Generators

Well we have decked out our trailer with what we think we will need and I am positive we will find more gear to buy but for now we are focused on "power". Our trailer has a 50 amp and 30 amp connection as well as the basic battery system. It has propane (LP gas) hot water,fridge (refer) and stove but we will need batteries for lighting and the furnace fan, and of course there is a limit to the batteries. We have never boondocked before however we are keen to try it once our confidence builds. So this begs the question if we boondock how long will it be for? Our understanding is that the on board batteries will do the basics but for any long term camping we will need a generator. So after much discussion we decide that we will purchase a generator. We are sure we will use it and of course we could wait to buy one later but we do not want to be in the position of "let's go Boondocking" and then spend many hours and countless miles looking for a generator. So let the search begin!

So where do we start? Well first you need to know how much power you need to run things in your trailer. The most power hungry item is the air conditioner on start up, this is the watts needed to "kick" it into gear, but once running the power needed drops significantly. This of course will not be running all the time but it's important to know what size generator you need, my thoughts, plan to need as much power to at least start the air conditioner, after all we do plan to stay at Big Bend National Park. Then of course there are the usual items, microwave, lights etc. There are sites which have tables to advise you of how many watts your appliances will need and in our case we new our air conditioner was 13,500 BTU or 2500 watts at start up.

Camping World was a good place as well as John who provided us with a brand that a friend of his uses, then of course there are forums a plenty. So in the end you have three choices, cheap, middle of the range and of course top shelf! Top shelf are the Honda's and Yamaha's and of course they are great generator's, and there is not a bad word about them, but for us price was a concern.

For us we had to weigh up the cost versus the time of our trip, and to be honest at this point we are not sure if we will sell it all on completion or go back (I like the go back option). So as usual I spent many hours researching generators and to find out some parks won't allow generators over a certain db rating was significant, we don't want to be known as those dam Aussies with the loud generator!

For the Honda we could have gone the companion set, two 2 thousand watt generators linked together for about $2000-00 they run at 58 db. The cheaper what I call the bangers run at 78 db, keeping in mind db has a doubling effect so they are quite loud. Then I came across a generator called the "Boily", now I know it's not made in the good old USA but its price, output of watts and low db made it a good proposition, not to mention it was getting good reviews on forums. I rang Tommy from Bottom Line Trading and he was very helpful, had a brief chat and it pretty much confirmed which way to go, as with all things you have to trade off. We spent twice as much as you would on a "banger" but half as much as the cost of a Honda and at 3300 watts it suited our needs.

I payed by pay pal and the generator was delivered in three business days! How is that for service and that was from Texas to Ohio so from the bottom state to the top, UPS what a great service.

- Posted by RnR on their IPad

Location:Brisbane

Satellite TV

Ok so we have now purchased most of what we think we will need for our twelve month trip, my poor brother in law John cannot use his dinning room as its now full of boxes which we have had delivered to his place. He is even storing stuff in the "mud room"!

In the course of looking at communication type gear I came across satellite TV subscriptions, you can actually do a pay by the month plan, so now I was interested. I have no doubt Rose will get sick of me gas bagging and just wish that we had history channel to shut me up! Our trailer after all comes with a TV that pops out of the bench and yes we can watch local channels but us blokes are never satisfied with the simple gadget options, we want the top shelf stuff. I asked John his thoughts about satellite TV and of course he said a must have, I was sold, I then proceeded to sell all the benefits to Rose, ha she bought it!

So off I go researching satellite TV antennas and of course they start at base price which requires manual alignment up to auto locating they even have satellite dishes that you can use in your RV while driving. A check of You Tube and there are plenty of videos and of course a check on google gets plenty of hits.

For satellite antenna's in the US they must point south. The satellite sits some 20,000 Klm in space, so if your off by one degree you could miss the satellite by a thousand kilometres! Anyone who has put an antenna up will relate to yelling down to the wife, "left a bit", "how's that?" and this then all ends up in tears. Of course being a gadget man I had my eye on the deluxe model, that is, it finds the satellite all by itself. Now as usual I had to sell it to Rose, I had no sooner opened my mouth about the pro's and con's and she said, "it will be me outside in the cold moving the antenna don't even ask Ron get the auto locating model!" Have to be happy with that outcome.

So onto Camping World again, and we bought a Winegard GM 1518 satellite antenna, and as always Camping World had the best price, shipped!

Now onto the Pay TV subscription, I spoke to John and he said "hey I have a spare receiver (in fact he has 3 receivers in the house) in the spare room you can use". Now the US is not like Australia where they charge an arm and a leg for a second satellite receiver, in the US it's about $5 a month. I offered to pay for the 12 months, that was the least I could do.

So now we have satellite TV to keep abreast of the goings on of the outside world.


- Posted by RnR on their IPad

Location:Brisbane

More Preparations

So now we have the basics for the inside of our trailer but what about the camping parts? We all know that you need someplace to sit outside to relax or read so that got us thinking about "what do we need for outside"?

It just so happens that that great brother in law of mine sent out a Camping World catalogue, well it is now showing signs of wear as we have flicked through in many times to see what was available. Yes we could and did look online but sometimes you just can't beat paper and killing a few trees in the process. I remember looking through catalogues as a kid and looking in awe, well I was just like that again even highlighting the must have items. Of course we did price comparisons online but in the end Camping World got our business for most things.

So chairs, outdoor table, and many other smaller things that we came across, paper towel holder "trash"bag holder right down to a toilet brush all found their way into our shopping cart, lucky it was a big cart!

But by far the largest item we got was a Weber Q200 BBQ, we anticipate cooking outside most of the time weather permitting so we figured this was a good buy, under $200 US, delivered in 4 days, I have to give it to them they have online shopping down to a tee. The price is half of what we paid for our one here in Australia.

One of the unexpected benefits of online shopping at Camping World is if you are a Good Sam club member you get free shipping on all your items, yep that includes the BBQ! The cost to join Good Sam is very reasonable and we reckon we saved hundreds of dollars in shipping.

We actually did our shopping over a number of weeks which equated to 3 orders, but this does not mean all your items are shipped together, sometimes they are, it seems to depend on what part of the country the items are stored at. At one stage John remarked "what the hell are you guys doing, I have not had a parcel for two days!" he cracks us up. We are sure the UPS driver is well acquainted with Johns long driveway and being greeted by 13 dogs, yep 13 dogs!

As luck would have it, a friend of Roses, who just imported a fifth wheel from the US, was passing through Queensland, so we headed to Tin Can bay to "tyre kick" their rig. Given their trailer is longer than ours but it was great to see it and get our imagination going. Rose walked in and could not stop smiling, it was fantastic. We spent the weekend getting as many tips from them as we could and yes they confirmed the BBQ is a must. Some things we did not have but by that weeks end it was being shipped.

We think we have all the "must haves" for now but I am sure we will find more, so in the meantime we are thinking of the luxury things.

Satellite TV mmmm makes a man think.


- Posted by RnR on their IPad

Location:Brisbane