Mark’s RV Garage Episode #3 Released

RV Education 101 releases episode # 3 of the Internet based RV how-to series titled “Mark’s RV Garage.” The new episode is available for viewing at www.rvconsumer.com and on You Tube On this episode of Mark’s RV Garage: * The demolition stage begins on the vintage travel trailer restoration project.  * See how easy it is to install a new Maxx Air II vent cover on your RV. * Learn how to extend the life of your RV batteries.   * See what tool I never leaves home without. * Get an inside look at what’s happening in the world of RV’s for 2011 and much more.     If you missed the episodes 1 and 2 of Mark’s RV Garage it is archived at www.rvconsumer.com for easy retreival and viewing (just look to the right and click on my picture). Episode # 4 will be available for viewing on 21 March 2011. Happy RV Learning, Mark Polk www.rvconsumer.com  Read More →

The Zen of Boondocking – Part V: Upgrading your electrical system

By Bob Difley Last week in Part IV we looked at ways to conserve electricity by limiting our actual usage. Today, we will flip in the other direction and look at ways to increase the available electricity and add alternative sources of power. Lower wattage and Energy Star appliances will take less energy to run, pull fewer amps from your batteries, and run more efficiently–in other words, they’re greener than your older appliances. However, it is not practical or economical to tear out your old installed appliances and replace with Energy Star (until they need replacement), but you can check before you buy a new RV whether the appliances already installed are in compliance. You can also vastly improve your electrical system–actually more than doubling your storage capacity–by installing additional or different batteries. Here you have choices. Buy an additional deep cycle flooded lead acid RV battery like the one your rig came with, only don’t add a new battery into a system with older batteries or the older battery will draw energy from the new one. A newer type battery option is the absorbed gas mat (AGM) type, which has no liquid in the cells that must be monitored or refilled. Or you could install two or four 6-volt golf cart batteries. To help you decide as well as learn more than you probably ever wanted to know about batteries go to this text of a presentation by Greg Holder, owner of AMSolar. I use four Trojan T-105 6-volt golf cart batteries,... Read more

Homemade Teardrop Trailers Make Comeback

Gary Daniel and Don Wheeler are two -it-yourselfers who built their own teardrops—compact, efficient travel trailers measuring just 4 feet by 8 feet. Central Illinois Recreational Show David Clemente of Janesville, Wisconsin, built a teardrop trailer from the information in a 1939/1947 Mechanix Illustrated magazine. It is nicely finished and used regularly for camping. Photo courtesy Allen Penticoff and Rock River Times Daniel and Wheeler will be among teardrop owners who will display their rigs at the Central Illinois Recreational Show at the Peoria Civic Center from Friday (March 4) through Sunday, the Bloomington Pantagraph reported. The show used to be just for motorhomes, travel trailers, and fifth-wheels, but it has expanded in recent years with the growth of the Civic Center. Now, besides recreational vehicles, vendors will represent campgrounds, tow-vehicle dealers, boats, three-wheeled motorcycles, trail bikes, all-terrain vehicles, and even golf carts sales. This year’s highlight will be the small pull-behind trailers known as “tear-drop trailers.” Teardrops have been around since the 1930s—many were home-built—and were popular because of their sleek, aerodynamic design and lightweight materials. Several tear-drop trailers designed by local campers will be on display at the show. What is a teardrop? (The following information on teardrop trailers courtesy teardrops.net) Anyone who has ever owned (or used) a teardrop trailer can tell you that the most... Read more

Clickfree Backup is Good for Travelers

by Jim Guld, www.geeksontour.com If you could backup your computers without any fuss, would you do it? We’ve told you to backup, but do you? Everyone knows you are supposed to backup your computer.  Backing up your files requires effort and organization.  Right?  You had to know which files to backup and where they were on your hard drive.  Some programs have their own backup utility.  Then, what do you use to hold the backup?  CD? DVD? USB thumb driive? The Cloud ? Yes.  You need to back up in order to recover from a catastrophic loss of data.  Like if your computer crashed or was stolen.  Multiple backups in an offsite location are best.  That is one reason “Cloud” or Internet based backups are popular, but it’s not practical if your cellular Internet connection has a 5Gig limit. I prefer to make my own backups.  I still archive my important data onto DVD disks and store them offsite. Backup software has become less of a chore and disk capacities have increased, but you still need to configure the program. If you can plug it in, you can make your backups Backing up your important files is so easy now with a Clickfree backup. Let me show you how. Unpack the drive and plug it in to the computer.  Some embedded software wants to install on your computer.  It’s OK.  Accept the end user agreement, and you are done.  Within a minute, the program accesses your drive and begins looking for file types associated with data.  It continues on to back up all those... Read more

Electric Vehicle update – March 1

By Bob Difley The Geneva Auto Show opened today in Geneva, Switzerland, which is a showcase for European cars. A number of Electric Vehicles (EV) and hybrids are being introduced from a diverse group of companies and start-ups as well as the established auto companies. The Green Investing website has listed its top ten green cars making their debut at the show, which you can see here. The top position went to the Nissan ESFLOW, a sports car capable of going from 0-60mph in five seconds and with a range of 150miles on a single charge. There was also a Rolls Royce electric Phantom at the top end and the Rinspeed Bamboo, the perfect beach-going car including an inflatable roof that doubles as a beach blanket and the BamBoo community platform that allows for practical features based on social networking. Nissan also announced that they have extended their lithium ion battery warranty in the Leaf EV to 8 years and 100,000 miles. More proof that battery makers are confident that their newest batteries will last the life of a car, so expensive battery replacement should not be a deterrent to buying an EV. With all the innovation going on, it won’t be long before you start to see EVs being towed behind motorhomes. Ford also introduced its C-MAX Energi (available in 2012) that will offer more than 500 miles of combined driving range using the battery and engine–more than any other plug-in or extended-range electric vehicle. Ford also points out that plug-in hybrid vehicles... Read more

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