Thinking about a Bus/RV

Bill Jennings said:
This would do the trick: https://rvshare.com/rvs/details/114620
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First, stop calling it camping as it evokes the idea of TENTS and bugs. It’s “GLAMPING. “

Second, it’s an intimate adventure.

Third, remind her first think to pack is her hair dryer, makeup or whatever implements she wants and needs.

Pick an RV location that is fun for both you and her.

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Here’s one of mine. Go play in the beach, and then come back for shower or bath since the RV has a bath tub.

Make sure you cook her favorite recipe in the RV, if her opinion is that crucial.

The better grill for RVs is the 2200.
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You can split propane off of your main propane tank with an Mer473 I think.


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White leather, and you have kids. :)

Is that with the slides in or out?
 
Everskyward said:
White leather, and you have kids. :)

Is that with the slides in or out?
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That’s with the slides out. With them in it’s obviously less roomy, but really still very livable. You can still do and access everything.

And yes, white leather... the girls already got told to take their markers OUT of the RV. :)

Matthew said:
When you do your RV XC trips you'll need someone to warm up the oil in the Cobra now and then...just sayin'.
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Trailer solves that problem nicely. ;)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
And yes, white leather... the girls already got told to take their markers OUT of the RV. :)
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Of course you could always have them custom decorate it. But that would kill the resale, unless you reupholstered. ;)
 
Everskyward said:
Of course you could always have them custom decorate it. But that would kill the resale, unless you reupholstered. ;)
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We are limited in what we (intentionally) let them custom decorate. ;)
 
Matthew said:
When you do your RV XC trips you'll need someone to warm up the oil in the Cobra now and then...just sayin'.
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At this point you'd just need to set the jugs of oil out in the sun for him, lol. Cobra got moved to the back of the bus, I mean RV!
 
SoonerAviator said:
At this point you'd just need to set the jugs of oil out in the sun for him, lol. Cobra got moved to the back of the bus, I mean RV!
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The Cobra has had a few delays between the motorcycle and now the RV. It will run, just not yet. :)
 
Matthew said:
My wife just saw the interior pix. Now we are shopping.
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You’re more than welcome to come by and check ours out. We’ve started thinking about our updating projects and what order we’ll do them in. We decided we’d start off by painting the cabinets (never been a fan of that honey oak color) and new knobs. Then we have plans for a tile backsplash... we’ll get there.
 
So I’ve ordered new headlights (old ones are junk). They used 2000 Ford Explorer headlights.

I’m trying to figure out what the taillights are from. Any ideas?

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kayoh190 said:
Damn, that thing is bigger than my apartment!
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When I was telling my mom about it I said it was bigger than many NYC apartments. :)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
So I’ve ordered new headlights (old ones are junk). They used 2000 Ford Explorer headlights.

I’m trying to figure out what the taillights are from. Any ideas?
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Some sort of hungarian transit bus.
 
denverpilot said:
Seems odd, but okay. LOL
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... or something like this with AC, running water and a kitchen would be OK.

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Our neighbor has a smallish Class C with one slide for the two of them. They like using it well enough. We could start with that. We’d have to work our way up to something bigger.
 
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Matthew said:
Our neighbor has a smallish Class C with one slide for the two of them. They like using it well enough. We could start with that. We’d have to work our way up to something bigger.
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Remember there are small Class As that are more or less Class C sized, but still give you the open access (especially nice while going down the road). An A doesn’t necessarily have to be bigger than a C, and that could be a good option for the two of you.
 
Today I did a (short) Cloud Nine flight, but Laurie got started on remodel project #1, painting the cabinets. We’re not a fan of the honey oak color and are going to make them more coastal colors (goes with the exterior paint and the Tommy Bahama theme the previous owners had started). By the time I got home I mostly helped remove the old hardware from the cabinet doors and remove the rest of the hardware, and she started printing them.

I then did a bit more diagnostics. The engine driven AC worked ok but not great, and the guy at the RV storage place said that in his experience they usually leak a can or two a year. Sure enough, the system was low. However the electric fan for the condenser (located behind the front axle) wasn’t spinning either. Turns out it’s completely seized up. Can’t say I’m surprised, it’s a harsh environment under there. So I’ve got another fan on the way to take care of that.

I also need to diagnose the inop power awning, and one of the overhead vent fans is inop. Seems to be getting power, I need to diagnose that further - it is not seized, I know that.

Parts will start trickling in next week to update it...
 
Ted DuPuis said:
T
I also need to diagnose the inop power awning, and one of the overhead vent fans is inop. Seems to be getting power, I need to diagnose that further - it is not seized, I know that.
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On those top fans, I forget the brand but there’s lots of copies now... get the higher quality ones with quieter high flow fans, and also add or get the models that have the curved rain covers over them.

Unless you have a super hard driving rain from the rear, the covers mean you can leave them open when you’re away. Much much better inside temps when you return.

The fan noise thing is just to avoid old cheap 12V fan tech that’s outdated and super noisy. There’s really nice quiet high airflow 12V fans these days.

Those flat topped crank up things we all saw on grandma and grandpa’s rigs with noisy fans are for the birds.

Our fans were “middle of the road” cheaper versions of the quiet ones and we added the covers. The most common use of the vents was when we weren’t in the rig at all, or nighttime vertical ventilation pulling from an open window or two making an updraft to let heat out.

Otherwise the AC was on if it was generator hours or plugged in. Glamping for sure!

Karen will probably disagree and say it was other things, but for me, having a real coffee pot (multiple, one electric, one for the stove) just made my day constantly when on vacation. Ha. Oh the real bed was nice too but not messing with a camp stove or camp fire for morning coffee changes a man’s daily lutlook dramatically! LOL.
 
Yeah, I hadn’t heard the term “Glamping” until Laurie mentioned it to me while we were driving down to get the thing. So I guess we’re glampers. :)

Playing around trying to get the thing hooked up today. I left the vent fan on overnight and that took the batteries down to 10V. I have a feeling we just need new batteries, which wouldn’t be surprising given it sat for the year or so. They had held some charge in that time but at this point, they’ve had lots of time on the generator and you’d figure they’d recharge by now.
 
Ted,

I've actually purchased batteries that had bad cells at reputable places and needed to return them, as I'm sure you have. It's great to be able to have Costco warranty and return policy on a bank of RV batteries, just a thought.

My battery bank is 12 6v 225AH batteries. Your bank may likely be smaller. I have a regular fridge and like the option of using lots of digital and electric things; your mileage may vary. I modified my battery compartment to accommodate that large a bank and it worked out great.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Yeah, I hadn’t heard the term “Glamping” until Laurie mentioned it to me while we were driving down to get the thing. So I guess we’re glampers. :)

Playing around trying to get the thing hooked up today. I left the vent fan on overnight and that took the batteries down to 10V. I have a feeling we just need new batteries, which wouldn’t be surprising given it sat for the year or so. They had held some charge in that time but at this point, they’ve had lots of time on the generator and you’d figure they’d recharge by now.
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Some of those fans draw way too much current for the actual work they’re doing. Could be a combo of battery weakness and a very low efficiency fan. Also could have other things drawing “vampire” loads somewhere.

I found even the built in car stereo style clock and display on the 12V stereo drew more than I liked in ours and installed a little kill switch for it. No need for it to retain memory channels or time really.
 
Cheap and accurate enough clamp-on DC ammeters (multimeters) are a thing now. V handy for excess draw troubleshooting. They will do AC too I guess.

They work by Hall Effect.

Take care not to buy an AC only one (one turn transformer I think) by mistake, online descriptions can be vague.
 
denverpilot said:
Some of those fans draw way too much current for the actual work they’re doing. Could be a combo of battery weakness and a very low efficiency fan. Also could have other things drawing “vampire” loads somewhere.

I found even the built in car stereo style clock and display on the 12V stereo drew more than I liked in ours and installed a little kill switch for it. No need for it to retain memory channels or time really.
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Good point on the potentially high energy draw of that fan, Nate. The batteries have survived the other nights just fine (although I don't recall the voltage in the morning). This morning it was reading 10V when I walked out to the rig. That was clearly not the voltage for the engine batteries as the Cat fired right up and the alternator started producing voltage immediately. However, to fire up the generator I then needed to do the "aux start" (or whatever they call it) switch which I guess ties the generator to the engine 12V batteries to start off of those. I need to do some more digging in to understand the electrical system on this thing and how it works fully. It seems from what I can tell that the cigarette lighters/power ports are off of the 12V house system not the 12V engine system. Tonight I left the fans off and will just let the batteries sit.

But if I need to replace one vent fan (as I think I do), I will probably just do both of them at the same time especially if there's an efficiency improvement to be had.

This also brings the question of the house batteries. It's 4 6V 225aH batteries. I don't know how long house batteries are supposed to last or what they're supposed to be able to support, but that feels low to me. I did some additional investigation on them. After everything was shut off (generator running a good portion of the day), 3 of the batteries registered 6V or greater (but none by a lot), one registered 5.8V. The rig also came with a battery fluid tester (one of those suction bulb deals). According to that, if you believe it, 3 out of the 4 house batteries are considered "bad" and one is considered "fair." There is room for me to make another battery rack above the current one to add more power if I wanted, however I also only have a 2000 watt inverter in the thing I don't think it'd produce enough power to run any of the appliances other than maybe the fridge, although it wouldn't run that for long.

So for the RVers, what do you exactly expect your batteries to do for you and when would you replace your house batteries?

Another thing I have to deal with is the septic hose. The RV came with about 20 feet of hose. However, our septic tanks are not near (or next to) the driveway, so I need about another 100' on top of that. Have to see what the best way to handle that is.

Laurie got all of the cabinets in the forward part of the cabin primed today and we went and got the paint for them, along with ordered the doorknobs we want for them. Yeah we don't need to do that, but we figure before we stuff the kitchen cabinets it makes sense. Plus, she wanted to do a deep clean anyway, so it works out for that, and we're taking care of a couple of the minor interior items that needed done. Really although this is in good condition, a lot of the hardware and such shows its age, so it's nice to freshen those things up.

Unfortunately, the buffalo/bull steering wheel I had on the Kenworth is no longer in production. :(
 
Doing some Googling, it looks like my house batteries likely need to get replaced. Based on the below chat (which looks to be about accurate):

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My house batteries are anywhere from 30-55% capacity, and that's after getting lots of time charging. Unless there's some magic cure to rejuvenate them, I think I'm out of luck and they're pretty much dead.
 
Fantastic Fans don't draw that much power, and they work great. our will work for 8 hours and never show the voltage drop.

We ran our 6 volt batteries for 6 years, yes they do take some care.

But we have changed them to Iridium, no more battery problems we replaced the 4 house batteries to 2, Iridium 200 Amp Hours
and then added 380 watts of Solar.
 
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Ted DuPuis said:
Good point on the potentially high energy draw of that fan, Nate. The batteries have survived the other nights just fine (although I don't recall the voltage in the morning). This morning it was reading 10V when I walked out to the rig. That was clearly not the voltage for the engine batteries as the Cat fired right up and the alternator started producing voltage immediately. However, to fire up the generator I then needed to do the "aux start" (or whatever they call it) switch which I guess ties the generator to the engine 12V batteries to start off of those. I need to do some more digging in to understand the electrical system on this thing and how it works fully. It seems from what I can tell that the cigarette lighters/power ports are off of the 12V house system not the 12V engine system. Tonight I left the fans off and will just let the batteries sit.

But if I need to replace one vent fan (as I think I do), I will probably just do both of them at the same time especially if there's an efficiency improvement to be had.

This also brings the question of the house batteries. It's 4 6V 225aH batteries. I don't know how long house batteries are supposed to last or what they're supposed to be able to support, but that feels low to me. I did some additional investigation on them. After everything was shut off (generator running a good portion of the day), 3 of the batteries registered 6V or greater (but none by a lot), one registered 5.8V. The rig also came with a battery fluid tester (one of those suction bulb deals). According to that, if you believe it, 3 out of the 4 house batteries are considered "bad" and one is considered "fair." There is room for me to make another battery rack above the current one to add more power if I wanted, however I also only have a 2000 watt inverter in the thing I don't think it'd produce enough power to run any of the appliances other than maybe the fridge, although it wouldn't run that for long.

So for the RVers, what do you exactly expect your batteries to do for you and when would you replace your house batteries?

Another thing I have to deal with is the septic hose. The RV came with about 20 feet of hose. However, our septic tanks are not near (or next to) the driveway, so I need about another 100' on top of that. Have to see what the best way to handle that is.

Laurie got all of the cabinets in the forward part of the cabin primed today and we went and got the paint for them, along with ordered the doorknobs we want for them. Yeah we don't need to do that, but we figure before we stuff the kitchen cabinets it makes sense. Plus, she wanted to do a deep clean anyway, so it works out for that, and we're taking care of a couple of the minor interior items that needed done. Really although this is in good condition, a lot of the hardware and such shows its age, so it's nice to freshen those things up.

Unfortunately, the buffalo/bull steering wheel I had on the Kenworth is no longer in production. :(
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Since you have a genny, the batteries are there for the following when dry camping.

1. 12v control power (ie, control boards for fridge, furnace, etc)
2. 12v convenience lights/etc
3. 12v tv/etc
3. judicious use of slides/jacks and perhaps a little bit of inverter for charging laptops, etc.

Ted, i'm worried you're going the wrong way here, IMHO. I would not go crazy doubling your battery capacity. I'd get 4 new batteries, make sure you have a good charger, and then run the genset or be plugged in to shore power if you're using a lot of power or want any Ac power.

My airstream has two batteries (12 v 100AH each) and we can go several days without needing to charge them, that's running lights, water pump, radio/etc, but being careful to conserve. We typically dry camp and don't have a generator.

I think your 4 batteries, with judicious use of power, keeping them fully and properly charged (run a 20A extension cord to it to just run the 12v stuff and properly charge the batteries, it'll take a few days) are plenty, as you'll learn to care for them and find that you'll just bump the generator on every other day for an hour while you're microwaving/etc and that'll top your batteries until you happen to be parked somewhere with AC power.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
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So for the RVers, what do you exactly expect your batteries to do for you and when would you replace your house batteries?. :(
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That depend upon what charger / inverter you have, and the battery sulfate rated.

more- how old are the batteries?

good house batteries are expensive, we paid about $900.00 for 4 six volt Trogen 150 AMP hour ones, they last normally 4 years. the lithium costs about $930 each. at that rate we are ahead because it only requires 2, and they are guaranteed for 10 years, no more acid/ corrosion problems.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Another thing I have to deal with is the septic hose. The RV came with about 20 feet of hose. However, our septic tanks are not near (or next to) the driveway, so I need about another 100' on top of that. Have to see what the best way to handle that is.
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Most folks I’ve seen who could dump at home into septic on forums (we could but never got it built — septic was way too far on the wrong side of the property) built something more permanent near their chosen parking spot and ran that underground to tie in. More expensive but nicer. Some added the mascerator pumps to it to make sure everything got pumped out and was all chewed up for no clogging on the way to the septic.

And then there’s the debate as to whether certain RV chemicals were harmful to the septic... which sparks debates in those forums. The majority doing it said they’d never had a problem but you know how it goes, even some household chems aren’t great for septic. So YMMV.

Many places you technically need a permit to tie in and such since you’re creating a dump station and a possible nuisance or worse if you stick the thing in a low spot in your property that floods in heavy rain or something equally dumb like that. Never talked to anyone who bothered permitting or who was that dumb, but flowing human waste across the prairie to the neighbor’s place probably wouldn’t be much appreciated. Haha.

A few brave souls did city sewer tie-ins without permits. Not sure I’d want to do that. Good way to end up fined heavily if caught.
 
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MIFlyer said:
Since you have a genny, the batteries are there for the following when dry camping.
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not really, generators have quiet hours, you best be ready to to not run the generator from 10:00 PM to 6:00 in the morning. Be prepare to get a big fine for violation.
 
Battery management - whole other topic.

You may consider a filling system like flow rite or Trojan so you can use them longer. Life should be no less than 3 years.


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As Tom state the amp draw on fantastic vents is minimal - specifically 1.9 published at 12v. Even a Dinky solar panel on top recharging your batteries could keep you going all day. In the dog car, an Excursión with a havis k9 cage, I have 2 4d batteries and 2 225 watt Panels on the roof running a low draw radiator fan; fantastic vents are way more efficient than that. Since your AC usually requires the generator on, fantastic vents are a great alternative to keep the coach cool-ish lest you you into the 90’s/100’s.

I use a separate display just for battery health not tied to any of the coach systems. Battery monitors rock and have helped me identify issues way ahead (like a secondary trickle charger going bad, house batteries finally quitting, etc).



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The size of the battery bank for me is about depth, not
simultaneous wattage, I prefer not running the onan 7500 if I don’t have to. Sun is cheaper and quieter than diesel.


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I have yet to see without pump out station with in a reasonable distance.
Out National forests do not have dump stations at each camp but they have a a dump station for each campground.

I normally dump at the campground, then add about 5 gallons of water in the holding tank, then add a cupful of detergent, then drive while and then dump again or each day, this seems to keep the electoral contacts clean,
 
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Tom-D said:
I normally dump at the campground, then add about 5 gallons of water in the holding tank, then add a cupful of detergent, then drive while and then dump again or each day, this seems to keep the electoral contacts clean,
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We did similar after seeing all the threads about the tank sensors going bad or getting hung up or otherwise becoming useless. During the season we’d always have a little something sloshing in the black water tank then a solid flushing and draining before freezing weather.

And most agreed best to blow out everything for winter rather than mess with the pink stuff. Empty the p-traps, etc. No water, nothing to freeze...

My biggest pain was ours was plumbed for a forward washer/dryer that we never added and getting the water out of that part of the system was a minor pain. But not horrid. It had petcock drains directly underneath but was a crawl to get to them under the rig. If we had concrete or otherwise paved surface at home it would have been less dirty... ha.
 
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