products

Our Portable Battery Bank.

The standard battery bank on the Airstream consists of two 12-volt group 24 batteries connected in parallel stored just in front of the trailer and behind the propane tanks. Group 24 batteries are designed to hold around 75 amp hours of power each. At a full charge, they store just enough juice for you to run all the lights in the Airstream for about 2 seconds. OK, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but the power-hungry halogen bulbs Jackson Center, Ohio installed into our 25 foot International are not really designed with boondockers in mind. Bright and warm as they might be, they are very inefficient. Many people have swapped them out for expensive LED versions of these lights bought from Internet sources. The problem with this ‘upgrade’ is that in return of them running forever, you have to deal with these dim little blue lights that makes you feel like you are living in the International Space Station.

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By dan, ago

Quenching Our Thirst for Power.

A big part of going full timing is being able to adapt to changing environments. In some of our recent posts, we have focused a lot on the ability for us to boondock. That is because I have been obsessed with getting the Airstream a steady supply of portable power. As much as I would love to have solar panels installed on the Airstream, the cost is much more prohibitive than just getting a reliable generator. I know, I know, there are more ongoing costs with generators not associated with solar power like gas and maintenance, but I just can’t see myself spending upwards of $2000 to get the solar panel I want. It is a much more permenant solution that I would want to do it right when I am ready to spend that kind of money.

After scouring Craig’s List and eBay for the last 6 months, I finally came across a local seller with a lightly used Honda EU2000i generator. He was asking $900 for the unit that has maybe 10-20 hours of use. Relying solely on my negotiations skills, I walked away with it only $775 lighter in my back pocket.

P1000204

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By dan, ago

Our Tow Vehicle: The GMC Savana Diesel Van.

Towing an Airstream is not a simple task. It can weigh literally tons and the tow vehicle is the difference between a dream and a nightmare while you are on the road. For years I have always wanted a camper van. Having been a surfer for most of my life, I dreamed about road trips in my van with my buddies, packed full of camping gear and surfboards, exploring the coast of Baja Mexico for years on end. Well, Baja Mexico is no longer the paradise it once was thanks to Mexican drug lords, but I finally got the van of my dreams.

I decided on a GMC Savana 3/4 ton Extended van partially because I had $3000 worth of rebates through my credit card. When we were van shopping, we did not know that we would one day be towing our Airstream. The van was just going to be the tow vehicle for our little T@B trailer we owned at the time. The T@B being a small camper, we were glad to have the extra interior space for storage and traveling comfort. It was a complete overkill of a tow vehicle for the T@B trailer as thus, most of the time we would actually forget we are towing the little teardrop. But we sure were glad to not have to upgrade when the time came to move up to the Airstream.

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By dan, ago

The RV Web: Chapter 2 – Wireless Broadband.

WiFi hot spots are one way for a road tripper to get online. But there are obvious limitations with it as discussed in a previous post as part of this ongoing RV Web series. One of the more widely available broadband option is likely right inside your pocket as we speak. Your phone.

phones
With today’s smartphones like the Apple iPhone, Palm Treo or Blackberry, many of the Web tasks can be easily and quickly done directly from the phone. Email, SMS, IM and even Web browsing are possible with some of the latest mobile browsers. One of the best features on today’s smartphones has to be mapping tools such as Google Maps.

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By dan, ago

My Secret WiFi Hot Spot Weapon.

Just as with any wireless hot spot, you are only able to get online if you are within about 150 ft of the access point. That’s if the campground has an outdoor antenna broadcasting its Internet signals. At the Shady Dell, the new owners offer free wireless Internet for all of the campers but only if you are within range. It seemed like that the access point is inside the registration office and not really designed for long range transmissions. It would only send a short 50 ft radius around the building.

The Shady Dell in Bisbee is known for its collection of antique trailers that are for rent to visitors nightly. They also have a number of pull-through and back-in spaces for people like us who brought their homes with them. Unfortunately, we are not within close-enough range to get a solid wireless Internet signal. Lucky for us, I came prepared with my own ‘space needle’ wireless antenna.

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By dan, ago

Never Get Locked Out Again.

When it comes to security, the Airstream is as good as any trailer I have seen. There is a dead bolt built into the door and there is no picking the lock once you’ve lock the door. To lock the door, you just slide the door handle to the lock position and shut it behind you on your way out. That’s assuming you don’t forget the keys inside. As we start spending more time on the road, I am concerned that one day it is gonna happen. I am gonna step out of the trailer and out of habit, slide that lock across the door and shut it behind me with the keys inside. Imagine being locked out of your house with your 2 year old inside who doesn’t know how to let herself out. Except your house might be in the middle of the desert, deep in a national park or along the long stretches of empty beaches on the Oregon coast.

Climbing into new airstream

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By dan, ago

Yoda got chipped… and I am not talking about Doritos.

Ava and Yoda at the vet

We took Yoda to the vet a few days ago to prepare her for traveling with us around the country. We had a long list of Yoda To-Do’s that needed crossing off, which included yearly blood work, vaccine boosters, microchips, and health certificates.

We actually traveled with Yoda when we took our old T@b to Arizona last January but did not have any documentation with us when we got stopped at the California-Arizona border. It would have been really bad news for Yoda if not for the fact that when asked if we had any pets in the car, Dan answered ‘no’. But he didn’t intentionally lie. You see our first road trip started of like this but ended up like this. We were beyond exhausted and somehow forgot we had a cat in the car with us. Sorry Yoda. 🙁

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By marlene, ago

The RV Web: Chapter 1 – Extending Your WiFi Range

Getting online while you are on the road is always a challenge. There has been a lot of discussion about this in blogs and forums and everyone has their own favorite methods. But in general, based on today’s wireless technology, there are basically three ways to do it:

  1. Satellite Internet Service Provider (Direcway, HughesNet)
  2. Wireless Broadband from Cell Phone Providers (Verizon, Sprint)
  3. Public WiFi Access Points

Although there may be newer and arguably better options in the works such as WiMax, these 3 are what’s widely available today. I will spend some time talking about them in a few separate posts as I am currently doing research on what is best for our upcoming trips. In this post, I will focus my attention on the third and potentially the most interesting option: getting connected via public WiFi.

working in the airstream

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By dan, ago

Let’s get hitched!

I did some research before buying the Airstream about what kind of hitch to use to drag it around the country. Since I have only ever towed trailers that I can push around with my hands, the 7000 lb beast is a big change. With an 800 lb tongue weight, it is also 300 lbs more than what my class 3 hitch is rated for. Bad news right? Well, that’s where the weight distribution systems come in. By using a weight distributing system, my class 3 hitch can increase its capacity to accommodate up to 1000 lbs of tongue weight and 10,000 lbs of trailer weight. Magic!

Equalizer
equalizer

Reese
reese

Hensley Arrow
hensley

These hitches essentially use leverage created by solid metal bars that extend from the rear of the hitch to even the weight across all 4 wheels of the vehicle. There are people who will go on and on about how these work but I like to think of it as a wheel barrel. The handles of the wheel barrel are the metal bars and it takes the weight off of the back and moves it to the front. If you want to find out more, do some searches on the wide wide world of web. There are people who will tell you a lot more about it than I am willing to bore you to tears with.

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By dan, ago