Re: [A/S] How useful is a generator?

["Jim Dunmyer" <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dave,
 You're going to get lots of answers on this one! <<grin>>

First of all, if you absolutely cannot learn to live without the generator,
do your neighbors a favor and get a quiet one. That "desolate wilderness
isolation" won't be when you fire up your genset.

However, if you're planning on 'boondocking' (camping where you don't have
hookups), spend a bit of time considering how to live without outside
electricity. Here's some tips:

Your 31' trailer should have a pair of batteries. Even the standard
"RV/Marine Deep Cycle" jobs should carry you for a couple of days without
charging if you're careful with your usage. Better would be to install a
pair of Golf Cart batteries. You should replace your converter with a good
3-stage charger, such as one from Statpower (http://www.statpower.com) or
one of those IntelliPower Converters with the Smart Charge module, available
from Camping World. There are several reasons, one being that the converter
takes FOREVER to charge a deeply-discharged battery, instead of the few
hours required by a good charger.

Instead of spending $1000.00 on a good, quiet genset, consider investing the
same amount in a solar system. That figure will get you a pretty good
outfit, where you should seldom run out of electricity.

You need to leave the power-hungry appliances at home. Believe it or not,
you can make coffee on your gas stove, cook with a conventional oven, and
sweep the floor with a broom. There are many TVs and TV/VCR combos in the 9"
size that run on 12VDC. Flourescent lights draw a fraction of the power of
incandescents, and give more light while doing so. You needn't replace all
incandescents, only those that you use a lot.

Check out Terry Tyler's solar pages and Phred's Poop Sheets
(http://www.phrannie.org) for more details on solar power and RVs.

Getting into trouble (having to be towed out of the mud, etc.) is more
easily avoided than dealt with after the fact. I don't know about anyone
else, but when confronted with 'iffy' conditions, I make it a habit to get
out of my truck and WALK the ground over which I'm planning on driving.

Here's a trick that you might find useful: if you're going to drive over
some soft ground, and especially if your tow vehicle is going to go over an
uphill bump, pop your spring bars off and stow them, or at least relieve
some of the pressure. The reason is, as the front wheels of your vehicle
rise, the spring bars will LIFT the drive wheels (assuming 2WD), which is
not exactly the situation you desire. We ran into such a situation just last
W/E, where our campsite was on grass, the ground was a bit soft, and we had
to go slightly uphill onto the gravel roadway. We spun the rear wheels a
bit, mostly because of the spring bars' being connected as usual. Had I left
them off when hitching up, I doubt that we'd have slipped at all, and could
have then installed them once safely on the road.

Some pics of our present rig with installed solar system are at
http://www.oldengine.org/members/jdunmyer/avion.


<<Jim>>