Question specific to those who camp at dog events

pulsar wrote:
I can't speak to breed shows - we put a CH on one dog and said that was enough; the politics and other shenanigans is more than I want to put up with.

We've boon docked at many agility events - from North Carolina to Massachusetts; across the midwest and out to Montana. Never has generator usage been an issue. At AKC events, the RVers seem to divide up into small groups; at NACAC events, it seem to be more one for all and all for one.

Tom

Thanks for the input. FWIW, we dont' do breed, but we do obedience, so sometimes we end up at all-breed shows. Though, given a choice, I'd much rather spend my entry money at a stand-alone obedience trial.

I've only been to one NADAC trial, and didn't camp because it was local, but they had a sweet deal...electric and water, some had sewer, at ringside, $20 per night. Gotta love events at Fairgrounds where someone isn't profit-gouging!

I can't speak to breed shows - we put a CH on one dog and said that was enough; the politics and other shenanigans is more than I want to put up with.

We've boon docked at many agility events - from North Carolina to Massachusetts; across the midwest and out to Montana. Never has generator usage been an issue. At AKC events, the RVers seem to divide up into small groups; at NACAC events, it seem to be more one for all and all for one.

Tom

^one of the reasons we dropped them in 2008 and never looked back.

Sorry, no idea. Will say that Good Same ERS told me they do NOT cover my TT going to, attending, or leaving such an event with a show dog!

We had a hitch receiver welded to the frame to attach the rack. I don't load up the rack with lots of weight, only the generator and fuel can, because I don't want to impact the weight distribution. We also carry two 5gal jugs of water under the bed for the dogs that are about the same distance in front of the axels as the generator is behind the axels.

Thanks, Mark

I'm not really concerned about the noise at herding trials, where, at least out here, "parking crew" tends to be a hand-written sign the property owner puts on the fence saying "park over there" :)

At all-breed shows, which I attend less and less, a crew will meet you at the gate and escort you to a 25x40 patch of grass, pavement, or gravel, and your neighbors will be similarly sardined into spaces adjacent to yours. That is where I worry about noise, but nearly all of these venues have a generator curfew, usually 11pm to 6am.

A welding job to the frame of the TT might work for a rack. I was looking at the hitch receiver meant for a bike rack and thinking "no way"

In our herding venue generators are only an issue when run at night or if you are close to the trial field and the noise from your generator will not be the same for all dogs.

We have a rack on the back of our TT to carry our generator and fuel; the rack is attached to the frame and the TT frame is welded tubes not angle iron.

What are parking crews; are they the folks that point at a field and say you park where ever you want in there? :)

Mark

Thank you. When we had our old Bounder, the Onan was incredibly loud at times but nobody ever said anything. Of course we rarely used it, except to power the microwave or top up the batteries. We don't have a portable genset for the TT yet, thus my questions. But with fewer events having power, (and never at herding trials) it is time. I'd also like to be able to use the AC at dry camp sites, something we avoided like the plague when we had the Bounder because the genny was so loud and used so much gas.

The time we hate noisy generators is when people put them on the far side of their rig. Which ends up being on the living area side of their neighbours rig.

On the Bounder, the generator was housed in a bay on the street side. Not much we could do about it.
Whatever portable generator we get is going to have to travel in the bed of the TV, I wouldn't trust mounting it on the back of the TT. Of course we can move it in the rare cases where parking crews won't let the TV stay in your space even if it fits. I'm more inclined to place it in front or back, rather than on either side, where it may exhaust at our dogs or our neighbor's. Had that happen one time when I ended up parked next to a Really Big Name handler. One of his assistants put a generator off to the side of their space, so that it exhausted into my ex pen. :E

The time we hate noisy generators is when people put them on the far side of their rig. Which ends up being on the living area side of their neighbours rig.

As well you end up paking quire close together. Spots are usually only 25 feet wide.

If you have a really noisy generator please keep it on your living area side and only run it when needed. Unless of course your neighbour also has an equally noisy one :)

Common sense and courtesy go a long way. We have shown dogs for 40 years. Great hobby and great comradery.

In any case like this I always think, monitor your needs and get the most out of what you have. To this end, you have to check your battery voltage level and just know you need three hours on genie, but that is all.. You don't need to be at top level, only to drop to 75% the next day, but you need to go from 50% t0 80% and then stop, and every day do the same.