Hey y'all. If you are handy, have troubleshooting skills and are mechanically inclined you can save yourself a bucket full of money. All repairs, upgrades overall maintenance is done by me. Since I have retired (from being paid to work) I have even more time to tinker. And outside of having tires mounted I have been able to handle anything my camper asks of me. Stay safe and healthy!
I saw one poster suggest when you very first get your trailer, camp a few nights and days in it in your driveway or a camp site close by. When first stocking up you trailer use items you already own, don't start buying stuff you may not need. (It's easy to buy to much in the beginning because your excited and have one thought things) Take one fry in pan, one set of dishes, one drinking cup, only the amount of clothes, towels, shampoo, soap, ECT just enough for the number of day you are camping. Remember don't over weight your trailer. Put in just enough water to flush the toilet for traveling, (water is 8 lbs per gallon) weight adds up fast. Take some food, just don't over do it you can purchase it near where your staying. Your camp will have water so you can fill your tank there. This way you can cook, bath, use the toilet, sleep, ect. This way you can see what you might need or don't need. Keep it simple while your testing and finding out how you want to camp. Don't spend slot of money on gadgets and stuff, you may experience buyers remorse. If you have friends that live in the country ask them if you can practice on their property.
Great video. We just found your channel and subscribed. We've been on the road FT for 5 years now like you two. We took an early retirement, sold everything, bought an older MH and hit the road. It was the best decision we ever made. When we stay in RV parks, we only do monthly stays. We have found that Forest Service campgrounds and Army COE parks are an exceptional value too, especially if you get the America the Beautiful (old fart pass) 50% discount. We discovered that we enjoy boondocking and it helps stretch our budget too, so we boondock most of the time. We quickly learned the advantages of solar and decided to build our solar/battery system in 2 phases, a 12v system for our basic 12v DC needs and a 48v system for our 110v A/C needs. We started with a pair of lead acid golf cart batteries and custom built a 620-watt liftable solar array mounted on the side of our motorhome. We lift the array to the optimal angle to improve their output by 20-30% vs flat mounted panels - even more in the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky. It serves as a nice bedroom window awning too, practically lifting itself to the desired angle with a couple gas struts, and it's easy to clean with a windshield squeegee, standing safely on the ground. This set-up, while far from optimal, allowed us to boondock till we could afford to do better. We just finished the 12v part of our build last January, with the addition of a 560ah LiFePo-4 battery that we built with 8, 280ah "A" grade prismatic cells. We use a Heltec 350amp BMS, and a 5a active balancer to keep the cells synched up. We typically use less than 20% of their capacity daily giving us enough reserve capacity for about a week of bad weather before we have to run our generator for charging. It cost us less than $1,500 to build this 560ah 12v (7.1Kwh) battery, including the high amp BMS and balancer. We chose these cells rather than a pre-built battery because they fit perfectly under the steps of our MH where our old pair of GC-2 golf cart batteries used to reside, saving 35lbs too. We insulated the battery compartment, cut a 1" hole in our step risers and installed a tiny computer CPU fan to keep this space at close to room temperature, so we don't have to worry about the BMS shutting down charging if they get too cold - or their life reduced from getting too hot. We use an 80A Progressive Dynamics LFP converter/charger, a 1,000w Renogy PSW inverter (to run our TV, PC, ice maker, etc.), an Epever 50a MPPT charge controller and a Lnex battery monitor/shunt. This entire 12v system cost us under $3,500 to build and takes care of all of our basic off-grid needs except for air conditioning and microwave use. By mounting our solar array on the side of our MH, we left the roof free to rack 8, 550W Sungold Power solar panels (4,400 watts) down the length of our 35ft Class A about 15" off our roof, above our AC, fan shrouds, etc. They will cover the entire roof, providing some nice shade with plenty of cooling air underneath, further increasing solar output and reducing the heat load on the air conditioners too. We bought them for $2,226. That's only 51 cents/watt shipped to our door! We're assembling the components of this build now. We bought our aluminum racking material in Yuma, where we're wintering over this year, for under $400, which is the best price we've found. Our solar panels, wiring breakers, etc. arrived last week, but we're taking our time to get everything in and installed over the winter. At 67 yrs old, we're moving much slower these days. Our Sungold Power all-in-one 48V, 5,000W, 120V PSW Inverter/100A charge controller/battery charger just arrived Saturday. Our 48v battery bank will use 16, 320ah grade A prismatic cells which only cost us $1,726 from EEL batteries. So together with our 560ah (7.1 Kwh)12v bank, we will have a total of 23.5 Kwh of batteries onboard - kept charged with over 5,000 watts of solar. We will be replacing our 24 yr old rear 13.5k btu rooftop Dometic AC with an EG4 28.5 seer-2 plug and play 12k btu mini-split heat pump. This second phase will provide 24/7 off-grid air conditioning, supplemental heat from the heat pump and allow occasional usage of our rooftop mounted Furrion AC in the front of our MH during peak afternoon hours, as well as give us whole house 120v ac power. We'll soon have total off-grid electrical independence on a budget we can afford, upgrading our system a step at a time as you suggest. Take care, we hope to see you down the road!
after almost 2 years now, and speeding up our travel a bit, typically staying 4-5 nights on average we still average $1,000/mo on campgrounds, and $1,000/mo on diesel. We tend to do State Parks Sunday-Thursday night, then Harvest Hosts Friday and Saturday nights, (thats when the entertainment and food trucks are at many places) now to be honest, I think we usually spend between $100-$150 at a HH, BUT we look at that as a Date night, or our "out to eat" times, and we have had some great experiences, a few odd ones as well.
TSD (Open Roads) has saved us a TON of money, we got over $1.20/gal off the board price at a T/A the other day, paid $3.20/gal for diesel, when everyplace else was $389-$4.09
Sounds like the way we like to travel. Loves truck stops have a discount program too. We like going there because almost all of them have dog parks now. They’re not large but it gives the dogs a chance to sniff and go to the bathroom unleashed.
Hi your Canadian fans in Florida, been doing boondockers welcome ...meet many nice and friendly people and easy to prebook ,just stay at each place as long as you can.. also insulated walls use furnace once on trip . Electric heater the answer...👍 Merry Christmas 🥂🌲🤘🐴🙂 Randy & Judy 🇨🇦...
Hey you two .... been watching with no time to comment .... thanks for all your videos this year ...always looking forward to the next one .... Merry Christmas to you and your families and a Happy New Year ... You said sometime about the goat .... where's the goat ... we were born 40 miles outside of Cleveland in 1957 .... Go Browns .... thanks for all you do in videos and in real life ... Larry
Hi, Larry! So great to hear that. The goat is always on the desk when we're not traveling 😆 Hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas! Thanks so much for being with us this year!
Hello. Great video. Just watched the comparison of the Class C to your rig. That was helpful.. looking to downsize from 5er to one of those Views. Happy New Year! Safe travels.
Great idea's love watching you. Being over 60 and living in ohio we have golden buckie card it get you hafe price at state parks, Sunday to Thursday and 10% Friday and Saturday. So plann are camping Sunday to Wednesday normally make it less than 15 a night at most park. Say safe and go Bears 🐻
Good morning. Great advice, saving money is always important. But like you said, if it’s important to you, spend the money and get that experience. Great video. Stay warm.
We love Harvest Hosts too, but we tend to spend a decent amount at them - they are our treat stays! I mix in COEs and National Forest campgrounds (as we get the senior discount) when I want to get our daily average down. We are lucky to have an awesome moochdocking spot near my brother’s so use that for our long stays for medical, vet & projects. Nice video!
Haha we honestly end up spending more at Harvest Hosts too....more than we'd likely spend on a campground 😅 That sounds like the perfect combo to keep the costs down! Thank you!
I am now planning a trip from the Chicago area to SW South Dakota. We are staying at Harvest Hosts on the way to and from SD. Also one night at a COE campground. We have a National Park pass so we get 50% off the COE fee.😊
Gas buddies paid membership is only like $7 a month. With that you get 20 cents off I believe 30 gallons of gas. And then after that .05 cen a gallon sometimes I save $15 in a month for only my $7 membership
Thank you for the tips!! We live in MI just south of Grand Rapids. We are hoping to camp in an Indiana state park within 3 hours from home. Can you tell me your favorite state park campgrounds in mid to northern Indiana?
We are 62+ and many states provide senior discounts. Of course we have the Senior Lifetime America the Beautiful (50% off at National Parks, National Forests, BLM paid campgrounds, CoE, and other federal lands) and some states honor that for a discount as well. We currently have TX and GA state passes and recovered our cost in a visit or two. You need to look at each state website and plan accordingly.
Have a GREAT week, everyone! ❤
Hey y'all. If you are handy, have troubleshooting skills and are mechanically inclined you can save yourself a bucket full of money. All repairs, upgrades overall maintenance is done by me. Since I have retired (from being paid to work) I have even more time to tinker. And outside of having tires mounted I have been able to handle anything my camper asks of me. Stay safe and healthy!
Good tips!!
I saw one poster suggest when you very first get your trailer, camp a few nights and days in it
in your driveway or a camp site close by.
When first stocking up you trailer use items you already own, don't start buying stuff you may not
need. (It's easy to buy to much in the beginning because your excited and have one thought things)
Take one fry in pan, one set of dishes, one drinking cup, only the amount of clothes, towels, shampoo, soap, ECT just enough for the number of day you are camping. Remember don't over weight your trailer.
Put in just enough water to flush the toilet for traveling, (water is 8 lbs per gallon) weight adds up fast.
Take some food, just don't over do it you can purchase it near where your staying. Your camp will
have water so you can fill your tank there.
This way you can cook, bath, use the toilet, sleep, ect.
This way you can see what you might need or don't need.
Keep it simple while your testing and finding out how you want to camp.
Don't spend slot of money on gadgets and stuff, you may experience buyers remorse.
If you have friends that live in the country ask them if you can practice on their property.
Great tips, thank you!!
Great video. We just found your channel and subscribed. We've been on the road FT for 5 years now like you two. We took an early retirement, sold everything, bought an older MH and hit the road. It was the best decision we ever made. When we stay in RV parks, we only do monthly stays. We have found that Forest Service campgrounds and Army COE parks are an exceptional value too, especially if you get the America the Beautiful (old fart pass) 50% discount. We discovered that we enjoy boondocking and it helps stretch our budget too, so we boondock most of the time. We quickly learned the advantages of solar and decided to build our solar/battery system in 2 phases, a 12v system for our basic 12v DC needs and a 48v system for our 110v A/C needs. We started with a pair of lead acid golf cart batteries and custom built a 620-watt liftable solar array mounted on the side of our motorhome. We lift the array to the optimal angle to improve their output by 20-30% vs flat mounted panels - even more in the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky. It serves as a nice bedroom window awning too, practically lifting itself to the desired angle with a couple gas struts, and it's easy to clean with a windshield squeegee, standing safely on the ground. This set-up, while far from optimal, allowed us to boondock till we could afford to do better.
We just finished the 12v part of our build last January, with the addition of a 560ah LiFePo-4 battery that we built with 8, 280ah "A" grade prismatic cells. We use a Heltec 350amp BMS, and a 5a active balancer to keep the cells synched up. We typically use less than 20% of their capacity daily giving us enough reserve capacity for about a week of bad weather before we have to run our generator for charging. It cost us less than $1,500 to build this 560ah 12v (7.1Kwh) battery, including the high amp BMS and balancer. We chose these cells rather than a pre-built battery because they fit perfectly under the steps of our MH where our old pair of GC-2 golf cart batteries used to reside, saving 35lbs too. We insulated the battery compartment, cut a 1" hole in our step risers and installed a tiny computer CPU fan to keep this space at close to room temperature, so we don't have to worry about the BMS shutting down charging if they get too cold - or their life reduced from getting too hot. We use an 80A Progressive Dynamics LFP converter/charger, a 1,000w Renogy PSW inverter (to run our TV, PC, ice maker, etc.), an Epever 50a MPPT charge controller and a Lnex battery monitor/shunt. This entire 12v system cost us under $3,500 to build and takes care of all of our basic off-grid needs except for air conditioning and microwave use.
By mounting our solar array on the side of our MH, we left the roof free to rack 8, 550W Sungold Power solar panels (4,400 watts) down the length of our 35ft Class A about 15" off our roof, above our AC, fan shrouds, etc. They will cover the entire roof, providing some nice shade with plenty of cooling air underneath, further increasing solar output and reducing the heat load on the air conditioners too. We bought them for $2,226. That's only 51 cents/watt shipped to our door! We're assembling the components of this build now. We bought our aluminum racking material in Yuma, where we're wintering over this year, for under $400, which is the best price we've found. Our solar panels, wiring breakers, etc. arrived last week, but we're taking our time to get everything in and installed over the winter. At 67 yrs old, we're moving much slower these days. Our Sungold Power all-in-one 48V, 5,000W, 120V PSW Inverter/100A charge controller/battery charger just arrived Saturday. Our 48v battery bank will use 16, 320ah grade A prismatic cells which only cost us $1,726 from EEL batteries. So together with our 560ah (7.1 Kwh)12v bank, we will have a total of 23.5 Kwh of batteries onboard - kept charged with over 5,000 watts of solar. We will be replacing our 24 yr old rear 13.5k btu rooftop Dometic AC with an EG4 28.5 seer-2 plug and play 12k btu mini-split heat pump. This second phase will provide 24/7 off-grid air conditioning, supplemental heat from the heat pump and allow occasional usage of our rooftop mounted Furrion AC in the front of our MH during peak afternoon hours, as well as give us whole house 120v ac power. We'll soon have total off-grid electrical independence on a budget we can afford, upgrading our system a step at a time as you suggest. Take care, we hope to see you down the road!
Thanks so much for following along! Stay safe out there!
All good tips! A good way to save money is to cook in your RV. Restaurants have got real expensive! Merry Xmas!
Thanks! You too!
after almost 2 years now, and speeding up our travel a bit, typically staying 4-5 nights on average we still average $1,000/mo on campgrounds, and $1,000/mo on diesel. We tend to do State Parks Sunday-Thursday night, then Harvest Hosts Friday and Saturday nights, (thats when the entertainment and food trucks are at many places) now to be honest, I think we usually spend between $100-$150 at a HH, BUT we look at that as a Date night, or our "out to eat" times, and we have had some great experiences, a few odd ones as well.
I like the date night idea! We always end up spending too much at the HH as well 😆
TSD (Open Roads) has saved us a TON of money, we got over $1.20/gal off the board price at a T/A the other day, paid $3.20/gal for diesel, when everyplace else was $389-$4.09
Thanks, Scott! Hope you guys are doing good!
Sounds like the way we like to travel. Loves truck stops have a discount program too. We like going there because almost all of them have dog parks now. They’re not large but it gives the dogs a chance to sniff and go to the bathroom unleashed.
It's all for the pups, right?! ❤️
Hi your Canadian fans in Florida, been doing boondockers welcome ...meet many nice and friendly people and easy to prebook ,just stay at each place as long as you can.. also insulated walls use furnace once on trip . Electric heater the answer...👍 Merry Christmas 🥂🌲🤘🐴🙂 Randy & Judy 🇨🇦...
Hey, Randy! Great tips! Merry Christmas to you all!! ❤️
Awesome advice ! Thanks so much!!
You are so welcome!
Hey you two .... been watching with no time to comment .... thanks for all your videos this year ...always looking forward to the next one .... Merry Christmas to you and your families and a Happy New Year ... You said sometime about the goat .... where's the goat ... we were born 40 miles outside of Cleveland in 1957 .... Go Browns .... thanks for all you do in videos and in real life ... Larry
Hi, Larry! So great to hear that. The goat is always on the desk when we're not traveling 😆 Hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas! Thanks so much for being with us this year!
Great tips. Thank you
Thanks so much, Betty Jo! Merry Christmas!
Hello. Great video. Just watched the comparison of the Class C to your rig. That was helpful.. looking to downsize from 5er to one of those Views. Happy New Year! Safe travels.
Glad it was helpful!
Another wonderful video! Have a great week.🎉
Thank you! You too!
Great idea's love watching you. Being over 60 and living in ohio we have golden buckie card it get you hafe price at state parks, Sunday to Thursday and 10% Friday and Saturday. So plann are camping Sunday to Wednesday normally make it less than 15 a night at most park. Say safe and go Bears 🐻
Awe, thank you! That is awesome! 🐻👇
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for watching! Hope it's helpful 🥰
Good morning. Great advice, saving money is always important. But like you said, if it’s important to you, spend the money and get that experience. Great video. Stay warm.
Thank you!! Merry Christmas!
I have always enjoyed staying at Corp of Engineers campgrounds, they are always clean and well maintained. Rates are good too.
I totally agree!
Yes everything is sky high! Except the pay. Good luck in your journeys and keep up the great videos. I look forward to em on Wednesdays at 8.
Thank you! You too!
We love Harvest Hosts too, but we tend to spend a decent amount at them - they are our treat stays! I mix in COEs and National Forest campgrounds (as we get the senior discount) when I want to get our daily average down. We are lucky to have an awesome moochdocking spot near my brother’s so use that for our long stays for medical, vet & projects. Nice video!
Haha we honestly end up spending more at Harvest Hosts too....more than we'd likely spend on a campground 😅 That sounds like the perfect combo to keep the costs down! Thank you!
What is the best way to pay for all of that . Do you put it all on a credit card or a bank card. Or what. Thank you.
Yesterday open roads saved me $.95 per gallon on fuel at a Caseys.
Nice!
I am now planning a trip from the Chicago area to SW South Dakota. We are staying at Harvest Hosts on the way to and from SD. Also one night at a COE campground. We have a National Park pass so we get 50% off the COE fee.😊
Oh I didn't even think about the half price COEs with the National Park pass!! Great suggestion! And that sounds like a wonderful trip 🥰
Gas buddies paid membership is only like $7 a month. With that you get 20 cents off I believe 30 gallons of gas. And then after that .05 cen a gallon sometimes I save $15 in a month for only my $7 membership
Nice! Thank you!
Thank you for the tips!! We live in MI just south of Grand Rapids. We are hoping to camp in an Indiana state park within 3 hours from home. Can you tell me your favorite state park campgrounds in mid to northern Indiana?
Awesome!! We actually haven't stayed in the north part of the state! You'll have to let us know where you end up!
Turkey Run State Park is beautiful! We haven’t camped there, but we have visited multiple times.
Also is a 5 wheel or class A or C in the future?
🤔
Good morning doing your own cooking when possible, learn how to make repairs on your rig.
Good tips!
You’re not missing much with the Walmart stay, Walmarts are a little creepy anymore
Do you use a MacBook to edit your videos And what video editer
MacBook Pro and Premiere Pro to edit! clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p=264355&a=3190461&g=22804962
Do have have state park pass for each state at parks
We will only get a State Park pass if we're going to be in that state for a while. Good question!
We are 62+ and many states provide senior discounts. Of course we have the Senior Lifetime America the Beautiful (50% off at National Parks, National Forests, BLM paid campgrounds, CoE, and other federal lands) and some states honor that for a discount as well. We currently have TX and GA state passes and recovered our cost in a visit or two. You need to look at each state website and plan accordingly.