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Old 03-24-2012, 02:57 PM   #1
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Questions for folks with larger class A

Howdy everybody!

Do any of you have a larger 36-38 foot class A motor homes and boondock in National forests? If so how large is your rig? Do you go off road and onto dirt roads? Would love to see pics of anyone dry camping in these types of places in a larger coach!!

Thanks!!!
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Old 03-24-2012, 03:05 PM   #2
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We have a 2003 Winnebago Adventurer 38G 38 feet long. We haven't found it to be much of a problem. You do have to be careful you don't get on a road where you can't turn around. We predominately boondock and wanted the extra room weeks in the desert.
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Old 03-24-2012, 03:09 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Hilley
We have a 2003 Winnebago Adventurer 38G 38 feet long. We haven't found it to be much of a problem. You do have to be careful you don't get on a road where you can't turn around. We predominately boondock and wanted the extra room weeks in the desert.
Ok thanks, ours has never left pavement. Our dream when purchasing it was to be able to boondock in national forests with the kids. Hopefully that will happen one day. I've heard of people using a toad to check out the road before going down it. We have not ever towed a car either. Do you think it is necessary? Or maybe just a long walk to check ourselves?
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Old 03-24-2012, 04:17 PM   #4
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The fact that you don't tow makes a big difference. Once you set up camp, you don't want to break camp to go get bread and milk or go on a drive in the parks, forests and national monuments. The best way to find a site is word of mouth or a ranger. We do scout out places with the "towed" before we take the motor home down the road. Another thing to watch out for is what could happen during and after rain. We were driving a trail in Picacho Park north of Yuma in our jeep when we got to a campground with a lot of RVs that were trapped there because the water had filled dips in the road and prevented them from leaving. They had already been trapped about a week when we saw them.
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Old 03-24-2012, 05:15 PM   #5
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We have a 35' motorhome. When staying in remote areas, we always scout roads with the towd before attempting to take the motorhome anyplace we do not know will have room for us to turn around. One big advantage to that, in addition to not getting stuck, is that we can pick the best spot at leisure.
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Old 03-24-2012, 05:50 PM   #6
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Thank you!! Great advise! I called it a toad!! as you can see I don't know a lot about the subject. We kind of boondocked once in a cow field not knowing where we were. It was great. When we woke up we were surrounded by cattle. It was amazing. We hope to find other places to go. We won't mind being stranded somewhere for a couple of weeks, we are already trained to conserve all power, water, etc. do any of you have solar? I have still not figured this one out. Is it possible to run AC unit off house battery's in case it gets unbearable? We don't want to have to use the generator. I know this question is pretty deep and a serious answer needed. I'm in the process of trying to educate myself on the solar stuff but it seems over my head.
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Old 03-25-2012, 08:41 AM   #7
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Thank you!! Great advise! I called it a toad!! as you can see I don't know a lot about the subject. We kind of boondocked once in a cow field not knowing where we were. It was great. When we woke up we were surrounded by cattle. It was amazing. We hope to find other places to go. We won't mind being stranded somewhere for a couple of weeks, we are already trained to conserve all power, water, etc. do any of you have solar? I have still not figured this one out. Is it possible to run AC unit off house battery's in case it gets unbearable? We don't want to have to use the generator. I know this question is pretty deep and a serious answer needed. I'm in the process of trying to educate myself on the solar stuff but it seems over my head.
Do not attempt to run an ac unit on battery power.
There are many of us that use solar panels and there is a wealth of information available in the forum.
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Old 03-25-2012, 09:25 AM   #8
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Do not attempt to run an ac unit on battery power.
There are many of us that use solar panels and there is a wealth of information available in the forum.
Ok- I had a feeling that's what would be said. So AC units can only run off gen. Thanks for the reply.
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Old 03-25-2012, 09:55 AM   #9
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Hi Bubbletruck,
I noted your reluctance to run you generator, and while it is good to not be wasteful of resources, the generator is one item that must be used regularly to remain healthy. Not sure what unit you have, but my Onan manual says to run it at least two hours under load every month. If it is only being run for this purpose, say while in storage, they prefer one run of two hours.

The purpose of this is to drive moisture out of the coils and avoid corrosion.
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Old 03-25-2012, 12:03 PM   #10
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Hi Bubbletruck,
I noted your reluctance to run you generator, and while it is good to not be wasteful of resources, the generator is one item that must be used regularly to remain healthy. Not sure what unit you have, but my Onan manual says to run it at least two hours under load every month. If it is only being run for this purpose, say while in storage, they prefer one run of two hours.

The purpose of this is to drive moisture out of the coils and avoid corrosion.
Thank you for replying. We use our generator all the time, I just didn't want to disturb the surroundings with the noise. Even when we just use the microwave I try to let it run 30 mins even if we are done. I guess I has hoping we would have enough battery power to run an AC for a short time. From what I have read so far that wont be possible.
Thank you again for the advise.
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Old 03-31-2012, 12:07 AM   #11
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Here in Alaska most all of our camping trips are of the 'boondock' type. While we have paved roads, the good places are on gravel roads. We have a 38' HR Endeavor and have taken it on alot of the roads here. WE DO NOT go on the Dalton Highway as that can really tear up a motor home. One of the places we camp is on the Denali Highway (135 mile gravel road) during hunting season. We generally try and stay 2 weeks or so. Once we are set up the MH stays set up for the whole time. We run the generator for a little while in the morning and about 2-3 hours at night before going to bed. That helps keep the batteries full until morning. If the temps are going to be below +20, I will run the generator all of the time.
We have the most fun times dry camping. It just takes doing things a little differently. Go out and have fun.
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Old 04-04-2012, 08:19 AM   #12
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Here in Alaska most all of our camping trips are of the 'boondock' type. While we have paved roads, the good places are on gravel roads. We have a 38' HR Endeavor and have taken it on alot of the roads here. WE DO NOT go on the Dalton Highway as that can really tear up a motor home. One of the places we camp is on the Denali Highway (135 mile gravel road) during hunting season. We generally try and stay 2 weeks or so. Once we are set up the MH stays set up for the whole time. We run the generator for a little while in the morning and about 2-3 hours at night before going to bed. That helps keep the batteries full until morning. If the temps are going to be below +20, I will run the generator all of the time.
We have the most fun times dry camping. It just takes doing things a little differently. Go out and have fun.
Sounds like great fun! I bet you get a lot of snow in Alaska! LOL. My husband is dying to go there. It's the first place on his list. We can't wait to visit your beautiful state. Thanks for the reply.
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Old 04-07-2012, 11:43 AM   #13
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b-truck: How many house 6volt batteries do you now have? And do you have an inverter/charger?
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Old 04-08-2012, 10:47 AM   #14
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Our favorite way to camp. Here we are on BLM land in Colorado way up there. 37' with a 20' trailer. We were all by ourselves for 10 days except when my brother and his friends came in to bike with us over a weekend.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by bubbletruck View Post
Howdy everybody!

Do any of you have a larger 36-38 foot class A motor homes and boondock in National forests? If so how large is your rig? Do you go off road and onto dirt roads? Would love to see pics of anyone dry camping in these types of places in a larger coach!!

Thanks!!!
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