hotsparks
palouse falls, wa.
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Joined: 01/24/2010
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 Well I'm spending a couple of month in Hawaii to see some friends for the holidays. My friend and I just came back from the hardware store to buy some propane for his water heater of his house. Now brace yourself...he paid $6.29 a gallon.
Prices are always high here but that was a real shocker for me.
Oh, and I have only seen one R/V here, it was a newer class C. I have also seen a couple of ugly home made plywood truck campers here. More details later. Ha-ha. lucky you live Hawaii.
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2oldman
Moses Lake
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Joined: 04/15/2001
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Well at least you don't have to use propane for much home heating.
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2bzy2c
California
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Joined: 02/15/2010
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It's called a paradise tax.
My advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.
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hotsparks
palouse falls, wa.
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Joined: 01/24/2010
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Those prices are from a store up on the north shore in Haleiwa, so the prices in town might be a little cheaper.
Milk is a little over $5. a gallon. Gas is about $3.89 a gallon. The rent is what will empty your wallet. Most of the prices of food here has gone up about 40% since I was last here 4 years ago.
The waves are big now days since it is winter. The weather is the same as it always is, 70' to 80' followed by dark tonight with light showers in the mountain areas in the mornings.
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PapPappy
Wilmington, NC
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hotsparks wrote:
The waves are big now days since it is winter. The weather is the same as it always is, 70' to 80' followed by dark tonight with light showers in the mountain areas in the mornings.
It gets dark there at night? What a rip off!!
Bill & Claudia / DD Jenn / DS Chris / GS MJ
Dogs: Sophie, Abby, Brandy, Kahlie, Annie, Maggie, Tugger & Beau 
RIP: Cookie, Foxy & Gidget @ Rainbow Bridge.
2000 Winnebago "Minnie" 31C, Ford V-10
Purchased April 2008 FMCA# F407293
The Pets
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kalynzoo
Los Angeles , California
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Joined: 12/30/2005
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I drooling
Hoping to get back there this summer.
Love RVing, but 2 weeks on the islands sounds real good.
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Pangaea Ron
Anacortes, WA, USA
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Joined: 12/20/2004
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hotsparks wrote:Those prices are from a store up on the north shore in Haleiwa, so the prices in town might be a little cheaper.
Milk is a little over $5. a gallon. Gas is about $3.89 a gallon. The rent is what will empty your wallet. Most of the prices of food here has gone up about 40% since I was last here 4 years ago.
The waves are big now days since it is winter. The weather is the same as it always is, 70' to 80' followed by dark tonight with light showers in the mountain areas in the mornings.
We were there ~2 weeks ago a couple miles east of Haleiwa, and I was actually amazed that gas was only $3.89 a gallon. Food prices were amazing, I didn't buy any propane, but when we did in the Cook Islands, it was very very expensive, and was 3rd world propane with very little heating value... the mosquito traps would not get hot enough to be effective.
Our amazing beachfront home with 5 beds/baths was ~$400/night through VRBO which seemed OK for 10 of us. We were there during the Pipeline Masters and the surfing and waves were amazing to watch.
2008 Itasca SunCruiser 35L
2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo
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Golden_HVAC
Fulltime, CA, USA
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Joined: 08/19/2003
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Your friends should get solar water heaters, and save a bunch on propane use.
I guess that electric is high too? Even at $0.20 per KW, you can buy 22 KW and heat the water that way for less than $5 and get 80,000 Btu's of heat, about what you get by burning gallon of propane. And the electric water heaters have less standby losses - no chimney going up the center of the tank of 130F water, to help cool it off all day long.
A 4' wide and 10' long flat plate solar hot water heater is about $800 and will make 45,000 Btu's of hot water free for many years. It only takes a small pump, and that can be run by a small 40 watt solar panel. I guess shipping has gone way up with the increased cost of fuel. So if you save 1/2 gallon a day for 365 days (180 gallons X $6 is about a grand).
In Israel, all homes must have a solar system. I think it would be a wonderful idea in the United States too!
Even in the northern states, such as Idaho, they can use evacuated tube solar systems to make hot water, even when it is 0F outside, the system can collect heat without loosing heat to the air.
Fred.
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hotsparks
palouse falls, wa.
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Joined: 01/24/2010
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Aloha, My friend here in Haleiwa is just renting his "sugar cane shack" so I don't think he wants to put in a whole solar water heater system. The so called land lord does not fix anything at all. If it was not for my friend actually doing his repairs on his own with his own money they would not get done at all. This house is so old and wasted it is not worth fixing. If It was mine I would tear it down. I could probably kick it in the side and it would fall over.
I have lived in Hawaii for 38 years before moving back to Washington state. Ya, I know some of you might think I am crazy to do that but living in the city was starting to get to me. Hawaii is not all like you see in the fake travel brochures. Honolulu is a big city with a lot of people. And it is very crowded with lots of traffic.
My advice to anybody thinking of coming here is first, GET THE HECK OUT OF WAIKIKI. That place can be fun for a day or two but it is VERY crowded, plastic and fake. The restaurants are over priced and the main objective of most everything there is to extract your money from you. Waikiki is not Hawaii, it is Waikiki. It is a tourist trap.
The outer islands like Kauai, Maui, Hawaii(called "the big island") are much more like what you would expect. They are much more relaxed and have less tourist. Even on Oahu, which is the island where Honolulu and Waikiki are have a lot of nice beaches and interesting things to see. I suggest seeing Pearl Harbor, Climbing Diamond Head Crater, Swimming at Hanauma Bay on the east side, and driving around the north shore side to see the big waves during the winter and to visit some of the small towns. Any time of the year is a good time to come over. The weather is always warm. Did I say the weather is always warm?
It's funny when people here think it's cold when it gets down to the bone chilling mid 60's. Then they put on socks with their shorts, or maybe a long sleeve t-shirt.  
Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas)
Malahiki Hou (Happy new year)
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wa8yxm
Wherever I happen to park
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Joined: 07/04/2006
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My standard answer is to go GOOGLE: propane {zip code} and get a list of dealers near you (zip code is of course the one where you are AT)
Nothin adds excitment like something that is none of your business
Kenwood TS-2000 housed in a 2005 Damon Intruder 377
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