Kirk W

I like to say that the only limit to the number of ways to live in an RV is only limited by the imagination of the RV owner. I often wonder at those who feel that their job is such an important part of their life. There are so many things to do with your time, once you do not have the constraints of earning an income! It would make me very sad to face the end of life with my career as the major accomplishment of my having lived. There are so many ways that one can leave a real legacy behind after they depart life but very few of us are long remembered at our jobs.

I started with one from Watts, back when there was little else available and I used that one for more than 10 years. One advantage to the Watts is that rebuild kits are readily available, but nothing from Watts is cheap so I'm not so sure that you couldn't replace the one you are using for little more cost and much less work. For small RVs today there are the old style regulators that aren't adjustable that will work just fine if you pay a bit more to get them. They do have a much better volume than the cheap ones but they also don't save you a great deal over the cost of one of the adjustable regulators like what you have. There are far more choices available today than there were 15 years ago.

I would say first of all that I envy you! In my opinion, you should be able to live very well for as long as you may live. For reference, we have been living on our retirement income since June of 2000 and while our income has risen slightly due to SS increases (we added SS for my wife in 2004) and then the required withdrawals from IRA some 5 years ago, and we now live pretty well on a gross income of about $50K/year. Looking at your plan and even allowing for inflation, I'd say that you are in very good shape. But it is very important to realize that managing your finances has more to do with the standard of living for most people than does the income that they have.

We were even farther off in the wrong direction than you as I retired at age 57. 😊 I have known people who died 2 or even 3 years before they planned to retire. We would have had more money today if I had worked another 5 or more years, but I would not trade our travels and experiences for any amount of money. I have found that most retired fulltimers are as busy as most employed people but with far less stress because we spend our time being busy doing things that we want to do and without concern for who might be able and willing to pay us. Since my 70th birthday I have slowed some and seldom put in more than about 6 hours a day working but that leaves more time for reading and working on my hobbies.

I very much agree with what you say. In all of my years of RVing I have never seen a flow restrictor sold as a pressure regulator. I suspect that opinion has come from the fact that cheaper pressure regulators do not have a large enough water passage to keep the pressure up if water demands are high. When that happens the downstream pressure does drop because the flow demand isn't being met. It used to be that only the home plumbing type regulators had a large enough diameter port for the pressure to be maintained when high water flow is demanded but now there are some of the regulators which are not adjustable that do have enough flow capacity to keep pressures up. The pressure regulator that was asked about at the start of this thread is one of those quality pressure regulators which is not adjustable. It is the JR Products 04-62425 Deluxe High Flow Water Regulator and is available from Amazon for $44. I use a stainless steel regulator from Valterra that I got from Amazon for $25 and pressure gauge on the downstream side and have never seen the pressure drop more than 3# from it's 55# setpoint.

Because they tend to fail with age, I always replace the ignitor probe if I replace a circuit board.

RV fulltimes are an insignificant part of the Schwab customer base so they probably will see little if any effect from fulltimers leaving.

Are you saying that you had already replaced the circuit board? Did you order an ignition probe?

As one who has repaired many RV water heaters, I would agree with the last part of this post. I only use Dinosaur Electronics for any of the circuit boards that they supply.

Welcome to the Escapee forums! The fact that you hear a clicking sound tells me that it is trying to ignite the propane but for some reason, it isn't doing so. That is probably the most common failure that propane RV water heaters experience. I would wager a pretty good amount of money that your problem is in the igniter probe. I strongly suggest that you replace the igniter probe as it most likely has failed. You might be able to remove it, clean it and adjust the gap properly and get it to work for a time, but most of them will fail again soon. If it were mine I would buy a new ignitor probe and install it.

For all of the replies and warnings, I have never heard of a travel trailer having been stolen while attached to the tow vehicle. They do get stolen occasionally but not all that frequently. A simple lock and insurance are all that is reasonably needed. Perhaps parking to prevent access to the trailer as mentioned might not be a bad idea either but it really is unlikely.

While this is true, there are ways around this requirement that do meet the legal test if the investment firm knows it and is willing to do something different from their norm. That has been the case for several years now.

But will that be your address next month? The law only requires a physical address which you can be reached via and that could be a close relative but I doubt that the campground is what they need. Wells-Fargo Advisors is another company that understands the law and there are several other investment firms that do. Schwab is the only one that keeps popping up in threads like this so you might be wiser to just move your funds. It would seem to me that the refusal to work with you might be some indication of the quality of their customer service?

If you are Escapee members, call the business office and tell them about the problem and they will help was this has been dealt with many times by the office. (936)327-8873 There is a way to use an alternate address with a relative to supply the physical requirements while using the mail service for your personal address.

Interesting. Some years ago I attended a seminar by a magician who did teach us several tricks. They were not part of his act but there are many beginner tricks that most magicians are willing to share.

Don’t cheat yourself with the 4% rule !

It does happen occasionally as they depend on users to report the prices, just as the RV park review sites depend on userers for their reviews. Reporting prices is very easy and takes only a couple of minutes so when that does happen I just file a report. The site shows how long it has been since the last report so it is easy to know the probability that the price is right.

It would be nice to have that much.

We have used Gas Buddy for years. I like it because I can locate fuel for the gas powered SUV or the diesel truck.

I suggest that you start by visiting Bryant RV Service site for a copy of the service manual. Based on what you have done I would suspect the power supply section. parts manual

I saw one of the Escapade Crosscountry models at Escapade a while back. It is a bit too small for us today, but it is still a very impressive RV. Welcome to the RV lifestyle!

Even more likely, they bought it with nothing inside. No bedding, no dishes, no pots or pans, no anything. And they have no experience they want to take it home and start learning. It sounds like a good plan to me.

Very unusual to happen just to steal a small travel trailer that is sitting in a motel parking area which is most likely lighted.

To keep the trailer locked to the hitch I would suggest a coupler lock such as this one. When detached from the tow vehicle this type works better.