The Castle Modifications

Rockport, Texas

10:30 AM
A great way to start the morning is to hear rain on the skylight above the bed. That means it is OK to roll into the blanket tighter and snuggle back down for some more sleeping. It is WINDY and wet cold nasty outside so the morning tea tastes even better. The Castle is a bit cool this morning since the heater was left off last night. The heat leaves the Castle much faster when it is raining outside. Who knows what will happen today, but for certain it will not be done in a skimpy bathing suit outside.

Later in the day

What do you do on a cold nasty day?? My day so far is reading emails and websites and shivering. The 1000 watt electric heater is striving to catch up with the cold. The list of things to write about in this blog has gotten such that a list of those items has been started on my computer.

A question about what my plans are for the Castle and modifications to the solar came in. During my previous travels, some of the really great places to visit do not have any amenities at all including level spots to stop. Goosenecks State Park in Utah is one very special one that still awaits my visit. Some others are Fruita Campground, Cottonwood Campground and San Pedro campground. Have fun searching for them he he.

Apparently my life style is electrically a major oinker. The two batteries on the Castle are the worst deep cycle batteries made. They are group 24 and the maintenance free type deep cycle. If you purchase batteries for an RV, DO NOT purchase the maintenance free type. Get DEEP CYCLE rated either full standard wet cell or AGM batteries. Marine does not mean deep cycle. Deep Cycle means Deep Cycle.

The Castle’s two batteries are getting where the use of them only gets the Team two nights before the batteries are at the minimum voltage allowed without damaging the batteries. The single 100 watt panel on perfect days of bright sunshine in the middle of the summer brings the rig to a five day limit before the batteries are too low to continue. The five day limit has proven to be too short for my lifestyle preferences.

A preference of mine is to have a balanced rig. Water and electrical abilities should match. The Teams water ability is no less than nine days. Keep in mind there is not even a small amount of skimping going on in my life as to utilities. Comfort Castle is the trailer’s full name with emphasis on the Comfort part. The answer to the original question is that the Castle is being modified to fit the lifestyle that my life is shifting toward. If an opportunity to be in a wonderful place shows up, this Team will be able to enjoy it until the hitch itch hits us again. That is the goal.

Many folks think that the solar panels are worthless since they likely will not ever save you enough money to pay for themselves. They do open up opportunities for comfortable fun you cannot approach without them. That is sort of like fishing. The fish caught never come close to being worth the cost of the fishing, but the fun is worth the cost.

So far finding water to drink and a sewer dump location has been much easier to find than somewhere to plug in. Tioga George is living proof of that statement. He could not have as many great experiences without his solar and generator. A lot of National Parks have water and a dump but no electric available. Nothing in these modifications means that places with hookups will be ignored.

My goal is still to see it all and my travels have started very late in life at age 61. Please visit
http://www.wandrin.us/blog/index.php?/categories/2-RVing-Life for an excellent article by Lloyd in his blog. He has been one of my inspirations for my RV lifestyle for years.

So it is now evident that the modifications are simply more effort to provide for having tooooo much fun. TheOFM.