Recent content by BruceR

Selecting a motorhome is a serious exercise in managing design trade-offs. While it's enjoyable to have everything possible loaded into a rig, I would soon tire of it as it's difficult to wrangle a 35' behemoth around town and into campsites. At the low end, a spartan 18' van conversion will...

Take a look at Veterans Park in the city of Monterey. It's very nice and close to everything on the peninsula. First come, first serve, I believe.

On my Chinook, the third switch turns on a lamp near the waste dump valves.

For the most part, the Tetons are downwind of the forest fires and the Redwoods are upwind. The upwind side gets my vote. Last year, I vacationed mostly on the Calif coast to get away from the oppressive heat and smoke.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant -- make the holes on the fins oversized a bit to allow the fins to sit flat. Just today, I replace the cooling unit on my Dometic refrigerator and took a hard look at the fin and backing plate geometry. I see just too much risk trying to use screws to re-attach...

I trust you use some sort of sanitizer or filter for that stream water, otherwise Giardia (aka beaver fever) could well strike. Not only will you become infected, your RV water supply will also get contaminated.

Yosemite in October is great for walks through the fall color. Most of the valley floor has trees showing colorful leaves but the Mirror Lake loop to the far end (a 5 mile hike) is the best. I've been twice now and the temperatures were mild. The setting sun will turn Half Dome a brilliant...

Also, before you try to adhere the fins to the backing plate, you might want to drill out the rivet holes on the fins so the fins sit flat on the backing plate. This assumes the fins simply pulled straight off the rivets.

RV Cooling Unit Warehouse has two good video tutorials that explain how the Dometic refrigerators are put together (and taken apart). The better one is titled "Click here for Dometic PDF File Change out Details". After viewing it, you might be dissuaded from poking and screwing around in there...

You might consider making your own heavy-duty extension cable out of 6 gauge bulk cable. For about $300 for cable (and a bit more for 30 amp connectors), you'll have yourself a true 30 amp cable that loses only about 3% of line voltage. I've done this before with good results. Later, the cable...

I'm done with fluorescent lamps ... when they die at home or in the RV, they get replaced with some sort of LED. My RV tubes draw about 2 amps (per fixture) but my LEDs are somewhere between 1/10 and 1/2 amp (per fixture).

From the Calif DMV site: "In California, brakes are required on any trailer coach or camp trailer having a gross weight of 1500 lbs. or more."

I have to jump through hoops every year to get my 2000 Ford E350-based Chinook smogged in California. It is a 49 state vehicle that has only two O2 sensors rather than a Calif model's four sensors. Because of this, the OBD reports the engine control system as "not ready" and the SMOG testers...

It sure sounds like your points (or equivalent electronic device) aren't opening the circuit to allow the spark to be generated. When you are releasing the start button, YOU are acting as the points.

It all depends upon what you want and need for two-wheeled transportation. If you're only wanting a bike for the local five-mile runs to the store, lake, trailhead, and the like, you might consider a lighter bike (or scooter) with about a 150cc engine. These tend to weigh in at 200-260 lbs...