First-Time Experience

The charging of the battery brings up a question I have had, and never bothered to ask. I MIGHT (key word being MIGHT) go boon docking sometime. I am wondering about the charging of the battery when needed. I could go either of two ways. Plug the trailer straight into my Honda E2000 or plug my Xantrex 10 amp charger into the Honda and from there into the battery itself. Which is the better approach?

Mike Anderson

[Bill]

Mike -

The Honda's built-in charger is rated to put only 8 amps into the battery, and it is a "dumb" charger. The Xantrex is a "smart" charger. But the best answer is to power up the TM and let the TM's converter charge the battery. It will put in 30 amps (if the battery needs it) and is also a "smart" charger.

Bill

[countrygirl]

13dano

Since I live in Florida and have for a long time...actually all my life... I wondered where Tierra Verde, FL. is located...so I looked it up. Looks like you are a little farther out then just a barrier island. So...I was wondering...do you take you TM home via a ferry?

Originally Posted by camp2canoe

One hint - many bath houses at campgrounds have a hose spigot they use for maintenence purposes that you can use to fill a jug or possibly even reach your TM with if you have enough hose. - camp2canoe

Be very careful that the spigot is potable water. Even thought the shower and sink should have potable water, it is no guarantee that the maintenance spigot is, unless you can physically see it attached to the same lines.

Chap

Thanks Bill...that is exactly what I wanted to know. I especially like the idea of not having to fool around with my Xantrex charger....Just plug and play (to coin a phrase)...

Mike

Originally Posted by BrigCA61

By the way, we usually charge our toilet with 2 gal. of water (just what is needed to get it to cycle properly) and add appropriate chemicals before we leave... makes it nice for when you arrive... can use the toilet immediately... and it's one less step to have to deal with.

Ditto here. I add an enzyme to the toilet also, so all of that sloshing around in transit should help to dissolve any solids, and then add the deodorizer when I get to the campsite.

I also leave the hot H2O tank filled (non freezing weather), and have enough water in the fresh H20 tank to get me through shorter camping trips, as I am a little leary of the water quality in some places. I also carry 5 gals of H20 in milk jugs in the bed of the truck as backup. I hate to carry the extra weight in the TM, but I just don't like sterilizing the H20 system very often.

13dano, sounds like a great camping trip, especially for the 1st time out.

Chap

Countrygirl and all,
Tierra Verde is reachable by bridge, although I do have to traverse six of them coming home from work!
It is also the home of Fort Desoto Park, which recently was voted the best beach in the USA I believe. I'm a fairly avid biker and it's a great place to go biking with many miles of trails. Also, they have a great campground there that I highly recommend. They have over 200 sites with full hookups. Although it's about 3 miles away, I took the TM there for the very first outing as a test. They have pet-friendly sites and many sites are located on the water. It's almost always at capacity though.
Here is the link:
http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_Ft_DeSoto.htm
Bill, good post about charging...I hooked up the TM to my Honda generator and it was the quickest and easiest way to charge.
Heeding the sage advice, for my next boondocking adventure I am going to fill the water before leaving. It's only 20 gallons (actually a bit less) and it would have saved me time and money this past trip. I am going to purchase roll-up hoses too. This is a great forum and I learn so much!
The biggest thing I've learned is that I am now a boondocking fan and can't wait until my next adventure.

I've been thinking of buying a couple of those colapsable 5 gal jugs to fill and store on the heater side of the trailer. Another ten gal to refill with is a good idea if you are boondocking where there is no water. Over Thanksgiving we dry camped for five days but there happened to be a spigot right next to our site. We ran out of water on day four and that little refill was nice. A couple of showers and trying to fix the outside shower used quite a bit of the tank. In an emergency you can drain the water heater into a container for six more gal via the front drain. Just make sure it's off.

It was cold at night in the 30's and we set the furnace to it's lowest setting overnight of about 50F. It kept us warm enough so our kids, 6mos and 2.5yrs, didn't popsiclize. Kids, in general, are pretty tough. We tent camped with them in below freezing conditions. I think it was tougher on us making sure they were ok. I ran the generator a couple of times; more to recharge the laptop because my silly inverter won't and to watch "The Italian Job" via a projector we brought. Camping huh?

Brings me to a question really. So you're ready to head out on a boondocking adventure in the winter. Fill up the water tanks and heater. Head out for a drive through the mountains to a snowy destination. What are the chances that the water will freeze en route? Anyone traveled in conditions like that with water in the TM?

I can't answer the question about water in the TM, but I recently travelled a day with two 7 gallon plastic containers in the back of the truck, thinking, "Oh, it's only going to be in the 20s, if I put hot water into them when I start, they won't freeze - there's a lot of thermal mass in 7 gallons of water."

I ended up with two 7 gallon ice cubes. Fortunately the cheap containers stretched a bit. I would hate to find out if the TM tank can stretch though. I wouldn't risk it, personally. Is there someplace within 30 minutes or so of your campsite where you can fill up? That's the option I'd use.

Originally Posted by larsdennert

Brings me to a question really. So you're ready to head out on a boondocking adventure in the winter. Fill up the water tanks and heater. Head out for a drive through the mountains to a snowy destination. What are the chances that the water will freeze en route? Anyone traveled in conditions like that with water in the TM?

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about that problem. I will be interested in people's ideas on this, also.

Chap