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RE: Bidder's criminal record raises questions in Winnebago offer
It's obvious I'm not smart enough to ever get hired by a Private Equity Company. That's why I had to work for a living all my life. Life just isn't fair.
Now if the Chinese wanted a few parts bolted onto some truck frames I'd go about it all wrong.
The first thing I would have done is run out and grab a few square feet of those tens of millions of square feet of unused manufacturing space just sitting there empty. I'm pretty sure you could get if for just about nothing these days. And if you work a deal with some state or county government they would probably pay you to use it.
Now all I would need is a few people that know the difference between a wrench and a screwdriver. Maybe place an ad and then stand back. I'd probably have about 10,000 highly skilled auto workers from the ranks of the unemployed outside my door by noon the next day. How many would I need? I'll bet I could find a few qualified assemblers in that bunch. I'd bet everybody I hired would be vastly overqualified for bolting parts onto Chinese frames.
It's obvious as hell I'm overlooking something here.I'd probably be accused of attempting to run a scam if I approached people with such stupid ideas. Near free manufacturing plants? Tens of thousands of skilled workers out there begging for jobs?
It's obvious I'd never make it in the Private Equity World. Bolting parts onto Chinese frames must be a lot more complicated that I suspect. And it's obvious this could never be leveraged into building new cars and trucks under different brands. After all. Only a skilled work force could ever do that.
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05/24/12 08:58pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Bidder's criminal record raises questions in Winnebago offer
It seems like a lot of these buyout / take-over deals always involve a massive amount of debt loaded onto the company being acquired. Then you slowly strip off all the flesh in every way possible to suck out as much positive cash flow as possible until there is nothing left but the the carcass. After that you prepare a press release telling how you tried for years to make a go of the company but just nothing worked out. And the beauty of it is that you never had any of your own money at risk. Ah, you gotta love some of those Wall Street people. But it's legal.
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05/24/12 06:47pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: First time traveling long distance
On AC power even modest size RV fridges draw perhaps 135 to 150 watts. On 12 V dc that's about 12 amps. Some models draw less but quite few draw well up into the 200 to 300 watt range. So a bigger fridge might need over 20 amps. With ac power and propane so common that's probably why you don't see too many dc powered fridges.
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05/24/12 03:19pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: First time traveling long distance
We travel all the time with the propane turned on for the fridge. Some, though, are not comfortable with propane being on driving down the road. But I suspect most RVers do travel with it on.
If you get your fridge cold a couple days ahead of time it should keep things cold all day without being on propane. At least for 5 or 6 hours some say -- assuming you don't keep opening and closing the door. Why not run a test before leaving on your trip. Fill the fridge with stuff and see how long it stays cold. (You must have the fridge pretty full with something to do this test. An empty fridge would not work.)
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05/24/12 10:35am |
Beginning RVing
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RE: I Guess Camping Is Different Here....
As an ex East Coaster I'm pretty aware of how different things are between these two areas. On my first trip back east after 15 years out here I was truly shocked at how close together things were back east. It's a different world "Out West." The only thing I've ever missed from back east was the wonderful fragrance of your leaves in the fall of the year. But you've got some pretty nice country back there. Some East Coast people think parts of our West are a bit stark and bare but you soon get used to it. After all, everything can't be a lush green hardwood forest.
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05/24/12 10:18am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Ford owns it's logo again!
I think they pawned everything in '06 to get that line of credit. Gutsy move but maybe it was either "bet the farm" or just fade away. Didn't they bring in an ex Boeing executive to pound the old entrenched order into submission and turn the company around? The old order GM executives were absolutely so blind to reality that they would have taken the company under without some interaction from outside during the dire conditions after 2008. What kind of junk would those idiots be building if Japan, Korea, and Germany were not keeping the pressure on. Maybe the RV industry needs some outside competition - - - Competition. The consumers best friend.
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05/23/12 03:29am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: How do you test an Onan genset's volt and amp output
Most problems with generators seem to be carburetor related. They sit around all the time with old fuel in them and get gummed up. Surging is one sign of a gummy carb. I'd start there before checking out electrical items. I use portable heaters to load my generators under load once a month. When you changed the brushes did you use new springs. Did you seat them in with a stone? There are a couple real generator experts that follow these forums so maybe one of them will jump in with some pretty good advice. They will probably want some detailed info from you about exactly what you have done so far, etc.
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05/23/12 02:48am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Motorhome Fire kills 3
Sad news. But over and over again this keeps happening. Somehow motor homes seem to trap people inside or they go up so fast you exit them in critical condition. Maybe in accidents those frames twist to jamb exit windows shut. Maybe in some situations the body cavities fill with propane to produce a flash fire impossible to escape. It might be wise for all us to have planned a very rapid exit from the rig with even the slightest possibility of a fire. Not that it would have helped these people obviously.
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05/22/12 10:04pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: external fridge fan
If you only want those fans running when your heating element is on I'd say set it for a fairly high temperature. Maybe 90 degrees. Now if the idea is to also keep the back of the fridge cool in general due to heat build up on the exterior side wall of your rig then maybe set it for 60 degrees or so. I suppose for a really fancy setup you'd measure the outside ambient air temperature and have your fans come on when it was warmer behind the fridge that outside. Just some thoughts that probably won't help you much.
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05/22/12 06:40pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Claim denied for lighting strike to motorhome?
Deal with them entirely through an INSURANCE attorney. You are playing their game and they will string you along forever. Refuse to talk with them. Refer everything to your atty. They will get the message pretty fast.
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05/22/12 11:18am |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: Looking for campground in MD, PA, WV, VA with hotel on site
I don't know how thoroughly you have checked out Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland, but if it were me I'd sure try and make that place work. The only campground is a state park but right next to it is the Carmel Cove Inn. I can't verify you could cut cross country from one to the other on foot but they are real close together. At least give them a call and ask.
Deep Creek Lake
State Campground
Carmel Cove Inn
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05/22/12 10:49am |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: tire pressure
Conclusion: The label in the cab is what the vehicle manufacturer says you should use - and it would be best to follow that unless you have the knowledge and the experience to know that is might be faulty. Even then, you should ask a lot of questions before deviating from it.
I have to take exception to this for older rigs. My nameplate says to use 65 psi all around. My bridgestone tires do not even go that low with a recommended pressure. I have to run at least 85 psi to be matched up with my weight on the bridgestone chart.
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We are talking about cold pressures here. The maximum allowable pressure to ever put into a tire is the pressure given on the tire sidewall. I really doubt that very many rigs loaded to travel will be very much over pressure using that sidewall psi as a temporary measure.
Maybe some short rigs on a good chassis but those are few and far between.
And when you look at your tire mfg pressure chart it is true that you have to be careful that you match up with the load rating of the tire that you bought. If you bought a, say, load range E tire but read the weight and pressure for a load range F tire you will be overloading your tires - - if in fact you have to go that high up into the chart for your rig's weight.
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05/21/12 01:32pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: tire pressure
If you can find a platform scale that is level with the ground you definitely can put one wheel on at a time. There is also a way to put front, rear, right, left on such a scale and do some algebra to determine individual wheel weights.
Not knowing anything else and until getting some good weights, I'd just run the maximum air pressure marked on the sidewall of the tires.
My 1995 rig has a nameplate saying to use 65 psi all around but the rims are rated for 95 psi. Obviously tires these days are vastly different than back in the good old days.
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05/21/12 08:57am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Air Card for Internet Service
If you are going to be traveling cross country then Verizon cell towers are the only way to go. They have the best coverage by far. For that reason we use a Verizon 760 modem and just fund it each time we go out. Not the least expensive way to go but coverage is way, way better than any other carrier.
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05/21/12 08:01am |
Technology Corner
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RE: tire pressure
That nameplate was put there for the factory tires put on to sell the rig. It becomes meaningless when any other tire is put on. You need to get the chart of weight vs. air pressure for your tires. For example, I run Bridgestone tires so I would go to their web site and look up my model tire. They list various weights the tire will carry and how much air pressure should be in the tire for each listed weight.
Now all I need to know is how much weight will be on my tires as the rig is loaded for heading out on a trip. The best way to do that is to find some shop that will weigh my rig on both sides for each axle. It's not easy to find a shop with a portable scale to do that. On any axle (right and left side or a rig) you use the side with the most weight on it as the tire pressure for that axle. (In other words, on any one axle the tire pressure must be the same on all tires.)
If you can't find a shop to weigh both sides of your axle, they you just weigh front and rear weights on a scale and use that as a starting point of how much weight will be on the tires.
For example, if your front tires weigh out at 5000 pounds you can almost be sure that it is not divided exactly at 2500 pounds on the right and left tire. So for a bit of margin you would have to assume maybe that each tire was carrying maybe 2750 pounds.
Then go to the tire chart for your brand of tires and see what pressure they tell you to use for that weight. You might have to interpolate since the chart will only give certain weights. Then maybe carry 5 pounds more that that in each tire as a buffer so you are never below the recommenced tire pressure.
You also need to know the maximum cold air pressure that your rims are rated for. It should be stamped on them somewhere but likely only visible when the tires are off the rim. Would not worry about this too much, though.
For the rear tires you use the same idea but you are working with duals on each side and of course take that into consideration when figuring out how much air to put in each tire.
A bit long and messy but this is the general procedure you need to follow. The important thing to keep in mind is that the only thing that matters is how much weight will be on each tire. Not the model of rig you drive or anything else.
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05/21/12 07:45am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: How do you handle leaving pets while site seeing?
We installed an Alarm System that for us monitors AC power for failure and also temperature inside the rig. If power fails or temperature rises above what we set the thermostat for we get an immediate cell phone call from the alarm system with a text message (and optional pre recorded voice message). We never go so far that we could not be back there before too much time would pass. Approximately $500 total cost for the equipment. This is a professional grade alarm not some patched together system to meet a bottom line price. It has multiple inputs so you could also alarm anything else you could think of -- like the doors, etc. We've had it for a couple years now and it has been full proof. There might be some "budget" solutions around by now using a cell phone to call out, but you get what you pay for as they say IMHO.
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05/20/12 10:56am |
RV Pet Stop
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RE: Lube on Lug Studs
When you add lubrication to threads the torque that you apply with your wrench is roughly 20 percent more than what you intended. Key work "roughly." You are going to get lots of opinions on whether to apply anti seize compound. I've never used it on lug nuts. If you do use the compound then the torque wrench setting should be something less than what the recommended torque is supposed to be. You will sometimes see references to dry torque values and "wet" torque values. In critical situations they do make a distinction between dry and lubricated values.
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05/19/12 09:14am |
Tech Issues
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RE: BLACK MOUNTAIN RV PARK near Oatman Az
Not familiar with the place. Did find one reference to it: Black Mountain RV Park, 6600 W Oatman Rd, Golden Valley, AZ 86413. There isn't much RV traffic along that stretch of road because of the stressful mountain grades getting up into Oatman. It's probably one of those secondary parks that don't get covered in any of the standard guide books or web sites. I'd love for somebody to put together a guide of all the minor RV parks scattered around the country that don't get covered. We use them all the time but it's just dumb luck finding such places at the right time of day.
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05/18/12 03:09pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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RE: Fluid For Leveling Jacks
200 series manual says to use universal multipurpose or Dexron ATF.
1 inch below top of reservoir.
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05/14/12 04:47pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: For those who visit Ocean City Maryland
I seem to remember that years ago (many) they passed an ordinance that guys could not wander around without a T-shirt on. Though maybe it only applied to riding around in a car.
The big conflict. People who want peace and quiet vs. those who think you really, really do like their choice of music and want to hear it at that moment.
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05/14/12 12:04pm |
RV Parks, National Parks, State Campgrounds & More
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