Best family boondocking rigs?
We currently have a 29' (33' overall) travel trailer. The clearance is decent, but the long overhang behind the axles (and to a degree in front of the axles) makes off-road maneuvering tough. I can'...
Forum Discussion
RoyB wrote:
Our setup blends in quiet well with all the generator run time restrictions here on the East side of the US. Unlike the West side of the US it is very hard to be able to run your generator here anytime you want to so we had to beef-up the battery system and run from and only use our Generator setup to re-charge our batteries once a day for a three hour generator run time when and where allowed.
Nice pop-up setup you have there!
I'm curious about one thing regarding battery charging in campsites with restricted generator hours or no generators permitted.
With our Class C's V10 engine I can idle it for 2-3 hours to quickly recharge our two 12 volt AGM batteries. It consumes about 0.7 gallons per hour to charge this way and hence can be a bit costly at around $10 per charging session (in V10 gasoline consumption). The Ford V10 idles ultra-quiet and imparts no vibration at all to the floor of our living area while idling, so we are not aware of it running while charging the batteries this way.
Couldn't you charge this way in the East side of the U.S. in those campsites that don't even allow generators or charge this way outside of permitted generator hours in campsites with restrictive generator hours? I'm guessing that your pickup's engine idles very quiet, too, so you could probably charge your batteries the same way if you had to.
I've never fully understood Eastern U.S. generator restrictions. We toured the Eastern U.S. in July and August once and would have died in that heat and humidity when drycamping without being able to use our generator to power our air conditioner. We found on this tour that always driving up into the Eastern U.S. mountain campgrounds to get out of the heat was not practical. In fact due to the humidity, the Eastern U.S. is the highest priority area to permit long generator hours in campgrounds for powering of air conditioners. Sometimes out West here we can just barely get by in the heat with 12 volt RV fans blowing directly on us - but we found this to definitely not be suitable, comfort wise, in the Eastern U.S..
