What did you do for your Escape today.....

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by brroberts

I don’t mind drills on the stabilizers even though we are manual, but I hate the noisy impacts when I’m out to get away from such sounds.

I agree in general. Of course folks can have the quietest drill to operate the stabilizers, but then they start their diesel and there goes the neighborhood.

[iamunique127]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

I use the crank because I still can. I do not work out or have a personal exercise regimen. I just work on our property, maintain our equipment, lift and carry heavy objects that are hard to handle. And do as much manual labor as I can. I believe I will continue to do this as long as I am able. I do not care about how much time anything takes when I’m camping. I’m not on the clock. I usually don’t know the date unless I look it up, let alone the time. For those folks who cannot do the manual tasks for legitimate reasons I have empathy. For the clowns who come into the campground with the big stick built trailers and own a King Kong impact wrench and hammer their stabilizers up to improperly level the trailer while not knowing enough to chock their tires, well I just laugh and ask myself “what you gonna do when you’re 75?” But that’s probably just me. Don’t know, don’t care.
Iowa Dave

It's not just you, Dave. That's the way I roll too. The harder the work the better. If I'm sore and tired at the end of the day it's a good thing and helps me sleep.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by iamunique127

It's not just you, Dave. That's the way I roll too. The harder the work the better. If I'm sore and tired at the end of the day it's a good thing and helps me sleep.

I hear you on the sleep thing. But I’m pretty bullheaded and won’t give up till I can’t get up. I did mane a tactical error on Friday when I was weeding the garden on Friday on my hands and knees, as I worked in the direct sun my shirt rode up some I got some sunburn below the belt line if you know what I mean. TMI? Oh I’m sorry.
Iowa Dave

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by BobG

A couple years ago when I bought the trailer and converted the manual trailer jack to use a socket, I tried the impact on low power (it has 3 power settings). That is as far as I got. Not only did I recognize no one would want to listen to it, I didn't either. I leave it at home and take my drill for the jack and stabilizers. It has a clutch for screw driving and works better on cranking as the impact. No need to hammer the **** out of the jack or stabilizers while annoying the neighbors.

I have a 30 year old 19v Craftsman drill/screwdriver that was their top or the line portable. It's relatively quiet, had two variable speeds, and has the setting for screw power. When our legs hit the top it just stops, instead of ripping the handle out of my hand. A few years later I bought a kit with single speed drill, portable light, circular and jig saw. That single speed will rip the handle and nearly break your wrist. I keep looking for another 30 year old, two speed, drill/screwdriver at garage sales. I now have three lithium batteries for those older Craftsman portables that I needed when building our condo. OTOH, at 74, the old Craftsman may outlast me.

Enjoy,

Perry

[hrewer]

Originally Posted by Doug2000

So not spending $$$$ on a Lagun and besides it didn’t really accomplish what we wanted. We wanted a smaller table with the floor clear. I made this from extra stuff in my garage. Eventually I’ll add the matching Formica which is a brown speckle. That’s why the bracket and legs are brown. The plywood matches other mods in the trailer.

Doug, this looks great. What hardware did you use? Is it easy to put up and down?

[Dave Walter]

Yesterday after 10 years since purchasing our 2013 Escape 19' and enjoying nearly flawless battery performance in that time, I replaced the original twin 6V Interstate batteries. I decided to go with what has worked well for us to date and purchased very similar 6V flooded lead acid batteries as the replacements. Hoping to be good now until 2033.

[diannelgraham]

Installed a 12 volt fan what an air flow difference.

[MrLynn]

Best to fix the photo orientation before you upload it.

[diannelgraham]

Originally Posted by MrLynn

Best to fix the photo orientation before you upload it.

Yup have been trying for years to figure out how to do that...seeing you know please feel free to post instructions I'm sure many folks would appreciate that.

[MrLynn]

Originally Posted by diannelgraham

Yup have been trying for years to figure out how to do that...seeing you know please feel free to post instructions I'm sure many folks would appreciate that.

If you're on a Mac, you can open the photo in Preview, and under the Tools menu choose Rotate (left or right), then Save your change. I generally edit photos in Graphic Converter. If you use the Photos application, there is a Rotate icon in the tool bar.

If you use an iPhone, open a photo and click Edit; then use the icon to Straighten at the bottom.

I don't use Windows or Android phones, so can't direct you there.

[Civilguy]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

Yesterday after 10 years since purchasing our 2013 Escape 19' and enjoying nearly flawless battery performance in that time, I replaced the original twin 6V Interstate batteries. I decided to go with what has worked well for us to date and purchased very similar 6V flooded lead acid batteries as the replacements. Hoping to be good now until 2033.

Bless you Dave.

We have likewise been doing fine with the stock pair of 6V batteries, but what with reading all these lithium battery threads with and WFCO to Progressive Dynamics conversions, DC to DC chargers, and MPPT controllers, I might have to breath into a paper bag as we're not optimally outfitted.

But with your post, I have to courage to just keep topping up the battery water every spring, soldiering on...

[pkgman51]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

Yesterday after 10 years since purchasing our 2013 Escape 19' and enjoying nearly flawless battery performance in that time, I replaced the original twin 6V Interstate batteries. I decided to go with what has worked well for us to date and purchased very similar 6V flooded lead acid batteries as the replacements. Hoping to be good now until 2033.

Dave, we just replaced our dual 6-volts after 9 years. They were still performing but I thought they might be close to the end. Darn! I could have gone another year. I, too, replaced them with like batteries. Why mess with a good thing? Guess I'm good for 10 years this time?
Gary

[iamunique127]

I also replaced our original 2015 dual six-volts this year. They and our single roof-top solar panel exceed our needs so we're totally satisfied.

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by Civilguy

Bless you Dave.

We have likewise been doing fine with the stock pair of 6V batteries, but what with reading all these lithium battery threads with and WFCO to Progressive Dynamics conversions, DC to DC chargers, and MPPT controllers, I might have to breath into a paper bag as we're not optimally outfitted.

But with your post, I have to courage to just keep topping up the battery water every spring, soldiering on...

I think that a lot of people on this forum don't really understand what they actually need in terms of battery performance, and they often tend to get caught up in a kind of 'crowd mania' where they read what others have done and convince themselves that they also need some crazy amount of battery capacity. I have a single solar panel, twin 6V flooded lead batteries, and spend almost 100% of my camping time without hookups. We use our trailer 12V power for running the LED lights, the max fan, charging phones, watching movies, etc. and have only in the past year (after 10 years on original batteries) noticed that the batteries were not keeping up to our needs (although we never ran short on power).

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

I think that a lot of people on this forum don't really understand what they actually need in terms of battery performance, and they often tend to get caught up in a kind of 'crowd mania' where they read what others have done and convince themselves that they also need some crazy amount of battery capacity. I have a single solar panel, twin 6V flooded lead batteries, and spend almost 100% of my camping time without hookups. We use our trailer 12V power for running the LED lights, the max fan, charging phones, watching movies, etc. and have only in the past year (after 10 years on original batteries) noticed that the batteries were not keeping up to our needs (although we never ran short on power).

I would tend to agree. Your setup is similar to what we had with our Rpod and we did just fine for years. When we decided to go with the 5.0, however, we stepped up our power game considerably and have not regretted it. Like you said, folks just need to have a good idea of what they want to use their rig for.

Noticed your race number in you photo. What type of race?

[brroberts]

The only time I have issues with one panel and two 6 volts is when it’s cold, cloudy, no electric and heavy furnace running. The batteries do not keep the furnace happy more than a day or two at most. I’m working on making the furnace as efficient as I can, and possibly adding two more 6V. I don’t care about the weight. I do care about the cost and cold weather charging of lithium.

[MrLynn]

We have twin 6-volt flooded batteries, too, plus one solar panel and an inverter. The inverter (which I like for my coffee and toast) eats up battery power fast, so if we are in shade I have to go back to true-camper tactics, like stove-top toast and percolator coffee. Lately, though, we've had shore power, even at State and Federal sites. Getting spoiled, I guess.

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by SageRpod

...Noticed your race number in you photo. What type of race?

Kind of an interesting story. I have been an endurance runner for about 10 years and last year (June 2022) I ran a marathon that qualified me to run in the 2023 Boston Marathon. However, I had a bit of bad luck and in October 2022, I suffered a widowmaker heart attack and cardiac arrest while running in a trail race in the mountains near Banff, Alberta. I was given CPR by other runners on the course and after the medics arrived, I needed 5 or 6 shocks with a defibrillator to get a stable heart rate. I was transported to hospital in Calgary where they installed stents in a couple of blocked arteries and I spent several days on a ventilator due to a punctured/collapsed lung from broken ribs (due to the CPR). I was released from hospital about 8 days after the incident, began walking for exercise after 2 weeks, and began running again after 6 weeks. Three months after the 'event' I ran the Hypothermic Half-Marathon (21.1km) in Edmonton during Feb 2023. Then six months after nearly dying from a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest, I ran the Boston Marathon in April 2023. The picture on my avatar was taken on the day of the marathon.

[Rockhead]

Oh my goodness Dave. So glad you are still with us. Thank god that there were people there that knew what to do. Many prayers n thoughts towards you that you will be with us for a long time to come

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

Kind of an interesting story. I have been an endurance runner for about 10 years and last year (June 2022) I ran a marathon that qualified me to run in the 2023 Boston Marathon. However, I had a bit of bad luck and in October 2022, I suffered a widowmaker heart attack and cardiac arrest while running in a trail race in the mountains near Banff, Alberta. I was given CPR by other runners on the course and after the medics arrived, I needed 5 or 6 shocks with a defibrillator to get a stable heart rate. I was transported to hospital in Calgary where they installed stents in a couple of blocked arteries and I spent several days on a ventilator due to a punctured/collapsed lung from broken ribs (due to the CPR). I was released from hospital about 8 days after the incident, began walking for exercise after 2 weeks, and began running again after 6 weeks. Three months after the 'event' I ran the Hypothermic Half-Marathon (21.1km) in Edmonton during Feb 2023. Then six months after nearly dying from a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest, I ran the Boston Marathon in April 2023. The picture on my avatar was taken on the day of the marathon.

Dave what an incredible story. I am so glad you are here for your loved ones and to share you knowledge and experience with us on the forum. I to am an endurance runner. On a fateful night on 2008 after too many beers at the Stone Face bar in Albuquerque, I accepted a challenge to run a 100 mile ultra marathon and the rest is history. Been running ultras ever since which probably explains my sometimes twisted sense of humor.

Message me anytime you want to talk running. You are awesome!