Kirk W

Plan to head south to Rock Springs, WY for Escapade June 21 - 26.

It isn't even close to a daily occurance but it does happen and in most cases it is pretty common. We spent 3 months in the area back in 2014 and had hail several times but never large enough to cause any damage. What you don't want to do is to leave the RV with your awning deployed. There is no guarantee that you will never have weather damage, but that risk is there anywhere you go. If the weather in the Black Hills was dangerous it wouldn't be the popular tourist attraction that it is, but you do need to be aware that it is possible.

I have seen that also, especially for federal agencies. But we also learned that at least some of the managers with the USFWS will pay lipservice to those rules coming out from above while only asking for those hours if critically needed and then only for a short time. The national parks are asking for 4 days a week for just an RV site in the more popular parks such as Yellowstone and Everglades. We did the same job in Everglades as do the seasonal rangers but they were paid $15/hour and had to pay about $200/month for shared housing while we worked one day less for only an RV site. That is the reason that we have not gone back to any national parks in several years.

If you look at your homeowner's insurance, you don't buy the insurance to pay for routine maintenance but rather to pay for catastrophic repairs. That should also be the way you look at an extended warranty. It is very unlikely that buying one will save you money on normal maintenance. Where they do come into play is in the event that you have a major engine or transmission failure, or at least a refrigerator and/or air conditioner. In addition, the cost of that extended warranty increases with the age of the RV, just as health care insurance cost rises with age of the insured and for the same reason. More parts are failing due to age. While I have never owned a Dutch Star, I have several friends who have and 2 of them now own their second DS. It is a quality coach from a very reputable RV manufacturer with a good history of support. With it nearing 5 years old there is some degree of risk but it sounds like a good choice. When choosing if you buy an extended warranty or not, ask yourself what the impact on your finances will be if the worst should happen and you need a major engine or transmission repair, which will likely cost you $15k or more. If you can survive that type of event, you probably should not buy an extended warranty.

I have made that same point many times but have been rarely been heard.

What are you getting? Is it a custom build?

We joined FMCA back in the 90's when we bought our first motorhome but left after a few years because at the time if we attended any of their events we always felt like second class members with our cheap, gas motorhome. It may be different now that they let trailer trash in, but I am no longer interested.

Since we are not FMCA membeers, we just went with Escapees Road Service for reasons of price.

This should really be made as a business decision. The so called "extended warranty" is actually a health care insurance plan for your RV. Let me suggest that you take the time to read this article on extended warranties that was published in Escapees Magazine a few years back, before you make up your mind. To put it in simple terms, you should insure against any loss that could cause you serious financial distress, but not insure if you could pay that loss from existing funds without financial stress.

We spent all summer near Hot Springs, SD in 2014 and those sudden, quick but violent storms are pretty common in mid summer. A friend who once lived in that area described the weather there as explosive. None of the storms we experienced lasted very long but they can destroy an awning if left down so be cautious. Is that picture of your RV? That sure looks like it was taken at the Tucson Escapade last March.

With storage space at a premium, we opted not to add the dishwasher even though it would have been nice. It comes to a matter of priorities and since you do not have one, I agree with Joe that you should try things our first before you spend the money and storage space as you can't get them back once they are gone.

Welcome to the Escapee forums. I have no experience with the people whose ratings you list but I do very much disagree with them. My favorite rating service is Consumer Reports and they list Honda and Yamaha as #1 & #2. Generators Org have the same 2 at the top as does Generator Grid. If you do a Google search you will find a long list of reviews and while they do vary as to how they rate the different brands, Honda is at the top in most cases and Yamaha is nearly as well rated. I have experience with the Honda and I can tell you that it has been reliable and easy to start for many years. Both Honda & Yamaha are expensive, but quality always costs more. I would also strongly suggest that you only consider the inverter generators because they are far less noisy and are more fuel efficient. When you budget you also need to ask yourself how much will you rely on it for power and how critical will it be. In my case, we live in a rural area where storms often leave us without electric power for periods and my Honda is vital to us at times so I spent enough to get the best.

I would say that you are on the right track!

These folks make some very good points. Keep in mind that a small RV has nearly the same appliances as does a larger one, but you have far less roof to place solar panels on. With a small RV the first step in successful use of solar charging is usually finding ways to minimize power requirements. Another major issue is the cost justification of the entire process. Lead-acid batteries not only take space but they are very heavy so lithium may be needed for both space and weight reasons and those can run your cost up very quickly.

If you get reservations early I think that I would recommend staying in Custer State Park, which has many things to do and see. As to the water, I do not recall any big issue with using the water in the places that we have stayed there, but we do always use a good quality, charcoal block filter for all water. I would agree that a visit to Deadwood is worth your time as is a visit to the town of Custer and also Hill City. There is a steam train between Keystone and Hill city that is fun. The town of Keystone is the closest town to both Custer SP and also to Mt. Rushmore so check it out as it offers many tourist attractions. Also not far away will be Wind Cave NP and Jewell Cave NM so at least one of those should be on your visit list. If you go out of the south entrance to Custer SP you will come to Hot Springs which has a nice city pool supplied by a hot spring and is the home of The Mamoth Site which we found to be very intersting. Bear Country USA is an interesting drive through park with much wildlife. The Crazy Horse Monument is probably worth a visit, but for us it was dissappointing as the progress over the past 20 years is very hard to detect. As to day trips, Bighorn Battlefield is 300+ miles one way and Devil's Tower is 130 miles one way.

A soft start unit will not solve the issue of too frequent compressor cycling and I highly doubt that a start capacitor will either, but John is right that one doesn't cost much and is easy to replace. Use care handling it because they do bite, hard! If your compressor is cycling on and off in a very short period, there is some sort of control problem.

I would look for reviews to see what others have reported before I got one of these. While the popular brands are quite expensive, they also have a good record and in my opion this is one of those things that are good to have, but not on the top of my priority list do I think that I'd wait longer and get the ones with good reports. Until you do, be relegious about your daily tire checks and always run good tires and you should be OK. We went on the road with a limited budget that prevented us from buying everything that the experts suggest and never had any disasters, but one can never be certain of the future. I am a believer in both power line monitors (Progressive or Surge Guard) and of a quality TPMS, but in my observations, far less than half of those traveling in RVs are using either one. They are insurance and probably should be budgeted for but a poor quality one that isn't reliable could give you a false sense of security and set you up for future problems.

Welcome to the Escapee forums and to the fulltime lifestyle!

At least they were honest about their lack of knowledge. I'm not sure that you will find an HVAC service that works on RV units, as very few do but if you find one they will probably be better than most RV techs. You may also want to try calling a mobile RV tech or two as it has been my experience that most of them are better qualified than the average RV dealer's shops.

No doubt about that. The other problem is that many RV techs are not all that good with air conditioners. It is an area that they just don't get much practice working on.

Welcome to the Escapee forums. Based on what you describe, there is no doubt that your air conditioner is the problem. It should draw about 12 - 15A when the compressor is running and perhaps half of that when just the blower is running. You will need a clamp-on ammeter to do real trouble shooting but what you did with the load swap with your buddy is a good start. That eliminates your generator. I don't know what you mean by it cycling too fast but it may be that it isn't leaving the compressor off long enough for the refrigerant pressure to drop before it starts again, which would cause a big jump in starting current.

Even though it seems that I failed to keep current on the newest lithium battery RVs, I would like to offer just a few thoughts on the Winnebago versus Coachman debate. The reviews clearly give the Winnebago a serious lead in the power race but there are some other areas that I think you should consider if you look at the companies that build the two RVs. Coachman is a brand name with a long history, but not all of that history is the best. The company had financial difficulties and was purchased by Forest River in 2008, a company whose history is that of making money for it's owner, Berkshier Hathaway, but also of putting profits ahead of quality or support. While I've not owned any recent Coachman products since then, they have a somewhat checkered reputation for quality and support. Winnebago is one of the oldest RV manufacturers still in business with a very long history and with the same family based ownership for that entire time. In recent years they have enjoyed one of the best reputations for factory support in the RV industry and the motorhome owners usually rate the company over all to be one of the top 3 manufacturers. (The other two are Newmar & Tiffin) In addition, starting in 2018 the compay has sent a team of their design engineers to the Escapees national rallies (Escapade) each year to discuss the changes that need to be made in future products and to review the things that they are considering. In my opinion, Winnebago is one of the top RV manufacturers in the industry.

Guess I'll do some reading on it. Thanks... Impressive! Lichtsinn RV Blog

If you want to be able to operate an air conditioner through the night you must have a generator. RV air conditioners are 120V-ac power and do not operate from the RV batteries. If you are planning to bid one dealer against another, you need to settle on one brand as no two brands are priced the same. To know what is a fair price, you will need to study a lot of sales information if you base your opinion on what others are paying. But as long as both the seller and the buyer are happy, the price must have been good. You can visit a public library and use the NADA guide to get a feel for what the price should be if it is used. If you have a business history with a lender, they can also help you establish what is an appropriate price.

Welcome to the Escapee forums! Both answers thus far are good but I'll add a little bit to this discussion. First we are not thinking of a list before each trip as one for a just purchased RV which is now 17 years old. As part of the fluid check be sure not to miss replacing the brake fluid as it can absorb moisture and cause brake failure when they are needed most. On batteries, most battery sellers can and will load test them for you to check the condition and I would take advantage of that. Tires have a date code on the sidewall of each one so make sure that you verify the tire age by that since a tire can look good but be near failure due to aging of the internal belts. As to a tire pressure monitor, they are not inexpensive so you may not want to buy one immediately but I do suggest you consider it. They are a bit like insurance as one can save the destruction of a low tire and can be considered safety equipment as a blow-out at highway speeds is risky, but it isn't something that is universally used. If you do not have one, tire pressures should be checked every day before travel and tire temperatures need to be monitored each time that you stop. If you have not done so, take the time to operate each of the systems and appliances in your RV to be sure that all is working and that you understand how they are used. As you begin this new adventure, feel free to join in with things here and these forums and ask questions or leave comments. We are here to help.