Archive for month: June, 2023

I decided to do a quick catch-up (see what I did with that fries thing in the title?) in case you’ve been wondering why there haven’t been any new blog posts in quite a while. It’s not that the reminder for “Steve, did you update the blog?” hasn’t gone off every week in all that time. I’m guessing everyone these days can easily spot “been busy, got behind” when they see it.

So here are the highlights of what made up our “been busy” so far this year:

Finishing the Great Solar Install of 2022/2023 – We started a 2160 watt, 1100 amp hour solar install in the summer of 2022, but got waylaid when we discovered some heavy roof damage which only became apparent when we started trying to screw solar panels down. It took until January 2023 to get into a position to tear the roof apart and fix it. The fix wasn’t ideal and we’ll have to do it again when we have more time and a 20 foot tall shop to do it in, but it was enough to get by for a few years. Then it was time to finish mounting panels, move our 5 LiFePO4 house batteries to a location where our new inverter would fit, and install a second transfer switch. In total, we spent about 2 months as our best and only customer. In those 2 months, we saved ourselves somewhere around $40,000 in labor costs, so I guess it was worth it.

Boondock-a-Polooza! – We’ve been to some really remote locations this year. With our new solar setup and the addition of Starlink internet, we can now roam to sooooo many places which were off-limits before. We’ve enjoyed old favorites like Imperial Dam near Yuma, AZ, and the La Posa Long Term Visitor Area near Quartzite, AZ. The difference was this year, we could stay as long as we wanted! We enjoyed new locations like Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park from a BLM campground called Horse Thief with no worries. We popped over into Mack, CO, for a stay on Rabbit Valley BLM. Then it was off to the wonders of the Big Hole River near Divide, MT. All of this time was spent with no electrical, water, or sewer connections and most of it was with no cellular service. It was all absolutely STUNNING! We plugged into power for a total of 10 hours from the end of January all the way up to mid-June.

Weird Medical Stuff – I won’t bore you with the details, but ever have one of those years where every time you turn around, you broke something else? LOL We’re both doing fine, though, so no worries. It just took up time with treatment and recovery periods.

Day Job Drama – As everyone eventually finds out, we both continue to do consulting in a field we don’t really like. Mixed into the months since our last update was one of those lovely crunch times where multiple projects needed us. Being good at something is sometimes as much a curse as a blessing.

And of course, RV WORK! – The part we like the best has steadily marched on. We’ve seen damaged slide systems, broken plumbing, failed tank sensors, leaky grey tank outlets, soft start installs, awning issues, hydraulic leveling cylinder seal failures, tankless water heater lock-outs, RV manufacturer assembly failures, and much, much, more.

Hopefully, we’ll be a little more on top of the blog. I always say that because I really do enjoy writing these. But, as always, we’ll see how that goes.

Stay safe out there!
RV Tech 4 U