Things that did and did not work out

[Shadow Catcher]

I have been musing over our trip and particularly the things that did and did not work out. The Solar system worked beautifully even in shaded areas. This in part because it is a high voltage panel running into a Morningstar MPPT controller. Using LED's and computer case fans were also part of this equation. The Morningstar Puresine inverter powered the TV/DVD and phone chargers as well as the battery chargers for flashlights etc.
The Waeco refrigerator stayed in the back of our Subaru plugged into a dedicated power line from the battery much of the time. Nancy found that frozen "bag meals" would stay mostly frozen for three days and were handy to fix at the end of the day driving, throw it in the skillet, electric when we had it gas when it was not, would provide a complete meal in ten minutes. We used the Gas grill a number of times for steaks and shis kabobs (complete meal on a stick).
Having a Sirius receiver that could be used in the car and the trailer was great. It worked even in Big Basin Redwoods where we were in DEEP forest with Ginormus trees and no cell coverage.

This brings us to the, much of the time we had no cell coverage. I heard one girl in Big Basin asking how to get out because the gps function of her cell would not work. Our TomTom GPS was not a good choice, Nancy was in tears a couple of times out of frustration as it would not take legitimate destinations and was hard to input. My complaint was that it was it got dimer and dimmer and I could not see it. It was returned to Costco after having it for 6 months and according to one of the managers at Costco they have had a lot of returns. One of the functions of Google maps is that you can send a destination to your GPS and TomTom will not support that function. The TomTom will also not let you add way points. It would also not play well with my cell phone. It has been replaced with a Garmin which works beautifully.

One of the problems with CR is that when Eye4Design built it I specified the tongue box and for that they added a front platform that is about four feet of additional tongue. The problem is that they did not move the axle forward to compensate and this means a VERY heavy tongue weight too heavy and way too heavy once you add the 100# battery and 25# propane cylinder and all of the other stuff, grill, cords, hose, tools etc. The Lite Cylinder propane tank was great being able to see the propane level through the translucent walls and it being less weigh because it is not steel is a big plus.

We have a problem because the flexing of the trailer popped the Filon to rear molding joints at the rear of the trailer. This is to some extent covered by the repairs made as a result of the accident. I took CR down to Quality Collision yesterday and along with fixing the problems Greg is going to shift the axle forward so that will take care of that weight problem.

[48Rob]

Sounds like with a little more fine tuning you'll have a keeper!

I sure like the idea of having a visible fuel level in the LP tank.
Glad the shop will be able to correct the balance problem, should pull like a dream after the adjustment.

I knew I should have bought some of those used flexible panels...but thought about it a little too long.

Rob

[bdosborn]

This brings us to the, much of the time we had no cell coverage. I heard one girl in Big Basin asking how to get out because the gps function of her cell would not work.

I've got a Wilson Sleek that helps quite a bit with cell phone coverage. It wont work if there's zero signal but boosts a useless signals to a usable level.

Wilson Sleek

Bruce

[Shadow Catcher]

Bruce, with the cell coverage it was for the most part there were cell towers or there were not. Along I80 it was mostly consistent. but up in the mountains or in the middle of Nevada or Utah and a bunch of other places with very few people there was nothing to boost.

[geochris35]

Sounds like a fun trip. I do a ton of geocaching and agree 100% with your tom tom comments. I always recommend garmin, they work great, and a very sturdy. Also, my dad had one that died on him, it was out of warranty, but Garmin replaced the thing for free anyway. Can't beat service like that.

[Forrest747]

I love Garmin. I was an advisor to a group of college students that launched a satilite with a garmin handheld to see altitude and speed to graph the weather ballon trip up to 106,000 feet. At one point it got up to 100+ mph. Worked like a champ and the limitations was the software limiting it to 96,000 feet.

I also wonder is it best to build the sleeping area and galley and then weigh balance them put the wheels in place. mine tongue weight is about 180 pounds if I recall. I wonder if it would of been better to do it this way. I recall Tom building his then putting on the trailer.

[Shadow Catcher]

SC I know that the trailer hitch was over loaded on our Subaru, we are not talking about "I can't lift the tongue" we are talking about four or five hundred pounds. Greg plans on weighing the tongue as he moves the axle forward. As indicated the problem was that Eye4Design did not compensate for the longer tongue when they made ours by moving the axle from the place it was on our first one. There is an additional four or five feel and a lot more weight. If I were to take the generator and a five gallon gas can...

[S. Heisley]

Going to IRG, the Garmin could not find Pamplingrove or Grizzly Creek State Park or even Carlotta, CA. There was no cell phone coverage at IRG; so, I'm thinking that it may have something to do with whether there is cell phone coverage in the area or not. ...Just my thoughts....

[Shadow Catcher]

Sharon
Garmins can take, (with the plug in), directions from Google maps or inputting the exact latitude and longitude, this can overcome the absence of a discrete address The TomTom would not. A true GPS is from a series of satellites so a sky view is necessary. One of my early ones would tell you how many satellites it had acquired. "The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense." http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS

[stumphugger]

Be aware that when you go out west and go into the mountains, chances are that you will not have cell coverage. I throw my phone in when I go hiking, but I realize that it won't work in 90% of the area. It might on some of the high spots.

Besides, isn't the point of a vacation to get away from such stuff?

[pete42]

There are things you need and things you don't
I used a LowRance GPS because LowRance was what the navacation system was in my airplane
which worked very well I also had LowRance on my sail boat.
but the GPS did die and I purchased a Garmin I wish I had ordered the next one up one that would
take more than one way point, on trips I have to make a day to day schedule which I have saved onto
the SD card when needed I would load the correct segment not as good as one with many waypoints
nor one that can take google map input.

sharon I think the phones use the cell towers for location but the GPS's use the orbiting satilites for directions
I loaded the sites you said and mine found them.
If you think about it they do a great job just look at the amount of info for your street, town, state pretty darn good.

pete

[Shadow Catcher]

I am going to add a couple of things that did not work. The Off clip on was a total waste, I had mosquitoes landing almost on top of it in a camp site with no wind. The other fail was the freshwater hose couplings. The hose, white, is meant for fresh water and I could not get it water tight it always leaked, stopped and bought new rubber seals still leaked and water was so bad in one camp site the leak caused the aluminum fender to corrode under the leak. The problem is the cheap fittings, the male end not long enough to seat the gasket. They have now been replaced with good quality ends.

[bdosborn]

The Off clip on was a total waste, I had mosquitoes landing almost on top of it in a camp site with no wind.

I had the same experience with the Off clip. I give it two as well.

Bruce

[S. Heisley]

Those little fold-up gray-water hose & holding tank set-ups are a waste (pun-pun)!
I bought one for IRG and had to continually go outside and pull on the hose to get it to drain.
Also, because the fold-up tank is translucent, the waste water is view-able, which I didn't thing would be a problem.
However, I was using brownish yellow tap water from the river and someone actually thought that this was my potty disposal tank!

The old cut off water hose and blue plastic water jug worked so-o-o much better! (I'm glad I saved them.)