RT31 Roadtreking Podcast: What RVers Need to Know About Solar Power

More and more RVers are seeking ways to get away from everything, off the grid, boondocking far away from crowds and commercial campgrounds. That's why solar power is such a hot item these days for RVers. In this episode of the Roadtreking RV Podcast, we talk to Campskunk, our resident fulltimer, who shares his extensive experience with solar power, helping us understand the many benefits of solar and just what it can do for you. [spp-player] Here are the full shownotes for this week's episode: This is the king size RV Superbag we use First, we handled a series of calls from our podcast audience: Alexis has a small leak in her two year old RV that has tiny pinhole in steel part of the sink. We urge her to take to a service center. May be a leak from the drain that beads up on the sink. At any rate, it should be repairable and under warranty. Dave asks how much water can we take with us boondocking and how much grey and black water storage we have. We share the answers with our Roadtrek CS Adventurous XL: Fresh water capacity – 33 gallons; Black holding tank 10 gallons and Gray holding tank 21 galllons Peter, who is about to be a fulltime RVer. He wanted an RV with a standalone shower. He asks how do you make people work in a Class B with a wet bath. We share our experience. Debbie wants to retire early and be a fulltimer. She shares her love of the mountains and the west. She leaves a very encouraging message as she shares her love of the RV lifestyle Julie asks how we set up and store our bedding at night, whether we leave it up all day or whether we take it up and down each time. We shared what we use, the RV SuperBag. We like them so much we have a king sized one and two singles. Here's a video Jennifer did a while back about the RV Superbag. If you want more info, contact Maureen Prentiss in the Parts and Service Department at at Leisure Time RV in Winter Garden, FL. We noticed that they sell them when we visited there a few weeks ago. RV News of the Week Two stories this week about stolen RVs: A Canadian couple has received outstanding support from other RVeres after taking out an advertisement addressed to the thieves who tookl their RV - http://www.highrivertimes.com/2015/04/14/stolen-camper-rv-leads-to-overwhelming-support A woman reported her RV with her cat inside was stolen in Kentucky- http://www.wkyt.com/wymt/home/headlines/Camper-stolen-in-Leslie-Co-with-cat-inside-299611031.html Traveling Tech: Apps that let you text and make voice calls free I share three apps that let you text and make calls with no carrier charges - http://pcmike.com/free-texting-and-voice-calling-apps/ Interview: What you need to know about solar power for your RV Campskunk's New Mexico campsite Jennifer and I have been using solar since 2012. But to really dig into the topic, I connected with Roadtreking Reporter and fulltime RVer Campskunk, who has been extensively using solar power in his Class B RV for the past six years. Campskunk was up in the mountains somewhere in the Cibola National Forest near Manzano, New Mexico (the picture to the left of his campsite). We covered just about every question you could ask about solar, including: How solar panels work How you can be energy independent with solar? What to look for in selecting solar panels? How many solar panels you need? How solar works even on cloudy days How solar panels should be installed Why flexible, plastic panels that glue to the roof man not be such a good idea Can solar panels withstand hail? How much does solar cost? Is it best to install yourself or have someone else put it in? How do you clean and maintain solar panels? How Roadtrek is offering a special deal for April 2015 to customers who buy a new unit and want solar. Here's a letter from Roadtrek President Jim Hammill describing it - http://www.roadtrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Spring-2015-Message-from-Jim-Hammill-Completed-Version-4.pdf A good place to get solar installed on older RVs is amsolar.com [spp-player] Get a Free Audiobook from Audible.com We also have news on how you can get a FREE audiobook download and 30-day free trial at www.audibletrial.com/roadtreking. Audible offers over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player. For listeners of the Roadtreking podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service. To download your free audiobook today, go to audibletrial.com/roadtreking. Please Subscribe and Give Us a Rating and Review! Many listeners are asking how they can subscribe, review and rate the Roadtreking Podcast on iTunes. With a new podcast like this, those reviews and ratings are really important to be able to show well in the iTunes listings. So if you can, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe and leave me your review. Here’s how: First, open up the iTunes app on your computer or mobile device. Click on Podcasts up on the top > From the iTunes Podcasts page, use the “Search Store” field up at the top right corner of the page. Type in Mike Wendland or Roadtreking RV Podcast. > Click on the logo image of the Roadtreking RV Podcast on the search return page > From there (see photo above), you can… 1) Subscribe 2) Choose and Click on a star (1-5) that reflects your rating. Five stars means you really like it, one star not so much. 3) Leave a written review. Thanks to all for the kind reviews we’ve received so far. That got us noticed by Apple/iTunes as “New and Noteworthy.” I appreciate every review! And remember, you can appear in future episodes. 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