Weird drive home.

One of the projects I did while I was down there was building a retainer for my sisters horse water tub.  It is a C shape since one end goes up against the fence and the horse pasture is lower than the yard.  The recalculations are because I figured the size of a landscape timber wrong.  I thought they were 3"x5" nominal, but they measured differently.

It came out rather nicely though.

The corners are interleaved, there is a brace on the bottom, and every board has a metal bracket on it.  I hope that will be strong enough.  It will hold the dirt, but horses can be rather rough on it.  

I drove home a couple of days ago, and everything was backwards from normal.  Traffic was that of a non-holiday weekend, the most snow was in KY (Ashland area).  The further north I went the less snow there was. The cheapest gas on the drive home was in NY.  I had to fill up an extra time because I was driving fast causing my gas mileage for the trip home to be poor (14.5mpg-ish) and a couple of the tanks I didn't run as far down as normal since I was stopping for something else anyways.  Very strange trip.  

Despite just getting a couple of feet of snow before Christmas, NH is practically barren.  I also noticed that the power company finally took down that tree that they said they were going to a couple of months ago.

There were some vicious wind storms while I was gone.  My lot didn't make it through unscathed.  Unfortunately the carport had a couple of blowouts.  Ugh.  I will fix that in the spring, it is too cold to cut plexiglass now, it would shatter.

The roof on the carport looks like it shed snow pretty well, despite being only a 3:12 pitch.  Apparently when the snow came down, it unplugged the extension cord going up to the shed.

There were a couple of branches down around the lot.  

Something in the shed leaked.  I doesn't extend under the saw, which would have been my first guess.  The green can on the left is the Tru Fuel stuff that the saw guy was talking about.

Some of the other stuff blew around the yard, so I will have to go pick stuff out of the yard in the spring, most of it will be frozen into the ground by now.  That is the polycarb I was intending to bring down for my dad's carport.  Not quite clear (which is why I didn't use it for mine) but it UV protects the inside (a bigger issue for him than me since his covering is on the south wall).

The cover for the AC managed to stay put thankfully.

My emergency supply of cheese was still good when I got home thankfully, so I didn't have to go out shopping immediately.

Instead I pulled out the tractor and decided to eliminate the bank at the road.  It was only about 4-5 inches deep, but I figured it would be good to get some minimal experience with the tractor in the snow.  The rear blade does a very nice job on the paved apron.

All in all, clearing the end was faster than driving the tractor up and down the hill.

In case you didn't see in the last picture, the bottom of the driveway is a solid sheet of ice.  It happens every year, so I am not too worried.  The tractor didn't slip or slide, the chains worked good.  Some of my driveway markers didn't have a good time with the ice though.  Oh well, I don't really need them; I know where the edges of my driveway are, they follow the various features on the hillside.

After that I unloaded the truck.  The tractor was more unnerving to unload than I expected.  The metals ramps hold the weight just fine (this was their first use), but the top is just a bent piece of sheet metal.  Since the tractor is out of alignment, there is nothing to prevent the front wheels from effectively throwing the ramps off the tailgate as it drives down.  Thankfully the tractor only fell a couple inches, but it is definitely something to keep in mind, and perhaps I will put a rubber backing or something on the metal plate portion.  The end on the ground has teeth so that end doesn't slide.  

I moved the deck for the Craftsman onto the sawhorses and parked the Cub Cadet right next to it.  In the future, I will swap them, and perhaps put the Craftsman in sideways, but this appears to work (I am of course assuming both live another year).  I heaved the deck for the Cub Cadet up onto the sawhorses manually this year (it was already chest high being in the back of the truck), but next year I will just lift it with the tractor.

The tractor does fit in behind it in the current orientation, but it means that the rear blade isn't far enough underneath to get the protection afforded by the carport (not a biggie) and I have to pull the tractor in now.  The front bucket isn't as wide as the grading blade, and it just barely fits next to the tractor.

One other thing I have noticed is that the mice have once again attempted to infiltrate my home.  I left the traps set up (which hadn't gotten anything in weeks when I left) and got 4 mice despite only having three traps set up; one was fittingly dead in the bottom of my garbage can.  So I will have to keep an eye on them.  I know where they are entering, they are coming in where the plumbing in the laundry room goes through the floor, but it also means that they are in the underbelly of the house.  I will have to take a look at it in the spring.

Temporary room update.

Things have been working fine in the camper until I ran out of propane last night at 4AM. I noticed when I got up that the furnace kept clicking and was blowing cold air.  

The good news is that it didn't try to keep running anyways, it tried once and then the heat didn't come back on until I cycled the thermostat off and then back on.  

The stove still lit this morning, but it was pretty clear that the propane was empty.  The burners on max are supposed to be better than that.

One concerning thing is that the camper started to smell like improperly burnt/unburnt propane when it ran out.  It wasn't enough to create a fire hazard though.  Just enough to make you nervous.

A couple of other minor updates: the emergency exit window does in fact open.  It opens like a casement window, so cross ventilation still isn't a thing, but it does open which I incorrectly reported in my last post.

One other thing I have noticed is that the windows get a lot of condensation around them.  It shouldn't be enough to hurt anything if the camper is in use, but you might not want to close everything up when storing it; I would recommend leaving the curtains open. 

It is going to be really nice outside today though, so I opened everything up.  

I also replaced the clock which I might have destroyed. 

Running the furnace, it appears that the two 15lb tanks last two weeks or so.  I will probably go get them refilled this afternoon.  Considering the BTU output of a furnace though vs the consumption of a fridge and stove, if you aren't running the heat it wouldn't be a problem.  If you are going way up north (like say an Alaska trip) I would want to upgrade to dual 20lb tanks at a minimum and keep a couple of spares with me.  I have been running it at 52-55 at night and 60 during the day while I am at work, though with no fridge or stove usage.

UPDATE - I learned something at Tractor Supply getting the tanks filled.  They aren't actually 15lb tanks, they are actually 20 lb tanks, but the label says 15lbs so they don't have to fill them as full when you are exchanging them.  It is now running with dual 20lb, which barring any major cold spells, should last until I leave.  

One nice thing about the camper is that I get to watch the sun rise as long as I roll over early enough.

My temporary office and room.

I got a nice surprise when I came down, my dad bought a camper, so I have my own bedroom and a place to set up the laptop to work while I am down here.  Originally I was planning on sleeping in a tent while I was down here and set up my work laptop on their porch, since their house is small.  The weather outside today makes it clear why this is nicer.  

The camper itself is a Cruiser RV X189FBR.  It is a dual axle, 19 (ish) foot.  

The camper is not an all-season, so me using it in the winter will be interesting.  It is already winterized, so I don't need to worry about the plumbing or anything.  Their isn't any insulation (the walls are only an inch thick) and the windows are all single pane, which is typical in a non-all-season camper.

The bench feels nice when you first sit in it, but after a few hours it gets old.  The bench seat is foam, and after a couple of hours working my butt has crushed all the foam.  As is typical, there is storage under the bench.

The table is large enough for a laptop and second monitor.  This is not an issue for traveling, but I would need to work while on the road.  There is a little bit of space behind the laptop and monitor so I can push them back to eat and whatnot. 

If this were my camper, I think I would mount a monitor/TV on an arm under the cabinets.  The cabinets already have the TV wiring for the cable and stuff in them.  There used to be a clock there that I removed from the wall improperly (oops) to replace its battery.  I have been using the hanging lamp (from my camping gear) as a night light.  The windows all open, but are very stiff and need greasing.

It has a queen bed in it, which isn't terribly common in campers this size and is nice.  The bed is sidewise, which is fine.   The cabinets above the bed can fold down and you have a bunk.  I would never use that feature though, I would use them as cabinets. 

There is an emergency exit by the bed.  A nice feature that not all campers have (scary as that sounds), but I am curious why they chose this window for it.  Some of the other campers I have seen use the window on the very front for it.

The aforementioned front window doesn't open either.  The cover opens up from the outside. That means there is only one window by the bed that opens.  Not a big deal, but not the norm.  

The kitchenette.  Two burners, no oven.  It does have a microwave that operates on shore power.  That is the same as the all-in-one that I designed, though the spacing on the burners is a bit more wasteful, they are side by side instead of front/back.  There is a set of 110 GFCI outlets on the front in between the cabinet doors.  They would be more useful in the kitchen wall, but with only 1" walls, I understand why they are there.  

It has a pretty nice fridge in it.  It is relatively large, I would estimate around 6 cubic feet.  That is pretty standard in larger campers, but it is nice to see it in a smaller one.  That would be very useful if travelling in it; you won't have to stop for groceries a couple times a week.  

The front door is pretty typical double door.  It leaks a fair bit of air (normal for 3 season camper).  All the usual features.  It latches very tight, which is very good.  The door latch is one of the first parts to fail on a lot of campers because it vibrates when you drive down the road wearing out the striker plate.

The storage area.  The big cabinet is a closet with a bar for hanging clothes.  The others are just shelving.  The stereo system works, but doesn't get great reception.  As mentioned above, I would move the entertainment over by the dinette so you can watch it from the bed or the bench, instead of trying to watch a 17" (ish) TV from 15 feet away.  

The bathroom.  It is a small bath, but surprisingly is a dry bath, most baths this small are wet baths.  

The shower is interesting in that it runs off the faucet plumbing.  I am guessing they did this to avoid running plumbing in the walls because of how thin they are.   Perfectly usable I would think (and is similar to some of the concepts I had, though I had the sink as part of the shower plumbing instead).

The bathroom even has a skylight.  It is a nice touch.  

This unit comes equipped with the optional furnace.  Since I am using the camper in December I am quite thankful for it, but it isn't something I would consider essential.  It operates independent of the A/C unit.  It doesn't take long to warm the place up, and uses a large hysteresis band so it doesn't come on a lot.  It is kind of loud, and it is definitely noticeable when I am on a call, but as I mentioned, it doesn't come on often.  We will see how quickly it drains the propane supply (more on that below).

The control panel.  While I think the positioning is a little curious being in the kitchen instead of over by the door, it is all there.  It appears to have a battery monitor and tank level sensors, which is nicer than most smaller ones have.

Getting more to the exterior, the unit comes with the typical metal fold down steps.  They are kind of steep and got kind of slick in the snow, but are perfectly usable.  Despite me being a larger guy, they are reasonably stable.  There is a handle to grab when they are icy.

The unit also comes with a back rack.  This is very very nice and is something after market that the previous owner added.  It gives you a place to store something like a kayak or bicycle, and other things that can be stored outside.  Or alternatively, you can sit on it and use it like a porch.  

The unit comes with an awning.  I haven't figured out how to roll it down, but it looks like a pretty typical camper awning.  

Exterior outlets are always nice.

The through camper storage compartment.  These are common.  This one is pretty big for the camper's size though.  The controls for the front electric jacks are in here.  The unit came with the anti-sway bar, though it wasn't bad towing it home without it (I don't have the proper hitch to use it).  

The front utilities.  No surprises here; a deep cycle battery and propane tanks.  There is only a single battery box on it.  It might fit a dual battery box, though it would be kind of tight trying to fit dual batteries in there.  Smaller ones would probably fit.  The propane is dual 15lb tanks.  When I was designing my camper, I never really did a study on propane.  It will be good to see how long these last considering they are running a heater and the unit is not well insulated.

It has diamond plate aluminum on the front to protect it against road debris which is a nice feature.  

All the usual accoutrements on the other side, the water inputs and so on.  

The trailer has electric jacks but most of them didn't work.  They are nice and make it quicker and easier to set up in the rain.  

The only evidence I found of any damage was the window by the dinette.  There is a small water stain and you can see from the side that the window doesn't sit flush.  I am pretty sure it has been fixed; I have been in the camper during a couple of storms now and didn't see any water inside.

So, after this long post (thankfully I had a lot of meetings today to write this), I have reached a conclusion on the feasibility of traveling and working in it.  I think it is a very workable idea.  I haven't had any real issues working in it remotely the past few days other than the bench not being comfortable after a few hours.  If I were to buy a camper, I would definitely want to make a handful of customizations before I tried to take a cross country tour in it, but even as is I could make the trip and be happy.  

As far as this specific camper is concerned, while there are some design quirks that I would have done differently, the camper itself is pretty well designed.  It checks all the boxes that I wanted and is under 3k lbs empty.  It is in immaculate shape for its age.  It has clearly been well taken care of.  The unit has several of the luxury features found on larger campers: the dry bath, the rack on the back, electric jacks, and so on.  I am not familiar with Cruiser RV, but this unit represents the brand well.