Fancy Electronic Do-Dads

My heartfelt apologies to those of you who don't enjoy all the technical mumbo-jumbo, but I need to get this stuff documented for my own good.

Yesterday I took about 3 hours to wire in some additional features to my new power station of 8 batteries. One is a disconnect switch which can be turned off/on to allow current to and from the batteries.  Handy if I'm storing it for a while or if I just need to disconnect power going to the batteries.  This will be helpful when I have the solar wired in as it will allow me to disconnect the power from the batteries and confirm that the new Kingtec air conditioner is running purely on Solar Power.

The other thing I wired into the mix was something much, much, more useful. That thing is the amazing Trimetric battery system monitor by Bogart Engineering. This is such a useful item, as it's wired into the system via a Shunt(pictured below), which will allow you to monitor how many amps the system is draining, how many amps are going to the battery when charging, and how many amps you have left (i.e. how much juice you have left in the batteries.) A few years ago I had actually bought one and was planning on putting into my last RV, The Chinook. I just never quite got around to doing the upgrades I wanted to that rig before switching to the Beast. Anyhow, so I have an older unit, though still new: mine is the Trimetric TM-2025RV. I actually got lucky that I had bought the higher end model years ago, as this particular model allows you to monitor up to a 48 volt battery systems instead of the standard 12 volt which is prevalent in most RVs.

I just have the Disconnect switch and Trimetric roughed in for now, they simply need to be screwed in place somewhere. The Disconnect Switch I have a home for right next to the Shunt picture below you will see the hole next to it. The Trimetric I believe I'll be placing inside the rack with all of the electronic equipment(dvd player, stereo, etc.)

Here's some exciting photos of the above items!

Disconnect Switch roughed in.

Blurry Picture of where the switch will be.  This is under the bench in the dinette, because of the overhanging wood it would be impossible to accidentally switch it on or off. Also it has to be depressed and turned at the same time.

The 500 Amp shunt mounted and sending valuable information to the Trimetric.

The Trimetric in action!

This is the Trimetric showing 51.8 Volts. When the batteries were brand new, they were sitting at 52 Volts. So I've lost .2 Volts over the last month while they sat waiting for me to work on them and also they got drained a little when I ran the A/C for a good 10 minutes on just the batteries. I have yet to recharge them, that's where the Solar comes into play very soon!  Also on the to-do list is some serious wire management.

Happy Halloween!

We feel the blues of Chinook being sold. We were supposed to "baby sit" her while the new owner was out of town for the weekend, but his wife seemed to bond with her real fast, and we haven't seen her since the money changed hands. I am glad it went to a good home where it gets used. Now we get to step into the next part of our plan, which is getting the house fixed, so we can rent it out. Time is going by fast, and we need to kick in the next gear, there might only be couple months left for us to get ready.

The Halloween has been really tame this year for us. We usually have a party for Halloween, but this year we sold our awesome margarita machine, and decided to not throw a party after all. We did attend one though, and like usually for this holiday, we were dressed up for the occasion. I love Halloween.

                                

                                

Chinook Officially Sold

After passing all the inspections and a thorough look over of the Chinook by a professional inspector, the Chinook is now officially sold.  So everyone who was hoping the sale would fall thru so they could snatch up such a great vehicle will have to continue the hunt.  Even while filling it up with gas today, I was approached by someone who wanted it (there were never any for sale signs on it either).

The market for Chinooks is definitely a hot one!

All for now, Happy Halloween!

Moving forward

So we are almost done with the Chinook. It is with sad realization that the Chinook will not be with us anymore. We have a sale pending officially, and I am pretty certain that the sale will be finalized on Monday. This will finally get our wheels in motion, since the selling of the Chinook was our ticket to do the foundation repair and some of the other renovations. Then we just have to figure out where to put our junk that will need to be stored for later use, and get it done! I just have a feeling that it is easier said than done. I am pretty persistent when I get my mind into something, but I think we are so different in that matter, that it will take us longer than it needs to. But there is no need to get into any major stress about it, just start early on, so we don't have to panic once the time comes.

I think Chinook will have plenty of interesting adventures ahead of it, the new owner looked like he had very interesting history,  not your average RV buyer. We had lots of interest in the rig, and we got requests about it all the way from Canada, which was kind of surprising. Though we have to admit that we would have gone a long way to get one for us, we just happened to be really lucky to find ours from Houston, so we only had to drive few hundred miles to get it. Now that our beauty is about to leave us and we will have the beast to house us on the road, the urge of finding an appropriate name has become evident. Until we come across suitable one, we will just refer to her as the Beast.

                                 

1998 Chinook Concourse Side Entry for Sale!! -SOLD

Really hate to do this, but we really don't need 2 RVs.

Really rare side entry Chinook with permanent bed floor plan. Low Miles, around 40,000.

We just took it on one last trip and it performed flawlessly over the 450 mile journey.
If you are looking for an easy to drive RV, this is it! If you are looking for an RV that is the sports car of RVs, this is it!  Made of a one piece Fiberglass shell, it should last a Long Long time.

As the driver of the vehicle I can attest to the handling, speed, braking, horsepower, and comfort of it.  You can cruise at pretty much any speed you would want to drive.  It easily handles 90+ mph, in fact it is fun to pass sports cars in a motorhome effortlessly. Averages 10-13 mpg with a full load of water, gas, supplies.

Some of the features:
Ford 6.8 Liter V-10 Triton Engine
4 Speed automatic w/ overdrive
Power windows
Power locks
130amp Alternator
Cold in dash A/C
Driver and Passenger air bags
37 gallon gasoline tank
Onan Microlite 4000 watt gas generator with less then 80 hours.  Auto cutoff if gas tank goes below 1/4 full.
6 CU FT Dometic 2 door refrigerator/freezer, 3-way runs on A/C, D/C, or LP.
I believe an 80 watt solar panel on top to keep your batteries charged.
2 burner stove
Microwave
Kitchen sink
Shower/toilet combo unit with medicine cabinet. REALLY hot showers
LP 6 gallon water heater (heats quick and is HOT)
32 gallon fresh water tank
36 gallon gray and 15 gallon black tank
16000 BTU Furnace
A/C unit on top
30 amp plug with 23 foot cable.  Has adapter to plug into a normal 110 outlet as well.
Full size permanent bed 75"x47"
Dinette converts into a 1 person, or 2 child bed. (Twin bed)
2 Deep Cycle Marine batteries for 250 amps of power, batteries less than a year old.
Sewer hose and a new in box spare sewer hose
Windows all have the double privacy screens on them
Privacy curtain that snaps onto the front cab of the unit
13 inch tv
VCR(easily swapped) and stereo
12 gallon LPG tank
exterior shower
Carbon Monoxide and LP gas detectors
Equipped with Vehicle Boost Start, in case your engine batteries are dead, it allows you to start the engine      with the coach batteries.
Tow hitch, can tow 8000lbs
Tires have 90+% tread remaining.
2 Fantastic roof fans, one in main cabin and another is the restroom/shower.

Small enough unit for stealth camping, see Glenn's Blog to see how he gets away with free parking 99% of the time.

Side Entry in a rig this size gives it many advantages over a rear entry model. For one, you can have a trailer or car towed along behind you and not have to unhook it in order to go outside. Or if you opt for a cargo hitch to carry stuff it will not interfere with your use of the main doorway.  Also folks with pets report problems with the rear entry models as you end up opening right into the street, whereas the side entry, you end up away from traffic.  Plus for full timers having a permanent bed is a boon to having to constantly put your bed up every day and back down again at night. Plus there is a big storage area under the bed, easily accessible from the outside.

All the electronics work perfectly, mechanically in superb condition.  Has some minor wear on the exterior, but for a 14 year old rig it handles better than any of my other vehicles.  Chinook put out a Super high quality vehicle.

Located at Plano TX.

Contact Lee with any questions:  leebailey@gmail.com

Last Trip With Chinook

It's not the kind of trip we wanted to make, but as I am typing this, I am laying on the bed of Chinook with 3 dogs, and we are heading to the South of Texas to attend a funeral. As we drive down on I-45, I am pretty sure we have couple of skunks hiding under the table, pretty strong stench at times. Makes you wonder if the hair in my nostrils is gonna survive the burn the skunks left behind. Roadkills are everywhere, so sad.

We so wanted to take the Revcon to the road, but we didn't have a chance to clean it yet, or work on few issues we have in it. Mainly what we have left now to do is to get the fridge fixed and try to figure out where the dogs are going to sleep. I bet they think under our covers, like they've done so far, but that isn't safe anymore, since the bed is above the cab.

This part of RV'ing was my favorite, driving from point A to point B. Not so much anymore, since in order to keep one of the dogs from going crazy I have to go to "sleep" with them, so I miss on everything on the road or aside it. But I guess the only way to get them used to it, is to actually keep driving around. I don't think it is that they don't like it, I think they (or actually just Pixie) gets overly excited and maybe worries of us leaving her behind. She is unlike many greyhounds and stays indoors, doesn't dart out the door when she gets a chance, except if we are packing the RV, then nothing is going to hold her in, she will run into the RV if an opportunity arises

Over day has passed since I started to write this post, we had a funeral, lots of tears and sadness, but also laughter and like Granny wanted, tons of food. Granny was loved by many many people and she made quite many friends during her 95 years of life. She didn't want people to leave her funeral hungry and if they did, it was their own fault. We left the dogs into the RV while we were at the funeral, and we were so glad to notice that even Louie, who gets always crated, did fantastic without his crate.

You ever feel like you have someone just sitting on your
shoulder barking orders while you are driving... we do.

We left the funeral a little earlier than we wanted to, but we had a long drive home, and didn't want to drive all of the way in the dark, especially since I had to be ready for work the next morning. Regretfully we had to skip also visiting Grandmother, time did not allow us, and we felt awful about it. We passed many cars with our brave Chinook, and were absolutely sad thinking that it will be the last trip. It is perfect size for a single person to live on, and two people to make trips with, and seems like the only option for us to get around at all with all the critters. It drove so beautifully, I am sure we will miss the ability to just step on the pedal and zoom by the slow pokers. Even Pixie calmed down on our way home, and I was able to sit on a seat instead of laying in bed with her to keep her calm. Though it didn't come without any enforcing, every time she got jumpy all over us, I cracked the window a bit, and the sound scared her to go lay down. I am sure it would be safer to have them all crated during the drive, but it is not possible in this tiny rig to have 3 crates.

The cotton is ready

We passed again tons of stinky stuff, roadkills of all sorts, cats, raccoons, dears, dogs, possums, skunks and armadillos, and each one of them made me sad and some of them made me nauseous. I am sure we passed some chicken farms too, the smell was really strong, and almost made our eyes watery, that would not be explained away with roadkills alone. The trip was quite successful and we are once again thankful to my husbands cousin for letting us suck their power to keep the rig cool for the doggies. I just wish we could have stayed couple of days, instead of having to squeeze the whole trip into one day. After all, Chinook deserves a goodbye trip.