Archives for March 2015

Scaling back

March 31, 2015 By drpaddle Leave a Comment

On our last trip, to Cape Disappointment State Park here in Washington, we happened upon a quaint State Department of Transportation truck scale. It was on US 101, near the coast, with maybe not so much commercial truck traffic. Oyster trucks, maybe, if there is such a thing. There was the little shed where, presumably, truck scale attendants hang out and possibly did, at one time, crossword puzzles, but now probably play JackBingo on the smartphones. Instead of the more modern digital readout, there was a round, analog, clocklike gauge, sporting a white dial with black markings and pointer, visible through the window. If you pan and zoom in below, you might be able to see it.

The scale was unattended (“Scales closed ahead”) which means, in my limited experience and according to exhaustive-if-not-trustworthy Internet research, I could use it. There was just one scale — the newer installations have as many as three contiguous weighing platforms — so we did a few measurements.

NOTE: Wally was concerned about every aspect of this operation. He had a lot to say about it. I believe Sooz ran out of dog treats trying to appease him so I could concentrate, or at least try.

We pulled TinMan’s front wheels onto the scale, then I got out, read the scale and noted the results (couldn’t read it well enough from the driver’s seat). Analog, with small gradations, not so very accurate, possibly due to my sub-optimal eyesight.

Next, we weighed TinMan, both axles, all on the scale. BARK! offered Wally. Of course this weight would include Toto’s tongue weight, because there Toto was, hooked up to TinMan.

Then we weighed Tinman’s rear axle only. Finally, we weighed Toto, with both of his axles on the scale. This wasn’t Toto’s total weight, of course, because some of that total rested on TinMan’s hitch. But we knew (actually, hoped) we could do math to calculate everything.

We also knew we needed one more measurement: TinMan’s weight without Toto attached. I discussed this with the rest of the team, who pretty much said WHAT ARE YOU DOING WE WANT TO GO HOME. So, with incomplete data and anxious-for-home passengers, I pulled back out onto the roadway. A few hours later we were home and unhitched — and I convinced the team to jump back into TinMan (who hadn’t been unloaded at all) for a brief excursion to our local Department of Transportation truck scale, only a few minutes from our house.

Here, we would be able to capture the remaining, key data point: TinMan’s weight, one axle at a time and together, loaded but without Toto leaning on his rear end. This scale is a more modern version, with two contiguous weighing platforms and a digital readout (visible only through the little window in the door). Notwithstanding the compromised accuracy of using two different scales, at different times of day, in different weather and possibly on either side of a solar flare that could somehow matter but probably not, we had our data.

That night, I made an attempt at The Math, and the results, if I did it properly, are sobering. Let’s see if I can share the useful part of the results:

We had not exceeded either of TinMan’s axle weight specifications.
Including the weight from Toto’s hitch, we had too much weight overall in (and leaning on) TinMan. We were, in fact, over his rated capacity (they call it Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) by nearly 300 pounds. We were putting too much strain on TinMan’s frame.
Too much of Toto’s weight rested on the hitch. It was roughly 100 pounds too much. Again, a strain on the frame. Not good.

It looks like the team, and the rig, need a diet, or a cargo reorganization, or both. We want TinMan to last a good, long time, and we want to travel safely. Also, if some sort of mishap occurred and an insurance company looked into things carefully, they might deny a claim because of this slight but nonetheless naughty overindulgence.

With a big trip coming up soon — more on that shortly — we have to clean up (trim down?) our act. So here’s what we’ve done.

We took odds and ends out of TinMan’s cargo bed, and we’ll transport them in the trailer. This will be slightly less convenient, but really no big deal. These odds and ends include our portable propane BBQ grill and firepit, an 11-pound-capacity propane tank, our camp chairs and ottomans, the boys’ cot, a plastic footstool and a woven campsite “rug.” It all added up to 107 pounds, and it will go in the trailer.
I removed a front-mounted hitch receiver, installed maybe two months ago, from TinMan. It weighs nearly 40 pounds. I’m getting skilled enough at backing that I think we can live without this, and the weight has to go.
We shifted heavier items away from Toto’s front storage box into other storage areas, and vice versa. That storage box is quite a bit lighter now, and I think items are better organized now than they were. We’ll see about that.
I got out our handy Sherline tongue weight scale to see the results — and I liked what I saw. I think we have reduced tongue weight by 200 pounds or so. Some of that will return when we fully load the trailer for travel, and that’s good. It’s a true balancing act: the trailer tongue has to be under 610 pounds (TinMan’s limit) but should be no less than about 12-13% of Toto’s total weight. If the tongue weight gets too low, Toto will have a tendency to fishtail (the RV-enthusiast term is “sway”) under certain conditions, and nobody wants that.
That’s about 450 I think. These scales are fairly accurate but not exactly precise. Good thing to have around though. One must weigh a trailer tongue when the trailer is level, so the scale has to sit on a pile of whatever’s handy.

Toto weighs in. That’s Toto’s front storage box tucked between Toto’s bow and the bright-white cover for a pair of propane tanks.

So I think we’re going to be safe, and within TinMan’s and Toto’s rated capacities. We wouldn’t have to work this hard at things had we been willing to assume the responsibilities of owning a large truck. But we were not willing. For us, this is the better way. BONUS: additional incentive for the humanoids and furfoots to shed a few pounds. We’ll get right on it.

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Transforming Toto’s Powder Room

March 30, 2015 By drpaddle Leave a Comment

Prepare to be amazed.

Small shower caddie installed on shower wall beside sink.

It really was easy to install. And look how purty it is.

Just look at this terrific shower caddie. It’s a Command Small Shower Caddie, ordered from Amazon, of course. The product copy on Amazon’s site assured me it would be easy to install, and that it would hold stuff that wanted close at hand while showering and perhaps doing other stuff.

It really was easy to install. There are a couple of brackets that go on first (you can just see the tops of them peeking out above the back of the caddie). Those brackets get stuck onto the shower wall with something called Command Strips, which are supposed to be highly sticky, and also said to leave no trace of goo if and when you remove them.

First, you stick one side of the strips (there are four of them) onto the back of the brackets. Two strips per bracket. Be sure to get ’em stuck on there securely! Then you temporarily attach the brackets to the back of the caddie. Rub down the shower wall with isopropyl alcohol, tear off the Command Strips’ backing, and… attach to wall!

You’re not finished yet. Next you need to remove the caddie from the brackets — this is achieved with a gentle upward tug — set it aside, and then put some serious pressure on those two brackets for 30 seconds. This is how you tell them you really mean it. Next, set your timer for 24 hours, and wait.

Shower caddie, installed, loaded with shower-related products.

This is so gratifying. look at how convenient this is going to be. You have your hair stuff, your face soap, and your bar soap. AND there’s a convenient hook for a shaver. I almost feel like grabbing a shower right now, except there’s no water in the trailer so never mind.

This part was really dull, but oh well. Having endured the entire waiting period, it was now time to reattach the caddie to the brackets, this time with a gentle downward pull. I swear I was gentle. I swear I did this right.

After this big win, I moved directly into the Towel Hook Phase of the operation. Same brand (Command), different hooks. Had to feel around the walls and figure out where the flat bits were, because the hooks really want to be on a flat surface.

I think I got a little vertigo during this period. Everywhere I looked, shiny, curving, uninterrupted white surfaces. Is this what it feels like to be in a blizzard? (I certainly can’t remember. I haven’t been in a blizzard for many years.) I had to keep stepping back and checking the window to keep my bearings. Seriously.

Towels on Command Hooks in Toto's powder room.

A close-up of the hooks themselves would be even duller than this shot of them at work, doing their job, holding these microfiber towels. There’s a fourth hook off to the right, but you’ll just have to imagine how it looks, because the vertigo came back and I had to get out of there.

But I got those hooks mounted, and waited the prescribed period for curing (only 30 minutes in this case), and just look how super this job is. By now I’m thoroughly impressed with myself.

What with all the beauty and vertigo I was experiencing I was compelled to exit the powder room and move on to other tasks. Back at the TotoLounge, I stared at various storage areas, wondering where I should put Toto’s small collection of tools. I had to bring the tools out of Toto’s front storage box in an effort to reduce tongue weight — that’s something we can discuss later.

As I stowed the tools, a pronounced thunk emanated from the powder room.

Ohhhhhhh.

The shower caddie — or, more specifically, the Command Strips that held the shower caddie to the wall — lost out to gravity (which always wins — always).

I did not cry. I did not say any words Mom would object to (though, admittedly, Mom’s vocabulary is getting more colorful as the years progress). I did not slam a fist into any part of Toto (still too new).

Instead, I decided to call it a day, go back to the house and up my meds. This is Your Fault, Command Strips! Oh, probably not. And here’s something interesting: the Shower Caddie, Small came with two full sets of Command Strips. Why? Well, I think we can see why.

What did I do wrong? I don’t know yet. When I figure it out I’ll share. Don’t wait up.

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Inside Toto, part 3

March 26, 2015 By drpaddle Leave a Comment

Microwave oven installed in Toto's cabinetry.

It’s a microwave oven. A small one. I think you can get ’em anywhere. This one has the advantage of being Already Installed.

Toto’s microwave oven is a designer model — it says so right on the door. A big white label on the bottom of the door advises us to remove the interior carousel plate before we travel. I have an image of someone opening their trailer door after a tow down to the lake and discovering (a) an open microwave oven door and (b) many bits of shattered glass glittering from the floor. Enough to make you just shut the door, drive home, and put the trailer on the market, and maybe the boat, too.

Well, not us. We have a label. We are not going to make that mistake. Unless we forget the label-reading item in our 266-step Departure Checklist.

We have actually used this microwave oven already — to reheat coffee. I think Sooz might have used it to heat water, once, for tea. Our experience to-date suggests it is somewhat less powerful than the one we have at home. It’s a little slower to get things sufficiently warmed. But it’s not bad for the wilderness. Note: we can’t use it in the real wilderness. Like the air conditioner, it needs a current bush. It won’t work on battery power alone. When we’re out on the tundra we’ll have to heat things the old fashioned way, by burning something.

Now, let’s turn around (are you dizzy yet?) and take a look at the front (and only) door. Here, it’s partially obscured by a retractable screen door (in this case, not retracted). Toto hates insects. Yes, Toto is a hater. I had thought we were past all that in our family, but there it is.

Look at this! Imagine yourself standing with your back to the microwave oven (to avoid the rays). You’d see this — Toto’s front and only door. If it looks a little dark here, it’s because there’s a screen in front of it.

Toto's door, partly blocked by his privacy curtain.

What’s that? A privacy curtain. What if you step out of the bathroom in your birthday suit, or just want to sleep late? You need a privacy curtain, so people can’t look through the frosted window and wonder what that blurry thing looks like.

I think we were going to head into the bathroom and bedroom next — the master suite, as it were. Well those pictures are on the other computer so just wait for a minute.

Okay here. This is up at the front of the trailer, forward of the door we just examined. This is where we go to get clean and do any deep thinking.

There is room enough in this bathroom to turn around, shower, brush your teeth, and possibly even towel off. You can even do some of these things simultaneously, but I’m not trying it. There’s a special electric exhaust fan, an LED light fixture, and a window that opens and closes. (It was an option. Cha-ching!)

Powder room door, inside, with mounted rectangular mirror.

The bathroom door has some sort of waterproof lining on the inside, along with this mirror. The powder room is a place for reflection.

Handheld shower wand in Toto the trailer.

This thing can direct water to your hair, other parts of your body, or, if you open the door, to your squealing spouse. Don’t try this at home.

We’ll get to the bedroom — it always happens, eventually. Not today though. We’re preparing for an extended trip and we have some planning to do. And maybe I should get my work done.

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What’s inside Toto? More stuff.

March 24, 2015 By drpaddle 2 Comments

The good news is, it’s a blog. I could be showing you these pictures on my smartphone, or a (remember these?) slide projector. You’d have to put with a narrative and everything.

We left off at the TotoLounge, with is just a bunch of seating and windows and light fixtures and pillows. Underneath the seating, there is some storage, and also some gadgets — batteries, something called a Converter, and some wires — which means you have to be careful what you might store there. But also there are these Bully Tables.

Bully Table, or fold-up table. Also folds down.

This is a bully table in the Up position. Just above it there’s a 12-volt power outlet. We have found this handy for charging cellphones and tablets. It is said that we can use these tables for dining, as well, although so far only beverages have made it onto these surfaces.

In the down position, a bully table looks less threatening. Also, there’s more space on the cushions for terriers.

No one knows why these are called Bully Tables — this in an ostensibly anti-bully era. (Why weren’t people anti-bully when I was a small, bespectacled junior high school student?) Actually, someone knows, but I haven’t asked her yet. Onward.

TotoLounge with teasing glimpse of refrigerator, microwave oven, and air conditioner.

One last, wistful look at the TotoLounge, and we move on. Note, on your right (which is Toto’s left): a refrigerator, and a microwave oven. Up-top there’s a rather glaring air conditioner Let us explore them.

The refrigerator is preposterously large for the size of the trailer. I suppose one can work up quite the appetite hiking in the wilderness; we’ll find out. Air conditioning? Only works when Toto is plugged in to a current bush, and only needs to be on long enough for Team Toto to pack up and get the heck out of there. If we want to bake, we’ll go home and stick our heads in the oven.

Refrigerator interior. Highly impressive.

Just look at this cavernous thing. That’s a freezer up-top. Wouldn’t want to go to the wilderness without Otter Pops, or possibly frozen Margarita mix.

This LED light in the fridge is just plain eerie. Did you read Stephen King’s Tommyknockers? In that book it was green. This is the blue version. I keep expecting to open the door and see a poor little doggie hooked up to some kind of horrible tricycle device.

There has been a lot of loose talk about these refrigerators not being quite chilly enough in warm climates like you might find in Texas or Florida or even Whistler, BC during the Most Hideous Heat Wave We’ve Ever Experienced (don’t ask). We are hoping that, here in the drippy northwest, the cool factor will be adequate. Wow this is taking a long time. If this were a slide show we already would have taken potty breaks. All right. The microwave.

Wait, up there above the fridge, what’s that? Gadgets. On the left, the display portion of our Electrical Management System or something like that. It has a big, built-in surge protector so Toto’s wires and gadgets don’t get fried when the behemoth motorhome next door turns on its 90,000-volt air conditioner. On the right there are gauges. Push a button and find out how soon we’ll be out of water, or out of space to store used water, or out of space to store really stinky water. Also there’s a button to turn on a water pump, which is sometimes needed, don’t bother me about it now. Oh and you can get a vague idea of the battery’s mood here, too.

This is the most exhausting tour ever. Do you know that my mother once gave Disneyland tours? It’s true. In the 1050s. Every time she tells the story it gets a little more grand. Well. The microwave.

No, wait, let’s cool it for today. Microwave tomorrow! Also: air conditioner, bathroom, and possibly The Bed! Personally I can’t wait.

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What’s inside Toto? Some stuff.

March 23, 2015 By drpaddle Leave a Comment

A rainy-day tour of Toto’s interior seems in order. Let’s take a look. First, part of the kitchen.

Toto's kitchen, starboard side. A sink, a counter, a propane cooktop and some cabinets.

Toto’s kitchen. Actually a good half of Toto, inside, could be called the kitchen area. The kitchen is amidships. There, that’s it. This would be the starboard side.

That vertical bar to the left of the sink is structural, I think, but it also makes a great handhold when you’re entering or exiting the trailer. Some call this the “stripper pole.” I have no idea what this means, Sooz.

Flip-up counter extension next to kitchen sink.

Check out this nifty (optional) counter extension. In small trailers, counter space is at a premium; this helps. At a price, of course.

The shot above also reveals the shimmering beauty of Toto’s kitchen sink, with the cover (and extra counter space it provides) removed.

Toto kitchen, corner of lounge, forlorn tabletop.

Moving back to the kitchen; note the collapsible stovetop cover. It provides more (and stainless!) counter space when it’s down, and also means we only have to clean the stovetop once every ten years. Peek down there at the bottom right and you can see a corner of the TotoLounge, along with the TotoLounge’s sliding table top, which is currently not installed and just leaning there, wondering what its purpose is.

Note: it’s possible to prepare gourmet meals in Toto’s kitchen:

Grilled cheese sandwiches on the stovetop

Can you think of a better meal on a cool autumn evening? I can’t.

Now, a bigger peek at the TotoLounge.

TotoLounge: seats, floor, pillows, disassembled table

You can see Toto’s tabletop lounging on the floor at the left. A careful look at its fittings, and at the floor in the lounge, may suggest that removable pedestals are around somewhere. They are… they’re under one of the seats. I can’t get ’em today because, well, I can’t.

You can see one of the two “captain’s lamp” fixtures on the upper right. Yeah, those were options too. Those ETI folks saw us coming…

You ready for more? Sure you are. Stay tuned for the next part of our tour.

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Why Toto is solar-powered

March 22, 2015 By drpaddle Leave a Comment

When I started writing this post, I didn’t have a picture of Toto’s solar panel, or of the solar power controller gadgets that adorn Toto’s interior. It was pouring outside, my back was killing me and Tyler was very, very comfortable on the chair beside me, so we refused to move.

I thought I’d better include something visual, so… here’s a recent photo of where we are now. Not specifically, but here in the same town, Gig Harbor, Washington, where we hang out when we’re not out traveling with Toto.

One of the views we get when we walk Tyler and Wally.

When I take Tyler for a walk, we usually see this stuff — I captured the image while standing on the inland part of Gig Harbor’s Jerisich Dock. I think this dock is named after an early European-type settler of the area, not to be confused with the native Americans who preceded that crowd by many decades or perhaps centuries.Tyler and I walk out to the end of the dock, and watch the yachts and canoes and kayaks and stand-up paddle boards and cormorants and harbor seals and jelly fish and other things float by. It’s a very good way to take a break from work.

Okay, that’s the visual bit. And by now I’ve grabbed some images, so… about the solar. For a large sum of money, our friends at Escape Trailer Industries will install, on your new trailer (you are buying one, right?) a solar panel (on the roof) and a solar controller (inside). I think they have to do a bit of wiring, too. The whole point of this contraption is to keep the batteries Toto hides under a seat in the TotoLounge up to snuff.

Solar panel mounted atop Toto the trailer

See, there’s a solar panel up there on top. It just sits there.

This is the Solar Controller. We can push buttons on it and different numbers appear.

The panel collects energy and turns it into electrons, or possibly voltrons, I don’t know. Whatever they are, these things make their way to the Solar Controller which measures how the battery is doing and doles out doses of energy to keep it (the battery) full of voltrons, or, as we call it in the RV avocation, juice. The controller knows when the battery is already tip-top-full of juice and in that case it lets only a trickle of voltrons through to the battery. But if, say, we stay up late, leave all the lights on, recharge our smartphones and Bluetooth speaker, and run the furnace fan, and maybe use some water so the electric water pump has to kick on for a few moments, why then the batteries get depleted.

When it’s dark outside, there’s not much the solar panel can do to help. There’s no sunlight it can use to turn into voltrons. So when it’s nighttime and we’re doing all those things I just listed, the battery gets Depleted. Not over-depleted, or at least we hope not, because, we’re told, that will shorten the battery’s life, which in turn shortens the lives of our IRA investments and hastens us along the path toward living in a double-wide in Winnemucca instead of the grand Gig Harbor estate we now call home.

After we do all that depleting, however, if the world hadn’t ended then the sun rises the next day. After it gets a bit above the horizon, the solar panel, who has been standing by, goes straight to work collecting and converting voltrons, and in this case the solar controller KNOWS that the battery is depleted so it doses the battery generously with regulated, cleaned voltrons. And the battery becomes juiced.

The trick with living on solar power is to not use much, and to make sure the battery is getting appropriately re-juiced. And, of course, to collect as much power from the sun — I believe these are called Soltrons, or they certainly ought to be — as possible. There are different ways to do this, but it’s safe to say, the more panels you got, the more Soltrons you can collect. You’re limited, of course, by what you’re willing and able to carry along with you on your trailer roof or other surface.

Right about now you are probably ready to learn all about our experience with solar, and what tips we can pass along to you about acquring and using it. We’re ready for that too! But we haven’t been out using it yet; we’ve only had Toto for a few months and it’s been winter and when we’ve camped there has been a current bush for us to plug into.

This will all change soon. We’re going to head out in to the boonies, as soon as my back stops aching. We promise to report back.

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