| |
Subject |
Author |
Date Posted |
Forum
|
 |
RE: Mobile Internet Service Providers
RV.NET has a good set of Blogs and one of them is on Internet Access:
Internet Access
If you go over there and read the entries you'll get a good basic understanding of what is available. Cheaper and better don't go together in this case.
BK
|
agesilaus
|
07/16/08 06:08pm |
General RVing Issues
|
|
RE: Camping trip from Hades
Traffic around those beaches has been awful every time I've been up there. I wasn't awfully impressed with Big Lagoon either when we camped there. maybe would give it a 5 out of 10 score. I thought it had small crowded sites in the part we were in.
BK
|
agesilaus
|
07/16/08 01:18pm |
RV Lifestyle
|
|
RE: Water filtration
You can sanitize your tank with unscented clorox, from their website:
"# Add 8 drops of Clorox® Regular-Bleach (not scented or color-safe) to one gallon of water (2 drops to 1 quart). For cloudy water, use 16 drops per gallon of water (4 drops to 1 quart).
# Allow the treated water to stand for 30 minutes. Water should have a slight bleach odor. If not, repeat and wait another 15 minutes. The treated water can then be made palatable by pouring it between clean containers several times.
It doesn't hurt to somewhat overdose so a half a cup or a cup of chorox in your tank would probably work fine. I leave it overnight and then drain and fill a couple of times. This idea that the water in your tank is unsafe to drink is just silly IMO. Disinfect it at the start of the season, drain it before a trip and refill with fresh water. And it should be fine to use. For it to become unsafe someone would have to add something to your tank that contaminated it. Water is not going to go bad just sitting in a tank.
BK
|
agesilaus
|
07/16/08 10:17am |
General RVing Issues
|
|
RE: Safe tire temps
Harbor Freight has them for $10-20 and I think Radio Shack also has them for a bit more.
|
agesilaus
|
07/15/08 07:49pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Safe tire temps
I wouldn't use an IR thermometer to tell me the absolute temp. of a tire. I would use it to find out if one was running hotter than the rest, then find out why.
That was my thought too, but it seems that there is a lot of variation in tire temps, which side the sun is on actually seems to make a difference.
I searched the Dexter site again and could not find any reference to temperatures, I even used Google to search using the site: keyword.
BK
|
agesilaus
|
07/15/08 11:37am |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Blue Ridge Parkway
We just got home from doing sections of both the Sky Way and Blue Ridge. There are some detours but these just route you to local roads for 15 or 20 minutes and are no big deal. We got off below Linville Falls and got on I-26 down to I-95.
Just be aware that the speed limit is 45 mph but you won't be able to drive that fast, you will probably average 35 or below. I'd estimate well over 20 driving hours for the whole thing and that doesn't count stops. There was more traffic on Saturday but nothing that was any sort of problem. We got off and found a KOA off I-81 at Staunton I think. Darned pricey too but we didn't feel like driving another hour to Natural Bridge where there is a PPA CG.
|
agesilaus
|
07/14/08 06:53pm |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
|
|
Safe tire temps
OK I've been having a discussion about using one of these cheap ir thermometers on the tires when stopping to gas up. This is on a TT but could apply anywhere I suppose. I've done some google search but hhave not found an answer. Just what is the normal safe max temp on these tires? Mine were running in the mid-130's after a long interstate run, but that was with the air temp in the 90's and I assume the pavement temp would probably be well above that.
Bearing temps would be as high or higher than the tire temps I assume. I found nothing on the Dexter site tho.
Anyone have any info on this?
BK
|
agesilaus
|
07/14/08 06:35pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: anyone ran the gamut of,tt,fw,m-homes and thinking pup?
We've gone the other way from 3 popups to a hard sided Trailmanor. And you might want to seriously think about the problems with popups. Mainly how long it takes to break down and setup (way too long) plus the weather problem. If you run into a couple of days of rain you will not enjoy your popup. As mentioned you also give up privacy and the bathrooms are minimalist to say the least.
Think about HiLo and Trailmanor you might like one of them.
BK
|
agesilaus
|
07/14/08 06:21pm |
Folding Trailers
|
|
RE: 95 North or 295 North in Maine?
We just drove down 95 from Bar Harbor to Wamputuck SP south of Boston. I don't know anything about 295 but we had no problems on 95. People that say that Wamputuck is little known are right tho, the place is just about impossible to find, hardly any signage until you almost get there.
BK
|
agesilaus
|
07/13/08 07:56pm |
Roads and Routes
|
|
RE: opinions, please- wind turbines and campgrounds
Wind turbines are not going to solve the energy problem:
1) They only make power when the wind is blowing and when the wind stops blowing you still have to have all the fossil powered plants that you would have had otherwise. So they eliminate no fossil powered plants. And if you did build enough to idle some normal power plants you would still have to pay to staff the idle plants since the wind can stop blowing at any time and that means you have to have the staff in the plants to start them up on a rapid basis. Texas just about lost the grid a few months ago when the wind suddenly stopped blowing and they had to find 1000 MW of power in a matter of minutes.
2) It takes a lot more in the way of transmission lines to run lines to 250 2 MW wind turbines scattered over hundreds of square miles of country than it does to run lines to one 500 MW fossil or hydro plant. Those lines are not in place and will cost billions to build. Plus you have to add all the MIMBY screaming about building transmission lines in.
3) The wind turbines are proving to be much less robust than claimed. The generators are failing in a year or two and have to be replaced but since there is a building boom all the production is going to new construction. So when you look at a line of these and see many of the blades locked in place that is the reason. Also the towers which are hundreds of feet high have a nasty proclivity of snapping off and falling. That can be unsttling if you are in the vicinity.
4) These units are have an availability factor around 20% when all the factors are added up: no wind, mechanical failure and so on. A good power plant will have an availability factor of 80-90%. So from that standpoint you would have to build 4 times as many wind turbines scattered over a vast area to assure wind availability to replace fossil plants.
All in all these make as much sense as corn based ethanol.
|
agesilaus
|
07/13/08 07:41pm |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
|
|
RE: opinions, please- wind turbines and campgrounds
Wind turbines are not going to solve the energy problem:
1) They only make power when the wind is blowing and when the wind stops blowing you still have to have all the fossil powered plants that you would have had otherwise. So they eliminate no fossil powered plants. And if you did build enough to idle some normal power plants you would still have to pay to staff the idle plants since the wind can stop blowing at any time and that means you have to have the staff in the plants to start them up on a rapid basis. Texas just about lost the grid a few months ago when the wind suddenly stopped blowing and they had to find 1000 MW of power in a matter of minutes.
2) It takes a lot more in the way of transmission lines to run lines to 250 2 MW wind turbines scattered over hundreds of square miles of country than it does to run lines to one 500 MW fossil or hydro plant. Those lines are not in place and will cost billions to build. Plus you have to add all the MIMBY screaming about building transmission lines in.
3) The wind turbines are proving to be much less robust than claimed. The generators are failing in a year or two and have to be replaced but since there is a building boom all the production is going to new construction. So when you look at a line of these and see many of the blades locked in place that is the reason. Also the towers which are hundreds of feet high have a nasty proclivity of snapping off and falling. That can be unsttling if you are in the vicinity.
4) These units are have an availability factor around 20% when all the factors are added up: no wind, mechanical failure and so on. A good power plant will have an availability factor of 80-90%. So from that standpoint you would have to build 4 times as many wind turbines scattered over a vast area to assure wind availability to replace fossil plants.
All in all these make as much sense as corn based ethanol.
|
agesilaus
|
07/13/08 07:39pm |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
|
|
RE: opinions, please- wind turbines and campgrounds
LOL, these are small generators no more than a couple megawatts in most cases. A normal power plant will be 250 MW and up and I haven't heard of any sleep disturbances from those generators and lots of folks sleep much closer than a mile from them.
I can't comment on the noise issue but I think it is unlikely that you will be hearing them from 10,000 feet away.
Don't think this makes me a wind turbine supporter, they make no sense economically or from the power grid standpoint.
|
agesilaus
|
07/13/08 06:19pm |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
|
|
RE: Newbie: How do I remove the races?
Well that fellow on that youtube video was not only beating on a screwdriver but he was using a carpenter's claw hammer to do it with and worse was using the claw hammer on a steel rod and chisel too. That fellow must have flunked out of shop class.
Claw hammers have a hardened steel face that is designed to hammer in soft steel nails and can shatter when used to hit hardened steel objects. Use a Ball Peen or Machinist hammer.
|
agesilaus
|
07/13/08 05:39pm |
Travel Trailers
|
|
RE: daming of niagra falls
We just got back from a trip that included Niagara Falls, and as someone who has been thru Environmental Engineering school my primary thought on the Maid of the Mists was that the water smells exactly like sewage plant effluent. Kind of took the enjoyment out of that segment of the trip for me.
BK
|
agesilaus
|
07/13/08 05:22pm |
Beginning RVing
|
|
RE: Tried new "Formaldehyde-Free" chemical. What a JOKE!
Pepsodent toothpaste for decades contained formaldehyde and I have heard of no reports of millions of dead customers from that.
|
agesilaus
|
07/13/08 05:16pm |
Beginning RVing
|
|
RE: private membership camping
Join Passport America for $44/yr and get half price camping at thousands of CG across the country. Most run at $12-15 a night after the discount. PPA is the only subscription CG service that makes any sense to me. Of course we think of a CG as a place to park the RV while we do things in the area and do not think of a CG as a destination in itself.
If you are thinking about Thousand Trails I would urge you to search the forums before sending them any money, there seem to be a LOT of very upset ex-members.
|
agesilaus
|
07/06/08 07:24pm |
Travel Trailers
|
|
RE: Carlsbad road information
Whites is right outside Carlsbad, I've been by it a number of times but never stayed there. It reminded me of Ruby's outside Bryce, a very touristy site if you know what I mean.
I don't know of any good CG near Carlsbad we always end up staying quite away off but never found any especially good site.
|
agesilaus
|
07/06/08 07:11pm |
Roads and Routes
|
|
RE: Ethanol in fuel?
Ethanol has a much lower energy content, you will get lower mpg
|
agesilaus
|
06/25/08 08:52pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Connecticut to Gettysburg, PA
We're going there too, from Boston but not until after the 4th.
|
agesilaus
|
06/25/08 08:42pm |
Roads and Routes
|
|
RE: Pop-ups & bears
North Rim was heck on campsite inspections too. We camped just about in all the major NP and never had a problem with having a PUP. Never tried Fishing Bridge we stayed down in the Tetons. Did Glacier, Touloumne Meadows, and a lot of other bear problem parks.
|
agesilaus
|
06/25/08 08:32pm |
Folding Trailers
|
