Life on the Road

I should know by now that everything is learned gradually. I guess I had hoped we would have most of the information we needed to hit the road in our RV. We read books and articles about storage needs and batteries and everything else under the heavens. In all things RV, I have much to learn.

We had decided early on that we would be “boondocking” at times. You know, parking in the middle of nowhere with no sewage, water, or electric hookups. We wanted to have a generator, two batteries, and solar charging. Now that I have more experience and knowledge about the whole thing, it could have been done better. But we’re getting there.

If you’re out in the middle of nowhere and want a semi-normal existance, you will need power. So the lights and water pump and some other things run on 12 vdc (like your car). We upgraded to two type 24 batteries. IT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER. We are now wondering if we should upgrade to two (or more) type 27 batteries.

Now, if you want to keep your power, you will need a way to replenish it. We figured out that solar panels would be a great thing to have. I must say in our defense that we didn’t exactly choose what we ended up with. The dealer we bought from sold us a cheesy 1 amp panel. Really not good for much of anything except maybe an extreme emergency. IT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER. Yea… We are now thinking that we need a system that will deliver around 10 amps.

Of course, there are devices that need more power, like a computer. Also there is the microwave, the A/C, and a hair dryer. A generator was added to our list of needed equipment. We looked at the best first … and gagged. $1200 for a 2000 watt gennerator. The same dealer that got us the solar also recommended buying a 4000 watt generator at Home Depot or someplace. That would only be $500 bucks. We looked and found a 5000 watt generator for $800. We bought it. And we took it back. It would keep you up nights. It was LOUD. We looked around at all the rest, and guess what … we went back to the best. We bought the $1200 Honda. But … IT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER. We are finding that 2000 watts isn’t quite enough. Really, 2000 watts will do about everything except run the A/C. We had actually planned from the beginning to upgrade to two 2000 watt generators. Honda has a cool dual generator setup. 

And we just keep learning more.

All By God’s Grace