Newbie from S. FL

CorkyM · 06-10-2020, 11:11 AM

Greetings All,
I'm Corky and am new guy to this entire experience. Retired Air Force Pilot accompanied by my 95 pound dog Kenni. I bought my first RV in March (and then the world shut down) with the intent of doing some bucket list stuff around the country. I am an aspiring landscape painter and photographer and would love to paint as much as possible. I consider myself a pretty decent blues and Jazz drummer and love to sit in whenever I can. Never owned an RV before and the only camping I ever did was in the service - so that doesn't count. I own a 2011 Itasca Suncruiser 32H which has everything I need (I hope). I have been researching RV's a few years now but doing a thing is far more educational than reading about a thing. I plan on learning a lot and have lots of questions like: Does anyone drive with their Generator running and do you do it all the time or for specific purposes?
Since some Camps are starting to open I pulled the trigger and reserved a spot in the Keys as my first short Out and Back. It's forcing me to get my act together but I'm really looking forward to it.

**ThomB** · 06-10-2020, 12:18 PM

Welcome!!!

If you want to paint some landscapes you HAVE to go to Utah. *Probably the state that we have enjoyed the most!

RE: driving with the AC on. We've done it. We do it when the dash ac's just not cutting it. We use the generator so little that we sometimes will run it while driving just for the exercize (just make sure to have an AC unit set to kick on.)

CorkyM · 06-10-2020, 01:18 PM

Thanks Tom. That helps. My engine AC seems to work pretty well and as long as my dog doesn't complain we'll be in good shape!

CorkyM · 06-10-2020, 07:15 PM

By the way Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming are already on my list just for that reason!

TJFogelberg · 06-13-2020, 01:46 PM

Keep a list of anything you can't fix yourself and be sure to visit Winnebago in Forest City, Iowa when you are out this way. (They take "walk in's"). The Midwest gets passed over, I'd encourage you to spend some time here. (MN, WI, IA, SD, ND). X2 on the on board generator, it's nice to have but we don't use it much. Mine doesn't have an oil filter, I change the oil myself 1X a year. Will run it at least once a month during the camping season just to keep it operational. Plan on spending quite a bit of time down your way on my new Thousand Trails lifetime membership with 9 base parks in Florida + Trails Collection. Not retired yet, but manage to cut 2 months off winter before returning to MN for tax season every year. Enjoy and congrats on your retirement. My brother is a commercial pilot, it's a great career either way (Military or civilian).

Morich · 06-13-2020, 02:29 PM

Everybody will have a different idea on the genset running. Depending on how long the drive, what space, and weather the dash air may or may not be enough to suit you, so the genset is an option but it leaves me feeling a pretty odd duck to drive through a town making that much noise and our Rv does not need it often. But then a generator does best when run under some amount of load, so running it to use the AC as that load does make sense. Industry often has BOP's that call for running the generator for an hour a month for small ones to get it fully hot enough to show a failure if due to heat, get the engine fully warm to boil off excess condensation in the oil, etc. but I consider that excessive for RV use and often only run it 1/2 hour every few months. My set is not a critical item like industry so I treat it a bit less critically.
Where to go is one of those personal choices! Like green and trees, go North or East, like brown and no trees, go West.
You'll figure it out as you get there and that is one of the big things, I try to get my wife to understand. I want to get there and see if I like it before I commit to a month in any one spot!
I get tired of driving off and leaving a reservation just because the tracks are only 40 feet off the side! They don't always tell you those things!

Podivin · 06-13-2020, 03:13 PM

In south Florida you're definitely going to want to run the generator and the coach air conditioners most days when traveling. The dash AC will keep you cool while driving, but as soon as you get up and walk away from the driver's seat you'll see that the rest of the RV is quite warm. Not only is it picking up heat from the sun, but the drive train and exhaust are making things much warmer than normal. With both the sun and the RV itself generating heat you won't really get the RV cool until some time after the sun goes down. Better to run the generator and the coach AC to try and keep up with the heat rather than to try to beat it down later.

CorkyM · 06-13-2020, 07:17 PM

Thank you all! I'm quite surprised at the response. I will take the advise and see what works. I do know that here in Fl it gets really hot in very little time inside. I think I'll follow moderate temps when I hit the road. Never been to Ia. Sounds like a plan