Looking For Ideas - May Give Up

[rslifkin]

Sounds like a good plan! Just don't forget about all of us while you're roaming around in the RV.

Out of curiosity, what do you have for a truck?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Sounds like a good plan! Just don't forget about all of us while you're roaming around in the RV.

Out of curiosity, what do you have for a truck?

Oh, I’m sure I’ll come in with some controversial ideas about anchoring, vhf monitoring, use of Black balls at anchor, etc. ha ha ha.

I sent a pm about the truck.

But I also want to be sure to save money for the possibility of finishing the boat. I’ll run the old truck into the ground.

[PirateFoxy]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Sounds like a good plan! Just don't forget about all of us while you're roaming around in the RV.

Yeah, let us know where you’re going to be in case anyone can say hello. (Socially distanced hello, of course.)

[Chotu]

At the risk of this thread becoming a blog or diary of sorts, I’m going to keep updating it through the process of getting to a decision.

With the pressure off (kicking the can down the road), it’s made things more clear.

The clarity came in the form of really distilling the factors down into just a few things.

1) I don’t know if I can handle the social isolation of living and traveling on a boat solo. Not everyone lives on the coast and getting a motorcycle on and off seems like a real pain. Renting cars takes up a lot of time. Uber is expensive too. So you’re essentially stuck at the shoreline or by yourself on passages. I don’t know if I’m ready for that type of isolation.

2) I don’t know if I want to put all the hours (years) into completing the build. I want the finished product, but at the end, do I really want to have just built a boat with my time? There are more things in life. I want the finished product, but I don’t know if that’s all I want from life.

3) I might like to keep all the money that would go into the boat for more financial stability or paying to have other good experiences.

If I can solve these 3 pieces of the puzzle, the answer will come.


To my surprise, the Rocky Mountains this summer were every bit as good as sailing to islands. The free “anchorages” were quite remote and not too crowded. Definitely no one was going to swing into me if the wind changed.. The “seaside towns” were just as quaint and charming. My “dinghy” was fun and super reliable.

Just some musings to add to the thread.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Westcliffe01

So maybe you set up net metering. Most states never allow you to make a penny. You can offset your own power consumption, but after that you are giving the utility energy for free. Do a bit of investigation, I know for sure that is the case in Michigan and most other midwestern states for sure.

Utility companies are starting to fight back and get more realistic rules put in place...

But net metering is wildly in favor of the home owner.
- Roughly 2/3 of the cost of power is in the grid and power plants (it varies but the bulk is almost never in the fuel costs)...home owners with solar maintain access while getting 100% of the offset credited. You would have to buy a massively oversized array to lose out by giving the power company "free power".
- The utility has to take net metered power regardless of need or the spot price of power. Mid day, isn't peak and the utility often is paying relatively low spot prices for power but has to scale those back (hence you see giant windmills at a standstill on windy days), so that they can absorb the net meter power. They also have to pay for grid upgrades to accommodate random power entering the grid at random points. The homeowner never pays for those costs.

It may be justified to encourage solar and we may need to upgrade the grid but net metering is a subsidy pure and simple.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Note: I want the freezer as much as you do. It’s incredibly hard to right-size an RV. I’m wanting a bigger one, but I’m faced with the reality constantly that a truck camper (tipping my hat to Sand Crab) is the right size since it fits everywhere. BUT... I want to provision with a real freezer and have a dishwasher too.

It's gotten much easier in most RVs (truck campers still face space issues).

They are transitioning from ammonia absorption (propane powered) to 12v compressor fridges. These new fridges are designed to fit in the same space but the mechanicals are a fraction of the size.

Our new camper has one and the interior is easily 50% larger and I believe the freezer is almost twice the size. Plus it can cool down quickly.

[PirateFoxy]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

It's gotten much easier in most RVs (truck campers still face space issues).

They are transitioning from ammonia absorption (propane powered) to 12v compressor fridges. These new fridges are designed to fit in the same space but the mechanicals are a fraction of the size.

Our new camper has one and the interior is easily 50% larger and I believe the freezer is almost twice the size. Plus it can cool down quickly.

Yeah, plus domestic units are so efficient now that even with having to use an inverter (which has some power loss) you can keep one running quite happily on many RV systems. The manufacturers don’t want you to install them in RVs because they’re not designed for all the vibration, but they’re cheap enough compared to proper RV units that even if you have to replace one out of pocket, it’s not the end of the world. And ammonia absorption fridges are FINICKY and slow to cool down as you said.

I think we’re going to end up with the domestic apartment-sized fridge in the ‘galley’ in our RV, and then a 12V compressor freezer (well, one that can be fridge or freezer depending on the temperature you set) somewhere for extra storage - mostly due to form factor, the 12V ones come in better shapes and sizes for putting in an outside storage compartment or in the big storage space under the bed or something. Maybe under the dinette? Not sure, there is a small chance of ending up with a 110V tiny chest freezer in the bedroom - it’d block my SO’s side of the bed a bit but he doesn’t mind having to climb past it. It’s mostly space vs price.

[lestersails]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

For dishes, and glasses, we don't like plastic, although we have a few plastic bowls and glasses. Mostly, we use glass glasses, stoneware plates, bowls, cups, saucers, or Corelle. We just learned how to store them. Not rocket science. Easy to wash. I am the dishwasher, salad maker, and baker, as Jim does most of the cooking.

I guess I'll say that the labor is a small cost to pay for freedom, that omitting luxuries will lead to freedom sooner....and that everyone gets to make their own choices. Only note, we have had our freedom already now for over 30 yrs. I wrote that from looking back a loooong way.

Ann

I think Corelle is a great option for dish ware. It is tougher than stoneware and avoids that plastic feeling. I have nothing against durable plastic materials ecologically, but I just don't like how plastic dish ware 'feels'.

[lestersails]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

It may be justified to encourage solar and we may need to upgrade the grid but net metering is a subsidy pure and simple.

And the free dumping of CO2 into the atmosphere is a subsidy too. But let's not hijack this into another climate change / green energy thread, OK?

[PirateFoxy]

Originally Posted by lestersails

I think Corelle is a great option for dish ware. It is tougher than stoneware and avoids that plastic feeling. I have nothing against durable plastic materials ecologically, but I just don't like how plastic dish ware 'feels'.

It explodes, though. We used to use it at home and replaced it all after a plate got dropped and literally exploded into lots of tiny pieces that went everywhere. Luckily no one was hurt, but cleaning up that kind of mess in an enclosed space like a boat or RV would be unpleasant.

[Buzzman]

Originally Posted by lestersails

I think Corelle is a great option for dish ware. It is tougher than stoneware and avoids that plastic feeling. I have nothing against durable plastic materials ecologically, but I just don't like how plastic dish ware 'feels'.

Corelle is axctually tempered glass, so if / when it DOES break, it shatters into a zillion pieces and you are walking on it and cutting yourself for weeks.

Do NOT put Corelle anything into a boat!!!


YMMV.

[Buzzman]

I haven't seen a lot of it around lately, but higher-end plastic dinnerware made from Melamine is pretty good. Light weight, stiff, but with a pretty hard surface.
Does wear over time, but is much more resistant to breakages than china ware.
We had a full set when we were RV-ing and it held up really well for several years.
Often has ugly patterns on it, but if you shop around you can sometimes find plain white or plain colour, or minimal decorations versions that are more like china ware to look at.
IIRC my great-grandfather's 52' cruiser had it's own china ware, with gold rim edges and crest with the boat's name on it....
He sold the boat in 1938, before the war, but there were still some of the plates from the set in my grandma's kitchen in the Eighties....

[rslifkin]

Corelle shatters into tiny pieces, but with a wood floor in the galley, I don't think breaking it would be too easy. Plus, at least on my boat, if one shatters on the floor, there are less places it can get under something and hide than in the house. It's just time to carefully extract my bare feet from the galley and get the vacuum cleaner...

[Jubilee39]

Used Corell for the last 30 years, finished circumnavigation with one piece lost

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Buzzman

I haven't seen a lot of it around lately, but higher-end plastic dinnerware made from Melamine is pretty good. Light weight, stiff, but with a pretty hard surface.
Does wear over time, but is much more resistant to breakages than china ware.
We had a full set when we were RV-ing and it held up really well for several years.
Often has ugly patterns on it, but if you shop around you can sometimes find plain white or plain colour, or minimal decorations versions that are more like china ware to look at.
IIRC my great-grandfather's 52' cruiser had it's own china ware, with gold rim edges and crest with the boat's name on it....
He sold the boat in 1938, before the war, but there were still some of the plates from the set in my grandma's kitchen in the Eighties....

You have it with nautical themes as well… used it for 50 years or sobut dislike it for two reasons: discoloration and it’s not usable in microwaves