Still needs Photos and Videos – Dynamic Vinny – Enhancement Guide
The Vinny of today, January 2023 has evolved to a “Does it Make the Cut?” living space question. Anything that is added must pass the added benefit to space ratio. As music festing and camping was undertaken in his formative years, the “Vinny Enhancement Program” has been a dynamic process that will most likely continue until he retires, or is forced from the VanGo experience, whichever comes first. Whoa, Where to Begin?
First of all, know that in the VanGo lifestyle, stuff will be everywhere since we will have most all of it with us. Our kids are taking a few crates and boxes, and we have no furniture, cars, or other household items, including no house. We have decided we want to be minimalists, but we do like comfort and have hobbies, so some stuff has to come. Like for example the guitars and an inflatable Stand Up Paddle Board and its pump, all big items. Think cockpit of a jet, only pilots just need to deal with gauges, switches, dials, displays – we will have things, bags and clothes hanging on hooks, a lot of our wall and ceiling as well as under-over-in cabinet space allocated for some particular item or function. I’m calling it organized stuff. It will be on the walls and in baskets, hooked up to the cabinets and shelves, under and on the bed, in the bathroom, and on the dashboard. We most definitely will have to put everything in its place to maintain the sanity in such a small space. Both of us are not that great at this, but I think it will be a necessity, and we will learn.
The Stuff and How we Deal with it..
Hook it Up in Collapsible Baskets
Compared to the 23 ft JayFeather Trailer, life in Vinny would be oh, so different. Yes, we could get there quickly, but packing stuff was another issue all in itself. After many lazy sleeps on the buttery soft leather in the van, as I looked upward, I noticed all the wasted space under the cabinets. Although I once slept in a bunk on an aircraft carrier and didn’t ever want to be that enclosed, it occurred to me that there was a good foot or two of unused space..Hmm Bought my first collapsible baskets and added a few screws hooks under the cabinets at the perfect separation distance to hold the handles. Twenty-five hooks later, they haven’t poked out our eyes or inflicted head wounds yet. Hanging a single basket utilizes four of them, but other hooks hang camelbacks, or hot pads, or a dirty laundry bag, or whatever else that has a hanging loop that’s not more than 2 feet long. Baskets provided a perfect source of adaptable storage space. Convenient for when the food must be placed in bear containers outside, and we envision much of the non-perishable food stuffs to be stored in two or three hanging baskets. I envision multi purposing them as shopping and laundry baskets when on the road. Unfortunately this will mean throwing the contents on the bed and this disarray, although temporary, will be somewhat par for the course in the VanGo lifestyle. If we ever need to turn the space into a meeting room with the sofa up, they can easily be smashed and stored..in this case it is with a Grub Hub App only as we will hardly be able to move to even think about cooking. The reality of VanGo lifestyle is that we will always have the bed down configuration since most meetings and social situations will be accomplished outside under the awning or in the CLAM (more info will follow about our big brown shell) as needed, And there’s so much storage space under the bed.
More on Hooks. Heavy duty hooks have been installed on the wood molding around the mirror to the right of the bathroom door. This is where if we would have gotten the one-up Plateau Pleasureway, we would have a clothes closet. But we will have some very sturdy hooks from which to hang clothes that are in-the-still-kind-of clean, state and they will cover the mirror. Mirror viewing of the face and its issues can be accomplished in the bathroom. With so few clothes with us, no need to have a “hmm does that look good?” because it won’t make the cut in the first place if it doesn’t. As you will discover, I have a tendency to load up things and these hooks and the cabinetry that holds them is so sturdy. Although cabinet hardware has much to be desired in the Pleasureway, the sturdiness of the actual cabinets get an A++ in my book. There are several more of these heavy hooks installed on both sides of the bathroom door. Inside to hang towels wet or dry, and outside for kitchen/hand towels and also to pile on a few lighter weight clothes when we are not driving. Unlike the sturdy mirror molding, the door is held on by hinges which are generally not designed for a lot of weight, but the hardware seems to be doing fine for now. Generally, we take all the stuff off the top hooks when we drive because I like to look in the rear-view mirror and we need to keep that path clear for safety. This results in more disarray as hanging things on the bed are scattered on the bed when driving.
Even More on Hooks – Let.s Talk Magnetic. These are great for hooking to the outside when want to string up solar lights from the van to a tree. You should use some type of paper/cloth protection between the magnet and van because one time Vinny’s attraction was so strong when I tried to remove it, I did a bit of paint scratching. I store these stuck to the passenger side seat frame.
Protection from the Elements (Rain and FlyingBugs)
Enter the CLAM, it has proven its worth in 2021 as the rain came down on Lake George, Mammoth Lakes, and John and I were able to install the flaps making it our music studio from the lake. We were totally protected and added the tie downs in a big way, even one to the fire-pit grate as the wind howled and the rain beat down on us. Bees and flying bugs are another one of its protective wonders. As residents of California for the past 35 years, mosquito patrol has been almost forgotten, but as natives to the east coast, John, in particular, remembers the New Jersey State bird, the mosquito and the biting, huge, green headed horse flies. The CLAM pops up in about 45 seconds when you have practiced the technique, and although the biggest heaviest item on the bring List, it has made the cut. When packed up it will slide on the floor of the galley side allowing bathroom entry on the go. It can fit crosswise, on the floor of the driver and passenger seats freeing up the floor living space in the case we arrive in rain and not getting it all wet for transport the next day is desirable.
We are thankful for the spin-around passenger seat that is perfect for John’s “time-out” space when I just need to have him out of the way so I can cook, organize or change my clothes. It also has a flip up placemat size table perfect for a small laptop or from which to eat your meal. I will undoubtedly use the “time out” space in the early morning with my first cup of coffee as John snores away in the bed. This is one of the Pleasureway features that we could not do without in the VanGo lifestyle.
Magnetic Attraction – Vinny’s comes in handy
Screen Netting for his Doors – More bug protection
As I mentioned, we remember the mosquitos, but also the hot humidity. As yet we have used the AC very seldom in the last 7 years. The majority of its use has been as an extra bedroom for visitors in the desert summer. We have found that Vinny’s ceiling fan and open flip windows combined with windshield sunshades propel cool enough air through the rig efficiently, reducing the internal temperature to a non-melting stage, even in the desert afternoons. In the past, where we camp usually cools off at night, but we remember those motionless, humid nights from our living back east. Although we are not planning on hanging in the South for the hot season, I felt it necessary to be prepared to sleep with at least one door open yet protected from the flying things.
Have sewing machine, can create..We evaluated some commercially available screens for a sprinter van..and they are bulky and heavy and require two hands to zip up and down upon entry/exit. Vinny has this extreme attachment to magnets. All experiences are valuable, and a magnetic beaded bracelet given to me by a student many years ago, made me come across it in the great house purge of 2021. Should it stay or should it go? Making a casing which would hold the string of magnetic beads on the edges, gave me the idea for this screen that would be held into place on all three sides. We are counting on the fact that snakes won’t slither up on the step and make their way under the overhanging netting at the bottom. Again during the purge, I discovered some worthy fabric binding materials, from which I developed this colorful prototype for the back french door. Our camping in California almost always meant cooling off at night, and we have never slept with the back door open, except of course for the mood sound of the crashing waves=no bugs. We have experienced flying things especially when cooking, so I fashioned another screen-net to protect Vinny’s main sliding door. My nets are all magnetic making putting up and tearing down a breeze and they fit into a showbox size duffle bag when folded up. The duffle bag, you guessed it, can hang from the hooks. Furthermore, when it is installed, the side is simply lifted up to sneak in. After you are through by guiding the edge to the door frame, Vinny’s attraction takes care of the rest. My nets will get more of a workout in the east, although initial testing has proven them to be a hit, and hopefully will not get worn out too quickly.
Sun Protection –
The CLAM will provide sun protection as well, but the electric awning that comes installed on the Pleasureway is another one we could just not live without. We have been very protective of it and bring it in when the wind starts. Also, we never leave the campsite for an long adventure or go to sleep with it extended. So we are pressing that button several times each day. Awning Review – I probably need to have a product review section to my website. We don’t alway extend the awning all the way, and put the poles down if we know that we don’t need the large area for protection, we just push that button and it has been in and out as we fancy. If on the other hand we want to have a music playing session, we get it all set up and sometimes even clip a tapestry to a side or two to make the experience comfortable and sun free. So this moves us to clipping devices.
Clipping, tieing, and twisting – all important in the VanGo life-style because you just never know what you will will need to make your existence a bit more comfortable in the campsite.
Tapestry Clamps – they can screw down to hold a thin piece of fabric or our flexible solar panels to name two major uses. The clamp has a hole where a bungie chord or rope can tie them to whatever is stable. The twist screw tightening mechanism ensures tightness.
Plastic Coated Twist Ties – to do a plurality of things when you need to tie down or keep organized. For example, one large one can prevent the trash can from falling from its location, spilling coffee grounds and scraps when driving around a corner..this is very handy. They can tie lights to the picnic table umbrella stand or branch to have the ability to play cards or eat outside at night. Their function is endless.
Ball-style ponytail holders for a Paul Bunyan size pony tail are other items that make the cut. They are perfect for tying together hoses or electric chords to keep the rear access space semi organized. Recently I have discovered heavy duty similar velcro straps with sturdy grommet holes, for tying hanging up whatever. This is how the SUP pump is attached and makes use of the 6 inch wide space that is between the back cabinet and the rounding of the back french door. The driver side of this wasted space, has a yoga mat and a collapsible (Baggini) bag suitable for airline travels that is held up with a bracket. We don’t usually open the left back door since the spare tire needs to be taken down and we are able to scout things back there through the right door. But in theory. we open the driver’s side back door, the yoga mat and bag come tumbling out onto our heads, unlike the right-side where the grommeted velcro straps have the bulky pump and tube secured with hooks.
S-Hooks
These allow for things like lights and all kinds of things to be held in place by the weight of the item that is hooked. When not driving, we have a lot of stuff dangling in the windshield area as the S hooks are hooked onto the above windshield shelf. We use them especially when arriving at the campsite after the guitars become the Vinny drivers, and the rest of the stuff must be removed from the bed so we can stretch out. This includes, but not limited to depending on weather, Canvas Cooler bags, bike helmets, Ukuele, things that are not too heavy and won’t pull down the shelf even if multiple items are hooked.
Clips – we run with a selection of different styles based on the need. There are tiny ones for hanging cloth, or hanging an important piece of paper temporarily in front of our faces, perfect for forgetful seniors. They dual-use by preventing the dumping of the contents of our hanging collapsible baskets onto the bed during a particularly wild ride when severe basket swinging would commence. Larger ones that have a loop for hooking, flimsy and easy to grab ones for music sheet holders. I am into clips and their variety.
Now for the storing of all these little important and well-used devices. About two years ago, I discovered that the above dashboard ceiling material can stick to velcro. And OMG, that made our living space, oh so much more busy, but organized. I finally found nice velcro pouches to hold clips, S hooks, medications, band-aid first aid kits, pain medications, paper pads, pens, chapstick and tissues – all the things that you need to grab quickly and are accessible by the passenger even when driving.
The campsite arrival scenario. I am usually the driver and John navigator and leveler. He jumps out and surveys the land with the level that is stored in the back of his seat. He pulls out the red build up cubes that are stored behind the driver seat and builds an appropriate ramp so that we don’t roll out of bed. Once we are “buttoned up” as he calls it, a flurry of considerations occur. Weather forecast and length of stay in the campsite will dictate what is done with the CLAM that is taking up space on one edge of the floor. It can be set up outside, moved to the front crosswise along the floor, or very precariously stood up leaning against the small wall section in front of the mirror, for example if it is pouring rain and the encroachment of our living space will be less of a bother than having to pack up a wet CLAM. I just thought of buying a plastic shower curtain to be able to drape and cover the CLAM in case it is supposed to rain and we want it outside but not necessarily set up. This would prevent the dampness to the canvas bag making it more suitable to bring in if we are traveling the next morning. The thin wet shower curtain could be stuffed into a disposable shopping bag until we can dry it out. While we are on the subject of rain…another genius idea that we don’t need to deal with because of lack of rain in the west..is bath matts..I have at least ½ dozen folded in half and placed on the floor in the bathroom. They may be pulled out easily, for example if it would snow in the Grand Canyon in April and your three girlfriends were huddled in your van to eat and keep warm, and all their wet boots too. Having a stack of thick bath mats available easily that really don’t take up space since they fit perfectly and don’t slide around since the floor is a shower pan is a really good thing. Good for cleaning dusty dogs that want to jump in the bed too, we love our grand dogs but they are not planned as part of the VanGo Lifestyle, but we hope to have four-legged visitors. Also, a pile of these matts is very convenient for cleaning. I just fold up all the shoe debris and shake them out, usually only needing to do the top two.
Back to the campsite arrival scenario…One thing that is certain, someone must jump out in the near future and switch on the propane no matter of rain, sleet, wind…. I like to cook and we don’t do well without morning coffee. John’s typical arrival duties include setting out the front mats, taking off the bikes and rack, getting out the chairs, plugging in if we have electricity – all the outdoor things because the “time out” chair is not available yet. My job – prepare the time-out chair, and get all the stuff off the bed so we can sleep – guitars, a uke, John’s bass amp, bike helmets etc, will be S hooked up front when possible.
So we have made it to the bed, let’s talk sleep. This is for family audiences so don’t be concerned with what follows – it’s all practical and the indicated items have evolved over time and would be available in the Sears Catalog if it still existed. (I really can’t say on Amazon because I want to keep the family rating for this blog). I have tried many different sleeping blanks, covers, and pads over the years. As I am a female that can have a personal summer at any moment, I need to be able to throw off covers immediately. Sleeping bags do not suit me for this reason, and John is fanatical about not having his feet locked up in a bag. We use a system of three varying thicknesses of blankets for this purpose, each of which regulates temperature as needed. They are single and small enough making for easier laundering and packing. I, on the other hand, like my feet free from draft when it is cold and have sewn the edge for a small foot pocket in my blanket. We each have a third layer consisting of a down alternative stuffable blanket for the really cold spells or when I have gotten too cold by the campfire and this poorly circulating 60+ body just can’t get warm. (hot water bottle or microwavable warming pads also make the cut because I also have arctic deep freezes in addition to personal summers). These stuffables compact down like those jackets of a kid-size shoe box and will be stowed way away far under the bed in the summer months when places are exchanged with swimming and snorkel equipment. Enter the QuickZip Sheet which is an untested phenomenon for us and has replaced the quilted comforter that I had sewn with hold down elastic straps. My hold-downs did not cut it, and it needed readjustment daily as it scouted and even blocked the opening of the kitchen drawer to sound out a few of its short-comings. Stressless Camping Podcast – lots of my learning takes place here- informed me of these QuickZip sheets perfect for hard to reach bed spaces. The base around the mattress remains fixed and the top sheet just zips around the top edge of the entire mattress making for easy for wash and removal and also hopefully less bunching. The size is not perfect crosswise because our bed is smaller than king size and larger that queen size. I opted for the queen size for that snug fit I want, but the zipper seam cover comes out about three inches on each side of the top. The pressure points when sleeping are not usually 3 inches from the end of the bed, so I think it should be fine and we will not wake with zipper indentations on our backsides. The zipper is totally covered by the seam. Vinny came equipped with nice memory foam type cushions and a thin mattress pad with our QuickZip sheet is the next bedding experiment. Sleeping is important because all the gunk in the brain gets removed during this process – that’s what my Health podcasts say, so the $100 of QuikZip bottom sheet will hopefully pay off. We also have battery power personal fans and headband bluetooth headphones for meditation music if needed or if someone is snoring.
Blankets and storage. In the past I have just rolled them up and have recently discovered 1.5 inch velcro tape that I have cut to the size that conveniently rolls around the blanket if disarray is making me crazy. But I have just started scouting them nice and neatly to the side of the bed, and getting them out of the way. In traveling mode anyway, there is disarray because guitars and all the stuff that I talked about with S-hook section is now on the bed. Most days we won’t even use the bed until it is time to sleep so why bother stowing them in cabinets? One good reason is that we need to fit all our clothes, and the left and right cabinets are really not enough space for the five T-shirts, two pair of pants, 2 pair yoga/sweatpants, 3 three pairs of shorts, two sweatshirts, socks, swimsuits, sun shirts, and unmentionables that we will require. I have been couched by another podcast that if you buy a T-shirt, then one must be used as a cleaning rag and tossed. So the space above the back which is the deepest and largest cabinet has been relegated to more clothing and the stuffable blankets. Remember the only way to get there is kneeling on the bed which is not the most steady way of pulling out heavy items. I have tried a series of pullout bins to use above and found that a style that is fairly big(sweatshirts and sweatpants are bulky) and fabric works the best. These have sturdy rope handles for pulling and if they crash into you when kneeling on the bed and pulling them out, it doesn’t hurt as much as the hard see-through pull-outs that I also tried. These cloth pull-outs, better yet, have a drawstring enclosure on the top so you can stuff them and not worry about stuff squishing out and impeding the closure of the cabinet around the outside edge or for that matter, with the internal hinge. The hinges, when tight will hold up the weight of the cabinet door, but after several closings and openings they don’t, becoming loose and you have to wedge your shoulder to hold open the door before you can pull one of these baskets out. This is why the hard plastic ones were not so optimal. But recently I have been using the S clip and elastic band from the AC vent to prop open the door while I get things in and out. The elastic rubber band stays permanently looped to the vent, and I S-hook it to the rear door door handle. The weight of the door seems to be too heavy for the plastic AC vent, but I need to make sure I don’t grab as a stability grasp for myself, and break the AC vent. Yikes, let’s not go there.
Let’s talk cabinet doors, more specifically closure hardware… Which is one of the biggest disappointments of our Pleasureway. They were a cheap plastic latch which snap after use, could be several months or some have lasted a few years. (Wewer Pleasureway models don’t use these) Anyway, they will continue to break periodically, even after replacement. I’m sure it doesn’t help when you load a cabinet and have to push extra hard to get the latch to engage, so I am not guiltless in this respect. We have found that strong round magnetic clasps work the best. So far nothing has come flying out of the top cabinets. The magnets are attached to both sides of the door and the bottom of the cabinet edge. This presents a 2 millimeter gap upon closing the door, but nothing is so small that it can fall through and this allows for the perfect force to keep the door closed but able to pull it open under reasonable force. Our inside cabinet edges are a bit scarred from trying various magnetic closures, but these have worked best.
As I mentioned, smashing the door closed is not optimal for the clasps and hinges. The YouTube Channel “From She to Me” has provided info about installing new hinges that stay open, so maybe they will be considered later. But my initial look, seems like they are very thin and I will break them by smashing too much stuff into their needed space. I have purchased a series of internal pull-out storage containers sized for these side cabinets. My favorite is on top handled canvas products from Thirty-One Tote Bags. (attending all those evening sales parties came in handy after all because I have not seen a look-alike on Amazon.) The Marie Kondo rolling method of clothes storage is easily utilized as each handled tote has two expandable sections where rolled clothing can be stood upright for complete contents viewing. They are easily pulled out and the weight of a full tote can be handled with one hand, allowing for the other hand to hold open the door. Two of them plus another more narrow container (depending on how much expanding was done of the former) can fit in each above left and right cabinets and they may be stuffed with socks or underwear to the overflowing status, and still are contained in the cabinets. The above galley cabinet also utilizes one of these expandable tote for my collapsable large bowls and colander and paper plates/bowls. The galley cabinet also uses two different size clear hard plastic easy to clean pull-outs for dishes, spices, oils, coffee, sugar etc.. That would be bad if this door flew open. It never has, but the under the stove cabinet has experienced the door opening unexpectedly and two ceramic pots went cracking on the floor after only falling about 8 inches. This happened after a particularly fast turn and bump.
Heavy Ceramic – pots why them in Vinny?
The main reason is diversification. They can be used as a pot on the burner, in the oven(we don’t have one), in the microwave and in the frig. Better yet they have an easily attachable/detachable large, not heat conductible bright blue handle, and they are sturdy and comfortable to pick up. The handle is stored in the drawer, and I store three different sizes that nest in each other inside the top shelf of my bottom galley cabinet (nice sturdy cabinet/shelves in the Pleasureway), each of which can also double as bowls, and they have storage lids. Unfortunately, I purchased them over twenty-years ago from Princess House (yet another home party marketing company that is no longer in business; they were touted as the same ceramic material that was on the Space Shuttle.) In the twenty plus years one has never broken on the burner and I have gotten used to NOT treating them gingerly like I would my Pampered Chef stoneware. They are relatively thicker than similar ceramic casserole dishes and this offers the benefit of keeping the food warmer if used to serve. Two size frying pans fit loosely on top of the stack. After the “two of them falling to their death incident”, I fashioned a small cargo net attached with screws across the self area to hold them in case of another drastic turn. The stack is pretty heavy, and I don’t know if Vinny’s magnetic door clasps would hold – not taking that chance because those ceramic pots would be hard to find.
Continuing to the bottom of this cabinet that has plumbing and pump fixtures contained in it, this is where the small size tea kettle gets stored left of the drain and plastic coffee filter pour over device. Both of which allow the door to close easily – need to make sure the kettle is a small diameter. To the front right corner is a stack of Tupperware plastic soup bowls that are designed to take the heat without melting the plastic when too much power is applied. I had one that I bought at a party circa 2010 and it lasted for so many hot bowls of soup later, that I ended up paying $23 a pop for additional ones since they now need to be purchased on Ebay. I have $100 of soup or whatever bowls with handles and they stack conveniently inside each other with their pop-up vent microwave lids wedged behind the bowls in the plumbing. There is room for several other plastic disposable(yogurt cheese etc) behind the tea kettle as well for leftovers.
There is some room to the left of the ceramic pot stack on the top shelf and recently I purchased two metal 8 in square containers that I thought would be efficient for refrigerator storage since they are unbreakable. Hopefully I will remember to use them because they seem like a good idea, unless you put hot food in and burn yourself, but we won’t do that.
The cabinet just below the sink takes the to-go-coffee mugs, more personal water containers, and some fine German engineered, very thin stainless steel cups that stack together beautifully, so if we must have a party we have over a dozen drink cups. As luck would have it, I discovered that my insulated wine tumblers fit perfectly on the molding between the microwave and ceiling. They are held in place by elastic bands fastened onto hardware hooks. That is four mugs out of the way, easily accessible and can dry out upside down after a washing. There are four colors for my four Radler girlfriends and they are used often.
The tallest cabinet under the sink, is where I have a roll of foil that fits diagonally on top of a pipe that runs the side of the van way in back. A supply or various size plastic bags that are wrapped around each other forming a cylinder of plastic bags, fit perfectly in a tall 3 inch diameter by 10in high piece of Tupperwere (spaghetti keeper size if you know your Tupperware) This piece of Tupperware is placed in a plastic magazine portfolio and the disposable shopping bags smushed into the rest of the space in the magazine portfolio. The portfolio fits perfectly on the left side in front of another pipe. The rest of the room in that cabinet fits personal water bottles, two wine or other tall bottled beverages and two water pitchers, one that has a Nakki filter built in. Both pitchers are rectangular and fit on the door of the refrigerator as well.
Drinking Water
We do not plan to boondock for more than 2-3 days and if extra drinking water must be taken, I have several collapsible water jugs behind the driver’s seat for that purpose. In the past we have not used drinking water from our own tanks, worrying that it sits too long, but honestly it looks and smells fine. We brush our teeth with it, spitting it out, and it does not taste bad in your mouth. We have never gotten sick and neither have the dogs because that’s what they get when they come with us. Campgrounds usually have water that we drink directly or will filter with our pitcher if it is bad tasting. The most terrible taste is water left overnight in a camelback and it far out-yucks any water that we have had from campgrounds so far. I thought I would be really cool and fill up my camelback at home and put it in the refrigerator for a hike two days later. Although I have used tablets to clean, the length of time in the camelback seems to be the factor of bad taste. Best to put the water in just before the hike in my mind, but I am no expert. I saw a video clip of brown water coming out of a spigot of a campground providing very effective advertising for water filter suppliers. I think we will do best practice by turning the spigot on before attaching to see and smell what’s going into our plumbing. Perhaps getting in the habit of filling up the collapsable bug scrubbing bucket to assess the untreated water is a good idea. We are considering getting a larger mesh filter, but haven’t quite decided. That’s enough on water except we usually toss a few personal water bottles in his cabinet as well as my straw/insulated cup if I need to keep cool with plenty of ice in my beverage.
Ice and Refrigeration
From my past experience we may need to defrost the freezer every 2 or 3 weeks because snow builds up and food starts to be a bit warm. We always use electricity if plugged in, and propane when not. The frig even freezes sometimes- not so optimal for leafy greens. We put on the battery trickle when driving because we shut off all propane. As you have read, I have a bad habit of smashing too many things into a space, and the freezer compartment is no different. We replaced a $45 hinge to the freezer door for just this reason. The plastic facade of the freezer flap door is slightly cracked as well, but the seal is still good as far as I can see. An entire fridge door assembly is $100s. If there is one most common complaint in the class B world, it is about the Dometic Refrigerator not working. Generally ours does well enough, but I have learned to treat it gently when opening, loading and closing. I have learned that keeping the ventilation space in the fridge and freezer is important. Although only on one occasion it had some lighting issues with propane, it has always started and in recent years it has been instantly. I have had very good luck with it keeping ice frozen and we use two small silicone ice trays that leave a little bit of room for something else. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it is how we are carrying on. We have replaced the little gray piece of plastic in the lock assembly because it got cracked when I undoubtedly did overloading. Luckily this was very cheap and now the frig door closes with a snap. We have also disconnected the door alarm plug because it would go off every once in a while for no reason. I promise to be more gentle with your frig, Vinny. Hopefully we won’t need to get an ice chest (Youtube and Podcasts are filled with the extra space of a cooling chest of some type because the Dometic Frig has been turned into a storage cabinet. Hope that doesn’t happen to us, so far so good.
It’s Potty time (Toilet and tiny sink room)
This room can certainly not be called a bathroom, although technically it has a shower where lots of bath mats fit perfectly ready for the weather without taking up space. We never plan on using the shower and will resort to campground showers, our outside shower which has hot water, or a dip in the lake. This room contains the obvious and the head has worked just fine, although I recently discovered on the YouTube channel “From She to Me” that one should add a Thetford toilet seal lubricant and conditioner annually at the beginning and end of season. We thought we would give it a try since our Pleasureway Rep on this channel recommended it, and we were only 7 years late all ready. I have noticed that the gray tank pull valve seems to stick recently. Hope that we don’t have to pull too hard and it snaps off, like the overflow PVC valve to the fresh tank did on cold winter morning. Not that this toilet seal lubricant is even getting into the gray tank..but oh well, more money for Thetford. Knock on wood, we have had no leaks in plumbing. Last year, The two little nubs on the outside black water exit tube broke off and the job is best accomplished with all four nubs holding the sewer line in place, so we got that replaced. Also based on this podcast, we got a surge protector with low voltage protection. Evidently AC units can overheat and get burnout because they don’t cool down when power is lower than in spec. Since thunderstorms can cause devastating electrical surges, we have added this large heavy gadget to the “makes the cut” list as we become full-timers and will travel in the lightning storm areas.
Okay back to the bathroom. When you think about taking all your potions, lotions, bandages, creams, toilet paper, and personal care items, the little installed 3 inch shelf along the wall is not much. I have put up a whole host of command strip hooks and shelves which have held up well so far although some of the hooks have come down occasionally. I have recently discovered a velcro that is supposed to hold up to 200 degrees F, which when all buttoned up sitting in the driveway in the desert surely goes up to 130 or 140 degrees. Usually then, I notice a hook has popped off, so this means I can add some more devices on the wall to hang things. The newest hanging items will be the outside cleaning pads that velcro to an extendable pole to keep Vinny’s exterior free from bug carcasses and super shiny. I decided to join the Family Motor Coach Association, FMCA, and the wander through the vendor area after a workshop, included more “make the cut” items as we engage in the VanGo lifestyle. These cleaning pads will stick to pieces of velcro that are mounted behind the toilet and lid in the bathroom. This will be convenient to dry and store. I need to make sure that they do not stick out causing the toilet seat to come down unexpectedly – that would not be good for the stand-up users of the head. I will also store the two cleaning/polymer coat spray bottles that I purchased in the back behind the toilet. These will be fastened down to the corner wall by another really cool product which is elastic that has holes every inch or so. More command strip hooks will be needed to cinch the elastic tight so these bottles stay upright. I also use this elastic with hooks to hold our container pod style of toilet chemical in place so that a quick stop does not send it forward, spilling the content on the bathroom floor. Picture this elastic like a bungee chord without hooks but has holes at every inch. It is hooked in these holes whut maybe cinched to the tightness needed by selecting the suitable hole.This is very light duty stuff and will probably stretch out with use, but so far it has done the trick with the toilet chemical container. I also use it to hold two small thin plastic containers that sit on a 3/4in ledge under the window in the bathroom. I think this light duty edge must be for shower runoff or something that we don’t use. But now I do use it because it holds up two see-through containers of personal care items. I did need to velcro these containers to the ledge when using the holey elastic because my wild driving caused them to pop off the ledge. Now this never happens. I also use this elastic to thread through 3 toilet paper rolls that are command hooked to the ceiling in the corner of the bathroom about 18 inches from the ceiling. Right below the bottom toilet paper hook, is a double sturdier hook that holds a mesh shower bag that can be loaded up with hair products, soap, quarters, deodorant etc for when the camp shower happens. I usually take out the heavy bottle of shampoo and store it on the factory installed 2 inch shelf, because the single hook failed in the heat. This shelf can store any heavy items and bottles. The command strip hairbrush and toothbrush holder above the sink also are handy as well as the upright hook style toilet paper holder under the sink. Okay enough potty talk.
Solar panels for No-electric camping. Vinny came with one installed on his roof, but when we are under trees or for more than two nights, the battery depletes to a level that is not within our marital agreement level. We have replaced the battery twice already and have taken steps to not have to do this annually without jumping on the expensive Lithium route, at least until we wear the current one to
down to not functional. I don’t like the noise of the generator, so I tend to avoid turning it on when possible. We also almost never turn it on once a month like you are supposed to and have not had any problems with it starting when there is propane in the tank. We bought a flexible four Dokio Solar panels that fold up and fit perfectly between the bed and the wall. They fold to about 1 inch thick and run the length of the bed up sticking up about only about 2 inches into the window. We have gone a full week while in full sun without violating our marital voltage agreement. They provide 300 watts as long as the sun shines. The marital agreement is that if the battery is below 12.4 volts with no sun, then we run the generator for at least for 20 minutes before the end of the day. Of course when the sun comes out, the battery voltage pops up and usually is over 13 volts in most sunny places where we usually camp, this is the time to charge our devices. Camping on the east coast will be a new learning curve, although, most likely we will drive to hikes and places of interest that will charge Vinny up on a daily basis with the alternator. The solar panels are fastened to Vinny or a picnic table, for example, with the special tapestry clamps(already explained previously) and bungy chord along Vinny’s door handles or windshield wiper crevasses. Although we haven’t generally dealt with overcast rainy weather, we do deal with wind that could cause this 17 pound high surface area item to easily blow away. We have purchased an extra 50ft worth of extension cable to the Dokio controller box to allow for sun placement even if there are lots of trees. This cable is wrapped and hooked up into a corner molding between the microwave that sticks out 2 inches from the rest of the wall, taking up somewhat unusable space, yet allows the microwave door to open freely. The Dokia inverter controller box is stored in the Vinny’s glove box with required standard cables in the provided pocket of the outside solar panel. The battery terminals under the hood are hooked up to the controller box with one of these cable and the other cable coming out of the controller box is attached to the solar panel, all with idiot proof, only one way to connect with diagrams of the solar panel and battery directly printed on the box. This is where the extension cable fits to extend the panels to wherever there is sun. The Dokio inverter box must lie near the battery somewhere due to cable length and I hook up this light weight important item with an S hook into Vinny’s grill. The inverter box has been placed in a zip up pencil pouch allowing for the cords to come out but provide a bit of protection against the sun and rain. The voltage coming out of the battery can be viewed if the pencil pouch has a clear sleeve and it hooks sturdily to the grill. Additionally this inverter has direct USB connections and phones and my watch can be directly charged with it. I have observed that if my phone goes into the red, I get a phone message that says charging is not taking place with this system. We always carry an Ankar battery that can charge a tablet and several phones. By then, we usually get to some electrons on the grid. I am a bit concerned that the edges of the canvass of the back of the panels will get worn and separate from the actual panels, severe fading has already occurred, but there has been no separation after two years, stitching holding. Keeping our fingers crossed, or the duct tape supplies will need to be increased.
Importantly the Dokio solar panel storage, allows for the right-flip up table in the galley to remain in the open position at all times. I have a small drying tray and absorbent dish pad fastened loosely to it taking up half the space. It is fastened with a elastic head and I like to rinse/clean dishes as I go since the sink is super small. If the left-flip up table is not enough prep area for cooking, I can slide the drying tray off easily, producing more disarray on the bed but an extra foot of food prep space. The electrical outlet conveniently or maybe inconveniently if you do flip this down, is right under the table. I have found this a convenient place to charge all the chargeables when hooked up to power, and it only takes up my foot space in the bed which is not necessary to have so wide. I keep all the charging chords and boxes, several lights, and extra batteries in a tote to be all together and can also be easily carried away if we go to stay in a brick and stick structure for the night.
Travels with Vinny VanGo 