douglitas

We took our Seabreeze on another shake down trip up to Bishop, CA. About half way there the OD stopped engaging. Even with just the 3 speed we got 13 mpg. I took the SB into the tranny shop yesterday and they said it needed the solenoid replaced...altogether estimated price around $500.

we took a few short trips when we first got our rig (89 Seabreeze) and were disappointed with the 11 mpg we got. Later we overhauled the cooling system (new radiator, water pump, fan clutch). Then we took it on a few longer trips and we consistently get 14 mpg.

We've driven our 87 Sea Breeze on a few more trips lately and consistently get 14 mpg (not the 11 as previously reported).

must be a typo

Hi I'm 65 and my child bride is 52. We have a 1989 Seabreeze which we got last Jan. It has 37000 mi. We put on a new awning, heater blower motor, deep cycle batt, fixed cab air, new radiator, water pump. We get 11 mpg. Only used it a few times mainly to drive to our piece of land 20 mi east of home out in the desert. I lived for years in my 1955 International 1-ton pickup with a cab over camper. bathed in an inflatable child's pool, crapped in a porta potty, parked near mobile home parks at night and showered at the university. Later drove a 1984 Nissan Sandtana as a daily driver and back and forth to Sonora mexico...consistantly got over 20 mpg. before the pickup I drove a 1955 International travelall which I had tricked out into a camper van. All in all I drove those Internationals as my full time vehicle for 20 years..sold them both for more than I paid for them. I'm a retired music teacher and active jazz pianist. Wifey is pint sized latina from El Salvador, We have a schnauzer who loves us both equally. we both have grown kids from previous marriages. We are going to live in our Seabreeze for six mo. when we rent our home out next year prior to our move to Puerto Rico. We'll then sell the MH and try to get back some of our investment. I also bought a 245 W solar panel that rides inside and remotely charges the battery. It's a little heavy and a yyyy to move in and out though.

can repair holes in awnings?

on my rig the hose is about 8 feet long from the inlet to the tank, and the connection to the filler pipe is high up and inaccessible. I don't know how long my fix is going to last, but I am not looking forward to replacing the entire hose. I'll bet the hose is $10 a foot at least!

I had a leak on the filler hose on my Sea Breeze. I got a 4" long scrap of 2" diameter steel pipe from the local muffler shop and hacksawed the hose and inserted and clamped the pipe into place. ¡problema resuelto!

great info..thanks! I notice that the Delco alternator comes in a variety of shapes for different applications. Do you know which one is best for 22R engine? which one will you use for your Chinook project? That #1 AWG wire is huge and you need two cables. expensive and difficult to find a place to install it. but numbers don't lie, that's a lot of amps to run and we don't want a fire or to lose the potential to charge those batts in a reasonable time.

yeah, jdmaris, I'd be interested in learning about your upgrade, too. I have only the one storage battery at present, but want to expand to at least two and maybe four, which would give me near 320 AH. If I could charge them at 50A with the engine idling.... I could keep the batts near full most of the time.

http://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7333 also found this: http://compare.ebay.com/like/261089541087?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

I've been thinking about the engine mounted auxiliary alternator for awhile now. the description above sounds like a dream..charge your batteries in 40 minutes from an idling engine! I went to the linked site but didn't see any specifics of what alternator was used or how it was mounted. but I'll keep looking! thanks for the link.

this is the controller I am planning on getting..looks like is works for 24V too though I don't see anything about it changing 24v to 12V. http://www.amazon.com/Controller-Regulator-Charging-Automatic-Functions/dp/B008I0IZ7O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357720137&sr=8-1&keywords=AGPtek%C2%AE+30A+Solar+Panel+Power+Battery+Charge+Controller+%2F+Regulator+12V+%2F+24V+30+Amp+with+PWM+Type+of+Charging+%28Automatic+Lighting+Control+%2B+Time+Functions%29

I have a 12 volt deep cycle battery. eventually I may want to expand the size of the battery bank. for now, I had to get the biggest battery that would fit in the little battery box on the Sea Breeze which is only 12.5" deep. even if you had a bigger bank and chose to combine batteries to make 24 volts, your DC appliances are wired for 12 volts. How you gonna step down the 24 volts? I guess it could be done. using a 12V system seems to be easier at this point.

solar blvd is 24v. What I wanted was 12v

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/fod/3516866259.html it's still up..don't know for how much longer. but the guy makes his living selling these so even if this ad is not reposted you ought to be able search LA craigslist for the terms and come up with the current ad.

lots of great info here. we just got our 21' Sea Breeze and noted that the furnace load will pull down the storage battery after a night or two. So I picked up a 245 W 12V panel for $265.00 yesterday. We plan to set this on the ground in the sun while the home is parked in the shade. On the subject of cooling...the idea of a fan blowing over ice is really related to the swamp cooler concept. you are adding humidity to the air which only works in dry climates. of course you're familiar with propane powered absorption cooling. there used to be a company that made a propane fired A/C. the only elec power used was to run the fan. I've searched over the years for info on these units. They were called Arkla Servel. here's a link to a report I just found..haven't read it yet but looks promising https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:z42RsLpw30UJ:www.propanecouncil.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx%3Fid%3D3261+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjxJEyTljWMSoSfWdtB8RSaIY11TCmYSoM-xEGJNFcf6MbWqSIkns7bycGSA-GtRv4oos9SlTRDkiwjoLcJ_UKIsZrB-inL2NuSBeJA4WbGToHotn_alcJY4EJE9QIcB_2Dt0hu&sig=AHIEtbQjicAcaV8z6jPjj7WmovNfTjO97Q

Waiter...the way to test for gas leaks is with soap bubbles, not fire! (but I guess you were reaching way inside the unit and couldn't see or access bubbles)

thanks for the comments and suggestions. For a current of 17A over 50 feet #8 should do the trick...not too expensive. I also had a solar home with a small array (about 2K) and the panels would charge decently on overcast days. Those were the days of $4/watt for used panels. What I am looking for now is a tripod or other type of mounting system that is light, foldable and adjustable.

$3500!

the "solar kits for rvs" site has prices that are way too high. prices are now down to $1 per watt.

looks like we're going to go with a 250 W solar panel...new for $265! charges 18V 17A in full sun. ( I know that's 300W, but those figures are rounded off) about 5 ' long and weighs 40 lbs. These guys even charge on overcast days. Now I need to make a light weight foldable stand for the panel so I can park in the shade and set the panel in the sun and charge my battery all day.

what about using an oversize alternator? could you run the engine in park for a 1/2 hour and charge up the house battery when it got low?

I would have rather had a Nissan class C but then we saw the 21' Toy and it only had 36,000 and was just down the street so we bought it. We have taken it out 3 times now and are getting used to it. It runs great but only gets 11 mpg. The house part is nice and roomy and my wife loves it. We first got interested when we rented a 34' behemoth last year with two tip outs and all the bells etc. but it cost us $200 in gas to go 300 mi. I used to have a 1984 Nissan Sandtana tilt top that got about 22 mpg but wifey said that was my single man's vehicle so had to sell it.