hayesfamily

I have insurance through the Hartford. They have been absolutely wonderful. I sued them because the person that hit my in 2015 had no insurance and they were still nice to me - didnt drop me and my rates are super reasonable. I have heard the FMCA insurance is really nice too. No direct experience but check em out. Contrary to popular belief, GEICO and Progressive are really good but REALLY EXPENSIVE - I have a friend who is insured with them and he pays several hundred dollars a year more than I do for similar coverage.

There are some things that are strange but very possible. This is one for the books. I just left the cemetery and I am in the casket coach thinking about lunch where I can pull over and not scare the hoot out of everyone in the parking lot. As I am stopped at a red light I saw this guys standing in front of his pretty Phaeton (I think that's correct) DP and we got to talking. I pulled into his driveway because he mentioned Baltimore, Cops, and Pulled over within 3 seconds. Now that I am intrigued I probed him to find out some details - and what he said shocked me because it never made sense so I am hoping someone here can explain. He said he was coming across the Susquehanna River on I95 coming from Atlantic City (Traveling South). He gets pulled by who I would assume was MSP but he said it was the DOT. Apparently they were pulled anything that appeared to be Diesel (Problem 1 with the story) and doing some type of general inspection (Problem 2) Then he said they stuck his tank and it came back red so they gave him a HUGE ticket and threatened to arrest him. (Problem 3) Claimed he didn't know and the filler station had the wrong fuel. 1. So, obviously he was doing SOMETHING stupid to get pulled, so I thought; but lets give him the benefit of the doubt here. He did nothing just got pulled in a random. 2. This one puzzles me because if he isn't commercial why the inspection? Has anyone else been pulled for a "General Inspection" because to me "General Anything" is time for a lawyer phone call cause ya fishing. 3. THERE IS NO WAY he didn't know that he put Off Road Diesel in his tank. You know if you got fuel from a truck stop or gas station or your homeboys heating oil tank or his construction site. ANYONE ever heard of something like this happening cause I felt so bad for the fella I got out and gave him a hardy handshake and a hug. Who has this kinda luck. Signed: Puzzled Keon

Can you talk about this a bit more. Specifically where to get the device from. I thought about an auto start in the event of a power failure at home but didn't know it existed in practical non home brew terms.

Howdy do. The question that you're asking a slightly complicated because you're speaking of a phenomenon that unfortunately nobody can control. Should the electricity go out there probably should be some type of Safeguard but the question is how much are you willing to spend money wise for the technology to alert you when this happens. I'm sure you're going to run into someone here that has had this happen that can give you some practical information but from a theoretical point of view I think I might be able to help you a little bit. The easiest and most direct way to fix the problem would be for the campground to let you know if there was a power failure but they are about a power failure if it's Campground wide unless they have some type of technology and place where they can monitor each individual pedestal at every campsite. You could also install some type of Wireless camera that has a battery backup system but the problem is the Wi-Fi may go out with the electricity unless your Wi-Fi is a cell phone connected to a continuous 12 volt source that is not dependent upon the campground Shore power. I think the greater concern over the campgrounds in power failing would be trying to figure out why your air compressors are tripping the breakers. If I had to start throwing cash at this situation I definitely would start there. One solution I would employ would be to close off my bedroom area and only run one of my compressors to cool The Galley and the living area and front. I would leave my dog in that neck of the woods so that I'm not drawing to much power and when I return just open the door and kick the other compressor in the rear when it's bedtime or when I'm going to spend time back there. At the end of the day nothing beats frequent checks on your pets when the weather is extremely cold or extremely hot. If we are in Disney say for instance, one of the things we would do is leave the park at midday not only to get a break but to make sure that Ruff Ruff is okay and take him out so that he can go potty. You just have to build your day and adjust your time around the pooch because no matter what the situation is, be it a breaker that's tripped or an electrical failure you're going to have to be there to fix or remedy the problem on the coach side. Hope this helps!

No but I'm sure my neighbors did.

Being from Maryland I can honestly tell you that the only people that have to stop at our scales are commercial trucks weighing over 5 tons. If the side of your coach has a commercial sign on it such as a business or anything of that nature you must pull over and get your vehicle weighed. That said there is a caveat to all of this, in the event that the DOT feels that you're operating in an unsafe manner they can ask you to pull onto the scale. Here's the thing, you have to be driving like an absolute idiot, the front end of your coach has to be popping up in the air because the trailer behind you have so much tongue weight, or if they think that you're running dope and want a reason to ask in a board your coach.

Good afternoon or evening or something Wherever You Are The short answer to your question is no it cannot be flat towed. As for the reason, it has to do with something that the Europeans do with their manual transmissions and the issue , which Super escapes me at this moment because it 3:30 in the morning here, is an issue that Saab, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and some Volvos share in common. Most of these cars can be towed on a dolly, I know my Saab can but you need to talk to Porsche and get explicit instructions on even Dolly Towing because if I remember correctly depending on the year you are rear wheel drive Nevertheless the cost for you to flat tow your car is going to greatly exceed buying a cheap 5 speed Toyota or Chevy and dinghy tow that.

No that was me that loaded up the wire. Will get in touch with him 73 OM

WAYNE --- I like you. The XYL said we could never be in a camp ground side by side cause she thinks we would get in trouble. I said we would be good then she reminded me about the time I loaded up the Telephone wire that was coming into the house. We werent using it anymore and I thought it would make a good LONG wire. Well, needless to say every phone in the neighborhood rung at 130 in the morning but 160 was WIDE OPEN into Nicaragua. My excuse, I was only using 50 watts! Imagine how many would have rung is I put all 1500 in? I got the LOOK

A good friend of mine N3EKO is going to let me use one to see if I like it. To be very honest with you the performance of the antenna is not necessarily my concern, the bigger concern that I have is the flexibility that I lose with a through the glass mount. If I'm able to mount somewhere else and let's a have a UHF mount in place I would be able to swap out antennas 4 various situations. A great example would be a group of us going down the road somewhere let's say for instance. I would only need a quarter wave and I would not necessarily have to worry about overhead object taking out my antenna. Now let's say our destination is to a natural disaster area where a tornado came through. Now we are in a situation where repeaters may be down and my coach is going to have to serve as a crossband repeating station for the guys that are on the ground. So with a UHF amount and a 7/8 wave antenna not only am I able to produce 100 watts of power safely but I can also hear week station traffic. I'm sure I could deploy a couple of military poles and put some type of bass antenna up temporarily however situations change where you have to move location and it's much easier to move location or take down a mobile antenna then it would be to do something with a large base antenna setup. At a campground where I'm somewhat fixed for a period of time I would stick a Jay pull up in a heartbeat and if I'm in a situation where I got some woods behind me you can bet your bottom dollar I got a wire in it somewhere. So while I have the time before our camping season starts I'm trying to explore as many options as I possibly can with the goal of finding that one set up that's right in the middle of a perfect world and a less than perfect world. 4 HF I found that compromise but for VHF it's just proving a little bit more difficult than I would have imagined. 73 de KE3HAY

Lance I am Keon from Baltimore and welcome to this form post. We are not far from you and there are other folks in our age range that live in the east coast/North/MID Atlantic side of the world that travel with children. The best way I have found folks to hang with and get ideas was in the travel section and i think the Lets Meet Up section is whats its called. I am making a habit to include our travel plans in that section hoping that people would be in areas where we could get together even if its just for dinner and a family movie at the local theater near by. Unlike most families with children we are super flexible because our children are college age (Daughter in LA going to school and A son who really isnt the Son just got dropped off and never left) and our baby is home schooled (8 year old boy). So we have the advantage of vacation anytime with lots of flexibility. So say if you were going to the Shenandoah Mountains the second we in July and we were going the 3rd, My plans are usually very flexible provided we know enough in advance that the DW can move vacation. We would be ok with an impromptu rally somewhere with families. There are others here that are in our same boat and I am super open to talks of another chapter geared for our age group as parents with school age children and family dynamic with grandparent privileges to include EVERYBODY.

Hey Wayne ... will look into that. Let me see if the XYL (DW in coach talk) will give me my drill back. She saw an NMO bit headed for the car and hid the drill. I tried to sneak a friends into the house and she called his XYL and she took his. AAAAHHHHHH Maybe dinner and a promise not to put holes in the car will get it back.

UPDATE Finally got an HF station functional on 75-40-and 20 Meters. Difficult but I made it work. I am particular about what I need on each of these bands and the hustler series antennas gave me the bandwidth that was reasonable without using my screwdriver. This way I don't have to run a power lead to move the antenna and try to run a switch (basically a headache). By mounting the antenna on the ladder and running an 18 gauge wire from the mount to the chassis I was able to achieve about 40kHz under 3:1 on 75m, 40M gives me the entire phone band under 3:1 and 20 I have the ENTIRE BAND under 2:1 and the phone band at 1.3:1 at 14.260 - 1.7:1 at the band edges. As for 2M this is a challenge. I am not really satisfied with the Through the Glass mounting. I am going to try to a 1/2 wave antenna no ground plane needed deal and see what happens. I think I will be able to mount it on the mirror and prayerfully it won't be too heavy. WE shall see if it works.

You make a valid point, thus the reason I never let the guy in Camping World talk me into getting them. To me it looked like deploying them would bend "The TRACK" the slide is on if used to support weight but I read somewhere (And If i find out where Ill post it) that they are used to stop motion when walking not to "Support" the slide. I am too new at this to mess up anything so I wouldn't try it but I do Level the coach as best I can before deploying the slide. I never have to "relevel" as the slide does tilt or do anything funny even with its size.

Number 1, Your right --- you cant. Its crazy and thats why Castaway books so fast because they are like IT ...its also the reason it costs so much to stay the KOA because they know they are the closest to 50 and the bay bridge. Number 2. If she wants Blue Crab ill keep you posted on something for June 3th that I am throwing at the KOA. Mr. Blue Crab will be making an appearance but I have not worked out all the details yet. When I do you will get an invite. Maybe yall can come down and meet us for the weekend.

This is 100% correct. You would need HUGE numbers to get something like that initiated and though we are powerful for our craft, in the grand scheme of life we are TINY ... though our incite would be valuable I wonder how much our insurance company info would help especially with all the claims that are put in for damaged parts from roads. I'm sure if they started going after these cities and towns that would be more of an impact and we would see and end to lip service from politicians. Right now a lot of them just chalk things up under your comprehensive but they really should go after the government for those road hazards.

Not sure if this post is still going or read but I have a 17 year old coach and she is well kept, not an eye sore, all the light and awning look presentable and I don't think I could go into a Campground and she not be accepted. Therefore age is a FINE LINE that I wouldn't touch - however, I would use the same system you would have for having a custom car or any vehicle parked in the area. If it has noticeable body damage - missing bumper or broken glass then it needs to be FIXED or moved. If the vehicle has under inflated or flat tires - If the vehicle Registration has lapsed this is a problem. Baltimore City has an ordinance that says I can not have my coach parked in the front yard. In fact it must be 10 feet behind the front of the house. Do we pay it attention, no cause before we leave we park in the drive way so we can get things in and out --- saying that to say be very careful that your HOA doesn't pick on folks just because they can. Lawyers are itching to sue and you could be barking up the wrong tree and tick of the wrong person.

Might be a little late on this one but sound to me like the Mid west is rough road country. Physically the road isn't "Rough" but trying to squeeze through the construction stuff on 95 and parts of 81 here in the PA MD and VA will make you squeeze your buns and open ya wallet too. Then there is VA around Richmond to Petersburg VA - most of the time I'd rather walk than drive my car through that stretch of road so imagine the beating your coach would take. AND NONE OF THIS IS PARK -- we're talking Interstate Travel.

I am going to make every effort to make the Urbanna Oyster Festival in Urbanna VA. Its November 3 and 4th 2017. Below are the campgrounds closest to the town. IF anyone is going, please let me know. Maybe we can get together and have a FMCA meet and greet or something. I have not made reservations yet but I hear we should make them by January cause we might not get a spot. They are about $90 a night that weekend Bethpage Camp-Resort 804-758-4349 Urbanna, VA. Bush Park Campground 804-776-6750 Deltaville, VA. Grey’s Point Camp 804-758-2485 Topping, VA. Thousand Trails Campground 804-693-6924 Gloucester, VA.

Um this may or may not help but I'll share anyway. I was in Florida this past September and I decided to take a look at a few campgrounds in Kissimmee/Orlando area. What I saw scared me a bit. In that area, Tropical Palms was the first place I visited (Just Drove right in) and at first it looked like a normal (what I thought would be normal) campground but the further I looked it reminded me of the trailer parks in NC where I grew up. I have NO ISSUE with older coaches but some of these rascals should have been put out the pasture some time ago. They appeared to be long time visitors there and even the newer coaches had grass growing around the wheels. Just not as nice as I thought it would have looked in Florida. Good Sam rated it as a 9 9 9 in the book but in my honest opinion it was a 6 7 7. Looked at another further up 192 and it was worse. The KOAs are AWESOME but you gonna pay for them of course. If I wasn't staying in Fort Wilderness (I'll be there October of 2017) I would only feel comfy at the KOA unless money was tight and then I might just boondock at Wally World for a night or two.

Hey Chris If you are already on a level surface, and you do not have your jacks down, the slide if it is big enough will tilt your coach slightly to one side where it wont be level anymore.. The jacks provide a great deal of stability because your shocks and springs are not meant to handle that type load (of course I am assuming its a gas coach). I have no clue about a diesel but I would safely assume when the air is let out of those bags you would want stability for those heavy slides as well. My Bounder slide has the couch, and the dinette on the slide and the slide is almost 10 feet long. Add several butts to the seats and she will move. The also make slide jacks but never saw anyone using them ... they are strictly for stability and it takes the weight of the slide mechanism from what I read.

Good Point, I remember now remember my neighbor had this issue. I neglected to mention i dont have the original cylinder head on this V-10- it was replaced on my coach so i assume there was an issue and it was corrected. As soon as I pulled the plug I looked for 2 things, Helicoils or any type of lock and stitch type stuff which Ford used when the Mustangs were popping plugs. I didnt see and any type of stripping of the thread in the aluminum head. Didnt see either ... So I called my buddy at the local Ford dealership and asked what a new one looked like and after he described the longer thread pattern I checked that with a bore scope. Confirmed that the head was replaced.

I just pulled my plugs and I have the longer threaded plugs. Scared me for a moment. The Look ... YEAH be afraid of the LOOK!

OK I have a V 10 Triton ... what kind of Coach do you have and why are plugs ejecting from the motor?

My DW looked at a place in FL similar to what you were looking to buy. The price was the cost of new SUV, then was the Maint fee of 800 a year, then there was the taxes of 390 a year, and the "we will in house finance you" at 12.5% over 10 years. $51K for the 1st 10 years to visit (provided the fees dont increase which they will cause we are in the good ole USA) and play golf maybe 2 x's a year for a week at a time is way to expensive. TBUTLER is right, might be a bad investment and you definitely don't want to get stuck in something. Real figures with my situation - If we staying 6 months out of the year its 2595+electric plus the cost of a golf cart ($3900 New) cause you cant drive to the amenities in the park. You car is on your "pad" with the coach but you can only drive it to enter the park and to exit, not to the pool. AND I GOTTA PAY TO PLAY THE GOLF COARSE!!!!! ($67+cart rental for members) This may not be bad considering that about the average for rentals anyway so why own and be obligated to write the check when you can rent and stay where ever you want when you want.