Ken and Cindy,

Just curious, what do you use to control the odor in your black water holding tank?  Since they are considered "holding tanks", I didn't think that any natural bacteria action took place like in a septic tank.  Am I wrong about that?

I use a non-formaldehyde chemical treatment in both the gray and black water tanks.  I don't use very much, just add a few ounces after dumping and then add some water also to prevent any left over solids from drying out.

 

 

I would like to extend this topic a bit further. In reading all the postings there are quite a few of us who are still researching for either a MH or 5ver. I would like to know from the fulltimers what unit you have, what you like about it, what you would have added to it and didn't, what you don't like about it and the brand. Would you buy another unit from the same manufacturer or would you go to a different one? I know there is a lot of commercial items for sale etc. but I believe the best person to give me a straight answer is someone who already owns a unit.

If all goes well Sarah and I will begin part timing next year and within 3 years go full timing. I very much enjoy reading these posts.

Thanking you all in advance for whatever information you are willing to post.

Good question Ken,

We've been fulltiming for 7 months now and have only put 35 hours on our $5000. + generator. I think if I were doing it over I'd buy a small portable Honda for emergency use and save about $3-4,000.

I'd also skip the central vacuum, it's not that good.

I'd get the automatic leveling system. We upgraded to electric jacks on all corners and could have gotten a fully automatic system for a little more $.

I'd spring for the electric awning. The manual one isn't that difficult, but is still a pain in the a** to run out if the wind comes up (with driving rain of course).

I'd get the portable Datastorm instead of the automatic. We really like being tucked in with trees, but tend to end up in open sites because of our need for the front of the trailer to have a clear shot at the southern sky.

I'd buy the coach without furniture. We're probably going to end up repacing it all.

I'd be more careful with the type of lounge chairs we got. We've had 2 different ones already from Camping World and they've all rusted already.

Funny, when I started this post the only thing I had in mind was the generator.
I'll probably think of more.

Fred

We bought our first RV, a 34' Bounder (gas), with only a little research and were very lucky.  We'd thought a 30 or 32 ft. would be plenty but went the extra two feet with one slide and it was well worth it.  We were weekenders for two years and went once or twice a month to Bounder club  or FMCA weekend rallies...the best education we could have gotten since we had never done any camping.   That's where we got ideas of which gadgets, products, services, procedures would be good for us-and why.  After two years, we hit the road full-time and were quite comfortable in our rig.  After three more years we had putt-putted up the Rocky Mountains to visit our son in Breckenridge, CO several times, and had acquired enough "stuff" to reach our CCC limit so even though we were quite comfortable with our living space, we upgraded to a 40' Newmar Dutch Star Diesel Pusher.  It has "pass through" storage so we can fit our golf clubs and pull-carts.  We only got two slides because we didn't want access to the storage to be difficult. It also has the automatic levelers.  If there is a "next time" the satellite dish will be automatic.  We do like the automatic awning.  We couldn't live without our GPS..the simple DeLorme one works great for us...and we have two laptops (we don't share well).  We're "cheap"...don't have the "fancy" models of most things and seem to do well.  We do use our 2000 Watt inverter and the generator as we often "boondock" at Wal-Mart or rest areas while travelling.

Mary...'04 Dutch Star 4015, '02 Olds Alero

Lovglass mentioned that he wished he had gotten the portable datastorm instead of the automatic so he could be tucked under the trees.  I have had the same thought but have one question:  If you have a  portable unit do you have to put it away if you're leaving your site for the day to go site seeing or do you just leave them outside? 

Thanks,

Dianne

Joan On The Road wrote:

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Second, we could do without the solar panels which were pretty pricey. Boondocking, no electric, just isn't in the cards for us. I think we have too many techie things so that we really need to be plugged in. We're fine with "half boondocking"...no sewer/water for 6-7 days. In 3.5 years we have not depended on the solar panels for power.

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Joan, the good thing is that solar panels are always rising in price so at any time you should be able to sell the panels and get your money back. If you are not using them might as well sell em and save the weight.

Hi Donna,

We do have a generator and have to remind ourselves to run it for maintenance :) It does get a workout when we are driving through extremely hot weather...we run one AC unit to help keep comfy.  Also have had a couple of occasions when the RV park power went out and we needed to recharge batteries, run microwave or hair dryer.  Also use it on occasion to cook hotdogs at a rest area.  Ours is pretty noisy so check it out and look for a quiet one.

Cheers!...Joan

 

Our first RV was a 24 ft Class C by Glendale which we used to decide if we liked the lifestyle. When we started looking for a rig for fulltiming we first looked at Class A's but wanted a diesel pusher. In Canada, they are VERY expensive so instead started looking at fifth wheels and diesel trucks which we were able to buy for less than half what a diesel pusher would cost. We looked at every make and model available in our area and kept coming back to the Titanium which is made in Ontario also by Glendale. We've been very happy with it in our two plus years fulltiming. It's very light and the bullnose makes it aerodynamic. It's also extra tall in the bedroom as the bullnose goes over the bed of the truck and also over the cab of the truck so you can stand up in the bedroom and still have lots of head room.

We don't have the automatic awning - that would be nice and it would be nice to have a bathtub. Other than that, I love my U-shaped kitchen. It has a very large working area and also breaks up the space so the interior doesn't feel so much like a bowling alley.

We didn't get a generator and as we have all our techie toys we always look for hookups although water and electric is enough for 10 days to 2 weeks if we're careful.

We have the table and chairs in the dining room which I like but the bench seats make for extra storage.

I think our unit is pretty much perfect!

Sandra

Actually we want to go back to a manual awning.  Our A&E Weather Pro is messed up again and needs a new motor.  This is the second time we have had a problem with our automatic awning.  We figured we would use an automatic awning more than we used our manual one, which was true except when it breaks.  On manual awnings I recommend getting an awning lock so the tube does not rotate while you drive down the road.  When it rotates the gear teeth crack and eventually break and the awning will billow on the road.  We know, we have been there and the awning lock is still in a box in case we switch to a manual awning.  Read your manual awning warranty and realize it is not a warranty issue if it billows.

I like the awnings that have the metal covering when rolled up. I have seen them out there, but don't know if they are auto awnings or manual. My awning gets filthy just from being rolled up so much.

The first thing all of us must remember is that these are opinions and every one has one.  We all have our likes and dislikes so we have to make the decisions that fit us best.

Over the past 35 years we have owned 2 pull trailers, 2 5th wheels and are in our third motorcoach.  We have been full-timers for more than 2 years now and this is what we have settled on.

Our present rig is a 40ft Diesel pusher built by American Coach.  It is a mid range dp as dp's go but is the bottom of the line for American Coach, a Fleetwood company.  We settled on the dp for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost was the power.  The 330 hp cummins engine produces just under 1000 lb-ft of torque.   You cannot get that in any pick up truck on the market.  You can get it in a heavy duty truck but then what have you got to drive around when not towing?  Second, the engine and transmission are a million mile unit meaning that it should run a million miles under normal operating conditions, meaning that you will not wear it out.  It is expensive but I haven't seen any armored cars in any funeral processions yet!  The second reason is basically 2 fold.  The storage space is massive under the rig.  We have only 2 slides so the storage is very accessible.  The Spartan Mountain Master chassis provides and excellent weight to load ratio, meaning we can load in a lot of stuff.  Very nice for full-timing.

The solar panels are a waste for us.  This is the case because to get any real battery charging capability from solar panels, they have to be big.  Most of the solar units today may maintain a battery if it is fully charged, but it would take forever to charge up one that is depleted.  Especially if you use more than a single battery set up.  Also they are expensive.  The state of the art in solar is just not sufficient at this time to do the job an RVer would need if that were the only source of charging used for your batteries and if you park in RV parks that provide electricity the majority of the time, the solar set up is a waste.

The power awning is a debateable issue.  Ours has been almost completely trouble free for 6 years and I don't have to go outside to deploy it or retract it.  Very nice if it is nasty outside and/or late at night.  Most now utilize a wind velocity sensor to automatically retract the awning when winds reach a pre-determined velocity.  Very nice to have if you leave the thing out when you are out sightseeing.

We utilize our generator a lot.  It is a 7.5 Kw Onan diesel unit.  We use it when traveling in hot weather to help cool the rig.  A dash unit just isn't enough when it gets hot. It is a water cooled unit and runs very quitely.  We also have  a 2000 watt inverter which will power most of the appliances in the unit for a short period of time.  This is a very nice thing to have.  We can cook using the microwave oven without running the generator if necessary.  If we leave it on we can ride through short term power outages at the RV park.  We also have an auto start system for the generator which will start the genset automatically when the inverter drops the battery voltage to a pre-determined voltage.  Also since we have a dog, when we leave the coach to go sight seeing and it is hot outside, we can leave the ac on and the system will automatically start the generator to run the ac if shore power is lost.  When camping without electircity we use the genset to charge the batteries (4 Trojan T-105's).

We traded out our CRT TV for a LVD TV.  The LCD is 100 lbs lighter and requires about 1/10 the power of the tube  type TV.  I think most RV manufacturers are providing LVD TV's from the factory now.  Typically an LCD TV will last 10 times longer than a tube TV too.

We installed a water filtration system.  We found a considerable spread in water quality across the country.  Most all systems are safe to drink but taste and hardness levels vary greatly.  The system is a single filter unit and was easily mounted in the coach.  Filters are readily availble from Home Depot, Lowe's and Wal-Mart.

I think a must is a tire pressure monitoring system.  There are several available on the market.  I think it is essential for numerous reasons but the biggest for me is to help prevent a tire from blowing out.  A blowout on a trailer, 5er or motorcoach can do significant damage to the unit in addition to the loss of the tire.  One primary reason for a blow out is running a tire with low air pressure causing significant heat build-up.  These systems will alert you when one or more of your tires drop pressure below a preset level, greatly reducing the probability of a blowout.

The satellite dish on our unit is an automatic alignment unit but not a domed in-motion unit.  Our children are grown with children of their own so we don't have a need for an in-motion system.  We have found that the wind can play havoc with the reception so a domed unit would be a good addition.  I personally like the flat gated array antenna but it is really pricey.  It has no moving parts and stands only 4 or 5 inches tall which would greatly reduce wind resistance when driving.  It would fit nicely where our useless solar panel is.   I haven't talked the wife into that one yet, but standby I haven't finished yet.

We don't have a GPS.  Not having one works out well for us because my lovely wife is a very capable driver allowing me to do the navigating.  That way I get to tell her where to go and get away with it.   If that were not the case and your spouse isn't a good navigator then the GPS would be a must have in my opinion.

 In closing.  Remember the above works for us.  You have to decide what works for you.  Having said that it is good to get a lot of input before you make a decision.  Research is the key but knowing what is right for you takes some time.  What is good for us may not be good for someone else.