Vagabond exploring life with my little trailer in tow
Alto-specific posts
Everyone who buys a camper, whether it’s a 42-foot Class A bus or a tiny tow-behind has a list of requirements in their head as they are making their choice. Or sometimes they don’t… Some people go through 2, 3, or even 4 campers in the space of a half-dozen years, realizing that first one didn’t have X, the second didn’t have Y, and so on. So it does pay to think about what you’ll be doing with — and in — your camper before you shell out the big bucks to buy one.
Happy 6th birthday, Breeze! Woohoo!
This is the third time in five years I’ve spent part of the winter in New Mexico, and it’s been – by far – the coldest one yet. I’m not alone in thinking this, though. My fellow campers have said much the same thing in our discussions the past week about how we fared in the cold. And by cold, I mean 15F (-9F) four nights running. Yikes… How did my Alto do?
Warning: This is most likely a post that only battery nerds will love. In the Alto groups on Facebook, there are long-running discussions about battery usage, especially when it comes to the 12v fridge vs. the propane/120v fridge. I spent four nights dry camping (no electric or water hookups) at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and tracked my battery usage using a Victron battery monitor. Let’s walk through the four days of no electric hookups, see what the solar panels contributed to the effort, and then see how the battery recharged when I got to a powered site. Day 1: Fully…
Along with the sightseeing is a constant need to pay attention to the little things about my Alto trailer. A loose screw, a funny noise, or, this week, the smell of propane. Never a good sign when you smell propane, but at least I smelled it outside the Alto, and not inside. I quickly ascertained that the leak was somewhere in the regulator bolted to the battery box. A quick Google search showed RV regulators can last 10 years or so, but that’s assuming you’re not a full-timer. In five years of constant use, it’s seen 42 states and more…