Darren's RV Adventures

Here I am again with another installment of our ongoing project to remodel our travel trailer. My last post  showed the built out bed boxes we created to replace the queen-size bed. Last week, we took an hour after dinner to install the hinges, and covers for each mattress. We opened up one of the mattresses (this is the cheapest foam mattress available from IKEA) to make sure my calculations were close enough. Overall, I'm really pleased with this part of the project. Last weekend we moved on to fixing this section of ceiling. The ceiling had been patched in response to water damage prior to us purchasing the camper. My other half pulled out all the damaged ceiling bits to find almost no insulation remaining after that repair. We picked up some foam board panels from the home improvement warehouse and cut and pieced them to fit.  This part wasn't difficult, but it did take almost all the duct tape in the house (both  Duck  and  Scotch  brands) ...

This post was written by my Wonderful Wife.   We've had our travel trailer for a few years. One of the many things we've learned is that we don't particularly care to share a bed while camping. The queen size mattress is short (this is a trailer thing that makes little sense to me), and we seem to roll into the middle of the darn thing and it isn't a very good mattress. We decided to pull out the cabinets, the bed, and remake the space for two twin mattresses. To call the plan a plan is to use language a little too strong. But, we did have a plan. Here is what the bedroom looked like on one of our trips. What these manufacturers think is attractive in a window treatment doesn't really sit with our tastes. After  Darling Husband did all the demolition , it was time to get down to building a replacement for that bed. Here is my rough plan, taped onto the floor. It doesn't make much sense, but I did warn you that 'plan' was a strong word. This secti...

When we got our travel trailer it had signs of some water damage up front in the bedroom.  There had been a leak, but the previous owner had gotten it fixed before they traded it in for their new travel trailer. My wife and I have started to sleep in separate beds so that we both get better sleep.  When we go camping, this presented a problem since the trailer has a Queen bed.  We're not keen on setting up the dinette as a bed and tearing it down every day, so we set our minds to remodeling the bedroom. I poked around the internet and found some projects other RV campers have done that were along the same lines.  After jotting down some ideas and showing them to the wife we settled on a plan. Next step was demo.  We decided to pull the over bed cabinets as well and repair the ceiling, since the damage was inside the cabinets.  This might also be an opportunity for me to run the wiring for my solar panels, since I had planned to bring those cables thro...

We went to the Hershey PA RV Show.  It's supposed to be the largest RV show in the country, but I'm not so sure.  It's certainly the largest I've ever been to. Laid out were acres of RVs and dealers all trying to get you to spend some money on their product.  We have settled on a Class C, but we made sure to step into a Class A bus that was well out of our price range to count how many TVs were in it and be amazed at the bad decor. I had settled on a Class C Diesel, but a chap who was working with one of the vendors challenged that notion.  He indicated that he and his spouse were full timers and had been for a few years.  Then went on to talk to me about how the difference in gas mileage wasn't worth the increased price for diesel and that it had no real benefits. When we look at prices, both for new or used, with very few exceptions a diesel unit is more expensive.  When you look at the miles you might be putting on a rig over the life of your owner...

The planning for most of our trips is pretty lax.  I usually plot the travel path, pick the camp sites, make the reservations, and do the driving.  At least on the way out.  After that, it's like a goat rodeo. Our last trip was to Rhode Island to see our son.  Along the way we stopped in Pennsylvania for the Renaissance Faire at historic Mount Hope.  The plan was loose, we were taking a week off from work capped by weekends on each side.  We drove up to PA on Saturday and would attend the Faire on Sunday, then continue North the following day. It was August, so by the time we got to the campground and got unhooked and set up I was a sweaty mess.  I asked The Wife where the suitcase was, after not finding it in any of the three places it normally ends up.  This began one of those conversations you see on situation comedies.  And then the 2 hour drive back home to get it. We had packed it.  Made sure to put the electric toothbrushes,...

The wife and I have been toying with the idea of changing our RV.  We have a travel trailer that we are very happy with but are starting to consider that a Class C might be a better way to go for the type of RV lifestyle we eventually want. For those that aren't familiar with what all the class designations mean, a Class C is essentially a camper built onto a truck or van chassis.  I suggest really doing your homework if you decide to go shopping for an RV.  I talk to plenty of sales folks and other RVers who relate stories of people buying too little or too much RV in the beginning. There are plenty of full time RVers on YouTube that have changed their RV over the years, and they usually do a video explaining why they changed giving the pros and cons and encouraging you to make your own decisions.  There are plenty of decisions to make too. When we first wanted a camper I wanted a travel trailer.  I was going to be shopping for a new vehicle and I had dec...

The first year we got our camper we went out a good bit.  The second year we were shopping for a house and then moving, so we didn't get to do any camping that year.  The next year we only managed to get out a couple of times. I often wonder how many days of camping are enough to really warrant the expense of the camper.  We got a deal on our camper, so we don't have payments, but towing it incurs more in fuel costs than normal driving.  I only own the truck so that I can tow a camper (it was the plan when I got the truck).  We don't keep the camper at the house, so there are storage fees. I'd like to think, even counting all of that, if I get a couple of weeks a year camping, I'm doing pretty good.  We managed to get a long weekend in early Spring this year, but we might not get another trip until Late summer or early fall.  We are taking a trip to the opposite coast in July, but it's not nearly long enough to be able to drive it with the camper. ...