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I've got oven envy! Anyone got any decent portable oven options? I'll be honest, most Amazon stuff doesn't get hot enough or cooks a single cookie at a time. I've got a Uuni wood fired pizza oven but it's annoyingly fussy to use.
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Jul 17, 2020 21:29
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I have the Caphalon toaster from Costco, I really like it and have made bread with it, but don't know what the draw on it is. If you're hooked to mains power it's fine, but I think most RV oven and ranges are propane.
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Jul 17, 2020 21:55
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I was going to post the below but then the Cloudfare outage happened. During that I managed to troubleshoot it myself and fix it, but thought it may benefit the RV thread to see the problem and resolution.A panicked TraderStav posted:Lovely, just brought the camper home to get it ready for us to leave on Sunday and the power won't work on it. Had too manually crank the pop-up up. Once it was plugged in, we started having all sorts of weird electrical things. 2 of the 4 lights next to the fuses are off. The lights and water pump don't work. If I don't set a light (that isn't working) to on, my propane detector goes off really loudly. There are no propane tanks hooked up so likely an electrical issue doing so. Turns out it WAS the battery, only held 6V. Still concerned that the issue was with the inverter but went to Autozone and picked up a marine battery. Got the cheapest one as I'm not likely to have this camper for more than a year or two more. Installed the battery, and all the same results. Tested the battery with the multimeter, no increase when I plugged it in. drat, maybe the inverter is broken! But, this is a fully charged battery... shouldn't the lights now work, just not charge? Maybe the wiring is bad? A rat eat through it? All of that LOOKS good, but nothing to test that with right now. Go to show my neighbor who's smarter than I and showed him how flipping the breakers does nothing... except this time it all lit up afterwards. I hadn't even THOUGHT of flipping the breakers after swapping the battery out! I blew one fuse in the process, replaced that, and ALL GOOD NOW! Ready to leave for Lake Charlevoix in Michigan on Sunday! Super stoked. More stoked that I didn't have to pay a fortune for an RV medic to come to my house or cancel the trip outright.
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Jul 18, 2020 00:47
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About to take off on a 14 day trip as we move from Northern California to Ohio. Going the southern route via I-10 cause there are a few specific places we want to stop along the way. Thing is, I loving hate mountain driving. Have a 14 F150 ecoboost with the tow package, did the math and am well within all limits by about 20%. I'll be pulling a 28 foot TT at about 7200lbs loaded. How bad is it going south over Tejon on I-5 while towing? I've driven it plenty of times but not with something attached. I have plenty of experience towing but not in the mountains. I assume go slow, tow/haul, hold on for dear life and try to not use the brakes?
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Jul 18, 2020 02:07
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Do you have trailer brakes? If no, stay slow, stay behind the semis. Your truck brakes will overheat otherwise. Tow haul. Note whatever gear you climbed it. That's the gear you descend it. Flip it into manual mode and make it hold the gear.
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Jul 18, 2020 03:14
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cursedshitbox posted:Do you have trailer brakes? If no, stay slow, stay behind the semis. Your truck brakes will overheat otherwise. Gotcha, thanks. I do have trailer brakes but they are the regular electric ones. Worth it to turn up the gain or am I going to risk locking them up? I'm pretty sure I can lock out gears in manual mode so I'll be sure to do that. I definitely won't need 6 and if I'm in 5 then I probably hosed up anyway.
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Jul 18, 2020 04:06
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Mud Shark posted:Gotcha, thanks. I do have trailer brakes but they are the regular electric ones. Worth it to turn up the gain or am I going to risk locking them up? Set it to where it works in unison with your tow vehicle brakes. Too little, and it pushes the tow vehicle. Too much, they'll try to stop the tow vehicle over its own brakes resulting in fade. There's some good braking tips and such in the trucking CDL handbooks. stab braking(won't apply to you), threshold braking, etc. I generally try to select a gear that allows for natural engine braking and no use of the brakes. That's a balanced dynamic that's good for descending hills. It typically works out to be ~the gear the hill was climbed in. outside of that, a 10mph window. Say 30-40mph. When the vehicle creeps to 40, steadily and quickly brake it back down to 30, then release. Don't linger on the brakes, but also don't bounce off the ABS system. The point is to bleed speed without overheating the brakes. You'll do fine!
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Jul 18, 2020 05:15
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cursedshitbox posted:Do you have trailer brakes? If no, stay slow, stay behind the semis. Your truck brakes will overheat otherwise. Maybe a gear lower than you went up when going from LA to Grapevine? since the descent in that direction is a lot steeper than the ascent
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Jul 18, 2020 05:22
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luminalflux posted:Maybe a gear lower than you went up when going from LA to Grapevine? since the descent in that direction is a lot steeper than the ascent It's a one way trip so I won't get to tow it Northbound and never had previously. I feel like the pucker factor would be higher there for sure just from having done it in a regular car. Last time I drove any of the passes in anything big was in a 26 foot rental truck over Tehachapi which was less than fun but that's more likely due to the truck being a total piece of poo poo. Thanks y'all. Sounds like I'm worrying about nothing. Just nervous since that's day 2 of the trip and I don't want to gently caress myself over that early on with ~3100 miles left to go.
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Jul 18, 2020 06:23
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I've been kicking around the idea of a DIY RV build, either converting a box truck or renovating an old bus conversion (not as old as CSB's Gillig, thinking more along the lines of a '90s Prevost). While watching a bunch of Youtube videos looking to get ideas of how I'd want to lay out my ideal rig, something I've noticed a few of the commercial dealers talking about recently is towability of various styles of motorhome. More than one dealer has made a claim along the lines of tow companies not wanting to touch Class As because the front bodywork is all different and it can often be hard to determine how to safely tow them without damage, where towing a Class C would be more or less the same as any ordinary box truck built on the same chassis. Now, I've primarily heard that claim from dealers that specialize in custom "Super C" builds on medium duty or heavy duty truck chassis, so obviously they have an incentive to spread FUD about their competition, but at the same time it does make a certain amount of sense. I have no personal experience, my family's E-350 Itasca got towed a few times but our Fleetwood/Freightliner pusher was always able to limp in to the shop without needing a hook when it broke down. Any thoughts? If this is a realistic concern, would it apply less to a full out bus conversion than a standard class A due to the different construction used for the bus shell?
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Jul 28, 2020 19:21
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There's no reason a big rig wrecker couldn't tow any "standard" Class A coach. Now, you're still paying for a big rig wrecker ($$$$), but you'd probably want something that big for any 30+' class C anyway.
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Jul 28, 2020 19:50
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Crunchy Black posted:There's no reason a big rig wrecker couldn't tow any "standard" Class A coach. Now, you're still paying for a big rig wrecker ($$$$), but you'd probably want something that big for any 30+' class C anyway. My concern was just the reports that some tow companies would potentially attempt to price out class A/bus tows because they weren't worth the trouble in one way or another. wolrah fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Jul 28, 2020 |
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Jul 28, 2020 22:01
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We had to get our 42ft class A Brave towed twice, it was just a matter of getting a guy that towed busses. Granted, this was in Bronx (both times! We had terrible luck on the Cross Bronx), but it was no big deal. Super nice company we dealt with both times, the tow guys were super helpful and would not take a tip.
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Jul 28, 2020 22:07
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Any bus or class A is gonna need a full size wrecker and you'll be on the hook for it without a very generous roadside plan. Know what entails with bus ownership. A class A is marginally easier to own. A bus is better built. The class As are on a standard truck ladder frame, sorta like smaller econoline based buses and schoolies. A Prevost can be thought of like a unibody. It doesn't matter a lot, the tow guy is gonna grab it by the axle. Class Cs can be moved by typical 4500/5500s if they're not huge. Preventative maintenance will do you well in preventing breakdowns. If you're not handy with a wrench I'd argue the point of sticking to classA/ClassCs. They run hydraulic brakes and smaller commonly found powertrains. Some Schoolies and larger E450/550 vans are the exception. No Prevost runs juice brakes or light/medium duty diesel engine. That said, air brakes are easy to learn, as are the heavier duty drivetrains. 90s vintage Prevost might have a Detroit 92 or 60 series in it. Both are very well known powerplants. I've personally never had a bus towed. Working as a professional it was very rare that it couldn't be fixed on site, by that point the tow was the cheapest part of that day. Arguing point for the big boys, if you do break down you can be accessed by road side truck repair crews. I'm not certain a mobile heavy duty diesel mechanic is gonna wanna work on a downed RV with a 6.8L v10 or ISB. Truck stops like Petro and Loves run mobile divisions in their shops for road side assistance. To scratch build a bus, take your budget and multiply it by 2-4 times, and your allotted time by 2-6 times depending on how devoted to the project you can be. This also works for old project campers and projects in general. Case in point the TC I'm currently overhauling, I took the initial estimates and doubled it. So far it is tracking true on both counts.
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Jul 29, 2020 02:48
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I just renewed my AAA and added RV coverage for up to 32 foot for $40 extra. I believe they had additional for over 32 feet but none of mine are anywhere close to 32 feet so I didn’t price it. Of course it took AAA 6 hours to come get my Celsior to take to a far away specialty shop the other day so service isn’t what it used to be...
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Jul 29, 2020 04:53
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I bought a trailer today! Thank you all for all the helpful input I could read before making a decision. My wife and I have acquired a Coleman 27ft Toy Hauler for our cross country move. This way we can take our motorcycles and most our possessions on board. It is being prepped now and we will pick it up as early as next weekend.
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Aug 1, 2020 21:07
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Photos! Photos! I'm very curious how much cargo you're taking and if you plan to sleep in it on the trip.
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Aug 3, 2020 22:56
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Heners_UK posted:Photos! Photos! I'm very curious how much cargo you're taking and if you plan to sleep in it on the trip. I will post photos when I pick it up and as I am on the road. I'm really excited for this trip. I am sleeping in it as I cross Canada, I will be living in it until I can build a house, and we will be taking it camping in the future. My plan is to carry our motorcycles, all of my life so I can start my new career, all our tools and as much raw weight as it takes to balance the trailer properly. I bought all the hookups required in parks. I liked the Coleman best because it has a 60 gallon fresh water tank.
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Aug 4, 2020 01:35
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cursedshitbox posted:Any bus or class A is gonna need a full size wrecker and you'll be on the hook for it without a very generous roadside plan. I am of course well aware that neither will be cheap if the wrecker needs to make an appearance. quote:Preventative maintenance will do you well in preventing breakdowns. If you're not handy with a wrench I'd argue the point of sticking to classA/ClassCs. They run hydraulic brakes and smaller commonly found powertrains. Some Schoolies and larger E450/550 vans are the exception. No Prevost runs juice brakes or light/medium duty diesel engine. That said, air brakes are easy to learn, as are the heavier duty drivetrains. 90s vintage Prevost might have a Detroit 92 or 60 series in it. Both are very well known powerplants. At the moment all the buses I'm looking at have Series 60 engines. While I find the two-stroke Detroits fascinating and the noises they make wonderfully entertaining, those are qualities you want more in a weekend toy car and not so much in a vehicle you'd expect to drive across the country regularly. quote:I've personally never had a bus towed. Working as a professional it was very rare that it couldn't be fixed on site, by that point the tow was the cheapest part of that day. Arguing point for the big boys, if you do break down you can be accessed by road side truck repair crews. I'm not certain a mobile heavy duty diesel mechanic is gonna wanna work on a downed RV with a 6.8L v10 or ISB. Truck stops like Petro and Loves run mobile divisions in their shops for road side assistance. quote:To scratch build a bus, take your budget and multiply it by 2-4 times, and your allotted time by 2-6 times depending on how devoted to the project you can be. This also works for old project campers and projects in general. Case in point the TC I'm currently overhauling, I took the initial estimates and doubled it. So far it is tracking true on both counts. A high end bus conversion with a few decades of depreciation on it solves that problem though, where the good parts are generally built well enough that they'll be worth keeping. My ideal at the moment would be a late '90s era Prevost, when they were still using riveted steel exteriors but had DDEC IV engines, with an original '90s interior that was "eccentric" even at the time and is now that plus outdated, driving the price down compared to mechanically similar buses with more standard and/or upgraded interiors. Something that I could use while tolerating its flaws and refit piecemeal as time and funds allow. I have a few more years while working on the freedom to travel aspect before I really need to lock down the specifics of the vehicle though. wolrah fucked around with this message at 06:29 on Aug 4, 2020 |
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Aug 4, 2020 06:23
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Little update: we just finished our trip from SF to Cincinnati via the southern route. 3340 miles over about 64 hours during a 12 day period. Was a pretty fun trip with lots of cool poo poo to see. Hit up Joshua Tree, Saguaro, White Sands, Biloxi Beach, and Wolf Creek Dam. Only made it to two Buc-ee's but thats the way she goes. The EcoBoost 150 was a boss. It shouldn't have towed my trailer as well as it did. Y'all were right about the mountains. The truck would hold 65 down steep/long grades without touching the brakes. I actually found myself having to accelerate downhill at times. Can't say enough good things about those trucks.
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Aug 6, 2020 15:21
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How was the RV?
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Aug 6, 2020 15:32
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Heners_UK posted:How was the RV? Nothing broke or fell off despite the roads in Texas. I feel like they designed the construction zones to be the absolute worst experience possible. It was cool getting it out though. We had full-timed for about a year but that happened within 20 miles of where we bought the thing. RVing makes a lot more sense now.
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Aug 7, 2020 02:09
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Picked up a new 2020 Jayco Pinnacle 32rtls this morning. Traded in our 2015 eagle. I was worried about our SRW 3500 squatting and being overloaded but its fine. 
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Aug 8, 2020 21:22
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Going camping this weekend for the first time in our new rig, cannot wait. 260RD maiden voyage 
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Aug 11, 2020 17:43
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Interior shots, both of you. Wanna see that laaayyyoouutttt
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Aug 12, 2020 15:51
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Six pages of RV thread and no mentions of the "just add 'anal' in front of the camper name" joke. I'm disappointed. Anyhow, my wife and I are slowly pecking away at our 12' Jayco popup, and we took it and the kid and dogs up to the Medicine Bows last weekend. Can confirm that a Mr. Buddy heater keeps things warm enough that a toddler will mostly sleep through the night. It got below freezing one night but I'm not sure by how much. The mounts on the outside for the stove and table are really useful, because it gets mighty tight inside when you start spreading food and stuff out and trying to cook.  This is a 1996 model, and the PO's fixes through time are pretty poo poo. The original fit and finish of budget pop up campers is not great to begin with, though. lovely hardware, everything held together with cheese head sheet metal screws or staples, hasty cuts on material, etc. I'm not disappointed, and we were looking for a project when we got this thing last year anyway. My wife is doing all the upholstery and interior repainting while I handle replacing countertops, linoleum, hardware throughout, and rebuilding the roof. I've already replaced all the water lines and door hardware, a bed, and put the biggest wheels on it that would fit in the wheel well and not hit the wells under full suspension compression.
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Aug 12, 2020 16:25
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:Six pages of RV thread and no mentions of the "just add 'anal' in front of the camper name" joke. I'm disappointed. Watch out for that little bear ravaging your supplies Suspect Bucket posted:Interior shots, both of you. Wanna see that laaayyyoouutttt Here's a thumbnail from the manufacturer, click for big. 
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Aug 12, 2020 16:49
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kensei posted:Watch out for that little bear ravaging your supplies 
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Aug 12, 2020 17:02
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Bear naps, Bear attacs, But most importantly she snaccs. 
Elmnt80 fucked around with this message at 23:46 on Aug 12, 2020 |
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Aug 12, 2020 23:03
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Did not expect that. 
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Aug 12, 2020 23:10
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It was ready today so I picked our trailer up! Time to start packing for my move across Canada. Hopefully we have some time next year to actually take vacations too. I received some advice to upgrade to a sway control hitch, so I did. Makes a bumper pull amazing.  
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Aug 12, 2020 23:42
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Suspect Bucket posted:Interior shots, both of you. Wanna see that laaayyyoouutttt I don’t have a whole bunch of good ones. I also keep hitting timeouts trying to upload pictures from my phone so bear with me.  My son, pretending to chill. Only one bedroom, and he is safer on the floor anyways. Camper was optioned with 2 way fridge. I don’t have an opinion on that one way or another. Dishwasher prep next to the stove. Washer dryer prep in front closet. Not adding either at this time.  Camper has really cool accent lights, popup TV, fake fireplace, theater seats with heat/massage that I am sitting on, an Insignia range that has a huge oven, drinking water system that pulls from a five gallon jug underneath the bedroom - also supplies the icemaker in the fridge, solid surface counters in the kitchen and bath, with a little popup outlet/usb. It was optioned with slide awnings, heat pump on the main AC, propane/electric fridge and a couple other things.  Where its parked. Has a loving superb hydraulic auto leveling system. One touch and its done, and its the most stable camper I have ever been in. More so than my inlaws 2017 winnebago pusher. Ut can also pick the goodyear “beast” tires off the ground. We are going to put a carport over it. Got 50 amp service put in at the old house today so the generator went into storage. Water/sewer and gravel to come. House is a tear down, has lead paint, termite and water damage everywhere. Not safe for the little one. But fine for cooking, storage and laundry.  Cool lighting under the awnings. The whole camper is controlled from an app on my phone. It also has winegard 4g wifi hotspot with the most expensive data plan ever. Still nice to have.
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Aug 13, 2020 03:43
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kensei posted:Watch out for that little bear ravaging your supplies I do like a back dinette. Can you get to the bathroom without opening the slide? quote:Trust me, these are the pictures you'll cherish the most in 20 years Looooooxury this is the kind of stuff I peer into the windows of and go "Maybe I can have something this nice some day". Swift as hell.
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Aug 13, 2020 15:50
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Hello RV thread, I've been camping most of my life (parents took me out when I was 3 weeks old) and it's my favourite recreational activity. I've done tenting, and I continue to tent and backpack sometimes, but most of the time I camp in a little trailer. This is tiny Terry.  Terry is a 19 foot bumper pull that I bought about 5-6 years ago. It was used, being from 1995 kind of mandates that, and needed a lot of love. In the Okanagan, that's my parent's motorhome:  I have replaced all the mattress and furniture foams with new stuff, got some memory foam covers for the mattresses. I replaced the stripping around the screen door, and the little knob that holds the door open against the trailer body. The curtains were all junk (PO had a rowdy dog that slammed into them or chewed them) so I put in all new roller shades. The PO drove into a barrier or something, he damaged and then replaced the the pipe connected to the greywater valve, but (of course) it was too short so there was stress on that Y section. This eventually cracked the pipe at the valve, so I replaced the entire assembly with a proper amount of pipe, and it's been good so far. I've put in two trojan 6v batteries, and we can go out for a week without needing a generator. I've thought about getting a solar panel but usually we just don't need it. Amazingly all the components work, stove is good, furnace is good, hot water heater also good. The shower is surprisingly spacious for a small trailer, and the wife and I (not small people) can use it without trouble.  Been to lots of nice campgrounds, most of them in Alberta, but plenty in BC as well.  This is BC somewhere, I think. Likely Kikoman Creek aka Surveyor's Lake.  You can tell when I got together with my wife, since the pictures of the camp tables transition to always having a tablecloth now. I think this is up in the forestry area West of Calgary. That two burner coleman camp stove is over 40 years old, my grandfather won it at a curling bonspiel and it sat unused for years until I got it, it is in absolutely mint condition and I try to keep it that way.  I like camping in the fall. Sometimes you get snow.  Sometimes you get a lot of snow. Wife and I tried to tough out this storm outside, but our kraft dinner was filling up with ice as we ate it so we noped out and went inside to relax.  This is Beauvais lake provincial park in Southern Alberta near Waterton. The solar panel is a light one for phones and such. Propane firepits are handy when you just want a little warmth, or there's a fireban for wood fires.  Had a little Stellar's Jay visit us on that trip.  He liked the trailer. 
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Aug 23, 2020 17:52
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quote:Sometimes you get a lot of snow. Wife and I tried to tough out this storm outside, but our kraft dinner was filling up with ice as we ate it so we noped out and went inside to relax. This may be one of the most canadian things I've seen you post and its cracking me up. Also a very good trailer, A+.
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Aug 24, 2020 07:40
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Elmnt80 posted:This may be one of the most canadian things I've seen you post and its cracking me up. Also a very good trailer, A+. I should add, our beers were getting slushy, and that's just fuckin unacceptable.
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Aug 24, 2020 14:55
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Suspect Bucket posted:I do like a back dinette. Can you get to the bathroom without opening the slide? thingsIwishIhadthoughtaboutbeforebuyingit.txt Nope. No regrets tho, the maiden voyage was awesome and we have no complaints at all. Great rig.
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Aug 25, 2020 05:09
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Hi thread! Wife and I just bought our first travel trailer. We've been backpackers forever, but with COVID we thought this might expand our local options, especially with our two boys. I am outfitting it with a modest 200-350 watts of solar, and I had a question on Dometic AC clearance. My trailer has a roof rack. Can I lay a large solar panel over the rooftop AC? The manual says to keep the sides clear, and they will remain so, with 1-2" clearance at the closest point below the panel. Maybe the shade will make the AC work better too? Or should I use the space fwd of the AC?
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Aug 26, 2020 22:50
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Just thought I’d post some pics of my latest Japanese campers and related  And this could become one:  Also 
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Aug 27, 2020 00:28
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Hey RV friends. I am picking up my very first travel trailer this week and would love some advice if someone wants to take the time to get it. I have already scheduled 3 trips, a 1 night and 2x 2nights. Can some of you veterans drop some knowledge on an RV newbie. What do I need to know? What should I bring? What should I NOT bring? What are the things you wish you knew before you got started? Thanks team!
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Sep 22, 2020 15:43
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