19’ Flying Cloud

[Oakley]

We are new owners, and will be picking up our 2017 in the spring.
What do we need to know?
What do we need to buy?
We are thinking of dry camping for 4 days, without solar or generator and would like helpful suggestions.
Much appreciated!
DL

[Tall Grass]

Nothing like bringing it home and then driveway camping for a few days. You will inevitably discover all kinds of issues ranging from what to bring to where to put all the stuff to how much and what to take out to bring the GVW down to acceptable limits. Better to find that out at home than four hours away.

[Spinonedad]

You can pick up a inexpensive solar set up for $200
It will plug in to your AS and save your batteries
You will draw your batteries down to a damaging level in four days without any assistance

[BayouBiker]

Tall Grass is spot on. Great advice.

At the very least while roughing it in the driveway go through in your mind everything you might do while dry camping.

Lots of great videos on YouTube. Here are some of the things we had the most trouble with when first starting and also when first dry camping:

Water management: Didn't run out of fresh water since we hauled more and could get more with a short drive. Had a lot of trouble with grey tank management. Showers and cleaning. Lots of advice online on how to reduce water use but it takes planning and practice.

Battery management: Know your battery capacity. Understand the safe degree of discharge. You should avoid drawing down the stock battery more than 50% so your available power is half the capacity in this case. Consider the weather. The propane furnace uses a fair to large current draw for the fan. The power vent is not a lot but it uses some. Four days, 3 nights with just the refrigerator an occasional lights will likely consume about 70-100 Amp hours. Depending on your battery(s), you may not make it with some intervention.

If it's a touch cold, we found a heated massage table mattress pad is great. Uses less current than the furnace. Running the very minimum we use 1.2 Amps. A light or two plus the inverter and the heating pads and we are up to 1.6 Amps. We have solar but if we did not, we'd get three days safely on our batteries and four if we took them down to 65% DOD, which is not too hard on our AGM batteries.

Cookware: This took us a while to get it right and it depends on your style an preference more than anything else. We didn't know what our preference was at first. We though we did, but no... Outdoor cooking we ended up using a double dutch oven and open fire most. Indoor, we simply default to the microwave.

We got a Solo Fire Pit and we love it! Almost smokeless! But the medium and small can't handle standard 18" firewood, don't know about the large one. I cut my wood in half with a chainsaw.

When you're connected to power use the Heat Pump when its warmer than 45F and a portable space heater when it is below. Propane is pricey.

Get a water filter for sure, I also strongly recommend a surge protector.

Does your tow vehicle have an electric brake controller? If not, get one installed.

[Oakley]

Originally Posted by Tall Grass

Nothing like bringing it home and then driveway camping for a few days. You will inevitably discover all kinds of issues ranging from what to bring to where to put all the stuff to how much and what to take out to bring the GVW down to acceptable limits. Better to find that out at home than four hours away.

Great idea. We had planned on spending one night at the dealership, but that is only for trouble shooting how things work. A few days in the driveway, with the ability to take or leave items, would be so helpful.

[Oakley]

Originally Posted by Spinonedad

You can pick up a inexpensive solar set up for $200
It will plug in to your AS and save your batteries
You will draw your batteries down to a damaging level in four days without any assistance

Do I need different batteries to plug in a solar panel?

[Oakley]

Originally Posted by BayouBiker

Tall Grass is spot on. Great advice.

At the very least while roughing it in the driveway go through in your mind everything you might do while dry camping.

Lots of great videos on YouTube. Here are some of the things we had the most trouble with when first starting and also when first dry camping:

Water management: Didn't run out of fresh water since we hauled more and could get more with a short drive. Had a lot of trouble with grey tank management. Showers and cleaning. Lots of advice online on how to reduce water use but it takes planning and practice.

Battery management: Know your battery capacity. Understand the safe degree of discharge. You should avoid drawing down the stock battery more than 50% so your available power is half the capacity in this case. Consider the weather. The propane furnace uses a fair to large current draw for the fan. The power vent is not a lot but it uses some. Four days, 3 nights with just the refrigerator an occasional lights will likely consume about 70-100 Amp hours. Depending on your battery(s), you may not make it with some intervention.

If it's a touch cold, we found a heated massage table mattress pad is great. Uses less current than the furnace. Running the very minimum we use 1.2 Amps. A light or two plus the inverter and the heating pads and we are up to 1.6 Amps. We have solar but if we did not, we'd get three days safely on our batteries and four if we took them down to 65% DOD, which is not too hard on our AGM batteries.

Cookware: This took us a while to get it right and it depends on your style an preference more than anything else. We didn't know what our preference was at first. We though we did, but no... Outdoor cooking we ended up using a double dutch oven and open fire most. Indoor, we simply default to the microwave.

We got a Solo Fire Pit and we love it! Almost smokeless! But the medium and small can't handle standard 18" firewood, don't know about the large one. I cut my wood in half with a chainsaw.

When you're connected to power use the Heat Pump when its warmer than 45F and a portable space heater when it is below. Propane is pricey.

Get a water filter for sure, I also strongly recommend a surge protector.

Does your tow vehicle have an electric brake controller? If not, get one installed.

Thank you for the great suggestions. Do you recommend a brand of surge protector?
We will get a brake controller installed, thank you!

[Oakley]

Originally Posted by Spinonedad

You can pick up a inexpensive solar set up for $200
It will plug in to your AS and save your batteries
You will draw your batteries down to a damaging level in four days without any assistance

Do we need to change the AS batteries to add the solar panels?

[Ronyx]

Congratulations on your purchase of a 2017 FC19!

That is what I have. I've owned since new and have enjoyed it. Like all other models there are certain quirks. A couple things I've found the greatest value from are:

1) change out of the Parallax converter with a Progressive Dynamic unit

2) Replace stock batteries with 2, 220 amp hour 6 volts

3) Install battery isolation switch to prevent parasitic load from discharging batteries in storage.

The dealer made a variety of small repairs under warranty but for the most part all has been good.

[Oakley]

Great information. Thank you for the details. Did you add solar panels? We are thinking of having 200 watts installed, if feasible.

[Ronyx]

Originally Posted by Oakley

Great information. Thank you for the details. Did you add solar panels? We are thinking of having 200 watts installed, if feasible.

I am planning on installing solar this spring. These units are pre-wired for solar from the factory so installation is pretty straight forward. There is a 3 port connector on the roof and the wiring for the charge controller is in the compartment under the street side dinette seat. I’ve measured the roof in detail and have determined 2 90W Long (90L) Zamp panels will fit nicely. one on each side of the roof at the front. The TV antenna will slightly shade the panel on the street side but that is unavoidable given the limited space. I will be sourcing everything from AM Solar.

[Shiny16]

Originally Posted by Ronyx

I am planning on installing solar this spring. These units are pre-wired for solar from the factory so installation is pretty straight forward. There is a 3 port connector on the roof and the wiring for the charge controller is in the compartment under the street side dinette seat. I’ve measured the roof in detail and have determined 2 90W Long (90L) Zamp panels will fit nicely. one on each side of the roof at the front. The TV antenna will slightly shade the panel on the street side but that is unavoidable given the limited space. I will be sourcing everything from AM Solar.

If you use two Zamp 45s on the side with the antenna then only one of the panels will get some shading. They are the same width as the 90s. 0ne 45 with slight shading added to a 45 in full sun shoulder have better results the one 90 with partial shading.

[Prettygood]

Oakley, confirm you have the solar pre-wire at the frame in front, that is for a portable panel. If you start with a portable it is always useful, even if/when you add solar on top. You can put the portable in the sun anywhere you go (avoid the trees/shadows).

No need to change batteries at first, just make sure you have a way to charge them (solar or generator). If you haven’t considered a generator, look at that too. Getting a dual fuel 2200w generator gives you guaranteed power, and you can tap right in to your propane at the quick connect port. No need to carry gasoline at all.

Have fun with the trailer, it is an awesome experience

[Oakley]

Originally Posted by Prettygood

Oakley, confirm you have the solar pre-wire at the frame in front, that is for a portable panel. If you start with a portable it is always useful, even if/when you add solar on top. You can put the portable in the sun anywhere you go (avoid the trees/shadows).

No need to change batteries at first, just make sure you have a way to charge them (solar or generator). If you haven’t considered a generator, look at that too. Getting a dual fuel 2200w generator gives you guaranteed power, and you can tap right in to your propane at the quick connect port. No need to carry gasoline at all.

Have fun with the trailer, it is an awesome experience

Sorry for the delay; I thought I had replied. Thank you for the suggestions and input. Where we plan on going, doesn’t allow generators. We have decided to have the dealer install 2 Zamp 100 panels, before we pick it up in the spring.

This is a novice question, but, are any of the electrical outlets functional an DC?

[Oakley]

Originally Posted by Ronyx

Congratulations on your purchase of a 2017 FC19!



That is what I have. I've owned since new and have enjoyed it. Like all other models there are certain quirks. A couple things I've found the greatest value from are:



1) change out of the Parallax converter with a Progressive Dynamic unit



2) Replace stock batteries with 2, 220 amp hour 6 volts



3) Install battery isolation switch to prevent parasitic load from discharging batteries in storage.



The dealer made a variety of small repairs under warranty but for the most part all has been good.

Thank you for the tips. We are having the dealer install 200 watts of solar, and will ask about your suggested upgrades.

[Ronyx]

Originally Posted by Oakley

Sorry for the delay; I thought I had replied. Thank you for the suggestions and input. Where we plan on going, doesn’t allow generators. We have decided to have the dealer install 2 Zamp 100 panels, before we pick it up in the spring.

This is a novice question, but, are any of the electrical outlets functional an DC?

There are several 110v outlets labeled for inverter use. When on battery power, there is a button to the right of the galley that will activate the 1000w inverter. this will give you power at the aforementioned inverter outlets.