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Forum
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RE: Did I Just Get A Bad One?
That is what I would expect. Omnidirectional antenna designs tend to have much less sensitivity than even the simplest directional designs like a single wing. Where signals are strong, omnidirectionals can be useful; where signals are marginal for directional antenna, they will likely be weaker than what the Roadstar can pick up.
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tatest
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05/18/12 04:38pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Workhorse closing down
The greater part of their chassis business is step vans, chassis in smaller sizes than most A motorhomes currently (although we've seen a little bit of downsizing, still not down the A sizes in 70's).
The WH step van business overlapped somewhat with part of what used to be a Internation bare-chassis business that got incorporated into the Workhorse brand.
There is no way that Navistar is shutting down a business line in which they are a market leader. The announcement is about a PLANT, not a BUSINESS. Expect the Workhorse chassis to be coming out a plant somewhere that used to make Internationals. There are at least four other Navistar truck or chassis assembly plants in the U.S., and more in a broader North America.
But continuation of WH doesn't necessarily mean the WH lineup will include chassis for motorhomes, if they are currently not have much success selling them. They are going to make what they can sell, which seem to be delivery trucks and passenger coaches.
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tatest
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05/17/12 02:57pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Prepay Internet Service
My experience is with Virgin, which runs on Sprint's network but not with Sprint's roaming partners. Prepay prices are based on both period of service and amount of data used; good 'til your run out of time or data, then you buy more.
It works where it works. The network is comparable in coverage (but not the same) as similar size carriers. It does not have the coverage of AT&T or Verizon (which also offer pre-pay plans I've not tried).
Pre-pay not roaming is a common term of service, and one of the limitations of buying this way.
You can also have data service on contract with a carrier, and turn it on or off month by month, if you've not obligated yourself by accepting free or discounted equipment. For shorter periods than a month, I've seen only prepay with day, week and month (actually 30-day) packages.
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tatest
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05/17/12 02:33pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Atwood Water Heater Need to Drain?
I drain mine for storage only in winter.
The rest of the year, I put the RV into storage with (chorinated) water in the fresh tanks, water heater, and lines. On coming out of storage drain the tanks and water heater, refill with a fresh supply of city water, and run that through the lines. Our local supply is highly chlorinated, so this is sort of a light duty sanitizing.
I don't like leaving tanks empty but wet, a situation more inviting to mildew.
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tatest
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05/17/12 01:56pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: composite decking
I've been looking at the stuff, found that there are many different products with different proportions and kinds of resins, recycled plastics, and cellulose fiber from various sources. There are a range of longevity claims from different manufacturers for the different products.
Besides rate of fading, rate of disintegration as the fibers break down, and need for care, I'd like to know if the wood bees will still try to nest in the stuff, and can it be used for semi-structural tasks like making benches. Probably not one answer, but for any particular product I need to know.
My case is a bit strange because the deck sits on a flat roof and rotted from underneath. The original redwood lasted at least 20 years, and if something costs 3X, will it last 3X longer? I'm not sure any of the products have been around long enough to demonstrate they are going to last that much longer, but maybe they'll need less attention over the same period?
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tatest
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05/16/12 04:33pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Fresh water tank leaks
It is a common problem with poorly configured vents and fillers, but it is not normal and not right. You might consider plugging the vent for travel or reconfiguring the line to "break" the siphon, although that is not always easy, sometimes just a change in the loop, sometimes some extra pieces to create an alternative vent at a higher point.
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tatest
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05/16/12 04:12pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: If you dont travel with the FW tank full???
When doing short sessions of boondocking, I intersperse into my travel plan stops at RV parks or campgrounds with facilities to take care of waste dumps and fresh water fills. Refueling stops are sometimes water fill possibilities, but you had better ask, because there are places where it has to be trucked in and is almost as precious as motor fuel.
If boondocking close to home, I fill at home. But then I wouldn't be in the category "don't travel with the FW tank full." You gotta travel some distance with it full, if you are headed into the boonies.
I travel sometimes in areas where water is often not available in campgrounds, and other times through places where it is readily available and they don't mind you taking away 50 or 100 gallons for the price of an overnight stay, or as a courtesy with a gas fill-up.
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tatest
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05/16/12 03:53pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Walmart parking lot stays - need advice please
I've seen occasional overnight RV parker in our Walmart, but I've never seen the security guys (there are cameras in the lot). We do get the police in and out of this lot (and several others around town) watching for the drug traders.
I wouldn't stay in our Walmart lot (nor the Homeland or Food Pyramid); I would check at the PD about using a spot in the lot at the ball park, at their front door. They would probably tell me to go book in at the RV park, if I wanted to be safe.
My volunteer work puts me in contact with a number of people at the PD, we talk about this. While it is not as bad as being in the wrong part of town in a larger city, rural small towns are not as safe or crime free as people would like to believe, and you don't have to be directly involved in something to get caught up in it. The guy in the RV next to you might be there to sell meth, if not actually cooking it just then; if he is not there, his customers might be coming to buy from you.
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tatest
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05/16/12 12:57pm |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: Verizon Data- Problem or Scam
Unlikely it is a scam, might be a billing problem, but most likely it is that you just don't have the tools needed to monitor your data use closely enough.
Pretty likely that you had already used the 31GB by the time the "approaching 12GB" warning caught up with you, especially since the warning is generated in the accounting system at most on a daily basis, and going out in batches of mail.
I stream HD video 2-3 hours maybe three or four days a week, and regularly run over 80 GB a month. That's with Netflix data rate adjusted to deal with my .5 Mbs to 3 Mbs connection (it gets throttled to the lower rate after 5GB in a day or 50GB in a month).
At 4G data rates you can stream 20GB data in a day or two, but not in two hours. If you are a high volume data user and want to stay within the basic 12GB plan you need better monitoring tools than waiting for an e-mail warning.
Does Verizon offer options to handle these data limits? I have a pay-as-I-go with Virgin that downgrades until I buy a new increment of data, an account with AT&T mobile that simply buys me another increment automatically, and the cable company downgrades service as noted.
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tatest
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05/16/12 12:22pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Charges for COE Camp Grounds
Devils Fork is a COE recreational access facility, COE rules and rates. Our geezer pass covers day use and gets the campground discount.
But for "Do all COE parks accept ..." the answer is no.
In our area we have recreational access facilities (campgrounds, day use parks, beach parks, fishing docks, boat ramps) on COE managed reservoirs run instead by city, county or tribal governments and a few in the state park system. The state parks won't show up on the COE web site, most of the others will. In many cases, these are non-fee for access and use, thus the pass is not needed. Where there are fee activities (camping, boat rental, horseback riding, shelter rental, marina fees, sometimes ramp fees) the Senior Pass discount often does not apply.
There is also at least one concession RV park I know about locally, and a number of concession operators of marinas, resorts and restaurants. Some may choose to honor the pass, but most have their own rate systems and rules.
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tatest
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05/16/12 11:47am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Can I cut a hole in the side of a Journey
Maybe. Winnebago cuts holes in it, without framing around them, but those were in the plan when the aluminum wall reinforcement for that model was designed.
The wall does not have studs per se, strength comes from the sandwich structure, but the aluminum structure inside carries the weight of the roof, the wall, and everything hanging on the wall, to the channels interlocking with the floor frame. Cut through one of those, the wall could buckle from unsupported loads.
Even cutting away too much of the sandwich wall where there is no aluminum could be a problem, if in a place where loads are not carried around the opening. Here is a thought experiment:
Get a small packing box from U-Haul, the size that is used as a "book box." That's a nice sturdy box comparable in structure to a sandwich wall RV, except it is a whole lot stronger on edges and corners than any RV assembly of walls. Close up the box empty, tape it up at the top and bottom seams.
Now sit on it. It should hold your weight. Cut a modestly sized hole in the largest side, sit on it again, watch what happens to the corrugated wall above the below the hole. Keep enlarging the hole, repeating the experiment. At some point you will have cut away enough of the wall that what is left will not carry the loads around the opening, and it will buckle.
That's what will be going on with the hole in the side of your Journey (or any other sandwich wall RV), assuming that you don't cut into the aluminum members carrying loads to the floor.
Winnebago cuts some holes, doesn't frame around them, particularly smaller windows and vent openings. Openings that are not framed, what gets mounted in the opening is framed.
They cut others, and those are framed, if not closely like the door and slide openings, at some distance from the opening, to carry loads over and around the opening. The engineers that designed the wall structure for a particular model did that with the openings as a factor in the design. When you start cutting, you are guessing.
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tatest
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05/15/12 05:50pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: CUMMINS C 8.3 DP- JUST TOLD I NEED A NEW HEAD/HELP?
As a remanufactured 8.3 long-block might go for as little as $5000, a built-up head for half of that, and brand new bare heads trading under $1000, ten grand sounds like way too much, even with labor around $125 an hour. Rebuilding the whole engine in-chassis is not a two-weeks worth of labor job, replacing a head shouldn't be more than a couple of days.
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tatest
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05/15/12 05:21pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Floor Plan - TV Placement
In larger A's there are more TV placement options than ever, which helps to satisfy more different preferences. If TV watching is a big part of your life, you should choose a floorplan based on your preferences, rather than what other people might prefer. They might want the location you don't like.
There was a time when most TVs would hang over the windshield (before that, sit atop the doghouse) and people didn't have a choice. The thinner package of flat panel devices has made more locations possible, and the larger screen sizes, and lighting and viewing angle limitations, have made new locations necessary.
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tatest
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05/15/12 05:03pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: used motorhome tires
What they can sell them for depends on the local market, and tire sizes. Being offered a rebate for trade-is is pretty rare most places; being charged a disposal fee is more common, even if they end up on the re-sale rack.
You could keep them and try to sell them yourself, if your state's tire disposal laws still allow that.
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tatest
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05/15/12 04:49pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Class C Floor Plans
I've not seen an E-W free-standing queen without something in a slide even in A's in the 34-38 foot range.
I have. Bigfoot 29G. Link.
That's a short queen, cutting half a foot off the bed does make it work.
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tatest
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05/15/12 04:34pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Texas Folks need your suggestions
That distance from Altus, my preferences would include Wichita Mountains NWR near Lawton, Copper Breaks SP in Texas (real close) because they are nice quiet prairie wilderness, Copper Breaks often with clear dark skies. Roman Nose for more of a resort atmosphere.
A little further out to Palo Duro Canyon SP, near Amarillo.
But a campground where you can also have an urban experience, with that sort of driving time it seems it would have to be in the Dallas area, as San Antonio is probably more than six hours, and places like Amarillo, Abilene or Wichita Falls, interesting in their own way, are not the same experience as Dallas.
I suggest checking other places closer to Dallas, but Memorial Day weekend things are going to be pretty well booked up most everywhere a day's drive from a major city. We get Memorial Day traffic from Dallas filling our parks in northeast Oklahoma.
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tatest
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05/15/12 03:47pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Hydronic heating syst and winter pkg
Winter package might consist of as little as an electric heating pad on the bottom of a waste tank or two, or it could be as much as dual pane windows, upgraded wall ceiling and floor insulation, and a separately insulated, heated basement space to keep utilities thawed and the floor warm. Usually, when it gets to the later stage, the winter capabilities are intrinsic to the design and construction of the RV model line, and no longer sold as an optional "package."
There are a whole lot of things in between, like heat tape on certain plumbing, a sheet of fabric covering the bottom of a RV that is open without the package, etc.
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tatest
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05/15/12 02:56pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Driving Question
You just need to build experience, and learn how to use your mirrors. The mirrors need to be where they cover the lane beside your vehicle to several lengths back (which is not where many people are accustomed to aim the mirrors in their car) and you need to be using them all the time to know what is around you, not just checking when you want to move. You need to learn to identify and keep track of vehicles around you, behind and to both sides, and have the idea that somebody disappearing has moved into a blind spot.
It gets better with practice. Good truck and bus drivers do this all the time. People driving cars should also, but many don't, they can often get away for years driving oblivious.
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tatest
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05/15/12 02:44pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Picasa verses Google+
Be aware that Google + has stated that they "own" any content placed on the pages on Google + including your photos. This is a big controversy right now.
Photobucket gives unlimited photo storage and is free. Mark your albums as private and only you can see them but the photos in them can still be linked by you to other websites and forums if you want to display them.
I should have mentioned that. I use neither of Google's photo sharing services because I've read the terms of service and don't like them. Pay attention to that, because in many cases even when you retain ownership to the content that you put up, the service often grants to itself and business partners the unlimited rights to non-exclusive use of your stuff, and to the extent that it can be downloaded you lose practical control even if you retain ownership rights.
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tatest
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05/14/12 06:56pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Data usage increased
If your laptop is using the hotspot, it may be OS updates. MS has been sending some pretty large updates to Windows 7 the past few days.
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tatest
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05/14/12 06:50pm |
Technology Corner
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