Will the rise in gas prices affect your summer plans?

[TouringDan]

Bob

DIY gene- I like that. I think that I have it big time.

My brother was a service manager for 30 years. One of his biggest challenges was comunicating witht the customer about what the problem was. He was pretty good at it.

I would say that Rednax has the extreme maintenance end of the bell curve secured pretty well. He is the one that you want to buy a trailer or vehicle from. Whatever they are asking for it, just pay it, cuz it will be worth it.

Dan

[slowmover]

A way of looking at what I "plan" (which is not so formal as it may sound) is that I am willing to spend above or beyond what is necessary to use this vehicle to a projected end point. I'm not trying to get out of it cheaply. The "cheapness" (not used as a slur) comes from owning/operating the vehicle for 16-years/400k miles. Longevity - Reliability - Economy all interact with one another. But the order of those is set.

Not so different than what Bob suggests as it is what I have done nearly always (except restorations), but I'm not "waiting" in a number of instances, either. I'd rather stay well ahead, system-by-system. Someone only going to 200k/8-years needn't much bother with my way of doing it. Time becomes more important than miles at some point. The goal is to avoid a highly expensive replacement vehicle as this one has such high fuel mileage and, thus far, ultra-low operating expenses. (I see the future "permanent" trailer the same way after restoration/renovation: No end of info on this site for those already, or willing to become, vehicle-knowledgeable).

I've replaced the full brake system on a pair of recent cars: master cylinder, vacuum booster, hard & soft lines, calipers, etc, with upgraded parts (cryo-treated, stainless, etc) and seen the same or slightly better street performance. Wear on new pads, rotors, almost nil. Not cheap, but not really expensive, either. On this truck I haven't laid out what I will do beyond notes to same. But I have no intention of finding age/wear related problems at, say, year twelve when a "new system" would be in it's fourth year instead and not subject to this. The HVAC is already ready to be made new (near-constant A/C use down here).

One source for cpm calculation basics is AAA. Search, and download .pdf on Your Driving Costs. There are more sophisticated spreadsheets mainly business-oriented. The assumption for most, however, is tax & finance related short lives. But by projecting current costs (taxes, insurance, fuel, etc) one can take a vehicle a fair distance. See also EDMUNDS True Cost of Ownership and read background assumptions. Choose a new version of present vehicle. Can also extrapolate from this. (I also use OOIDA for their truck business .pdf).

System-by-system replacement is factored in ahead of time to build a savings account. Debt to do so is the wrong approach (credit card interest charge repairs at $130-hr shop and full retail parts cost, etc). Unplanned repairs are almost par for the course. But safety-related ones would be unacceptable, in the main: brakes, tires, suspension, steering, etc.

Windshields, seat belts, etc, all tend to be worn out at some point and need replacement prior to failure. Run through the state inspection list and make plans.

Getting back to travel trailer economy, it is still, IMO, the longest-lived pair that aren't spared any expense which will prove the most economical in all ways at the end of a long period. So, choose well. Expend plenty of elbow grease and try a few DIY skill expansions. Get the right TT/TV now.

What is the most important TT system? Water? Electric? Propane? First would be brakes, tires, suspension and the electrical to run a road safety checklist. What is last on most all restorations we've seen? Approach from a different angle, IMO. An aluminum garden shed is rather worthless.

If the cost of fuel is $6/gl, then knowing exactly how to predict fuel burn over a given set of miles is beneficial to use. Records, records, records. And more skill acquisition at better use of fuel be it gasoline, propane or electric. Travel may be more expensive, but fuel is only part of it. Bad roads (lowered maintenance budgets), higher insurance costs, etc all argue in favor of the right pair of vehicles kept the longest time with a commensurate budget.

A well-sorted pair has uses above and beyond just recreational travel. Natural or man-made disasters (of varying degrees), the future conversion of a TT to a in-law suite .. the use of a pickup by a family business .. etc. This pair of vehicles is always, conceivably, a pair with other potentials. Income or assets aside, it behooves me to think along those lines a bit as well, whether for family use or potential sale. Because others already are.

The future won't be like the past. Were I still a homeowner that is where economising would be to the tune of less-is-more. 2000-s/f for two people is rather dumb. But money spent on the means of mobility where one can be on-time, in-place and ready for what's new: retirement, job opportunity, family residence change, etc. Literally, a back door from out of the present arrangement. A TT-TV combo of the right sort thus has high value to me (or might be to one of my family members).

Recreational travel is icing on the cake. Spiritual salve, after a good deal of trouble to make it so. The number of those, for instance, retired yet still working part-time is an easy path to investigate. Especially to see where one might do it better as to vehicles, alone.

Just fill it with water and go has plenty of depth. How to achieve it has plenty of elbow room to make it so.

.

[ROBERT CROSS]

I have been poked more the once here on the forums for advocating the RCM method. Errantly translated as the Robert Cross Method....which it is defiantly
NOT. .

BTW a system learned while working in Flight Equipment during my time in the Corps.

Bob

[Gene]

I wish I had the time and interest to maintain vehicles like Rednax and Bob Cross. I may kidnap both of them and chain to the shop. I do have a DIY gene, but it gets diverted to other projects (like spending too much time on the Forum).

Some of the reason I avoid having it done by others is when I watch their work habits, I get distressed. Small county, small labor pool, small number of careful and accomplished mechanics.

Yesterday when my wife was driving, I thought the 4Runner was trying to tell me something. A sound that was a little off, almost imperceptible, but I don't know what it could be. The fact I have a cold may have been the problem. I hope so.

What was this thread about anyway?

Gene

[ROBERT CROSS]

"What was this thread about anyway?"

Gene


Bob

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

I wish I had the time and interest to maintain vehicles like Rednax and Bob Cross. I may kidnap both of them and chain to the shop. I do have a DIY gene, but it gets diverted to other projects (like spending too much time on the Forum).

What was this thread about anyway?

Gene

I think they are both very intensely on top of this stuff---it makes my eyes cross to read these posts, guys!

More than my little brain can absorb.


Maggie

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by doug&maggie

I think they are both very intensely on top of this stuff---it makes my eyes cross to read these posts, guys!

More than my little brain can absorb.


Maggie

Maggie....you need to concentrate..


Bob

[zlee]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

I thought the 4Runner was trying to tell me something. A sound that was a little off, almost imperceptible, but I don't know what it could be.

If it was the echo of the Big Bang, you could make a lot of money, Gene. And you'd be famous! Or maybe just notorious, which in these degenerate days seems to pass for the same thing.

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Maggie....you need to concentrate..


Bob

Funny.

That's probably you making that awful sound.


Maggie

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

I have been poked more the once here on the forums for advocating the RCM method. Errantly translated as the Robert Cross Method....which it is defiantly
NOT. .

BTW a system learned while working in Flight Equipment during my time in the Corps.

Bob

VMGR-152 . . . I don't hear from our USMC Herky Bird driver too often now that he's in & out of Bagram AFB for some months yet to come, but (love this link) RCM is dead-on as he was overseeing this kind of paperwork his first year at Futenma. RCM is harder to do for an individual with an individual vehicle. Thanks for that link. Edit my writing were I smart enough to not re-invent the wheel (terminology::familiarity)

There's a lot more detail to fuel economy for TT's. Rolling efficiency, for starters. Aerodynamic aids (removable boat-tail or inflatable nose-cone), etc. I haven't seen anyone do coast-down testing yet, but it makes sense.

Same for the TV. Most of the savings are in solo miles savings "banked" for towing use, but one could go to some trouble for the days in transit by preheating fluids, trip-planning for daylight optimization, perfected hitch rigging (plus VPP hitch), etc.

An annual fuel budget (gallons, not dollars) is step one. Where does the rig fit in?

My current screen saver: a KC-130J with Harvest Hawk


.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by zlee

Or maybe just notorious, which in these degenerate days seems to pass for the same thing.

I think I have the notorious thing down.

Gene

[tpi]

I used to be much more proactive with maintenance. I changed alternator bearings, water pumps, etc. on a schedule. I think it's the ultimate form of vehicle maintenance with appropriate schedules.

I'm more like Gene now. My approach is to do the required maintenance, sometimes above such as extra changes of trans and differential fluids. A big part of my scheme is to have all senses alert. Crawl under vehicle, check for any leaks or inappropriate looseness. Listen for noises, check for vibration. Smell for leaks. My goal isn't avoiding an unscheduled repair, its to avoid being on the side of the road. It is my opinion with today's drivetrains, a sudden, unexpected failure of motive power is more likely to be electical/electronic than anything else. Especially if you address noises, vibrations, leaks, smells, loose clearances proactively.

I do it with the trailer too, I pop it up on my bottle jacks now an then and get a feel for the wheel bearings.

[ROBERT CROSS]

One very proactive these day's...timing belts/chains on ANY OHC interference engine.$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Bob

[ThreeFingers]

Back to-- cost to move your AirStream--Hess Oil just shut down (a couple of weeks ago) a large refinery on St. Croix Island, look out east coast fuel buyers. Being retired and on a "fixed income" I will still make my trip from Calif. to North Carolina, we will just end up staying there longer (three to four months vs. two to three months) I will still use our AirStream, just have to make a few adjustments in other activities.

Chuck

[Gene]

I have read a couple of refineries are shutting down in the east. There's not a lot of profit in refining crude and there don't seem to be buyers for them. The big money is in finding oil and gas and selling it to refineries. No doubt people will blame regulations, but do they want to live next to an unregulated refinery?

Gene

[ROBERT CROSS]

......or the really big money being made by gambling on what the price will be tomorrow.

Bob

[Denis4x4]

On Friday AM, I fueled up at $4.19.9 in Pacific Beach. In Yuma it was $3.59.9 and when we got back to Durango it was $3.23.9. On 2/1/12, I got a 160 gallon delivery at the house priced at $3.11.9. I'm not sold on the fact that speculators are driving prices. However, I will buy into the theory that the eco-freaks are making mischief that has caused spot shortages and unreasonable costs in meeting regulations. Deep down, I know that the high gas prices are really caused by GWB....Obama told us so in 2008!

[dkottum]

Denis

You can blame these gas prices on the government all you want, but you are missing the mark. I hope the eco-freaks (such as me) keep on making mischief because that has little to do with it either and gives us a decent and healthy country to live in.

No point in trying to defend this position because you won't buy into anyway. But you ought to turn off political media and research economies, markets, and the future of world oil production.

doug k

[newroswell]

Originally Posted by REDNAX

My current screen saver: a KC-130J with Harvest Hawk


.

All these posts about getting the maximum efficiency, reliability and lowest costs and you don't have your screen saver set to put the monitor in power saving mode when inactive?

Just kidding Red...

[Denis4x4]

"No point in trying to defend this position because you won't buy into anyway. But you ought to turn off political media and research economies, markets, and the future of world oil production."

Doug,

Check your reading comprehension skills as my tongue was deeply in my cheek. Reread my post, I never blamed the government. However, Obama blamed Bush for high gas prices in 2008. Southwest Colorado has one of the largest natural gas deposits in the world. Switch coal fired power plants to natural gas and the environment will improve over night. Yet, environmentalists have put up drilling road blocks at every turn. I had a dual fuel gas/LP Bobcat that was great until the EPA made a ruling that wet feed hoses on home propane tanks were banned. Ford is making an F150 with gas/LP capabilities that I would buy in a heart beat. Except for the fact that thanks to the eco-lobby, I can't refill LP at home. I've yet to meet an environmentalist that understands the word COMPROMISE. Your first sentence in the above quote makes my point.