CANCELED: Dirty Bacon's Great American Adventure

[Eric_Kruger]

My wife and I saw this a few weeks back on fb, we're actually contemplating taking our two week vacation next year and doing one half, then the other half the next year! No need to rush, just spend a day or two in each state.

[DirtyBacon04]

I would be rerouting also to avoid Illinois completely. I'm cautious of even visiting new york

[dvanbramer88]

I would be rerouting also to avoid Illinois completely. I'm cautious of even visiting new york

I visited NY once, it was awful.

[JorDaneeKey]

I would be rerouting also to avoid Illinois completely. I'm cautious of even visiting new york

I visited NY once, it was awful.

I grew up in NY. Depressing and tyrannical. My family is upset that we won't come visit once we're on the road. Minor detail about being arrested for our firearms if we set foot in the state and they're discovered....

[v7guy]

NY is a cesspool and that's being kind. Steer way clear, along with NJ and the majority of the NE. Thanks Dave, glad hanging out was horrible.

NYC is a nice weekend trip to see the sights knowing you'll be completely dependent on the relatively incompetent local police. Stay away. Even a common pocket knife that's legal in the rest of the country can land you in jail here.

[Moots1288]

Ohhhh it's not so bad in NYC...



















Just kidding

[drburke]

After all, some folks like to live vicariously through others

Bacon, I envy you and this opportunity you have. I've been dreaming of doing something like this since high school. If I wasn't close to completing college and didn't have any student debt, I'd take a break and do it. Thus, Mrs. Key hit the nail on the head; I'll be watching this closely and living vicariously through your adventures. Hopefully after college and eventual military tenure I'll be financially stable enough to do this. Until then, you're my eyes and ears. If you ever find yourself stuck, in need of help, or anything while you're in Georgia, let me know.

[DirtyBacon04]

I appreciate the support guys. This forum has really been the driving force behind this plan.
I know if i get lazy on my plans MikeKey will call me a pussy or something. Earning his seal of approval is my other driving force....

[mikekey]

I'll only call you a pussy if you have really lame excuses for not pursuing your dream. You're a Marine (once, always) a cop, and not a welfare recipient so I doubt highly that you're going to shrug back into the loser camp because doing what you want is so tough and the world is out to get you. Plus, everyone I've ever meet named Michael was a brash cocky SOB who managed to do whatever he wanted. #merica

[DirtyBacon04]

You know i've been thinking...
I had an idea of equipping some sort of solar panel (not as fancy as karo's) but then I wrote it off an an unneeded expense since I planned on having dual batteries. Now that I'm starting to realize how many odds and ends that'll be integrated into the eletrical system (cell phone/GPS/MP3/Flashlight/etc. chargers) that might not get de-energized with the key off, plus with the added strain of a winch installed, y'all think the ability to generate solar energy might be more essential than previously thought? Especially with me being so far from help at times. Also there could be days at a time where the truck doesn't get run considering I'll be doing alot of hiking and building bush shelters for fun.

[Trail X]

The winch has nothing to do with your need for a solar panel. The winch should ideally only be used with the engine running anyways.

The true deciding factor is how long you plan to be without an engine running at a time, and what your expected electrical load on your batteries is during that time.

If its only short periods and your alternator can keep up with the recharging, then no need. If you plan on going for days without running the engine, and pulling refrigerator power from your battery during that whole time, then you will need a solar panel, and likely not a small one (because you can't expect to get peak level outputs from your panel even 50% of the daylight hours).

[DirtyBacon04]

If I'm going to be shut down for several days, odds are I won't be running the fridge. maybe pick up some dry ice ahead of time if i know i'll be shut down.

[v7guy]

I'm not sure there's a way to calculate it without knowing the amp draw of everything you'll be using, especially since you don't know what you'll be using. Even then, the efficiency of the solar panels will be highly dependent on your location. If you're in Seattle or the Arctic tundra of NY you aren't going to get a lot from them. If you're in Arizona, it'll probably help a good bit. It all depends on your location, the weather, the angle of the panels to the sun blah blah blah. If you've researched it much you know.

Of course, is it better to be in TX with a dead battery and solar panels and the ability to unhook all the extra loads from the batteries so you can eventually get enough juice to start the truck or is it better to call for a jump start? Frack if I know. Sounds good to have solar panels though, in some situations.

[RyansTBLS]

A fridge will be your main deciding point. In which case, are you better off with a Yeti cooler and ice, or with a fridge and second battery with solar? If your concern isn't so much about keeping a fridge on for 3 days, but with seeing to it your truck starts afterwards, maybe you need a jump starter and not solar panel? Then again, maybe you need both. I've been looking at this: http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/por ... y=ourPicks
for jump starting (I'd be surprised if Mike Key had never been to that site...) solar is a bit more tricky. Do you want it always mounted like Karo's amazing system, or just something you plug in and setup when you camp?

[navigator]

I would have to think hard about biting the bullet and getting something like an Engel fridge or one of the other that have a light current draw. I expect it would be worth it if you are trying to spend days off the grid.

Something we do a lot when camping is use bottled water (refill bottles to save) and then use those flavor packets to flavor it. You get a lot of variety (tea, punch, grape etc) without a lot of bulk. You really don't even have to keep the water cold if you don't want to.

[TBYODA]

I have a Coleman PowerChill 40 Quart Thermoelectric Cooler that I picked up used. It works very well and has EDIT: THIS WAS DUMP GUESS light power draw. I had it with me at Tecore 10 and everything was ice cool. The trick is to seed it with a frozen items say some frozen water and then put cold item in it. It will get warm items cold but will just take awhile. I had it plugged in during the day but at night just unplugged it. You could get fancy and get one of these to limit the amount of on time when TB is not running. DC timer With a relay or two you could wire it up in such a way that when TB is running power to the cool and/or other items are connected directly to the second battery. Then when TB is not running the timer is connected so to limit the over all power usage.

[DirtyBacon04]

Thats a great find Robert for the Coleman cooler. I might go with that rather than dropping $600-800 on an Engel fridge (at least for now) considering the Coleman is only $130.

Ryan: There's no way that I can construct something as beautiful as Karo's and I won't lie to myself. My main concern isn't my drinks/food getting warm (although food spoilage is a concern). My main concern would be a dead battery. I plan on having a second battery to run the fridge/winch and in theory, if one is dead i should be able to start off the other. However my contingency plans require that I be able to "make fire with sticks". I like the jump box, I used to have one and used it several times. Depending on space available, I might throw one in theback for good measure. I'd just sure hate to have a dead main battery, aux battery, and jump box. At least a smaller soalr panel can give me the ability to generate electricity for charging (even though it might take a while) if all other batteries are dead.

[TBYODA]

Thats a great find Robert for the Coleman cooler. I might go with that rather than dropping $600-800 on an Engel fridge (at least for now) considering the Coleman is only $130.

Not sure if this are near you

http://tampa.craigslist.org/psc/spo/4525783083.html

http://ocala.craigslist.org/spo/4507404559.html

http://orlando.craigslist.org/search/ss ... r&sort=rel

[DirtyBacon04]

the tampa and ocala posts are good finds! I appreciate you doing that legwork for me.

(the orlando posts are useless lol!)

[mikekey]

Just from experience the Thermoelectric Coolers have one HUGE disadvantage, they only cool to about 30 deg below outside temperature. So, if it is 70 degrees the cooler will cool to about 40 degrees, nice. But, if it is hot outside, say 90 degrees or so, it sucks! Coleman is claiming theirs cools to 40 but in experience I've found they perform worse than advertised in hotter climates. JorDanee and I have one, we had no problems with it at Tecore, but during our trip out West we had problems with it keeping things cool in the hotter climates and still had to resort to putting ice in it. It could barely keep up during all of Utah and Arizona. It was fine in the cooler climate of CO. And hey, WE USE A/C, it still had problems.

Plus they are a HUGE drain on the electrical system compared to an ARB or Engel. Thermoelectric units draw a large amount of current (4.6 Amps). Most units do not have the ability to freeze, or maintain a steady internal refrigerated temperature. Consequently they take many hours to cool a warm bottle of water.

Comparable, an Engel draws 2.1 amps of power. There is a reason for the cost.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/equipme ... /index.php

You can search expo forums for more details. If you were weekend camping, I'd say follow Roberts advice. But you're going longer term with variable climates, I'd say it's worth the money in the long run. You've been out west, when you get out there you might not want to run into town every week to get ice.