When did boondocking become weird?
I always thought RVs were supposed to be self-sufficient; that they had water tanks and generators and waste tanks so that you could use them to go camping wherever you wanted and be independent. Now,...
Forum Discussion
Old_Man wrote:
I'll be buying an A and one of the first things I rip out of there (and sell for whatever it'll fetch) will be whatever POS Onan is in there. Sounds like a lawn mower with a Briggs and Stratton. Fine engines, but archaic. Loud. Stinky.
I'll have a Honda. Quiet. Not very stinky. And a 750 watt solar system. LiFePo4 batteries. Two. Looking like 240ah. I haz planz!!!
Hmmmm .... I'd never ever spend Class A or Class B or Class C type money for a motorhome with a built-in generator that was improperly installed enough such that it was too vibratory inside to use, or too noisey inside or outside to use. (Too smelly is easy to get around.)
Even though we also carry along a little Honda portable, our built-in 4KW Onan is vital in that our coach air conditioning allows us to do such things as :
1. Pull over on the open road for a comfortable long lunch anywhere in hot weather. i.e. Use at an I-80 Utah Salt Flats rest stop in the summer.
2. Keep the dog cool in the coach while we're outside the motorhome for hours in hot weather. i.e. The Wyoming high desert in the summer.
3. Explore the backcountry in the Texas Panhandle in scorching temperatures searching for flint. i.e. When at least 100 degrees outside - come inside to avert heat stroke and have lunch at a remote reservoir.
4. Get a full nights sleep in terrible conditions. i.e. A Walmart parking lot during a no-hookup-campground-available 90-90 night in the Southern U.S. in August.
Plus .... there's various other nice-to-have and emergency scenarios where continuous 120V AC power in a motorhome would be priceless.
I love the low humming of our built-in Onan ... it's the anywhere, anytime, anyseason Sound of Independence. IMHO, considering the big bucks we pay for an RV, flexibility in order to maintain full self containment under all conditions should be the Name of the Game.
That being said, solar plus a usable high power generator is near ultimate. A propane fuel cell, plus solar, plus a usable built-in high power generator probably is the ultimate.
