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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Insurance, Travel Club/Road Hazard & Extended Warranty??
Travel clubs, campground discount programs, and emergency road service programs are not all the same thing. It just looks that way, because some of the travel clubs are in the business of selling insurance products to members. Passport America is just a discount program; starting recently, Good Sam started selling it (to replace their own camping club, which merged with PA).
One way to get your hazard insurance costs down is to raise the deductible. $500 is pretty low. Another way to get the cost down is to simply not insure (financial responsibility goes with the tow vehicle, not the trailer) and be ready to absorb losses yourself. If you are financed, this may not be an option.
Similarly for service agreements/insurance sold as "extended warranty" and emergency road service insurance. The way to keep the insurance cost down is to be prepared to pay the costs yourself.
If you are not willing to self insure, shop around for better prices. If the dealer is selling you an insurance program, chances are pretty good his up front commission is nearly half the premium.
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tatest
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02/02/12 10:35pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: I wonder Why
You may be making the wrong assumptions about how the motorhome is being used. They may not all be touring, may be moving the house from one semi-permanent location to another.
If my stays are overnight, or a couple of days, I don't tow anything. If I am moving for the season, or setting up for a week or two, I'll tow my Ranger to that destination.
I do agree, for touring, the tow makes the motorhome less useful and a travel vehicle, because I have to park the motorhome and detach the tow (or just drop the tow temporarily) to get around. That's why it stays home most trips.
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tatest
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02/02/12 10:23pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Best sandy beaches in Florida with swimming?
Night time freezing temperatures right on the Gulf Coast are rare, from Florida to Texas. Same for the Atlantic coast of Florida (and Georgia and South Carolina, for that matter). Freezing temperatures for a long enough period to freeze RV plumbing would be quite unlikely any time right on the coast. You would have to be 5-10 miles from the shore to get away from the warming effect of the water.
When is it warm enough to go in the water? That is pretty much up to the person going in the water. For some people 50 F is warm enough, for others 75 F is too cold.
When I was living in Myrtle Beach, visitors from Canada were going into the water in February and March, whatever it was, it was warm enough for them. People from North Carolina generally would not come to the beach and go into the water before May, but being from Michigan we were usually in the Atlantic by early April, when the temperatures were much like Great Lakes summer temperatures.
When we were coming down from Detroit to central Florida for Christmas, we would be swimming in the Gulf around Hernando County in December, on nice days.
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tatest
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02/01/12 01:58am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Does list of govt-owned RV campgrounds in Texas exist?
Texas is the one state that has such a list.
Texas publishes a public campgrounds brochure listing the Federal, state, county and municipal facilities. I pick up a copy, or check for a new edition, when I stop at a Texas visitor center. I've not found an equivalent for any other state.
I don't know of an online version.
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tatest
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01/31/12 01:29am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Houston TX
What is "just north of Houston" for you? Depending on what you are looking for, along I-45 that could be 12 miles out from the city center, or more than 40 miles. I've been driving I-45 into Houston for medical care the past three years, and for me "just north" would be at least 30 miles out.
Spring is just north of the city limits. Huntsville is well north of the urban sprawl, but it is closing in fast. In between, there are a number of nice RV parks around Lake Conroe, no longer out of the sprawl but still near the edge of it.
For the little additional time it takes to get in, compared to starting at Conroe, I would look at some of the long-term RV parks out toward Trinity.
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tatest
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01/31/12 01:24am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Open air restrooms at Texas rest areas
I've found them in Kansas, too, at rest areas off the Interstate system. It gets colder, and probably more windy, and you might find the stainless steel seat interesting in sub-zero temps.
In between Texas and Kansas, I've found very few rest areas in Oklahoma with facilities, the few we do have are indoors. The outdoor toilets are pretty common in the state parks, however. And you might think twice about showering in an unheated building during the colder parts of winter.
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tatest
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01/31/12 01:07am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: BLM boondocking
Generally, free boondocking on BLM lands is for limited periods of time. What is going on at Quartzite for a fee is a Long Term Visitor Area where you can squat for an extended period of time, i.e. all winter.
If you are looking for a honeywagon, that would be in a LTVA. For short term boondocking in more dispersed sites, I wouldn't expect utility service providers to come looking for me.
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tatest
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01/31/12 12:55am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Motorhome fires
Engines; fuel lines, oil cooler lines, transmission cooler lines, hydraulic fluid lines and coolant bursting and spraying flammable liquids onto hot exhaust manifolds and turbocharger housings. This may more of an issue with motorhomes than with tow vehicles because the engine compartments are less accessible and the relevant parts are less likely to be inspected.
Poorly maintained cars burn up too, especially older ones, but the fires are less spectacular and don't necessarily make the news. If there is a design defect or manufacturing problem in cars and trucks that might cause a fire problem, the larger numbers manufactured mean that it gets caught at the 1 in 100,000 or 1 in 1,000,000 incidence level, and the whole fleet gets recalled. Manufacturing numbers on motorhomes are so small that a defect with a 1 in 5000 incidence rate may never get caught, just one of them burns up.
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tatest
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01/31/12 12:43am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Towing aToyota Tacoma???
I did a lot of looking into this, before buying a small pickup (which I needed for property maintenance) that would double as a toad. I would have liked a Tacoma, but Toyota says no to towing their rear-drive manual transmission trucks, or any of their 4x4s.
Among small pickups, Nissan Frontier and 21st century Ford Ranger are towable without modifications if they have the 5-speed manual transmission. Doesn't matter whether they are 2wd or 4x4, it is the manual transmission that makes the difference.
Chevy Colorado and the GMC equivalent are towable without mods if they are 4x4, whether automatic or manual transmission. Earlier GM small pickups (S-10 Chevy, S-15 GMC) were not considered towable by GM; different transfer case, and transmissions that did not lube when towed in neutral.
Many 4x4 Dodge Dakotas are towable with the transfer case in neutral. You have to shop carefully, Dodge was using more than one transfer case (including one that did not have 4-low or neutral at all) depending on trim line and model year. I don't have a list of which are go or no-go, but the info would be in the owner's manual for the particular truck.
There are some model years of the F-150 that shared the Ranger manual transmission, usually with the V-6, but these can be hard to find. There are a lot more manual transmission F-series out there you can't tow, because the transmissions are different. Again, check the owner's manual against the model and installed options.
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tatest
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01/30/12 10:08am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Nash vs Arctic Fox
Among the differences that would have mattered to me when I was looking at them (2004) the Fox had shock absorbers standard, for the Nash that was an option. The factory rep I talked to at the three different RV shows told me that a Nash could be optioned to be equivalent to the base Arctic Fox, while the Fox had further options not then available on the Nash (like fiberglass skin).
The particular model that interested me at the time (19B) was Nash only.
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tatest
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01/28/12 02:26pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Saw the darndest thing..a modern Class C on a VW van chassis
If the gods of electrons & the internet cooperate, here's the pic from the opening page of the Yahoo Rialta group:
http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/1013137/homepage/name/633476?type=sn.
I think this was the same cab as used for the Vista/Sunstar. Guessing here, probably the larger Vista & Sunstar only got the VR6, not the 5 cylinder that AIUI was used in some Rialtas.
Somewhere years back, I also saw a pic of a single cab being moved under its own power with casters holding up the back end.
Jim, "Yawn: an honest opinion, openly expressed."
When I visited the Winnebago factory in 2004 they had a yard full of those things parked that way, still welded together.
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tatest
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01/28/12 01:01pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Saw the darndest thing..a modern Class C on a VW van chassis
Ducato is front drive like rialta and 'may' come as a frameless cab=only
http://www.fiatprofessional.com/com/cmsit/publishingimages/imagesupload/models/ducato%20trasformazione/versioni/ducato_trasf_cabinato_pianale.jpg width=600
A number of RV manufacturers in Europe use the front drive cab-only with an Al-Ko frame, or an in-house fabrication, rather than this factory platform. What they use lets them have utility space under the floor.
The platform shown is used more often to build low-floor box vans.
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tatest
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01/28/12 12:57pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Need help from the states that border Texas
Five hours from Dallas can get you into eastern Oklahoma where there are many recreation areas on the Arkansas and its tributaries. Lots of flood control reservoirs (to keep the Arkansas navigable) but we call them lakes.
The areas most developed (restaurants, shopping, antiquing, etc) are Grove on the eastern side of The Grand Lake of the Cherokees, about at your five hour limit, and the Cherokee capitol of Talequah near Fort Gibson Lake. Tenkiller Ferry Lake and Eufala Lake are a bit closer. Then there is always Lake Texoma, on the border.
More central and even closer to Dallas are Lake Murray and the Chickasaw NRA at Sulphur.
If you are looking at the period of Spring Break for Texas schools, expect all of these to be fairly busy. All these water recreation areas are pretty well known to people in the Dallas area, and seem to be popular at that time of year, almost as much as during the summer holiday weekends. They can get even busier if Oklahoma schools have Spring Break the same week.
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tatest
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01/26/12 06:02pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Saw the darndest thing..a modern Class C on a VW van chassis
As a Winnie clone, didn't Itasca build one as well?
Itasca is another brand at Winnebago. The small C on the VW Eurovan chassis was called Sunstar in the Itasca brand, Vista in the Winnebago brand.
VW was importing the van as the Eurovan at the start of the era when Winnebago was making the Vista/Sunstar.
The Eurovan, successor in U.S. to the Vanagon, was available as a cargo van, a passenger van, and a Westfalia camper conversion. Winnebago also sold the camper conversion through its dealers, was not sold through VW dealers.
VW stopped importing the Eurovan. Winnebago had to stop making those models using that chassis, as there was no longer a EPA-certified version available after the last model year VW was selling the van here.
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tatest
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01/26/12 12:40pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Safety question re. class C's
It will not crush like a beer can. It will more likely collapse like a corrugated box that is taped at the edges. The greater danger to the occupants will be fixtures like cabinets and TVs coming loose, and cabinet contents flying around freely.
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tatest
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01/26/12 12:26pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Digital TV
Digital TVs vary in what they are equipped to tune, and demodulate or decode. Read the information on the TV box. TVs sold retail in the U.S. should be able to handle the NTSC analog modulation, unless the TV is sold as a monitor. The manufacturers or marketers are free to do what they want about analog cable.
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tatest
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01/25/12 12:45pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Personal question re retirement
What I liked about retiring 'early' was the few extra years I had for travel with my wife, before her cancer battle started. Even with three years tied up in travel for her surgeries, and recovery time, we had six years of doing what we wanted together, instead of working to earn more money for retirement. She didn't make it to her retirement age, as currently set by the Social Security Administration.
I did not like not working, for at least a couple of years, and was angry about those changes in my life. What I do regret is letting myself get angry about that.
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tatest
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01/25/12 12:08pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Interest rates for Under a 100,000.00 Loan .
I can get just under 4 percent on a new vehicle loan, two years or less, more than 25% down. That would be from my credit union, where I have a 30+ year history and substantial share balances.
That's the lowest I've seen lately, except for some factory-sponsored sales tool interest deals on specific models of cars and trucks, which have been as low as 0.9% in the past couple months.
Different loan size, longer terms, less security, different credit history, your interest is likely to be higher.
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tatest
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01/24/12 06:02pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Winterization Package?
On my Winnebago the factory winterization package includes a valve at the water pump to draw from a tube instead of the fresh water tank, and a bypass valve for the water heater.
As standard equipment (not part of the winterization package) I have a drain valve for the fresh water tank, three low point drains, a drain plug for the water heater and a winter bypass piece for the water filter. There are also two waste tanks to deal with, and four traps and a toilet bowl to take care of. Not to mention removing any freezable goods.
I winterize/dewinterize several times a season for winter use of the RV. Yes, it is a bit of work, 30-45 minutes extra going into, coming out of storage.
You won't get it down to turn a valve or two, push a button, not if you are going to do everything that needs to be done to keep the plumbing from freezing and keep something you've stored from bursting or going bad because it froze.
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tatest
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01/24/12 05:50pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Suspect My On Order Fiver Used as Show Model
Why would the dealer put the RV ordered for you on his lot a few months early and pay interest on the loan?
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tatest
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01/22/12 11:48am |
General RVing Issues
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