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RE: Booming number of Aussie Class C manufacturers
Hmmm ... I've always thought of Australia as having vast areas where one can explore and camp out in the middle of nowhere. To do this, it seems as if ultimate reliabiliy of the motorhome's systems should be of the highest priority.
From reading in the forums, rigs with no slides help ensure this.
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pnichols
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11/16/23 12:56am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: 24 feet versus 26' dilemma, have to decide fast
No way do we hate/resent/despise our 24 ft. Class C's ultra-reliable built-in Onan generator. It provides the ultimate in electrical energy freedom.
It's been trouble free for ~20 years in our 2005 rig. Winnebago installed it well, so we can easily tolerate it's sound inside or outside. We also feel no vibration in the coach floors when we're inside with it running.
The Onan of course exhausts on the opposite side of the rig from where we sit outside under the awning, so we rarely smell it when it's running and we're outside. It sure is nice to not have to chase the sun in order to keep our coach batteries (two 12V 125 amp hour AGMs) charged up. For charging the batteries with ultra-low sound, I sometimes idle the chassis engine for an hour here and there instead of running the Onan. When running the generator or idling the chassis engine while we're inside, I keep all coach openings closed and pressurize the interior so no fumes can enter.
We don't like to compromise our interior comfort regardless of the altitude, or latitude, or season, or amount of sun that we camp in - and the only way to have this freedom is through use of a generator, or possibly via a fuel cell maintaining a monster coach battery bank. I got my fill of the basically uncomfortable back-to-nature style of camping years ago by backpack camping at high altitudes during summers in the High Sierras.
There's nothing like being curled up inside a warm motorhome out on the far side of beyond during a pouring rain (or snow?) storm - and then being able to take a hot shower (inside), prepare a hot meal (inside) to enjoy - and then watching (inside) a recorded or streamed episode of Gunsmoke or The Rifleman. ;)
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pnichols
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11/16/23 12:42am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: An EV motor home/van?
Read an article here where someone did a drive with an EV and compared the time of driving a gas vehicle the same trip.
Gas 5-6 hours
EV 12 hours
The drive was in the southeast.
Weird. A 6 hour trip in a gas vehicle for us here would be (and is) the same 6 hours in our Tesla.
Oooooh ... that's interesing!
Are you saying your Tesla can go - what would be 6 hours in a gas/diesel vehicle - at 70+ MPH without one (or two) time increasing waits at recharging stops? (My 24 ft. gas Class C MH can travel continuously for 6 hours - with it's air conditioning or heating running - at highway speeds without refuelig stops, if I ever wanted to.)
The energy in a gallon of gas or diesel is way up there. Affordable batteries for the masses with equivalent energy densities are a way off yet.
I'll wait awhile on an EV motorhome or camper van - until battery technology is really ready.
Here's a FWIW P.S.: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/oct/24/amazing-infuriating-history-electric-car-in-pictures
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pnichols
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10/24/23 11:06am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: An EV motor home/van?
Range is 250 miles.
Don ... that is at least 250 miles short of what I would be comfortable with using a go-anywhere RV in even just the U.S.! In Australia, South America, Africa, and many other places in the world, even more range between charges would of course be necessary for insurance.
By the way, I've not seen any discussion of maybe carrying a portable generator (and plenty of it's fuel) and an adapter cable for it ... along in an EV RV for "emergency" topping up of it's main vehicle motive power battery bank.
It seems like this would be the ultimate insurance against getting caught too far away from a charging station. This would merely be the EV equivalent of gas/diesel powered rigs carrying along extra cans of fuel for trips where one might wind up long distances between fuel stations.
What's that new upcoming EV battery technology (solid state?) that may make possible way longer ranges than that of the current crop of LiFeSO4 technology EV vehicles?
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pnichols
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10/22/23 02:11pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: 24 feet versus 26' dilemma, have to decide fast
If I was a bit younger and much richer, I think I'd consider this - 19'8" long and AWD - probably install a bit taller tires on it for more ground clearance, though:
https://pleasureway.com/models/ontour20/
LOL 180K!
I grew up in a world where most roads were dirt (deep dirt, the kind that sinks army tanks) and camping was simple and inexpensive activity, in rough norther climate.
Look what they did to this now...And these are rapidly depreciating assets, costing as much as a house that is going to only appreciate (while one spends equal amount of money on regular maintenance)
They're going to force electric vehicles pretty soon, I'm sure, what's going to become of the value of these overpriced vans...when it'll be hard and very expensive to buy any fuel.
Class C and many class Bs are overbuilt and have too many "amenities" I have no use for. I don't need entertainment system/TV, on-board generator, 2nd sink, big bed, oven, multiple stove burners (need one), microwave, outside shower, dinette, can do without A/C and 6 gallon water heater (1 gal heater is fine with me, with 6 gal I just waste propane).
So it'd make sense to build something I want on my own, with own hands as they charge insane money for builds, or gut a small trailer to make more storage space. But I won't travel after this last big trip as want to settle into small farming life.
I don't need a generator except for emergency, my cheap solar panel meets all my needs. I have to run Onan on board generator every couple of weeks to avoid clogged carburetor, which gives me headache as I hate fumes, noise and have to set new altitude every time and my altitude switch is finicky, got to change to summer oil, have to worry about fuel varnishing and fuel quality for that expensive, picky generator - and I have to run electric heater outside, heating the forest to load that generator properly! I prefer my cheap 2nd carry-on dual fuel Pulsar generator, one kind of oil for all weather, and I only use propane - no fuel rot, no mess or smell, no exercising it. On-board Onan seems to require convoluted procedure to prepare it for storage, much more than draining the carbureator, so can't just keep it shut down.
Ann Cat ... since this is a Class C forum section ... what year/brand of Class C do you have?
My good old E450 based 2005 Itasca (Winnebago) 24 ft. Class C I bought new in 2006 came stock with all those "luxuries" that I guess you're saying you don't need. The DW and myself use them all when drycamping - whether drycamping in a campground or drycamping out on the far side of beyond.
We never drive through an entrance leading to the middle of nowhere without having first topped up our 55 gallon gasoline tank, which gives our built-in Onan genny plenty of run-time - in addition to what the V10 might need to get us back to civilization. I also carry along a portable genny along with it's own gas supply so as to provide coach battery charging backup - to either the Onan charging of the batteries (plus running all other electrical gadgets) or idling of the V10 to charge the batteries. I never adjust the Onan's altitude setting - just leave it on sea level all the time.
I maintain positive air pressure inside the coach whenever running either of the two generators or idling of the V10 - so as to use physics to absolutely keep out any/all fumes ... and it works like a champ.
It sure is nice to have inside or outside showers, perfect coach interior temperatures regardless of outside temps, plenty of refrigerator/freezer cubic footage, 3 stovetop burners if needed, an oven if needed, a large 12V fan with a long extension cord to blow on us when sitting outside under the awning in hot outside temps, a lounge chair for reading or watching of movies when not outside, large storage tanks, two queen size beds for complete sleeping comfort, 5 ways of recharging the coach batteries anytime anywhere (we don't have/need solar - yet) and higher-than-stock rough road clearance due to my use of tires with a larger diameter than what came stock on our Class C. All of this is supported via an overkill E450 chassis for added strength and durability that took me a long time to locate under a 24 ft. Class C ... which are usually built on only an E350 chassis.
The infuriating part is that all the above set us back only around $54K when we bought new back in the day. What a rip'off todays RV prices are!
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pnichols
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09/19/23 01:10am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Battery Power for My CPAP
FWIW regarding powering CPAP machines when camping without hookups:
The lowest power way to run them is to purchase the little converter bricks for each one that plug into an RV coach's 12V receptacles and raise the voltage to around the 24 volts DC that the common CPAP machines require (ours are Resmed AirSense models 10 and 11). These little DC-to-DC converters are available on Amazon and don't cost much. Note that these converters must actually state which CPAP models their output connector will plug into because for instance - the Resmed 10 has a different input receptacle type than that of the Resmed 11.
Using these DC-to-DC converters causes less drain on RV battery systems than using inverters to run the CPAP machines via 120V AC ... because 12V DC to 120V AC inverters waste energy in their conversion process.
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pnichols
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09/03/23 10:36am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Dometic RTX 2000 12v using Solar.....?
John, just as a suggestion if you don't already have it: You might want to also install a reversible, multi-speed fan in the front roof section of your rig.
With your new A/C running in the rear area (where it is?), turn on this fan and set it to blow out. This method should then help to draw/move the A/C cooled air throughout the interior.
We do the above a lot with our roof fan in the front roof area above the cab so as to draw air all throughout the coach's interior.
We don't have to do this when running the stock A/C on the roof because it has ceiling vents throughout the coach's interior that are adjustable. However we do have to tolerate it's noise and maybe also the generator's noise when doing this, depending upon whether hookup camping or drycamping.
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pnichols
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07/18/23 06:15pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: 24 feet versus 26' dilemma, have to decide fast
Ann Cat,
Hmmmm ... you mention regarding your Onan - "have to set altitude every time".
I've never adjusted the altitude setting on our built-in Onan generator regardless of what the manual may or may not say. It has always started right up and "run fine" at sea level or up in mountains. I wonder what the downsides of doing this were/are?
(However, from experience I know what goofing up and running an engine too lean, too long, can do to it. So I guess that my Onan may have only been run too rich on a lot of our motorhome trips.)
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pnichols
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07/04/23 06:25pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Slideouts on a ClassC: How many?
Our 55 gallon fuel tank, 39 gallon FW tank, 39 gallon BW tank, 29 gallon GW tank, and 6 gallon hot water heater are all behind the rear axle of our 24 ft. E450-based Class C. HOWEVER, the heavy Onan genny and 18 gallon propane tank are way in the front right behind the cab area ... so I'm pretty sure that the Onan, the propane tank, the V10 engine, the transmission, the DW, and me all on their long lever arms to the rear axle ... are balancing things out!
I run about 75 PSI in the rear tires and about 65 PSI in the front tires. Even with all that weight in the rear, I still had to install Koni variable-rate shocks back there to reduce the pounding from the E450's relatively stiff rear leaf springs. (Many/most short Class C motorhomes are built on the E350 chassis.)
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pnichols
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07/04/23 01:13pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Dometic RTX 2000 12v using Solar.....?
Thanks John, for the clarification.
It looks like your choice of the 2000 model was to provide plenty of capacity "just in case" ... a good approach. I can imagine what you're talking about relative to the weather presently - and probably more so in the future.
We toured in the Southern U.S. in August (not smart - but no choice on the timing). We had to start up and run the Onan genny for A/C in the middle of the night once in order to sleep.
Our worst situation was insane humidity in only about 85 degree outside temps. I had to at the same time run both the rooftop A/C to remove the humidity and a heater in the coach to keep the inside temperature up with the AC running!
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pnichols
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07/04/23 12:50pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Dometic RTX 2000 12v using Solar.....?
I'm curious - was it due purely to the bedroom area size you needed to cool that caused you to choose the RTX2000 instead of the RTX1000?
The RTX2000 draws 2000 watts and the RTX1000 draws only 1200 watts (4092 BTU capacity), so it seems as if the RTX1000 is close to the capacity of the common 5000 BTU house window A/C - which is probably used in a lot of bedrooms.
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pnichols
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07/04/23 12:36am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: 24 feet versus 26' dilemma, have to decide fast
If I was a bit younger and much richer, I think I'd consider this - 19'8" long and AWD - probably install a bit taller tires on it for more ground clearance, though:
https://pleasureway.com/models/ontour20/
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pnichols
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06/26/23 11:41pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Where can I find this RV?
They say it takes 3 RVs to get it right. We are on our 6th and still looking.
We currently have a 43ft 5th wheel. We thought it was perfect until we realize it doesnt fit in many places and there are a lot of things that break. So we are now looking to downsize.
I was wondering if anyone can point us to a Class C or B+ that has the following:
2020 or newer floorplan
28ft or less
True Queen or King (no weird folding or Murphy stuff)
Real Dinnette
Pantry
2 recliners
Decent outside storage
Decent size shower/bathroom
Can tow a 4500 lb Jeep
E450
Any ideas of what to look at would be appreciated. Does a floorplannlike that exists in a small MH?
Thank you
MC
Finding both a real dinette plus 2 recliners in a kindof small E450 based Class C that can also pull a 4500 lb. Jeep ... could be difficult.
Also, for the ultimate in coach structural strength and reliability of course no-slides would be the best.
Good luck!
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pnichols
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05/22/23 11:24am |
Class C Motorhomes
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