Eve "n" Stephen

Back around 1973, I had a 1935 Chev truck that had both a starter and crank. Whenever there were a few people watching I'd crank start it. 2 pumps on the gas pedal, pull out the choke and throttle step around front and insert the crank so it was positioned near the top. Put palm on crank but not thumb around it, just in case. 1/4 turn and it would always start! It started easier than most lawnmowers! This was the 206.5 cu. in., first OHV Chev engine, predecessor to the 216 and all of 67 HP. It was always fun to put on a show! Steve

Actually, in a way, if it's a manual transmission, you could start the engine this way. Back around 1985, we were the caretakers for 7 remote retreats owned by well off families. It was 10 miles to the nearest neighbor and we were 2000 feet down in a canyon. It was the end of the season, and snow was due anytime. We had a camper built on a 1947 1 1/2 ton truck, parked in front of our cabin and the battery was dead. No one was likely to come out anytime soon, possibly until spring. Now the driveway sloped up about 10' in 50' behind the truck, how do you back it up to "pop" start it? I tried a 2x4 lever on the wheel, NO, a jack at an angle, NO and finally tightened the fan belt really tight, put on heavy gloves, put the truck in reverse, and started turning the fan. It took about 2 hours to back it up far enough. Luckily it started first try and we managed to get to our wintering place! You couldn't turn the fan that way anymore, but you could use a wrench on the flywheel to do the same thing, if you were desparate like we were! Steve

I have an 18 ft, 1984 Sunrader and when I got it, both batteries were under the hood. I moved the coach battery under the seat on the drivers side, just in front of the metal propane tank enclosure. I disconnected it from the generator and converter. It's only hooked to solar panels. We are pretty low power users and have never run the 108 AH battery low. We're occasionally running the heater, have all LED lighting and a 400 watt inverter for the laptop and charging camera batteries. Oh, must NOT forget the coffee grinder too! Steve

Aluminum studs, brrrr... We used to have an old Airstream trailer, which was pretty much all aluminum. The thing wasn't well insulated, but with the heater way up, it was comfortable when the outside temp was in the 20's. The catch, it could be 70 inside, 20 outside and everwhere there was a stud, there would be FROST on the inside wall in a strip! Steve

Possibly the best price, $.70 a watt, on solar is a crystaline cell. Solar Blvd. has MX Solar 220W 24V for $154.00 These are made in the USA (I don't know if this is good or not). There are a couple downsides though, they weigh 48 pounds and have to have an air space between them and the roof. Also, the shipping is pretty high, around $75 by truck, although it goes down per unit a lot if several are ordered. I'm hoping to get a couple of these soon. Steve

Sundanzer makes a nice small 12V 4.7 Cu. Ft. model for $972 +shipping Voltage: 10-31VDC Average Energy Use: 70°F - 460 Whrs/day, 38 AH/day; 90°F - 720 Whrs/day, 60 AH/day; 110°F - 1050 Whrs/day, 88 AH/day Gross Capacity: 134 L / 4.7 cubic feet; Refrigerator: 115 L / 4 cubic feet; Freezer: 19 L / .7 cubic feet Exterior Dimensions (WxDxH): 23.5x26x33in Novakool has models from 4.3-7.5 cu. ft. $920-$1232 Look at Backwoods Solar Electric for a variety of propane and electric refrigerators and freezers designed for solar systems. They are knowledgeable and good people. Steve

Ours (Sunrader) came with a sticker on the back, "There's no place like OM"! Steve

Thank goodness we live on the southern Oregon coast! Traffic on 101 can get moderately bad in the summer, but 7 months out of the year it's pretty mellow. Nothing like the big cities. In addition, although we average 2X as much rain as Seattle we also have way more sunny days. These are long term averages. Port Orford; 140 rainy days, 197 sunny days, 71 inches of precipitation (averages more sunny days than anyplace else on the Oregon coast). Seattle; 155 rainy days, 152 sunny days, 36 inches of precipitation Portland;140 rainy days, 144 sunny days, 42 inches of precipitation Steve

I'm 61, wife's 4 years younger. For 33 years, we've tented, backpacked, lived in the outback (far eastern Oregon, 10 miles from a neighbor) and still love to get out on the fringe of the wilderness areas, using the Sunrader as a base camp. We've had 2 older airstreams and a small fiberglass trailer, a 13' PlaPac, a rare one, as only about 70 were built. It was a breeze to tow behind a Subaru, weighed about 1300 pounds fully loaded. We sold it to buy the 18', 1984 Sunrader, which we really love. Truth is, it may be my all time favorite vehicle I've owned. We also have an 87 Toyota pickup with the same engine, makes things easier to keep up. We drive them about equally. Steve

One possible material for shaping almost any sticky material that dries is release paper. This is made for the picture framing industry and is impregnated with silicone. Even urethane glue doesn't stick to it. I've used it to shape long, straight, tightly curved caulk along a seam, pressing it in place and leaving it until the caulk is dry, then stripping it off. The stuff is like stiff, but slippery paper, so can be bent/pulled over a sharp edge, to form the curl. If you want to try it on something, most frame shops that do dry or vacuum mounting should be able to sell you a chunk a couple feet square for a buck or so. Steve

Backwoods Solar is a great outfit. I used to live fairly near them and got to know them pretty well. I bought my batteries for my off-grid home from them back in the early 90's. These were used "calcium" cells, 6V and about 160 pounds each, 200 AH. They were 10 years old, used in float service as backup power at a phone company. We used them for another 12 years, then cracked the case on one when moving it. I patched it and sold them to another person (for what I paid for them) and he got another 5 years of use from them. Steve

Great rigs, We own an 84, but it's only an 18 footer or we might try it too! Steve

One thing about good old lead acid batteries like the T-105s is that you do need to learn about battery care to get long life out of them. Individual cells tend to discharge at slightly different rates and get "out of balance" with each other. About once a month or so, it really helps to do an equalizing charge. This is a controlled overcharge at a low rate, that brings the batteries up to a higher than normal voltage, around 19 or so, depending on the temperature. It causes fairly vigorous bubbling and stirs up the acid solution, which tends to stratify and helps to prevent sulfation of the plates. This is a bit of a pain to do, but really improves longevity. It will cause you to have to add water more often, distilled only please! Steve

There is one catch to super bright headlights, the guy coming at you may not be able to see anything and head-on into you! I've recently been near blind by super bright headlights, especially those that are very high color temp, blue white. If they don't aim below the eye level of oncoming drivers, super brights suck! Of course this means they don't reach out as far and the extra brightness doesn't really help much. Great as high beams with no oncoming drivers though. Steve

As far as following distance goes, just don't forget that you aren't paying attention to the road all the time, no matter how careful you are! A glance at the rear view mirrors, a look at the scenery, attempting to read a sign that you almost missed due to the big rig next to you, almost anything can cost you a couple or three seconds, which is a long ways, even at 55 mph! Drafting works pretty well for some folks, the risk is way to high for me! I used to have a friend that drove a VW van. He'd get about 5-10 feet behind a big truck, no way could they see him, and take his foot off the gas, then just touch it once in a while! Except for hills, he'd stay right there. He tested and got over 90 mpg. I only rode with him once and it scared several years off my life! Steve

We love to go out into the forest service or BLM lands and just find an interesting spot to park for a few days. The 84 18' Sunrader is perfect for this! As a base camp for my photography/hiking, it's small enough to get into these spots, big enough to have everything my wife and I need. But, the thing that we actually love most about it? We live 60 miles from a town with any kind of decent shopping and more like 100 from good shopping and doctors. It's perfect for these trips, parks anywhere, there's never a problem finding a bathroom when ya gotta go, and it's much more comfortable than a waiting room. Having a fridge on long shopping trips is really nice too! On long trips, from the coast, across the Cascades and around E. Oregon, we get around 17.5 mpg. We almost never drive on freeways, at most, short hops where there's no alternative. Then we go 55-60, otherwise it's back roads and, depending on traffic, we go pretty slow, looking for good photos and speed don't work well together! We do take 2 mountain bikes for local transportation. Also, a bike can pull off almost anywhere, so on narrow but picturesque roads, often the Sunrader can get within a mile or two of a great photo, then the bike gets me back to the perfect spot. Over the years, we've owned a lot of vehicles, several travel trailers, including a tiny fiberglass 13 footer. In 44 years of driving, the Sunrader is my favorite vehicle I've owned! It drives really nicely. About the only thing I really have to get around to is replacing the stock seats, which we have made custom cushions for, so our legs don't die from the bad angle they sit at. Steve

Our son used to have a very large collection of original Star Wars toys, seems like the perfect hood ornament would be a toy Yoda. Steve

With 12V (essentially low pressure) connections, I always solder and use shrink tubing . I have been known to unsolder, then put the shrink tubing on, like I should have before soldering though! With electrical connections, always use rosin core solder, not acid core! Steve

I assume that GVWR is with the standard 5 lug rear end, not the full floating 6 lug. If I remember right, empty, other than me, no water, no gas to speak of, no propane it was around 5100. Steve

1984 18' Sunrader, fully loaded for a week in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, 5795 lbs with full water, gas, propane and empty holding tanks. This includes my wife and I plus a 110 pound dog and his food. We very rarely go over 55 and often slower, as we are photographers and tend to take back roads, some on the marginal side! Steve

Don't forget, all these panels are designed to charge 12V battery systems, that means they do not put out 12V! Most are over 15V and open circuit more like 21V. It takes at least 15V to fully charge a 12V battery, depending on the temperature. If you are doing an equalizing charge, it needs to go up around 21V, depending on the battery type and temperature both. 68 watt / 21 volt = 3.23 Amp. Their specs (Uni-Solar 68 watt) claim an open circuit V of 21.1, max power 15.4V @3.4Amp Steve

My system is simple to set up and has kept up with everything we do. It consists of the following: Solar Cynergy 100 Watt 12V panel from solarblvd $145 Morningstar Sunsaver from solarblvd $44.46 Concord AGM 102 AH from solarblvd $273.67 I got mine on sale for $125 including shipping so maybe this is no longer the best choice. I ran 10 gauge wire down the ladder and through the plug cover for the 110V cord and have the charge controller mounted just outside the panel for the original converter. This route avoids any new holes! Steve

Did everyone miss this? Note: One of the first warnings in the Toyota truck 1987 Owner's Manual says, "Do not allow the engine to run at a fast idle speed for more than 10 minutes or at normal idle speed for more than 20 minutes." This has to do with the catalitic converter and is on page one of the manual.

You know, it's a funny thing, but... driving a Chevy suburban many miles on washboard once a week, when we worked on the southern edge of the Wallowas in E. Oregon, it drove us nuts going over miles of washboard and 5 mph. It was possibly hell on the suspension, but I tried 35, except on corners and the ride smoothed out immensly. I guess the tires just stayed on the tops and missed the valleys. I don't know if I'd try this in a motorhome though! Steve

Note: One of the first warnings in the Toyota Owner's Manual says, "Do not allow the engine to run at a fast idle speed for more than 10 minutes or at normal idle speed for more than 20 minutes." This has to do with the catalitic converter and is on page one of the manual. For the cost of a decent generator, you could get several hundred watts of solar, a charge controller, inverter and good batteries. Steve