We just spent our first full weekend at camp with the whole family minus the two oldest boys who stayed home as they both work. It was nice. But HOT! I had the boat out fishing for a few hours yesterday morning. Great times!
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Camp life
- Thread starter NorthernRedneck
- Start date
My issue with the Springfield house is bottle LPG might run out i a cold snap. I'm 250 miles away.
The Hippie Ridge Camp situation is different. There we are currently 100% electric.
I do have some solar power and a small windmill that can fill a big storage battery for short spells. At the moment these work, but are not automatic in the system. I also have diesel generator power at 5400 AMPS. A 600 gallon tank serves us for months.
By the end of this year, my plan is full solar/wind power. Electric off the pole is the backup.
High on the south west flank of a mountain side ( at least what we call Mountains in MO) it gets plenty of good wind. And awesome sunlight.
We also have 60 or so acres of white oak, Hickory and ash for the fireplace. Thereby reaching to both ends of technology. One is wood fired iron skillet and the other extreme of solar powered microwave.
Working on this for 10 years now. This year is comes together.
happy camper, no leaks...
I have found the key to the off grid solar system is the batteries. I used lithium batteries from a Nissan Leif. 21kw. and 2400 watts of solar panel, Midnight controller and a power jack 10,000 watt inverter with 60k surge. So far its just like home. When I add the electric fridge. I may add another battery pack, but likely un necessary if I add timers to the hot water tank and fridge to minimize night time drain. I did research on wind generators and decided not to.
1- you have to divert the load when not charging, you can't simply turn it off like solar, so it requires more specialized parts and expertise.
2- in high winds the diversion load and brake may not hold and it will self destruct.
3- efficient ones that work ( not from eBay or Home Depot ) are large and expensive.
4- they make a lot of noise.
5- it takes more wind than they advertise to make them work.
6- mounting them is a lot more work than solar.
7- they have moving parts that will ware out.
I feel like that you can add solar and batteries into infinity to get what you need easily. Where I am now, I think the batteries would hold for a week of using lights, water pressure pump etc. if I didn't use the hot water tank. The real test is staying there in the winter on an extended stay.
The issue I have now is water in the winter months. When I installed the new water tank last year I buried it 1/2 way in the dirt to keep it from freezing and it worked, but the underground pipe from the tank to the cabin froze. Going deeper is going to be tough. There are a lot of rocks everywhere. I thought about a bypass at the end under the cabin that just lets the water run all winter, piped outside and down the hill. Then when I leave drain the water from the walls and hot water tank. I grew up in Michigan, you would think I could figure it out. Just like you if I keep at it, someday it will be done.
I do have an overload bypass on the wind system. And it is rather quiet.
Were I to be living there, I might use it only for backup power if solar failed.
Solar panels are good for about 25 years. At my age, that works just fine for me. However, the big deep charge batteries (I have lead)have a life span of 10 to 15 years. They are about 50% cheaper. So at twice the cost I'm not sure the Nissan makes any difference. I also have a huge 12volt forklift Battery. I plan to put the windmill on that one. We shall see how that works out.
Water, for now, is brought in. I plan to put a 230 gallon Pickup tank in the attic space of the "Super Out House"
which is built on virtually the highest point of my property. Beneath the tank will be an 8' X 12' cabin space. It is fully constructed now and we use it as a utility storage shed. However, a 7 foot B 8 foot space will house a full bath tub, water toilet, under lighted sink and an over/under laundry.
I have 12 volt pumps for loading the tank from the truck bed and running the system. However the bathroom will run on just the gravity from the tank. Water heater will be wood fired and/or direct solar from a 4/12 pitch roof that faces south.
That 5' X 8' balance will house the in coming off the pole electric, a main breaker panel, storage batteries and solar control. The wood stove , tool shop and some storage finish off it's purpose.
The bunkhouse is 20 feet away and down about 4 feet. It will also have 12 "off the batteries" pump. Gravity will work there as well running just the kitchenette sink. For now no bathroom in the Bunkhouse.
That's the plan anyways.
Were I to be living there, I might use it only for backup power if solar failed.
Solar panels are good for about 25 years. At my age, that works just fine for me. However, the big deep charge batteries (I have lead)have a life span of 10 to 15 years. They are about 50% cheaper. So at twice the cost I'm not sure the Nissan makes any difference. I also have a huge 12volt forklift Battery. I plan to put the windmill on that one. We shall see how that works out.
Water, for now, is brought in. I plan to put a 230 gallon Pickup tank in the attic space of the "Super Out House"
which is built on virtually the highest point of my property. Beneath the tank will be an 8' X 12' cabin space. It is fully constructed now and we use it as a utility storage shed. However, a 7 foot B 8 foot space will house a full bath tub, water toilet, under lighted sink and an over/under laundry.
I have 12 volt pumps for loading the tank from the truck bed and running the system. However the bathroom will run on just the gravity from the tank. Water heater will be wood fired and/or direct solar from a 4/12 pitch roof that faces south.
That 5' X 8' balance will house the in coming off the pole electric, a main breaker panel, storage batteries and solar control. The wood stove , tool shop and some storage finish off it's purpose.
The bunkhouse is 20 feet away and down about 4 feet. It will also have 12 "off the batteries" pump. Gravity will work there as well running just the kitchenette sink. For now no bathroom in the Bunkhouse.
That's the plan anyways.
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My advice and experience is that lead acid batteries suck. The Lithium batteries I have 21kwh cost me about $7,000.00. What I learned from research is that its all about the cycles not age. A lithium battery like the one in your phone and my solar system, if you completely charge them and then discharge them 100 % you get around 6000 of those cycles in the life of the battery. If you charge them to 75-80 % and don't run the down passed 30% you 10x the battery life = 60,000 cycles. My inverter is 24V which a fully charged 24V battery is 30 volts. I built a 36 volt battery pack that would be 100% charged at around 38- 40 volts. They would last 16 years before needing replacement if you charged them and discharged them everyday. 60,000 cycles is what I expect is 164 years before needing replacement . They are nothing like lead acid. They don't sulfate, run dry on water because there isn't any, freeze, get hot or discharge while not in use. I was there in December and when I left I took a picture of the charge controller at 29.2 volts, when I returned they were at 28.9 volts . They lost .3 volts in the winter over 6 months, in any case they will out last me. I have a wood cook stove for winter heat and cooking. in the summer its the BBQ and a hot plate. When done I plan to include a flush mount gas stove top in the counter next to the sink, and a small direct vent propane heater for winter nights. a 300 gallon tank should last all year. Im still looking at a 2-3 more years to finish the place up, if no more setbacks happen. How may watts is your wind generator? I included a mount on the solar container to put a wind generator if I ever felt I needed one. There is plenty of wind there and sometimes too much. The company I bought my solar charger equipment steered me away from the wind generator, mainly because I'm not there all the time to monitor it and felt the solar system I installed would be adequate. Post some pictures when you can, sounds interesting.
Good advice, thanks.
I am sorta tied to lead acid as I have this huge one at 12 volts virtually new.
It was free in a old Clark powered pallet jack. Came with a charger. It will be the initial main power backup as it will power the place for at least three days. I will likely keep it on the windmill .
Right now solar is limited, and isolated, to certain systems
Solar will go more modern. Since I do not yet have the battery pack for the solar system, when I go that way big I will heed your advice.
thanks!
Now, I was thinking about you constant water flow and wondering it it would power a small water generator for you. Since you are dumping the water as it is, why not use it for a PTO to run a generator?
Put down stream from your tank inlet it would only use the excess flow.
I am sorta tied to lead acid as I have this huge one at 12 volts virtually new.
It was free in a old Clark powered pallet jack. Came with a charger. It will be the initial main power backup as it will power the place for at least three days. I will likely keep it on the windmill .
Right now solar is limited, and isolated, to certain systems
Solar will go more modern. Since I do not yet have the battery pack for the solar system, when I go that way big I will heed your advice.
thanks!
Now, I was thinking about you constant water flow and wondering it it would power a small water generator for you. Since you are dumping the water as it is, why not use it for a PTO to run a generator?
Put down stream from your tank inlet it would only use the excess flow.
The paddle wheel generator is a good one, I've seen it done. Problem for me is its a spring not a creek. I have a spring box and it comes out around 5 gallons per minute, not enough. My cabin neighbor also taps into my spring, he ran a little 1/2" , maybe a gallon a minute line to his water 600 gallon water tank. Said after the tank is full he has no water issues. He is actually a lot closer to my spring than I am. Yep I already have them is a lot cheaper than buying the batteries.
I have a nice creek that could use the paddle style except that when we get a gully washer it would be destroyed.
At the moment I don't live there. It is a camp.
At the moment I don't live there. It is a camp.
So we decided to add on to the kitchen at camp. My wife stayed home this weekend with 4 of the kids. I brought out the two younger girls for the weekend. They pretty much roam the park with their friends just being kids all day. It was windy and misting most of the day. I picked up some lumber (talk about ridiculous prices) and brought it out.
Our site faces south west so we get direct sunlight all day. The sun is nice but it was beating down on the outdoor fridge all day long making the fridge overwork to stay cold.
So the theory is that by building a wall around it to enclose it maybe it won't work as hard.
So I got to work building. First, I moved a support post over.
Then I added another one in the middle of the kitchen. This will be a support for the wall.
Next, I added a couple 2x4s and some fence boards.
Our site faces south west so we get direct sunlight all day. The sun is nice but it was beating down on the outdoor fridge all day long making the fridge overwork to stay cold.
So the theory is that by building a wall around it to enclose it maybe it won't work as hard.
So I got to work building. First, I moved a support post over.
Then I added another one in the middle of the kitchen. This will be a support for the wall.
Next, I added a couple 2x4s and some fence boards.
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The back of the fridge got the same treatment.
Next, I closed off a smaller opening between a post and the bar opening. Afterwards I put up a few screws for bbq utensils and put everything in place and called it done.
Next, I closed off a smaller opening between a post and the bar opening. Afterwards I put up a few screws for bbq utensils and put everything in place and called it done.
Here's the shower house I built last year behind the kitchen.
Lol. I don't think we're gonna close it in entirely. So far the fridge is holding temperature much better now that it's not in direct sunlight.
What does your refrigerator run on? 110v, 12v or propane?
Made it back from the work cabin, I am officially about where I was last year at this time before the fire. I got the water going from the spring to the new tank. We now have water.
First picture is after beating on the road with a Moll for about 45 minutes, It was very hard compressed road base for the first 4" where the Moll just kind of bounced off making sparks.
The second picture was when I got through the road base then got down to 10" where I met a large rock too big to remove.
Got the pipe buried in a total of about 6 hours , steady at it.
The video is the water filling the tank, I'm getting about 3-4 gallons per minute
In all I laid 1300 feet of pipe trenched under the road, hooked up the spring and water tank over 2 trips totaling about 40 hours of work.
I was surprised to see a lot of the burned trees that I thought were done for sure, are starting to green up.
First picture is after beating on the road with a Moll for about 45 minutes, It was very hard compressed road base for the first 4" where the Moll just kind of bounced off making sparks.
The second picture was when I got through the road base then got down to 10" where I met a large rock too big to remove.
Got the pipe buried in a total of about 6 hours , steady at it.
The video is the water filling the tank, I'm getting about 3-4 gallons per minute
In all I laid 1300 feet of pipe trenched under the road, hooked up the spring and water tank over 2 trips totaling about 40 hours of work.
I was surprised to see a lot of the burned trees that I thought were done for sure, are starting to green up.
Couldn't get the video to load, ill try it later, Next project is a new galvanized steel 24 gauge standing rib roof, Just priced it out. 3K, should last 40-60 years. My kids shouldn't have to replace it. I figure a couple trips to tear the old off and install the new.
First I'll back up to last fall. We had purchased an older pop up truck camper for me to use for remote fishing and hunting trips. This spring, my parents decided to pick up a used fifth wheel for the same purpose. It's a 23.5ft. 1990. So a little older but very solid and in good shape. They decided to buy another one with a slide out and sold us the first one they bought. So I sold the truck camper.
I had been working on getting it ready to do random trips. We still have our main camper set up on a seasonal site but didn't want to have to haul it out just for a weekend. On Monday this week, I had planned on hitting the road to head out to the bush fishing 3hrs away with the fifth wheel and boat. Then I came across another fifth wheel that has a better layout for us and will have room for my wife and I and 4 kids to sleep in. We went to look at it and struck a deal. So now we'll be selling the first fifth wheel and picking up the newer one this weekend.
It's a 2001 rockwood 25.5ft.
I had been working on getting it ready to do random trips. We still have our main camper set up on a seasonal site but didn't want to have to haul it out just for a weekend. On Monday this week, I had planned on hitting the road to head out to the bush fishing 3hrs away with the fifth wheel and boat. Then I came across another fifth wheel that has a better layout for us and will have room for my wife and I and 4 kids to sleep in. We went to look at it and struck a deal. So now we'll be selling the first fifth wheel and picking up the newer one this weekend.
It's a 2001 rockwood 25.5ft.
Here's the older 1990 inside.
And a couple of the newer one inside.
And a couple of the newer one inside.
Nice.
We're at camp. Thursday, I drove the hour drive to get here with what was originally planned as a day trip to bring out the side by side and my son's quad. I drove back home for supper then a buddy from camp messaged me that he was out there a night early. So I decided to drive back to camp for the night and return home Friday. I arrived home around 2:40 and by 5, we had the kids packed and were headed back to camp for the weekend.
This morning I was cooking a big breakfast and a buddy showed up asking me to go out fishing. A half hour later we hit the water. 2 hrs later, we had caught 7 bass, 1 walleye and 2 northern pike.
This morning I was cooking a big breakfast and a buddy showed up asking me to go out fishing. A half hour later we hit the water. 2 hrs later, we had caught 7 bass, 1 walleye and 2 northern pike.
We came home from camp this morning. I jumped in the truck and headed out to pick up the new to us fifth wheel. It tows nice having a dry weight of 5000lbs roughly.
So I made a very unpleasant discovery yesterday. The guy I bought it from was obviously a rookie and thought it was fine to use the toilet like an outhouse without water. Well my friends, let me tell you a story. Lol
What happens when you go no 2 in an rv toilet without water? Well, the poop piles up solid to the hole. And once that hole is plugged, where does it go? Rv toilets are often plastic and have a double layer with all of the plumbing parts tucked in between the layers. So when the tank was blocked, everything began backing up solid (literally) in between the layers. I had to remove the toilet and take it outside with a garden hose trying to loosen weeks of dried poop. It's clean now but I seriously considered a can of gas and incinerating the thing.
What happens when you go no 2 in an rv toilet without water? Well, the poop piles up solid to the hole. And once that hole is plugged, where does it go? Rv toilets are often plastic and have a double layer with all of the plumbing parts tucked in between the layers. So when the tank was blocked, everything began backing up solid (literally) in between the layers. I had to remove the toilet and take it outside with a garden hose trying to loosen weeks of dried poop. It's clean now but I seriously considered a can of gas and incinerating the thing.
Lmao. Yes. I only had to remove the toilet to get mine unclogged. But gross nonetheless.
I rewired the back of the rv from a 4 pin to a 7 pin receiver to accommodate the boat trailer as it has the surge brakes. Then I figured there's no time like the present to give it a test run to see how it handles as it's very windy today. When I tried it behind the older fifth wheel, the boat trailer was swaying a little too much for my liking at highway speeds. I put a taller rise hitch on to couple the boat to the camper and it seemed to handle fine without any sway.
I headed out Monday after getting home from camp on Sunday to the annual fish camp. It was quiet as only my friend and I were there. The fishing was alright but not as good as when we normally go in may. The water level was down almost 3 feet making it difficult to get out from the shore as weeds were growing in thick.
Normally when we're there in may, the fish have gone up river to spawn and are in the process of coming back down the river system into the lakes making for excellent fishing. Being over a month later, the fish have already gone back down into the lake making them harder to find. We still did alright though.
Normally when we're there in may, the fish have gone up river to spawn and are in the process of coming back down the river system into the lakes making for excellent fishing. Being over a month later, the fish have already gone back down into the lake making them harder to find. We still did alright though.
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We're doing another turn n burn. Headed back to camp today for another 3 nights. It's supposed to be in the low 30s all weekend. If any fishing happens it'll be in the morning.
So far you have shot and ate all the birds in Canada and he can fish too. Good thing there are seasons or they couldn't replenish fast enough with you in the woods.
