SeaDawg

Painting gel coat is best left to professionals, imo, and expensive. Special paints, protective gear, etc . I actually love the clean white interior. So easy to clean, bright and a nice backdrop to the fabrics on the bed and dinette. Some people have installed backsplashes. Really nice. Others warm up the interior with wood tops from Foy Sperring, really, really nice. A few have added non adhesive graphics. I love mine the way it is. Though someday, I might like a walnut top from Foy.

I've read about 100 reviews now, very mixed, and my opinion is this would be a decent device for those on an unlimited Verizon plan (like me), who need coverage in tmobile or att areas, including Europe. If and when we go back to Europe, I "might" consider it, but the device depends on a cell signal. I have Verizon. My husband, tmobile. So, we're pretty much covered, anywhere there is actually signal, and his tmobile works best in Australia, New Zealand, most if Europe, and parts of Canada. We've streamed movies, etc., from his unlimitrd phone as a hotspot in many places in Europe. Mine is often best here in the US. I will say, their daypass for international travel is much less expensive than Verizon. Which doesn't work in many countries, anyway. And, they have a holiday sale going on. Major discounts on gb plans, which don't expire. That's a nice feature, and many reviews say the gb plans actually work better than their unlimited. Thanks for bringing this up. It's interesting.

I only know of one Elite somewhat near you, and that's in the Twin Cities, MN, and quite a hike for you, if you're in Eastern Wisconsin. Theirs is put to bed for the winter, and, it's an older one, but it's in heated storage. They'd be willing to show theirs to you, if you want to make the drive. I spoke to them this evening. Pm me if you're interested.

Yes, it does!

Congratulations, and safe travels. The wait is (almost) over!

My husband is not quite 6', I'm much shorter at a bit over 5'4". The Elite has been fine for us for 14 seasons. Most of our indoor time is spent seated or sleeping,, anyway. Published height (interior) is 6'1", I believe, which is the same interior height as a 17' Casita, so @topgun2 offered good advice. The Casita does, however feel much more "cramped" to me, and all the cupboards are smaller. I think it's the carpet everywhere, and the casitawood doors that make the Casita feel smaller. (One of my best friends owns a Casita, and we've camped together many times, so I'mpretty familiar with the interior of her Casita.) The Elite bed is much smaller than the Elite II. The east/west bed is a full size (some people call it a double), not a queen, and the curve of the hull at the rear robs a few more inches for a bit, so it's best if the shorter person (me) takes the spot next to the hull. If you're a back sleeper, you may not find the shorter bed to be as comfortable, at probably 6'1" barefoot. @VBistro's idea of deleting the ac has merit, for either unit fitting your garage. We have a recpro houghton, replacing a 2008 Dometic that was much, much taller, but sometimes I think we should have just installed a vent instead, as we rarely use the ac. The rough opening for ac units and standard vents are the same.

Looks great, and glad you are pleased. I see you also got some of Foy's handcrafted wood creations. Congratulations, and happy travels!

My mom would say "no." I was raised on a farm, with septic, of course. Nothing went into the system but toilet paper, and what had already been through our digestive systems. She was,and still is, very careful about food particles in the kitchen drain, and has never had issues . I don't know a bunch about coir, but I'm guessing it doesn't break down easily. Some rv dumps are vaults, and have to be pumped out. Most are true septic, but even those get pumped out at times. Personally, I wouldn't put anything down the drain that I wouldn't put in my holding tank.

Incinerator toilets are a pretty neat option, but very energy greedy. My high school friend who lives in Sweden has used them. Easy peasy, but very expensive, to buy, and to use . Because they also incinerate urine, they burn a lot of energy . Pretty much used only where a septic or true composting system is not feasible. I've looked into them, for off grid cabin, and felt the high energy offset, and initial cost, wasn't worth it. But, they're really neat and clean. a little cup of ash to dispose of, occasionally My friend told me there is no discernable odor . The burner does run for a long time, but the burn cycle is interrruptable if needed. The one I looked at was roughly 3x the price of a nature's head. Plus energy cost, ongoing. A urine diverting model would certainly save energy. I've never seen one, though. https://www.cinderellaeco.com/mobilehomes https://www.cinderellaeco.com/us-en/industry-and-health https://incinolet.com/?product_cat=toilets

Your link leads to documentation by SuSanA, a very worthy, loose knit organization that tries to provide decent,,waterless sanitation in many areas of the world for those who desperately need it. I hope others will actually look at the documents, and read them. I've read a bunch. We're so very spoiled here, and in most of the developed world. Even so, sanitation is difficult in remote areas, and presents difficultiesin urban areas, as well, as populationswells beyond capacity. Vault toilets in many remote parts of US and CA require pumpout. So do many remote dump stations. Volunteers clean out vault toilets in remote areas of the AT, via atvs. It's much trickier than a single nature's head. As my mother in law's proctologost said, everybody poops. We have to learn how to handle it better, and uddt toilets may be the way. we'll see.

So, you're likely looking for something 4 to 6 hours from NOLA? We rarely travel west of the Mississippi on I10, so I'll leave it to the Texas and Louisiana people to advise. My last experiences in Louisiana and East Texas (I10) are over a decade old . (Basically, bumping your post, so others will see it.)

Patriot, I'd certainly agree that human waste, disposed of improperly, could be a biohazard. That's why wells can't be dug next to septic tanks, raw sewage isn't dumped in the waterways, etc. And, why so many people in developing countries have extreme difficulty obtaining clean drinking water. Just saying a bundle of coir or peat moss and poo isn't "hazmat" when properly disposed of, anymore than soiled disposable diapers. And, that I think the owners here are a) pretty intelligent b) pretty responsible and c) care enough about the environment to dispose of waste responsibly. After all, most of us bought these campers to get out and enjoy nature. We certainly don't want to be the morons wrecking it...

For those of you who are new to rvs, this is not the norm, as I'm sure John would tell you. Just saying, we've never had that happen to us, in all our years of camping. But, it obviously can. We don't have a composting toilet in our trailer (yet), but I think they have definite benefits in the right situation. We did install a composting toilet in our cabin, and it's great.

Which trailer valet model did you order?

I seriously doubt that any owners here "dump" solid waste above ground, or shallow bury the solid waste. It's just not the style of our members. At least, I hope not. A "cathole" for weeks of poo plus cois would be undoubtedly deeper than i'd like to dig. Is it "hazmat"? Probably not. Are kids or adult diapers hazmat, if disposed in a dumpster? Partially composted poo plus coir, imo is far better than plastic encased diapers, environmentally. Especially if bags are compostable, imo. In my neighborhood, we have a trash to energy burner, for non recycling refuse. I know that's not everywhere, but it's a good thing here . Check out this post, on how to responsibly empty a composting toilet https://www.livesmallridefree.com/blog/where-to-responsibly-empty-your-composting-toilet

You might find this thread from earlier this year to be helpful

What a nice guy. That doesn't happen, everywhere.

On the boat, we mounted the victron monitor in a space that's not really easy to see/get to, but the app makes the placement pretty much irrelevant. I can check the batteries from the back deck of the house, and certainly from anywhere on the boat, on my phone. Shorter wire run, and we had no space left on the existing monitor board.

Honda 1000 has been our lightweight best friend for over a decsde.

Thanks. We had a great day. Daughter, friends. A lot of fun. It was really a nice day. Hope all of you had the same.

I'll leave the removal process to others. In my 2008, the slide up a bit, flex a bit, and out they come. Rear window us a bigger pain, though. Don't give up on the air freshener smell til you've removed them, hosed them down with a bit of laundry detergent, and left outdoors for a bit. I don't like artificial fresheners, either. I get it.

Lead acid and agm are old (but tried and true) technologies. We're on our 5th season with current agm batteries, 2 x 12v x 105 ah. Ideal for us? No, especially with our dc compressor fridge, which uses 60 to 70 ah a day. But, I'm in no hurry to upgrade, as I hope/suspect they'll last another season or 3. Current cost is roughly $110 a season, plus generator fuel (minimal) when we need it. We could and would definitely use the extra ah of lithium, but I'm still on the fence. Will we ever recoup the cost, if we go lithium? I don't know. Would it be easier, for sure. I have to monitor power all the time, and solar input, with the 60 to 70 ah of the compressor fridge, with our puny battery setup, and mostly camping without electricity. It's a big decision, which can be changed up later, imo.

Were it me (and it's not), I'd probably opt for the solar pro, and see how it goes. Lithium prices keep dropping. You can always add them later, if you actually need them. Depending on the weather, (cooler temps), you can actually turn your gas fridge off for a few hours, if it's cold and full, and be fine, instead of running the 3way on 12v, if your solar doesn't keep up. We used to run ours on propane, traveling, when we had a 3way. (Unless in areas required by law to turn it off.) A 3way is least efficient in 12v. In our case, in the days when we still had a 3way, 200 watts solar, two 12v agm 105 ah batteries, we couldn't keep up running on 12v.

Yes, it sure does. I've personally considered front windows to be problematic (rock chops, etc.). One more thing to worry about. Or rock guards to take on and off. Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!