Excited Newbies "compliments" of Hurricane Matthew

thekisally · 11-05-2016, 09:44 AM

When we evacuated our farm on the coast of South Carolina on Friday October 7th, 2016 we never in a million years thought we would be returning to our flooded house and property a week later with a 2014 Jay Flight Swift 26ft Travel Trailer! Long story short we bought the Jayco to live in on our property for the 6mos to a year while we rebuild our home. Sad as this experience has been we have been presently surprised how much we LOVE our new life!!!! We have always wondered if we would like living in a tiny house off grid. We do! Needless to say we have NO experience with trailers so there will be lots of questions on this awesome forum. We do have a little experience with RVing as we have a 1986 VW Westfalia Camper we do alot of camping in. Cant wait to dive into all the fun and exciting adventures with our new Tiny.

Screwby · 11-05-2016, 09:51 AM

Welcome to the forum! There is something very alluring to making it all work in a small space and shedding all the extra clutter you accumulate over time. We all have those closets full of crap you'll never use but can't throw away. We've been very tempted to go the small house or full time route many times.

abarkl · 11-05-2016, 09:56 AM

Welcome to the forums. Glad you found us.
Sorry to hear about your dilemma, but glad to hear you are keeping your head up.
We will be here all winter so ask any questions you may have them.

thekisally · 11-05-2016, 10:10 AM

Thanks so Much! I have lots of questions already, but mainly I ordered a couple of items that just don't fit so should I just post in the Travel Trailer section?

abarkl · 11-05-2016, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thekisally

Thanks so Much! I have lots of questions already, but mainly I ordered a couple of items that just don't fit so should I just post in the Travel Trailer section?

Yes, if they are related to a travel trailer. There's also the general forums Maintenance and Repair, Tech Talk, and even the Campfire Chat if you just feel like chewing the fat.

Screwby · 11-05-2016, 10:23 AM

Yes, don't be afraid to ask any questions. Most likely there is someone here that has" been there and done that". If it's something specific to one person I'm never shy about sending a private message with a question. Sometimes posts get lost in the shuffle.

With the help of this forum and lots of late night google, I've gone from bone stock to full solar, very modified in about 6 months lol....beware the modification bug

thekisally · 11-05-2016, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Screwby

Welcome to the forum! There is something very alluring to making it all work in a small space and shedding all the extra clutter you accumulate over time. We all have those closets full of crap you'll never use but can't throw away. We've been very tempted to go the small house or full time route many times.

Be careful what you ask for......BS (before the storm), we were complaining about how much "stuff" we had and that we really needed to downsize and purge. Well guess what, we did just that. Didn't really want to do it within 24 hours, but we got our wish. LOL

oldmanAZ · 11-05-2016, 10:32 AM

Welcome to the forum.

**Mustang65** · 11-05-2016, 10:35 AM

CONGRATULATIONS on the JAYCO!!!

...and WELCOME TO JOF!!! The members here are GREAT!!! There is a lot of GREAT information to be found here. I am sure that you will have information and pictures to share with us... so please do!!

NICE orange VW tow vehicle... only kidding

Don

thekisally · 11-05-2016, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Screwby

Yes, don't be afraid to ask any questions. Most likely there is someone here that has" been there and done that". If it's something specific to one person I'm never shy about sending a private message with a question. Sometimes posts get lost in the shuffle.

With the help of this forum and lots of late night google, I've gone from bone stock to full solar, very modified in about 6 months lol....beware the modification bug

LOL, we have been biten by the mod bug.
Solar is one of the first things we want to do. Any advice is welcome. We have our VW Camper totally off grid ready with solar and its great!

thekisally · 11-05-2016, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustang65

CONGRATULATIONS on the JAYCO!!!

...and WELCOME TO JOF!!! The members here are GREAT!!! There is a lot of GREAT information to be found here. I am sure that you will have information and pictures to share with us... so please do!!

NICE orange VW tow vehicle... only kidding

Don

LOL, thats Santana! 1971 Super. We are VW collectors. Have a 1986 Westy, 1981 Vanagon and two 71 Super Beetles

Will probably tow on of the bugs for sure!

Screwby · 11-05-2016, 01:22 PM

"A

Quote:

Originally Posted by thekisally

LOL, we have been biten by the mod bug.
Solar is one of the first things we want to do. Any advice is welcome. We have our VW Camper totally off grid ready with solar and its great!

Everyone has their opinion on solar setups. It all depends on your specific needs on how big of a system you want. I used Renogy as my go to company because of their all inclusive kits and great customer service. I went as big as I could because I'm a do it once and be done kind of guy, but their kits are easily expanded as money allows. Anyone who is handy and mechanically inclined can install solar. The scariest part is drilling holes in a new camper roof if you go permanent mount! (I was a bit nervous lol)
Just wait until Mustang comes along when he smells a solar discussion, he can make your head spin with information!

**Mustang65** · 11-05-2016, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thekisally

LOL, thats Santana! 1971 Super. We are VW collectors. Have a 1986 Westy, 1981 Vanagon and two 71 Super Beetles

Will probably tow on of the bugs for sure!

When you get a chance you need to pull the bug in front of the TT and make it look like your TV and use it as your forum picture... that will get a few questions. I was going to do it with my 65 Mustang... but of course I never did...DARN

Don

thekisally · 11-05-2016, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustang65

When you get a chance you need to pull the bug in front of the TT and make it look like your TV and use it as your forum picture... that will get a few questions. I was going to do it with my 65 Mustang... but of course I never did...DARN

Don

Great Idea! Look forward to discussing your solar set up

**Mustang65** · 11-06-2016, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Screwby

"A

Everyone has their opinion on solar setups. It all depends on your specific needs on how big of a system you want. I used Renogy as my go to company because of their all inclusive kits and great customer service. I went as big as I could because I'm a do it once and be done kind of guy, but their kits are easily expanded as money allows. Anyone who is handy and mechanically inclined can install solar. The scariest part is drilling holes in a new camper roof if you go permanent mount! (I was a bit nervous lol)

Just wait until Mustang comes along when he smells a solar discussion, he can make your head spin with information!

He knew it would be a matter of time before I responded...

Screwby summed it up in 120 words or less. Drilling holes... well I look from a point of view that if you have enough Dicor self leveling sealant, you will have no problems. Take a look at the "RVing with SOLAR" social group on this forum. (Gold bar above under Community, Social Groups) There are a lot of posts that go into SOLAR, installations, batteries, SOLAR charge controllers....

Not sure how you are getting your power to live off grid (Booooooon-Docking) at the moment.. a generator? TV charging your battery? The both of you on bikes that have alternators mounted on the rear tires?

Your TT looks like it is getting a pretty good amount of sun, at that point in time, not sure which way is South, and maybe the trees in the background may play a part in shading your panels if roof mounted.. you will need to look at those items. Well winter is coming so the AC is not going to be a factor for a while.

To live comfortably and have a day or two of reserve battery power I would recommend a minimum of 500 - 600 Watts of SOLAR, but 900 watts would make SOLAR life over the next 6 months a lot easier for the both of you (will help through those cloudy days when your SOLAR is not generating 100%, and fall/winter/early spring seasons when the sun is not producing as much). As for batteries, I would recommend a minimum of 400Ah with 600Ah putting you in the comfort zone for watching a lot of Tv, using the microwave, and overnight heating. Storing them for you should be no problem, as you are on you own property and you can get a box (vented plastic or metal type) and put that under the tongue area. I like the Trojan T145 (260Ah 6 volt deep cycle) batteries. I would also recommend using Residential model Mono type SOLAR panels and when your house is finished you can then mount them on the roof of the house, set it up with the electric company and collect a buck or 2 each month from the electric company. AND maybe even have a battery power backup system for your house, recycling the batteries). But.... I warn you, once you get started with SOLAR, there is NO end to it.... MORE POWER!!! MORE POWER!!!!.......

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your project... any questions just yell.

Don

Screwby · 11-06-2016, 07:48 AM

Totally agree with Don. Solar on my TT was a good project to help me understand how it all works. Now I'm looking at solar for my house and workshop.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

thekisally · 11-06-2016, 01:43 PM

Good info! We are connected to a 30 amp line we dropped from the non working Hot Tub. We positioned the TT on the highest part of the property that has solid ground. Wasn't sure if the tides were going to flood us again. Solar set up sounds perfect. Will need someone to install it tho. Just don't have that gene. Lol With this opportunity to do some things we have wanted to do around the property we are going to install solar to all the our buildings on the property. Depending on the $ we will try to do some solar at the main house. Just waiting on the insurance companies. We did join the solar group too��

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