Lotus Ca foothills of northern Ca

[OLLIEDAY]

Just ordered an Ollie. Have had an Adventure Wagon, bought new in '84. hate to give it up but time for a little more room at our age.. Now hope to get input from forum on some of the options. Know want solar and 6V AGM. want some input on composting toilet and other things to consider.

[SeaDawg]

Welcome aboard, Ollie day.  *and, love your name.❤ )

Westfalia adventure wagon? <Swoon.>

Yes to solar. And agm. Anything else that's not standard, I  could probably live without.

Others can tell you about the nature's head.  We don't  (yet) have one in our 2008.

There's so much standard, today.

Edited March 16, 2021 by SeaDawg
Typos

[OLLIEDAY]

3 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

Welcome aboard, Ollie day.  *and, love your name.❤ )

Westfalia adventure wagon? <Swoon.>

Yes to solar. And agm. Anything else that's not standard, I  could probably live without.

Others can tell you about the nature's head.  We don't  (yet) have one in our 2008.

There's so much standard, today.

the Adventure Wagon is a custom camper made by a company in Fort Bragg Ca.  Fixed top and think a step up from the Westfalia. we had the Westfalia before that. Thanks for the input on solar and AGM. And the welcome, looking forward to being apart of this community

[Mike and Carol]

Welcome Ollieday.  Agree with Sherry on the solar!  There are lots of composting Oliver owners these days so I’m sure they will chime in.  Mike

[topgun2]

Another WELCOME for OLLIEDAY.

I too do not have the composting toilet - that sure is a bunch of money for doing things that I've simply not needed in the years that I've owned RV's.  However, if you plan to full time AND boondock a bunch then an argument can be made that these types of toilets save water usage.

I agree with Mike that the solar option is really useful.  This is even the case if you don't plan to boondock in that the solar simply gives you the flexibility to "camp" at WalMarts or other places in the event you have difficulty getting more standard campgrounds.

Bill

[dewdev]

I vote for and have the composting toilet and the Truma Water Heater. 

It is nice to not to deal with "Black" water and only deal with "gray" water. A lot cleaner and you do not have to deal with those chemicals to keep the tank fresh and not smell. Go Green!

The Truma water heater is a lot better that running out of hot water when the hot water take gets empty.

I can wash the dishes, wait for the wife to shower and then take my shower without running out of hot water. ++++ 

[Mike and Carol]

46 minutes ago, dewdev said:

I vote for and have the composting toilet and the Truma Water Heater. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

47 minutes ago, dewdev said:

It is nice to not to deal with "Black" water and only deal with "gray" water. A lot cleaner and you do not have to deal with those chemicals to keep the tank fresh and not smell. Go Green!

The Truma water heater is a lot better that running out of hot water when the hot water take gets empty.

It would be nice not to have to deal with black water, the composting toilet was not available when our trailer was built.  A composting toilet can have its own set of issues.  We don’t use any chemicals, a detergent pod and a capful of Calgon water softener.  Check out Geo Method, it has worked well for us the past 5 years.

I’m a fan of on demand hot water.  That’s all we had when we lived in Europe for 12 years.  They are more complicated and can be more expensive to repair.  Our 6 gallon hot water heater has performed flawlessly.  I’ve replaced the anode once and the on/off switch once.  We’ve never run out of hot water.

If I was mainly a boondocker I would have a composting toilet installed.  Our limiting factor for camping with no hook ups is the capacity of the black tank.  We frequently camp in W/E only campgrounds and have to take a couple of hours after 5 days or so to go dump and then return.  It can be a pain in the... black tank.  Mike