The Nomadic Life

[PaMtbRider]

Just an fyi, a common misconception is that dielectric grease improves the conductivity of an electrical connection. Dielectric grease is an insulator. Its main purpose is to prevent corrosion by sealing out moisture. It can also help prevent fretting, a pitting of the contact surface due to vibration.

If the connection being made is a loose sloppy fit dielectric grease won't help, it will actually make it worse. The blades of your plug need to fit tight enough in the socket to displace the grease from the contact area.

If you look closely at the blades of an rv plug some of them are not solid but made of layers of thin metal. Take a small screwdriver and spread these layers apart. This can help the plug fit a little tighter in a worn out pedestal socket.

I agree with Josh that using a dielectric grease is a good preventive measure. Go ahead and smear it all over your battery terminals, but use it sparingly in a plug and socket application.

[Too Tall]

Tell us more about the new trailer.

And the tow vehicle...still got the Tundra?

SPP

We have been looking for a 28 International Serenity RBT with manual awnings and dark fabric for ages. This one popped up from a private seller and we grabbed it! As with all things used there are many small things I'm fixing but hey I love doing that. Picked it up in Chandler, AZ slapped new tires on it and went to visit some yahoo framebuilder near Austin. This one has a Blue Ox hitch that needed some fiddling to get it right but now tows well. We sailed over the San Gabriels at 65 mph and downshifted for the steep up/down stuff. The Tundra's small block is the high mark for these gas engines and it's got some sack ;) Four Hundred HP is no joke if you know how to use it. This trailer's ball weight is almost exactly same as our prior trailer. In all honesty I feel that a 1500 pulling this 28 is safe yet I do want some more lead in my arse for the inevitable so yes I think a 2500 is in our future...but not a must have. We towed over 2000 miles across W. Texas and terrible wind storms and felt safe. The Tundra is "enough" but not more than enough get me? Helps?

*Thanks Dan, helps.

[bigbill]

I get it, I like my heavy truck, especially in heavy crosswinds and descending on steep roadways. Gas or diesel, 3/4 ton trucks are great tow vehicles. I would get a Ford or GM because of the Allison 10 speed transmission, both manufacturers use the same transmission. I like it for engine braking on descents with smaller increments. Without a trailer, it is like a seven speed with three overdrives, and helps your mileage. For the most part, unless I'm climbing, my truck with be in tenth gear with the trailer.

Chandler to Austin, I assume you drove I-10 between PHX and Tucson. When it is windy, that stretch is horrible because it's always a crosswind. I've been in a caravan of travel trailers in the right lane doing 50 mph because any faster made it too hard to keep straight. On flat roads, I like to use cruise control, but the anti-sway constantly turns it off on that section.

I'm making my fuel strategery plan. Knowing I can comfortably go 350 miles between fueling and 400 miles in a cold sweat in rural NE Arizona. I leave the Kingman area with a full tank, this time I'll top off in Williams and fuel again in Monticello, Utah. Fuel is stupid expensive between Flagstaff and Blanding, UT. The gas stations on the Navajo/Hopi Reservation are tough with a travel trailer. Monticello has a nice station with pull-throughs with gas and diesel. Easy peasy. I could take more interstates, but pulling a trailer at less than 70 in an 80 mph zone is not my favorite thing. The back roads are nicer.

[PaMtbRider]

We are leaving tomorrow morning for Delaware. This will be the first trip towing with the new truck. The route is pretty much flat so I don't expect any problems. We did do a short tow to our local campground for a shakedown.

I want to run the truck and trailer across scales to check my weight distribution. It did fine but I don't think my hitch is currently transferring much weight to the front tires. I added a washer to the EQ- Lizer hitch to transfer more weight.

This will also be the first time using RV trip wizard for navigation. It's a subscription based program that lets you create an RV safe route ahead of time and then use with Apple CarPlay or download to a gps.

Josh, I like to give you a hard time about the Tundra but it really is a good truck. My Chevy has similar horsepower and probably a little more torque. The big difference is the weight of the truck and the suspension. What little I have driven it I really like it. It is a BIG truck when trying to maneuver in a parking lot.

Tell us more about the caravan. When are you going?

[bigbill]

I had more squat than I wanted, so I swapped out the rubber snubbers between the axle and frame and replaced them with these: https://timbren.com/ It put more weight over my front wheels.

[Too Tall]

Good call Bill, those are the right stuff. For the Tundra there are leaf spring shock absorbers that slow the modulation down. I'm not tempted to do this as I hate messing with the OEM setup.

LOL Dan I know I know and trust me I get alot of kidding about the Tundra "You Tow With That???".

Here are the tentative stops. We'll stay a few nights or more at most places:
- Calgary Stampede
- Banff
- Jasper
- Somewhere near the Columbia Icefield, Alberta
- Lake Louise
- Fairmont Hot Springs
- Bar U Historic Site
- Drumheller, Alberta (last chance saloon). Bill, meet me at the saloon in case of trouble.

As for the (future) truck. I'm a GM kinda of fool and I've got a pal with a dealership in Charlottesville for when I'm feeling flush.

[bigbill]

Yup, the Kimbrel rubber shocks are just hanging out when you're not towing. I have a little more than an inch between the rubber shock and the strike plate on the axle without a trailer. You still have to observe payload limits.

[ides1056]

Bill: I use EMT- electrical conduit- for brace posts when building tensile wire fencing. It used to be cheap: 18$ apiece in ten foot lengths. Light and stiff.

[bigbill]

Bill: I use EMT- electrical conduit- for brace posts when building tensile wire fencing. It used to be cheap: 18$ apiece in ten foot lengths. Light and stiff.

I'm curious on how you use it. Any photos? We are moving our 10X12 shed closer to the trailer spot so I can run cable underground to the shed. 30A is enough for a hotplate to melt oils for soap making and our small portable AC.

[Clyde]

Devil's Fork SP on Lake Jocassee, a Duke Energy lake, very clean, nice camping spot. Planned on riding mtb however our son joined us so that put a damper on driving an hour to the good trail. Save that for later. Had a nice hike up to a long falls with a cave in the center, pic later on that one. Otherwise:
IMG_3205 by Clyde the Pointer, on Flickr
IMG_3207 by Clyde the Pointer, on Flickr
IMG_3212 by Clyde the Pointer, on Flickr
IMG_3216 by Clyde the Pointer, on Flickr
IMG_3218 by Clyde the Pointer, on Flickr

[Too Tall]

1000% outstanding Tim. Love the sausage and peppers prep.

BTW that is quite the lay around hound dog :)

[PaMtbRider]

Drug the trailer to Lum's Pond State Park in Delaware this weekend for an Airstream get together with friends. Friday was beautiful but it rained all day Saturday. At least we had time to get the boats in the water.

[ides1056]

I'm curious on how you use it. Any photos? We are moving our 10X12 shed closer to the trailer spot so I can run cable underground to the shed. 30A is enough for a hotplate to melt oils for soap making and our small portable AC.

This is the best I can do. I used round locust posts, drilled holes with a Russel-Jennings bit and manual brace, set the pipe and inserted spikes into the holes to hold up the pipe- better than a staple, then tensile wire wrapped around both posts with a Gallagher on-line wire strainer to tighten this. Check out the Gallagher website. I used their porcelain insulators and the white equine wire- two strands with aluminum wire for the third at the bottom because it will break fairly easily in case they step through. I had good luck with their products.

I made a simple run-in shed in the corner of the field. Horses have used this as well as cows without issue. Sorry I can't figure out how to make the photo larger.

[Too Tall]

Nice Dan :) Was the crab house without incident?

[PaMtbRider]

Nice Dan :) Was the crab house without incident?

HaHa, yes, no medical staff required.

[bigbill]

Six days until we leave. Trailer tire pressures are good, both propane bottles are full, the truck had an oil change and fuel filters, and I ran a bottle of Seafoam through the generator while I was working in the garage this morning. When we get to Wyoming, I'll fill the gas can with no ethanol 93. The gravel bike now has a 34 small ring. I'm rebelling against Shimano by running a 34/46 and so far the bike hasn't exploded. The Open is all good, I put a new coin battery in the power meter crankset, and I'm still figuring out where to put the extra wheels on the way north. All our stops are based on having stalls for the horses. We'll be in Moab at the fairgrounds the first night. This trip includes two nights in Cheyenne to visit family in northern Colorado. Cheyenne to Worland goes through Casper and Shoshoni, so no mountain passes.

I'll be the home American Legion baseball umpire in Thermopolis. The field is across the road from the thermal springs and the views are incredible.

[Too Tall]

"Almost cut my hair...."

Feeling dirty, tarnished, upended to such a degree that I popped for Starlink Gen 3.

We are on the road or in remote locales so often this single solution siren call has given me side-eye for the last time. I feel dirty.

Rather than integrate the system into our trailer I'll use a powered military-type case to house everything. Just power the case via a 120v extension cord and point the dish to heaven and voila'.

Given the portable nature of this configuration I've got some flexibility otherwise not possible were it integrated to the travel trailer. (cough) I'm "justifying" already ;)

The over under was a easy calculus. Paying near exactly the same for a Nighthawk cellular router and provisioning that with monthly data winds up about $50 more to use Starlink.

Fire away. xxoo

[Clyde]

^ pic please. interested.

[Too Tall]

https://www.savageutv.com/collection...dard-dish-case
Our modest Honda Genset is more than adequate to run this if required.
If your goal is boondocking, in our case same answer. Using this with a inverter/battery source etc. is a bridge too far at this point in my madness.

[bigbill]

We were considering the travel Starlink. We use the non-travel round dish version here in AZ. In Wyoming, I can hotspot my phone and stream TV and have internet for my master's research this summer. Even though the Wyoming place only has 4G, it is a very good signal. We are house hunting to permanently relocate to Wyoming, so it becomes less important to get a travel Starlink. FWIW, I get around 250 MB/sec here in BFE AZ. I know the town in Wyoming has some pretty advanced fiber optic one gig internet providers which I bet will be cheaper than the $120/month I'm paying now for Elon net. Two summers ago, I was able to hotspot in the Fishing Bridge RV Park in Yellowstone.