with that to see how well they recover and resume charging. I think the big inconvenience is water. Shoulder season is probably fine, but I'm curious about maybe trying to insulate the tank and maybe adding a 12v tank heater pad along with wrapping some heated wire and insulation around the supply lines as well. Also may not be worth the hassle vs just bringing a few gallons in jugs for snowy weather... Realistically I would just like to try the electric tank/pipe warmers for peace of mind during the shoulder seasons more than anything else. I'm just so excited to get back outside here! I love the convenience of having a kitchen with the sink and fridge, as well as the luxury of a hard sided shelter. There's so many places I want to visit this year with the bean, I don't even know where to start 
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2024 00:03
|
|
|
Somewhat Heroic posted:beans This is a great review, I'm going to have to hit you up for some recommended locations someday too. Has anyone used this stuff, https://den-dry.com/products/ravenwolf-marine-den-dry-mattress-underlay-queen as a mattress ventilator for avoiding moisture/mold/other dampness horrors? Is it slippery or noisy at all? My mattress is going to be penned in on 3 sides so the only air slot is really at the foot of the bed. Plus it's on top of a pretty slick surface so if this causes the bed to slide around it's probably not right for my case.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2024 04:49
|
|
|
Raised by Hamsters posted:This is a great review, I'm going to have to hit you up for some recommended locations someday too. As a matter of fact, yes!   It's definitely a lot sturdier than I expected, and it has a nice felt backing for the mattress. Just be aware that it may scratch up whatever surface you put the plastic coils on, but really nothing to do about that since any extra layers would in turn block airflow. You also have to cut the roll lengthwise to size, (it's two halves for a queen size). Otherwise it seems to do the trick just great! I've got a cloth textured waterproof mattress protector on the mattress & topper itself. I haven't noticed any shifting or other annoyances overall, but it's not like my mattress really has anywhere to go. If you're willing to spend to money, I don't think there's really too much better out there. On the cheaper end, something like the IKEA wood slat mattress base might also work just dandy as well! But it's also half the cost, so you know, may as well get the den dry imho.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2024 21:05
|
|
|
The junction between my brake controller and one of my brake drums got severed (no foul play suspected!). What is this part called? It's clearly a crimped junction of some kind but I dunno what I'm looking for. My temp solution is just to use a twist-on wire nut but that isn't a permanent fix.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2024 01:31
|
|
|
It looks like a 3M 314 Scotchlok, but I hate using any form of Scotchlok in general because they do such a poor job of insulating the connection itself (and often make a poor electrical connection as well). I'd replace them with heat shrink butt connectors. I've been very happy with these haisstronica connectors.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2024 03:51
|
|
|
How do I use a splice like that when I've got three wires that need to terminate together instead of just two?
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2024 03:58
|
|
|
Two in one end, one in the other end. Go up a size from what you'd normally use, strip a bit extra on the wires that are sharing an end, and twist them together before you insert them into the connector. In some cases you might need to strip extra off of the single wire and fold it over to get a good crimp if the only size that lets you fit the two wires twisted is too big to get a good grip on one wire by itself.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2024 04:12
|
|
|
What's the best way to secure a RV against wind? Tie downs? Where should I anchor them? And with what? Have a 2004 Keystone Montana Mountaineer which hopefully will not need to move. Don't have much shelter from the wind in my current spot and it makes me nervous
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2024 15:28
|
|
|
Managed to snag an awesome campsite over on Kelley's Island for the eclipse, thought I'd share a few pics in here   Mrs. Catatron set up a tripod and managed to catch some amazing solar protrusions in the corona during totality!    Phone pic of just how eery the dusk was during totality:  Had some fun playing around with some sliders and pulling out different colors from the corona:  Spent some time combing for cool rocks and found some petosky stones and at least one arrowhead:      Had a ton of fun with the pie irons over the weekend... my favorite was using cinnamon rolls for the crust and stuffing it with bananas, fruit, and cream cheese:   Just a really neat place to visit, with so much to see!      Made friends with some grackels hanging around our site:  And I wish I coulda gotten better focus, but I've never seen a white robin like this before!  Talked to a volunteer tagging birds and apparently there are several groups of light gray robins that come back and nest there, makes me wonder if there's some self selecting level of speciation even though they're migratory. All that caveated with I know next to nothing, I just thought it was really interesting  I'm so happy for warmer weather to finally hit, it's so good to get back outside!
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2024 16:53
|
|
|
Trauts posted:What's the best way to secure a RV against wind? Tie downs? Where should I anchor them? And with what? Have a 2004 Keystone Montana Mountaineer which hopefully will not need to move. Don't have much shelter from the wind in my current spot and it makes me nervous Point the front towards the direction of the wind? Beyond this I’ve never seen anything like what you’re talking about. I’ve had neighbors up and move as the winds come in.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2024 00:43
|
|
|
I’ve for a little camper trailer coming - Happier Camper Traveler. I’ve towed things in the past and comfortable, generally, with how to do so. Curious on the thread’s opinions about navigation apps/devices. Seems for devices, garmin is about the only game. But reviews on it seem mixed at best. I’ve read some notes on Copilot and Sygic as well and those are also mixed.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2024 00:59
|
|
|
Catatron Prime posted:Managed to snag an awesome campsite over on Kelley's Island for the eclipse, thought I'd share a few pics in here This looks amazing; excellent landscape photos too. I was supposed to get out into the desert for the first trip of the season with our Bean but weather bombed us out and I fear I might not make it to the desert this year. The desert last year was one of the best camping experiences I have ever had. It was so extremely cool. rufius posted:I’ve for a little camper trailer coming - Happier Camper Traveler. I’ve towed things in the past and comfortable, generally, with how to do so. Happier Camper is awesome! you will love it. I just use Google Maps for everything. If we are heading into the mountains with no/low service then I download offline maps with Google and that has always served me well enough.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2024 03:06
|
|
|
rufius posted:I’ve for a little camper trailer coming - Happier Camper Traveler. I’ve towed things in the past and comfortable, generally, with how to do so. Hell yeah, those trailers look awesome! Can't wait to see some pics and hear about your trips with it! With something that small, I'd just stick with the usual smartphone apps. If you're looking for stuff like water and propane, iOverlander seems to be a good open resource, though relying on community posts means that it's lacking in a lotta places. Campendium is another I've used and don't recall much about. KOA has an app I've used in the past and found helpful when on the road. Opensignal is helpful for real cell coverage maps. Public lands and USFS & BLM campgrounds are some other ones good for finding camping spots. With google maps you can preselect and download swaths of offline data for a particular area. I've used that a bunch, though it's obnoxious we can't just download a basic road map of the us or what have you. Instead we have to plan... which does work well offline, but point still stands. Waze is pretty worthless in low coverage areas in my experience.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2024 03:21
|
|
|
Check out the app named "OrganicMaps". It lets you download the OpenStreetMaps maps for whatever states/provinces/countries you choose, and it will keep them up to date. It does search and navigation locally on your device. I don't think it has any way of getting traffic, of course. I use Google Maps day to day, but I keep it as a backup for if I find myself off grid.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2024 05:28
|
|
|
Safety Dance posted:Check out the app named "OrganicMaps". It lets you download the OpenStreetMaps maps for whatever states/provinces/countries you choose, and it will keep them up to date. It does search and navigation locally on your device. I don't think it has any way of getting traffic, of course. I use Google Maps day to day, but I keep it as a backup for if I find myself off grid. Thanks for this!
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2024 12:57
|
|
|
Nice - ya were excited about it. We got the Traveler tricked out since they had a big sale at the end of last year. Ready to boondock and all. Re: nav - ya that was my thinking. I was just gonna try Apple Maps and Google Maps before worrying too much. Trailer is only 17ft long and 8.3ft tall so not crazy at all.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2024 17:05
|
|
|
Safety Dance posted:Check out the app named "OrganicMaps". It lets you download the OpenStreetMaps maps for whatever states/provinces/countries you choose, and it will keep them up to date. It does search and navigation locally on your device. I don't think it has any way of getting traffic, of course. I use Google Maps day to day, but I keep it as a backup for if I find myself off grid. This is really great, thanks!! Exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. I was not keen to pay another annual subscription on some of these other offline gps apps. Somewhat Heroic posted:This looks amazing; excellent landscape photos too. I was supposed to get out into the desert for the first trip of the season with our Bean but weather bombed us out and I fear I might not make it to the desert this year. The desert last year was one of the best camping experiences I have ever had. It was so extremely cool. Thanks! That's a bummer about the weather, hopefully you get some good weekends coming up to get out!
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2024 04:01
|
|
|
Hello RV thread, I find myself in need of a class a motorhome to live in for the foreseeable future, my budget is something under 12k, got a couple questions 1. Fleetwood Bounders and other fleetwoods seem to be the dominate brand from the early 90s, are there any I should stay away from. Any other good/bad brands 2. Seems crazy to me that I can get a motorhome with such low miles, is there anything wrong with getting an old, low mileage one if it wasnt left out in the sun and all the time eating parts have been replaced (hoses & tires, etc) 3. Specifically looking for a class a for the room and the massive front window, hoping to be able to snag one with a slideout at this price, is that a bad idea on older RVs? It's just going to be me living in it, I got laid off from my cushy job and am considering living real cheap by buying some cheap land and sticking an RV on it while I look for another one or maybe switch careers. It's kinda that or live in cheap airbnb rooms, my previous job timed the layoff right as my current lease is ending
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2024 09:14
|
|
|
ddiddles posted:Hello RV thread, So, few things to keep in mind... you might wind up saving money with an rv, but you'll probably want to still stay at dedicated sites to refill water, recharge your batteries, grab a shower, dump your sewage. I've been looking at doing similar and buying an acre or two somewhere for quasi camping to just get away now and then, and one thing I've noticed is that a lot of counties have limits on how long you can "camp" there with an rv, even if you own the land. You could go really off grid and build a setup to collect filter and store rainwater, use a composting toilet, rely on solar and starlink, but it's still an investment and water is a real challenge that's probably the most limiting factor. You also need an address for mail and to get a job, though there's options like a PO Boxes or services to register an address like a shell corporation, but you'll need something like that for various things as benign as vehicle registration, licensing, and taxes. From what I understand slideouts are a big failure point, and older rvs like that tend to develop leaks with stuff like the roof or black tank without regular maintenance and whatnot. Lots of private rv parks won't even allow rvs older than 10 years without approval because they don't want an ecological hazard from leaks or broken down immobile vehicles. A trailer park might be an option if you're looking for long term places to stay cheaper. Probably the most economical thing is living out of a van and finding inconspicuous places to stay, but that's a grind and wears people down from what I understand. Stuff like planet fitness memberships for showers, constantly moving and sleeping in parking lots, finding bathrooms, all that sort of stuff. It can be economical to live smaller though, just need to think through the pros and cons and what you're giving up. If you're looking to take time off from everything and have a hatchback or something you can throw an air mattress in and sleep out of, you might consider just doing that for awhile and camping out at state parks and whatnot before buying something like an rv. I just think you might find yourself underwater really quickly with an older rv like that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2024 14:33
|
|
|
ddiddles posted:Hello RV thread, Safari and Lazydaze come to mind. Bounders are ok. Plentiful. I don't know I'd pay 10-15k for a stick n staple of any flavor. RVs literally fall apart before they're even finish being built. It's downhill from there. If you'd like a future in constant home and vehicle repairs, this is the path to take. Slideouts like to break despite adding an appreciable amount of room to a coach. They also like to leak and let rodents in. With an old class A you have the mix of Old Car and Old House all built to a standard of "gently caress it who cares". Hoses, valves, window seals, roofing, the fridge, all the safety systems, and the LP regulator will have aged out. 90s pex gets brittle when left in the sun. You'll forever be doing repairs and combating nature trying to take over your living space. Cheap land is cheap for a reason. If it were worth developing it would have been already. To live "comfortably" on a piece of dirt requires significant infrastructure investment. It's not common to find counties that will even allow you to live in a rv by itself. Septic and water is the hardest. Out west anyway. With electric a close third. A solid off-grid power supply for a 50 Amp coach to live comfortably in the south west can set you back 20 thousand for quality name brand components. Reminder that this is infrastructure and not a middle school science fair. You can part-time it at places like the LTVA for six months. Water, Sewer, Trash, covered. Bring your own solar. It *is* possible to save money at this. The cost is your time and comfort.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2024 17:02
|
|
|
Recognizing this is an RV thread, but if you have the land, seriously consider a Yurt. There’s some pretty affordable kits for them from places like REI. Aside from obscenely bad weather, they’re very durable and easy to heat/cool. Their cost will be similar to a cheap RV and it’ll be a better structure. For example: https://coloradoyurt.com/yurt-kits/ Starts at $11k. As long as you don’t buy from some company specializing in selling “glamping” kits to aspiring airbnb owners, pricing should be reasonable.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2024 17:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 20:38 |
|
|
rufius posted:Recognizing this is an RV thread, but if you have the land, seriously consider a Yurt. There’s some pretty affordable kits for them from places like REI. Aside from obscenely bad weather, they’re very durable and easy to heat/cool. Their cost will be similar to a cheap RV and it’ll be a better structure. Oh yeah, yurts are awesome! Some of our state parks have yurts available to rent in addition to cabins, and they're pretty luxe. Stupid question about jacks... I've got two of these swivel jacks on the rear of my trailer. I'm looking to swap out the front square jack on my teardrop with a wheeled jack, but I'd like to be able to additionally relocate a swivel jack from the back to the tongue in case I need more height to get over the ball, or stability, or whatever since I can just pull the pin and move the jack as needed. To do this I just need to bolt on a male pipe mount bracket, however the only one I can seem to find is a weld-on mount. Ideally I'd rather just bolt it on than modify the frame, especially since I no longer have a welder. Does anyone know if someone sells this pre-welded to a plate I could bolt on? Or would I have to purchase a mounting plate (possibly like this?) and weld the pipe mount to it? Half of me wants the excuse to purchase a stick welder, and the other half of me would rather just take this somewhere and have someone skilled fabricobble a mount. All of me would rather just buy a pipe mount already welded to a bracket as the easiest solution, but my google-fu apparently sucks and what I thought would be a standard part doesn't seem to be a thing. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2024 22:10
|
|