Cold weather camping - Upgrades?

[Tinsu]

Ajk, keep us updated. Thanks. John

[captnrick3]

Originally Posted by ajk123

We left Sunday afternoon. After any 5 hours the engine battery went dead and engine started into shutdown mode. Had to stop so pulled into truck stop in Big Springs Nebraska on I-80. Called Coach net. Spent night in the rig in the parking lot. On Monday afternoon, got towed 75 miles to nearest Freightliner shop. They found and fixed a broken wire control lead to the alternator. Everything a go, so we drove a few hours and spent last night in a Nebraska rest stop. All is well and rig is doing well. I even learned how to set the automatic generator start so when house batteries go down, gender comes on to charge the batts. Works sweet! Ready to head out noe. Next stop is Council Bluffs Iowa. Winter storm warning for tonight in Nebraska so gotta go. Cheers to all!!

Wow, sorry that happened. I hope that is it. We are enjoying 80 degrees on the banks of the Colorado river near Blythe, CA. I wonder if it was the main hot wire coming out of the alternator? Maybe it got damaged during coach assembly.
Keep us informed as your first trip progresses.

[ajk123]

Well folks, here we are, day 9 on our trip top Minnesota from Colorado Springs. After getting our broken alternator wire fixed in Big Springs Nebraska, we had a good trip to Council Bluffs Iowa where we spent two nights at a local casino. We stayed in the casino hotel since we had a free room for both nights. Also had two free buffet dinners for Veterans Day. Everything was going well with the Legacy, but my water pump compartment got into freezing range. Luckily, I put fiberglass batts in black contractor trash bags and stuffed them in both water compartments, one on drivers side, and one on passenger side. I had also blown out the water lines before we left Colorado, and I bought a 3-sensor thermometer from Camper World. I put one sensor in each of the two water cabinets. The sensors work great and I can keep tabs on the temps in those cabinets and the inner living are all simultaneously. I also leave the heatpads turned on. No freeze problems even though temps got into the 20s. Going north from Council Bluffs Iowa, we encountered high winds the entire rest of the trip. The high crosswinds made driving very difficult. We ended up having to split up the trip into a zig-zag pattern so we could get some reprieve going east, then back north with the high winds. I could only go 40-45 MPH on numerous stretches and my gas mileage went down to 10.5mpg. WE eventually go to our destination in south-central Minnesota where we spent three nights in the Legacy. Temps were above freezing so no concerns there, but the wind was horrible, sounded like my slide covers would get ripped off, but didn't. Then, Sunday night it poured rain all night along with the high winds. The next morning when I pulled in the slides, a lot of rainwater that was on top of the slides ran into the inside of the rig. AI had to grab a couple rags to clean up. I wonder if its best to pull the slides in when it rains to keep water off the top of the slides from funning inside when bringing the slides in. Any ideas? We relocated to a new spot at a relatives' yard today. Rain is again forecast for tomorrow, so not sure what to do on the slides when it rains. Temps are forecast to be declining over the next several days as low as high teens to low 20s. I'm not too concerned about freezing pipes since they've been blown out and we use water jugs to flush the toilet. Freezing should not be an issue. My biggest concern is snow. How will the Legacy handle driving in the snow? That scares me.

All in all, everything has worked well. Just had the one issue with the broken alternator wire. Having figured out how to set the Auto Generator System was the best thing that happened so far. The AGS system works great when setting it for an automatic start when the batteries get down to a specified level. Works great! Everyone needs to know how to set and use this function, especially if boondocking. The other big thing was the multi-sensor thermometer I bought at Camping World. It works great for monitoring your water cabinets from inside the rig. Putting insulation in the water cabinets has helped also. One thing I wish would inprove is the steering. The rig seems to "wander" too much and is very difficult in the wind. I wonder if there's some kind of steering stabilizer that would help. Anyone have any ideas?
So, that's our latest. We'll be bouncing around relatives' yards this week and hopefully head back to Colorado next Sunday afternoon depending on the weather. Hop you're all having fun RV'ing out there.

[captnrick3]

Originally Posted by ajk123

Well folks, here we are, day 9 on our trip top Minnesota from Colorado Springs. After getting our broken alternator wire fixed in Big Springs Nebraska, we had a good trip to Council Bluffs Iowa where we spent two nights at a local casino. We stayed in the casino hotel since we had a free room for both nights. Also had two free buffet dinners for Veterans Day. Everything was going well with the Legacy, but my water pump compartment got into freezing range. Luckily, I put fiberglass batts in black contractor trash bags and stuffed them in both water compartments, one on drivers side, and one on passenger side. I had also blown out the water lines before we left Colorado, and I bought a 3-sensor thermometer from Camper World. I put one sensor in each of the two water cabinets. The sensors work great and I can keep tabs on the temps in those cabinets and the inner living are all simultaneously. I also leave the heatpads turned on. No freeze problems even though temps got into the 20s. Going north from Council Bluffs Iowa, we encountered high winds the entire rest of the trip. The high crosswinds made driving very difficult. We ended up having to split up the trip into a zig-zag pattern so we could get some reprieve going east, then back north with the high winds. I could only go 40-45 MPH on numerous stretches and my gas mileage went down to 10.5mpg. WE eventually go to our destination in south-central Minnesota where we spent three nights in the Legacy. Temps were above freezing so no concerns there, but the wind was horrible, sounded like my slide covers would get ripped off, but didn't. Then, Sunday night it poured rain all night along with the high winds. The next morning when I pulled in the slides, a lot of rainwater that was on top of the slides ran into the inside of the rig. AI had to grab a couple rags to clean up. I wonder if its best to pull the slides in when it rains to keep water off the top of the slides from funning inside when bringing the slides in. Any ideas? We relocated to a new spot at a relatives' yard today. Rain is again forecast for tomorrow, so not sure what to do on the slides when it rains. Temps are forecast to be declining over the next several days as low as high teens to low 20s. I'm not too concerned about freezing pipes since they've been blown out and we use water jugs to flush the toilet. Freezing should not be an issue. My biggest concern is snow. How will the Legacy handle driving in the snow? That scares me.

All in all, everything has worked well. Just had the one issue with the broken alternator wire. Having figured out how to set the Auto Generator System was the best thing that happened so far. The AGS system works great when setting it for an automatic start when the batteries get down to a specified level. Works great! Everyone needs to know how to set and use this function, especially if boondocking. The other big thing was the multi-sensor thermometer I bought at Camping World. It works great for monitoring your water cabinets from inside the rig. Putting insulation in the water cabinets has helped also. One thing I wish would inprove is the steering. The rig seems to "wander" too much and is very difficult in the wind. I wonder if there's some kind of steering stabilizer that would help. Anyone have any ideas?
So, that's our latest. We'll be bouncing around relatives' yards this week and hopefully head back to Colorado next Sunday afternoon depending on the weather. Hop you're all having fun RV'ing out there.

Glad your AGS is working well, sounds like it is helpful on that trip. We just returned home from some time in the Arizona desert, we use all functions of our AGS and it works great, especially when boondocking. We had 350 miles of 40 mph winds today coming back to San Diego, happy with how the coach handles in the wind but I'm still exhausted.

[psw757]

Originally Posted by ajk123

Well folks, here we are, day 9 on our trip top Minnesota from Colorado Springs. After getting our broken alternator wire fixed in Big Springs Nebraska, we had a good trip to Council Bluffs Iowa where we spent two nights at a local casino. We stayed in the casino hotel since we had a free room for both nights. Also had two free buffet dinners for Veterans Day. Everything was going well with the Legacy, but my water pump compartment got into freezing range. Luckily, I put fiberglass batts in black contractor trash bags and stuffed them in both water compartments, one on drivers side, and one on passenger side. I had also blown out the water lines before we left Colorado, and I bought a 3-sensor thermometer from Camper World. I put one sensor in each of the two water cabinets. The sensors work great and I can keep tabs on the temps in those cabinets and the inner living are all simultaneously. I also leave the heatpads turned on. No freeze problems even though temps got into the 20s. Going north from Council Bluffs Iowa, we encountered high winds the entire rest of the trip. The high crosswinds made driving very difficult. We ended up having to split up the trip into a zig-zag pattern so we could get some reprieve going east, then back north with the high winds. I could only go 40-45 MPH on numerous stretches and my gas mileage went down to 10.5mpg. WE eventually go to our destination in south-central Minnesota where we spent three nights in the Legacy. Temps were above freezing so no concerns there, but the wind was horrible, sounded like my slide covers would get ripped off, but didn't. Then, Sunday night it poured rain all night along with the high winds. The next morning when I pulled in the slides, a lot of rainwater that was on top of the slides ran into the inside of the rig. AI had to grab a couple rags to clean up. I wonder if its best to pull the slides in when it rains to keep water off the top of the slides from funning inside when bringing the slides in. Any ideas? We relocated to a new spot at a relatives' yard today. Rain is again forecast for tomorrow, so not sure what to do on the slides when it rains. Temps are forecast to be declining over the next several days as low as high teens to low 20s. I'm not too concerned about freezing pipes since they've been blown out and we use water jugs to flush the toilet. Freezing should not be an issue. My biggest concern is snow. How will the Legacy handle driving in the snow? That scares me.

All in all, everything has worked well. Just had the one issue with the broken alternator wire. Having figured out how to set the Auto Generator System was the best thing that happened so far. The AGS system works great when setting it for an automatic start when the batteries get down to a specified level. Works great! Everyone needs to know how to set and use this function, especially if boondocking. The other big thing was the multi-sensor thermometer I bought at Camping World. It works great for monitoring your water cabinets from inside the rig. Putting insulation in the water cabinets has helped also. One thing I wish would inprove is the steering. The rig seems to "wander" too much and is very difficult in the wind. I wonder if there's some kind of steering stabilizer that would help. Anyone have any ideas?
So, that's our latest. We'll be bouncing around relatives' yards this week and hopefully head back to Colorado next Sunday afternoon depending on the weather. Hop you're all having fun RV'ing out there.

Before you buy the steering mods make sure your coach is weighed and adjust tire pressures according to actual weight.

Ours are set at 94 front 100 rear and the handling was a dramatic improvement from the 120 it was set to when purchased.

We haven't had any handling issues with the wind either. I don't think any of these coaches drive like a car in high wind though anyway!

[Blacknchromehd]

little lesson I learned in my Holiday Rambler with my slides out...I would lower the front level to drop the nose down. Doing so the water would run off and then pull my slides in...no more water inside..

[aeroshots]

Originally Posted by Blacknchromehd

little lesson I learned in my Holiday Rambler with my slides out...I would lower the front level to drop the nose down. Doing so the water would run off and then pull my slides in...no more water inside..

Just want to add -- re-level before retracting the slides.

[Blacknchromehd]

Damm...yes I should have mentioned that...learned that lesson with the slides when my interior got flooded during a Nascar Race in Dover....Yes re-level and then bring in slides..

[Blacknchromehd]

i need a lesson on the Generator auto start feature...

[conceptumator]

Blackncromehd: The AGS is really pretty simply and intuitive. Just start pushing buttons on the control panel inside and you'll get it figured out quickly. Basically, there's a setting for an interior temp in the coach that will start the gen and AC in case power is out and a setting for auto start at a certain battery voltage. Even I figured it out (without any help from the dog - I was so proud!). :0)

[Blacknchromehd]

ok....blonde moment...the one next to the tank indicator panel right?

[conceptumator]

That's the one. I think it's Setup Menu that you want to look for, then AGS.