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docj

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Posts posted by docj

  1. Posted · Report reply

    4 hours ago, LRAllen1 said:

    On paper, FMCA looks nearly as good as CoachNet. 

    One small difference I noticed was that FMCA limits winch out to $500 whereas Coachnet provides for 2 hours of work.  Last summer we needed winch-out service on Canada Day in a rather rural area of Prince Edward Island.  I have no idea what the cost was but the wife of the truck owner told me that she had been given a credit card to charge everything to even before the truck reached me.  I paid nothing.

    One other thing I want to clarify with Coachnet is that a couple of years ago they had to dispatch a mechanic to me.  At the time it was explained to me that they would cover the "dispatch fee" and mileage charges while I was to pay for labor hours and parts.  I can't find reference to this on the CoachNet website but I'm going to call.

  2. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, sgtjoe said:

    Had a discussion with the RV Tech who located the dead Inverter.  He suggests I replace the current inverter with the same, a MSW.  

    With all due respect,  I suspect he's recommending this because the "form factor" will be the same and it will be an easier install for him.

    As has already been said, there are a lot of devices that simply don't like MSW inverters.  Induction burners and microwave ovens are among the devices most often affected.  But, in the long run, it's your MH, you are free to do as you wish.

  3. Posted · Report reply

    With all due respect, I believe the Freedom 2000 is a modified sine wave (MSW)) inverter.  In today's world, I'm not sure I'd want to replace an MSW inverter with another one when pure sine wave (PSW) inverters are pretty common and not all that much more expensive. JMO

  4. Posted · Report reply

    14 hours ago, manholt said:

    doc I'm confused, when did you purchase the Hankook?  Before or after the Michelin's that you now have 65,000 miles on?

    Bill, If you don't get it, I'm Sorry!

    Sorry, that's what comes of writing posts late in the day.  The post has been edited to now read that I have 6 "Hankook" tires on my MH.  The  first two were installed ~4 years ago on the steer axle and the rear four were installed in early 2018.  The Hankooks on the steer axle resulted in a significant ride improvement and less road noise.

  5. Posted · Report reply

    19 hours ago, fagnaml said:

    If your annual mileage is low to moderate, take a look at Hankook tires and the big discount program FMCA has with Hankook.    

    I'm not at all sure why you consider Hankook tires to be only for those who don't drive all that much.  Hankook tires are used all over the world in heavy trucks and autos. They simply aren't as well known in the US as Michelin.  Therefore, they don't command the premium (inflated) price of Michelin tires.  I now have six Hankooks on my MH and have driven over 65,000 miles in 9 years of full-timing.

    FWIW I purchased my Hankook tires at a lower price than was available through FMCA.

  6. Posted · Report reply

    4 hours ago, txtiger said:

    The FMCA plan states that it will cover no charges for any aspect of mobilemechanic services.

    Thats because it is a Roadside Assistance Plan not a Extended Service Plan. It will cover towing for a breakdown to a shop that will do the repairs. If you want the repairs covered you need to purchase a Service Plan (extended warranty) in addition to the RA. 

    With all due respect, over 10 years we have traveled over 65,000 miles as full-timers.  In all that time there have been a couple of instances where we needed the services of a mechanic on the side of a road because of mechanical breakdown.  IMHO towing the vehicle would have been a rather uneconomical approach to problems that were resolved with an hour or two of work at the vehicle.  As I said in my post, CN has found us an available mechanic and,  in the past, has paid for the mechanic's service call and mileage fees.  I paid for the mechanic's time and any parts or supplies that were needed.

    FMCA is entitled to adopt any terms and conditions it wishes for its roadside assistance plan.  All I was doing was pointing out the differences between the FMCA plan and my personal experience with the CN plan.

  8. Posted · Report reply

    Unless things have changed with CN, when I needed mobile mechanics services CN paid for the service call and mileage charges.  I paid for labor and materials.  The FMCA plan states that it will cover no charges for any aspect of mobile mechanic services.

    I also noticed that winch-out services are limited to $500.  Last summer I needed to be pulled out of the mud at an RV park in Canada.  Of course, the problem occured on a major national holiday--Canada Day.  CN covered everything; I didn't pay a dime.  I have no idea what it cost.

  10. Posted · Report reply

    18 hours ago, richard5933 said:

    Here in the Milwaukee area, we're starting to see charging stations pop up in company employee parking lots, mall parking lots, airports, and other places. I've seen them along the Ohio turnpike in rest stops. Surprised that there aren't more in your area. My guess is that in the next couple of years you'll start to see them nearly everywhere, including on back roads.

    You're comparing a metro area with ~1.6M people to a mid-sized city with ~300k people.  We simply don't have the population base to justify investment in charging stations.  As I said, there are a couple around town at some hotels but no Tesla "superchargers" that I'm aware of (and I think those are only usable with Tesla's vehicles, anyway.

    IMHO what will continue to make battery-powered EV's unacceptable as "long range driving vehicles," no matter how many chargers get installed, is the fact that even a Tesla Supercharger takes 60-90 minutes for a full recharge.  When I'm using my car for long trips I'm usually traveling ~400 miles a day.  I would hate to have to sit around waiting for the battery to charge, even if a charger lane happened to be open when I needed it.  I'd much rather have a fuel cell-powered EV that I could refuel with methanol or other liquid fuel.  JMO.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    53 minutes ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

    I see lots of hype for EVs but no real demand from the public.  

    IMHO if you live in an urban area and have the ability to have your own high speed charging setup an EV might make sense.  If your daily drive is <150 mi you should easily be accommodated by an EV with a >250 mi range. 

    But all the hype I read about lots of charging stations being installed is IMO just hype.  A month ago I looked at the Tesla website and looked at charging stations in my area of South TX.  If I want to take a trip from my home in Rockport to downtown Houston (~200 miles away), I'd have to stop at a Supercharger in Victoria TX in order to ensure that I didn't arrive in Houston with a very low charge on my batteries. Assuming the charger was not being used, I guess a recharge would take ~30 minutes or so compared to the 5 minutes it takes to buy gas.  If I chose to take the "back way " to Houston along highway 35 I'd be out of luck entirely.  There are a number of charging location in downtown Houston but not nearly as many as their are gas stations.  If lots of people started using EVs there wouldn't be nearly enough of them..

    Quite honestly, I think the EV "model" is based on people living in urban/suburban areas who have access to their own overnight charging capability.  For lots of folks this would be Ok.  But for those who can't install their own chargers I think the concept quickly falls apart.  What are going going to do, on your way home from work stop at a charging station and sit around for a half hour or more to charge up?  Or maybe do it on the way to work in the morning?  I'm not sure many people would find that acceptable. But if you live in an apartment complex or rely on street parking you wouldn't have any other options.  Do we really expect that parking lots are going to install enough charging stations for all commuters to plug in their EVs or that apartment complexes are going to provide a charger for every apartment unit?  In your dreams IMO.

  13. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, DickandLois said:

    Nothing is free, but I'm of the opinion that charging the EV's is possible while being Towed by an RV.

    There's absolutely nothing that would prevent charging an EV while being towed by a MH, but whether or not it would make economic sense is another question.  The electrical energy to charge the batteries would have to come from the MH's fuel tank.  Assuming even a 40% diesel efficiency of converting the energy in the fuel into mechanical work and then another 60% for converting that energy into electrical power, it might just be better to plug the EV into an outlet each time, if you're staying at a CG with electrical hookups, especially if it doesn't charge extra for charging an EV. (They don't yet, but they sure will if this becomes common) 

    If you buy an EV with a >250 mi range it probably would suffice for day-trip use while the MH is parked.  We like to take long day-trips but 250 mi (assuming A/C usage in the car) would be enough for us.

  14. Posted · Report reply

    13 hours ago, RSBILLEDWARDS said:

    Ok, Safari coaches with main slide has similar problems except fluid seeps into outer jacket exhibiting bumps/pimples what ever you want to call it but steady deterioration and eventually small leaks.

    FWIW some Beaver (and probably Safari) coaches from that 1999-2000 period were built with main slide hoses that weren't spec'd at sufficient pressure.  Ours totally failed ~8 years ago and were replaced.  The original hoses were rated at 2,500 psi; we were told they should have been rated for at least 5,000 psi. 

    We were in Sioux Falls at the time; a local shop fabricated replacement hoses and a truck service center installed them.  The biggest issue was threading them along the coach's frame member.  The old hoses were flushed and left in place.

  15. Posted · Report reply

    On 11/20/2019 at 8:41 AM, tworootless said:

     I thought I had found the issue  of the tripping GFCI since it worked as it should over the past 2 days.  Until last night when it started tripping once again. Really stumped over this.

    Does the GFCI protect any other "downstream" outlets?  In my similar age Beaver (a Safari cousin) the GFCI's all protect multiple downstream outlets.  In your case a downstream outlet would not have any power so it would be obvious.  Look for outlets in odd places such as next to mattress (for bedside alarm clocks).

    If the GFCI doesn't control any other outlets, then I would look carefully at the wiring in the outlet box to see if there's a possible short to ground caused by a nick in the insulation, etc.

    As for the GFCI not tripping when the generator is in use, I'm pretty sure that's due to how the generator is grounded.  For whatever reason, the  GFCI isn't seeing the ground fault when the generator is on, but it doesn't mean there still isn't a fault.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    Some Medicare Supplemental plans have $50k emergency coverage outside the US.  That's a lifetime maximum, but it should be enough to cover getting you back to the US.

    It should be noted that whether or not you have this coverage has NOTHING to do with whether you have AARP or any other particular insurance carrier.  All supplemental plans (Medigap plans) with the same "letter" ID have exactly the same benefits.. We have Plan F and the outside the US benefit is valid on those plans.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    We've used BB a number of times over the past 9 years with no problems. Occasionally they knock off weep hole covers off our windows, nothing worse.  One suggestion which was made to me a few years ago was to give the "team leader" a modest sized tip before the wash begins (when you are giving him instructions through the window beforehand).  I can't swear that this helps, but we haven't had any issues.

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