SeaDawg

I don't think so. We've had our cooktop out. The area between the cooktop and drawers is sealed with plywood, at least in ours.

I'd say so!

I think it's really easy to get carried away on initial purchase, so I'm glad you're approaching this thoughtfully. I too, think solar and agm batteries are a great start for people new to camping. No maintenance to the batteries. Solar keeps them charged up unless you hit a string of bad weather, or use an inverter a lot. If you cook and make coffee on the cooktop when you don't have hookups, you really won't use that much dc power . Smaller genset for backup. As far as signal, we carry two different services, Verizon and Tmobile. If there's service available, we have signal. Maybe look at a jetpack from a different provider than your phone, to cover the bases. (Neither service works in some of the remote spots we've camped, like the Yukon, but I don't need to be connected every minute! You can buy a Spot or similar for emergency signal based on satellite for very little, and a reasonable annual contract.)

230 should be plenty, with a threeway fridge running on gas. You can add a portable very inexpensively if it's not. My sister had this generator from Costco. Pretty light, very quiet. Should run your ac if you have the soft start. A-iPower Powered by Yamaha Inverter Generator | Costco https://www.costco.com/.product.100653776.html

I agree with John. The agms are fine to start. We still have agm, and I wouldn't even look at lithium if we didn't have a compressor fridge. I may stay with agm, anyway, even with the increased draw of the fridge, because we rarely have to run the generator, with 400 watts of solar.

We've used tst out of Georgia for a decade. Reliable, great customer service. Get 3, so you have a spare. Others will chime in. There are several good brands out there.

That generator is way to big and heavy. We recently bought a Westinghouse 2500 at Lowes. It runs our saws, charges batteries, and runs our ac. At around 600 normal price, it's a nice smaller unit, with plenty of features, inverter technology, and it only weighs 48 pounds, so I can lift it. Pull cord start, but pretty easy, and I have no difficulty starting it. (If you have the strength to lift it, you have the strength to start it.) Our other generator is a Honda 1000. Very light, quiet, will charge the batteries. Won't run the microwave or a hairdryer or any tools. Champion makes a nice generator around 2000 watts that would charge batteries and run the microwave, but probably not the ac. Keep looking.

That was fast! October is usually a really nice time to camp in Tennessee and Western North Carolina. By the middle of the month, the fall colors are usually at their peak in the High Country.

We collect rainwater, from our metal roof, at home. Don't think I'd want to collect drinking water from the interstitial space of Oliver hulls. Imo

Don't the courtesy lights turn on with headlights? I have no idea. We don't have courtesy lights, other than the low yellow sidelights, on 2008 model.

We call it third tail light. Anybody have a better name? Other than "the place to look if you have a leak that looks like the rear window, but probably isn't?"

Actually, lots of sailors set up tarps to capture rainwater as freshwater. Very ingenious. 😁

Is yours led, or bulbs? On our older 2008, the bulbs sometimes worked loose. Easy fix. Five or six years down the line, replaced incandescent with led bulbs. Of you have an led fixture, I'd be looking for a loose connection.

We bought our dc danfoss/secop refrigerator, made by indelb, to replace our dometic 3way from a company named Truckfridge. Truckfridge also carries a very complete line of indelb portable fridge/freezers, under their label. Some are molded plastic. Another group is made with a steel case, like the national luna. All use the same danfoss/secop compressors used in other, more expensive brands like Dometic. Very low power consumption. About half the price of Dometic. https://truckfridge.com/collections/portable-refrigerator-freezers

A smaller can, or a true compressor, would have been easier to work with. But, as we're camping, I worked with what we had... From what I've read on the uk forums (SMEV primarily used in Europe and Australia, it seems), the cap corrodes and rusts underneath, causing an uneven surface, and rust and soot build up on the little alloy spreaders. All the air used in combustion seems to come from the spreaders, so they have to stay clean and open to burn, properly. When we get home this fall, and empty the trailer, we may have to drill out the screws, clean everything properly, and replace with stainless screws. I really like the cooktop, and want to keep it working properly. It was an expensive, marine quality unit, and should last another 15 or 20 years, I'd guess. The new Dometic/smev cooktops don't have thermocouples, and the caps, though stainless, just rest on the burner, from what I can see, so easier to clean. And, the one piece iron grates on the newer cooktop are really nice, too, compared to my skinny wire spiders.

@AriesBarb, I was reminded of your thread today, when poliver posted the almost all electric 2009 link in classifieds. As scubarx said, if you always camp with electric hookups, it will never be an issue, no matter the brand you choose. Enough electricity, you're golden. Just don't ever fill the tanks, get an induction burner, run the standard water heater on electric, only. Swap out the three way fridge, maybe, someday, for a more efficient dc secop/danfoss fridge. Or, not, if you will always have 110. Definitely. Get a small electric heater, or get a heat pump ac, or both. If you primarily, or accidentally, camp without electrical hookup, you'll need sufficient battery and solar to make it through. And/or, a small generator. Which means carrying fuel. Some/most people design their trailers for ideal and optimum conditions. Others for the worst. (We're in the latter category, as it often happens to us ) Living without propane is certainly possible. But, it will require planning.

My SMEV cooktop gave me fits for a bit. The front bigger burner started throwing a yellow flame, sooting the bottom of thectea kettle, and made a funny smell and hissing noise. I turned it off. Tried the small back burner. Which gave the customary clean blue flame, but takes forever to boil water. So, likely not bad gas, since the other burner worked fine. Probably not the regulator either,, since that would affect both burners. Probably was not the proper air to gas mix, so emitting soot and yellow inefficient flame, and Carbon monoxide, as well. Searched all over the net for a few days, looking for a service manual or a youtube from someone with a similar problem. Came up mostly empty-handed. Searched forums, and finally found a few suggestions. Remove the cap and clean the jet and orifices. (Cap screws are stripped, and immovable ) Or, adjust the air slide, to improve gas to air ratio. (Smev doesn't have one.) I was about to give up, and spend $90 on a new burner, which, surprisingly, is still available, for my old unit. Tired of waiting forever for the tea kettle to boil on the small burner, I got out an old toothbrush and ran it around. Got a bit of carbon, but still a yellow flame. Turned off the propane,, and burned it off. Got out a can of compressed air with the straw, and went around the whole ring. Took a long time to clean up the carbon mess, but got my lovely blue flame back.

We'd like to try that one, too, another trip. We really enjoy the Tennessee state park system.

We're looking into those, for another trip. Thanks.

No offense intended, but I'm perfectly happy with my analog 2008 thermostat. I really don't need or want bluetooth. I just want a thermostat that works . I hope mine lasts another 14 years...

We've been through a few hail storms, up to steely marble size. Not with the wind described above, though we did have shredded leaves all around, like chopped salad. Zero damage. Not to our 2008 solar panels, either.

Try this when your tank is empty, so it actually gets down to the valves.

North Carolina and Tennessee have so many beautiful places to choose from. Thank you all for your recommendations.

We took a long and beautiful drive today, from Asheville, up to Linville falls, over to Julian Price, down to Banner Elk. Enjoyed lunch at one of our old favorite in Banner Elk. Continued on to Roan Mountain. It was a great day for exploring. All three campgrounds have great sites. We settled on Linville, because of the open sites and sun, in the early fall. It gets cold at elevation in October, and, Roan Mountain's lower (and more open) campground is nice, but pretty booked for the weekend we're looking at. Upper campground would be fine for us, and our friends with little Elites, but we don't love running the generator. We may drop in to Roan mountain on a few weekdays. It's a beautiful park. We saw a number of deer today. So much to see and do around and within the park. Lake Julian price is lovely, especially on the lake . The upper campground, across the road, would be great in the summer heat. In the fall, with all the trees, I think I would be stretched for solar, and be looking for something at lower elevation. Ps. Construction on i40 near Black Mountain, exit 64, affects traffic both directions. Worse eastbound. But, the views are great, both ways. Makes the slowdown just another chance to appreciate the engineering of the road, and amazing vistas.