help decide on upgrades/mods for long term part time
We're now less than 18 months out of retiring, and purchased the retirement rig now, intending to work out the bugs, and upgrade as required for the heavier than we're used to usage we intend to put on the new setup.
In looking at our logs for the last five years, our normal usage is 6-8k miles of travel a year, a few longer trips of up to 2 weeks at a time, most are 3 or 4 day trips with one way travel of 400 miles or less. Most trips were to forest service off the paved road campgrounds, followed by most of the western state National parks or state parks for the more developed stuff. Maybe two or three RV parks a year. Future plans are to spend weeks or months at different locations in order to explore more in depth at a much more relaxed pace. Alaska, the east coast, and spending a lot of time in Canada are on the agenda. The new rig is also much larger which will result in our having to adapt new routines, and of course we'll be spending a lot of time in the RV vs it just being a place to sleep which will be a big change for us as well.
Given the changed use of the RV, what mods would we probably find most useful? How should I rack and stack what I should add this winter right away, and what I should take a wait and see approach to?
Old TT ran virtually everything of DC. New one needs AC for TV, Stove vent fan which is part of microwave etc. With the bigger rig will I find myself forced into spots with at least elec, or will I still find a lot of options for off grid stuff? For those running inverters are you running whole house or dedicated circuits, and are you happy with the choice you made, or do you wish you went the other way?
From the posts I've seen, if we're going to use hookups much we'll want a power management system. Are thefts of portable ones that common, or is the general consensus to go with a hardwired system?
Washer/Dryer or combo unit seems like a no brainer to me, but the wife seems to think she would be okay using campground laundry's on occasion. While she's thinking that would be fine, she hasn't ever had to do it due to the shorter length trips we normally take. Thoughts?
What am I missing? I'm sure spending months vs days in the RV will include us wishing we had a lot of stuff we don't currently have.
BTW, we have all the outside stuff, screen room, grills, stoves, dutch ovens, chairs and tables, portable ice maker and blender etc. so I think we're pretty good there.
In looking at our logs for the last five years, our normal usage is 6-8k miles of travel a year, a few longer trips of up to 2 weeks at a time, most are 3 or 4 day trips with one way travel of 400 miles or less. Most trips were to forest service off the paved road campgrounds, followed by most of the western state National parks or state parks for the more developed stuff. Maybe two or three RV parks a year. Future plans are to spend weeks or months at different locations in order to explore more in depth at a much more relaxed pace. Alaska, the east coast, and spending a lot of time in Canada are on the agenda. The new rig is also much larger which will result in our having to adapt new routines, and of course we'll be spending a lot of time in the RV vs it just being a place to sleep which will be a big change for us as well.
Given the changed use of the RV, what mods would we probably find most useful? How should I rack and stack what I should add this winter right away, and what I should take a wait and see approach to?
Old TT ran virtually everything of DC. New one needs AC for TV, Stove vent fan which is part of microwave etc. With the bigger rig will I find myself forced into spots with at least elec, or will I still find a lot of options for off grid stuff? For those running inverters are you running whole house or dedicated circuits, and are you happy with the choice you made, or do you wish you went the other way?
From the posts I've seen, if we're going to use hookups much we'll want a power management system. Are thefts of portable ones that common, or is the general consensus to go with a hardwired system?
Washer/Dryer or combo unit seems like a no brainer to me, but the wife seems to think she would be okay using campground laundry's on occasion. While she's thinking that would be fine, she hasn't ever had to do it due to the shorter length trips we normally take. Thoughts?
What am I missing? I'm sure spending months vs days in the RV will include us wishing we had a lot of stuff we don't currently have.
BTW, we have all the outside stuff, screen room, grills, stoves, dutch ovens, chairs and tables, portable ice maker and blender etc. so I think we're pretty good there.
