Community Forums

rarebear.nm · 02-05-2020, 08:36 PM

To owners of Coach House RVs built on Ford e450 chassis.

How long are you really capable of going without hookups, in a true boon dock mode, or parking lot camping? We are still considering the Coach House 272XL but the tanks compared to those on a Winnie Minnie are smaller.

Also how do you find the storage space for extended trips, particularly when going through varied climate areas?

Thanks

push toy1 · 02-11-2020, 07:59 AM

we have a 26a thor C class our fresh water is 40gal. black is 25 gray is 25 we can go 4 days if we are carefull and drink bottle water as for the extra stuff we put it in the ford escape we tow. you still must watch the weight.

ksg5000 · 02-17-2020, 11:13 AM

Depends on your battery setup, weather and other factors like whether your lights are LED. Your biggest electric draw is usually your heater. It's not uncommon to read posts where people complain that there heater won't last the night on one battery during the winter.

rarebear.nm · 02-17-2020, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ksg5000

Depends on your battery setup, weather and other factors like whether your lights are LED. Your biggest electric draw is usually your heater. It's not uncommon to read posts where people complain that there heater won't last the night on one battery during the winter.

I really understand issues of boondocking. Our Excel 5th is configured for long extended boondocking. The question is really directed to real life experiences of people who own Coach House 272XLs.

Ron Dittmer · 02-18-2020, 06:50 AM

Hi rarebear.nm,

Our Phoenix Cruiser is not a Coach House, but the boondocking dynamics and challenges will be identical if the following is the same. Fresh water and batteries is what it's all about, along with how much gas you have to run your generator. The C.H. being built on an E450 addresses the gasoline.

It is remarkable how much thought is required for successful boondocking. My wife and I quickly learned the ropes with our 2007 Phoenix Cruiser 2350 SEEN HERE. The rig holds 41 gallons of fresh water and is equipped with two house batteries. Our chassis is a 2007 E350-V10 with 55 gallon fuel tank.

Regarding fresh water considering just us two adults, it's all about taking the right kind of shower at the right intervals. In a pinch to take an extra shower, we've added fresh water into the holding tank the hard way with a jug, and drained gray water out onto the campsite.

Originally equipped with two-12V lead acid wet batteries, battery power was by far the biggest issue so I made the following changes which made a monumental improvement.

- changed to two-6V AGM house batteries
- converted all interior lighting from florescent & incandescent, to LED
- installed a volt meter where I see it all the time, "in my face" to be most mindful.

When boondocking, I typically charge the house batteries for 1.5 hours in the morning to bring them up to an adequate level to support the next 24 hour period. I use a more powerful external charger to reduce the generator run time to that 1.5 hour period. But it does depend on our energy usage. If we return late and go to bed early, we use so little energy that I can either skip a recharging cycle, or reduce generator run time. But if near the end of our day, we turn on the whole house inverter and watch a DVD movie on the TV, the generator needs to run that 1.5 hours the next morning.

Some people go deeper with solar technology. I considered it but wanted to keep the complexity down and try this method first. We also appreciate shaded campsites. This method seems to work for us with our travel lifestyle.

Keep in-mind, we don't hang around our rig all day. We are out and about in our tow vehicle, either sight-seeing or hiking. The exception would be a serious rainy day keeping us home and use lots of battery energy. I would then run the generator 1.5 hours again in the late afternoon.

Solar panels instead of generator usage is an inviting alternative. Just maybe one day I will leap into it, but I'm not there yet.

LaPoodella · 07-18-2020, 11:34 PM

First trip on my newly delivered 2019 Coachhouse Platinum 271 was boondocking for 4 days in my step daughter’s driveway during the pandemic. We never entered her house. We did dump our gw and bw but just because we had to go somewhere and the dump was nearby. Also, we gassed up since we were running our generator a lot because it was 100 degrees and we need AC cooling. We probably could have done without the gas up. But I think we could easily boondock for a week. We have two solar panels and a 2000w inverter and two deep cycle batteries. We are sailors and have been at sea for weeks at a time. So we have some experience with conserving energy, water and tanks (tanks a little less because that’s only an issue within coastal distance). We don’t put paper in the head to conserve room in the tank. Use a basin to limit grey water. Navy showers. Bring backup drinking water supply. The storage is good if you pack right. We do miss the ability to stow a duffle bag. We had to get used to unpacking our gear into the cabinets. Also getting used to stuffing cabinets to keep stuff from rattling. Also there is a lack of hanging locker space. We weren’t prepared for that in this trip so we have one large trunk full of clothes not currently needed which we just roll between the twin beds during the day and behind the passenger seat at night. No big deal. And our basement storage is stuffed with our empty duffles. Boondocking on the boat is easier. We do it just with large battery banks anD no generator. We did use up a lot of storage with wine we had purchased in California before we took delivery of the vehicle. If we hadn’t there’d be a lot more storage for off season clothes. We miss the lack of a hanging locker and shoe storage which there is a lot of on our boat (foul weather gear and wet shoes are a major issue there). But there is some good hidden storage for rarely needed items. We got the twin bed version with lounge chairs.

Isaac-1 · 07-19-2020, 02:12 AM

The problem is there are people that can go a month on 40 gallons of fresh water, and then there are those that can't make it through a weekend on 40 gallons of water. It all comes down to your level of conservation, taking daily 5 minute showers, vs. weekly 2 minute showers, etc.