It was a pleasure for us to meet you in Quartzite, thank you for taking time to greet us! We know the feeling about a long ride, we just got back from driving all the way from California to Massachusetts. It can be very tiring at times! Thank you for the share it was a wonderful ride. >MERTO😎✌️👍
As the rest of the comments confirm this is another excellent vid. We would struggle to do this with our full time 2022. Best Boondocking - Hiawatha National Forest, or outside Apache Junction, or Sedona or...Best campground Garden of the Gods Illinois or 7 points Nashville or Shenandoah national park or... See what I mean? 🤣 Can't wait to start again in Feb 2023, and hopefully check out some of the places on your list. Cheers Marc, and please keep up the good work.
Living in the Bay Area and loving skiing as you do, have to say Lake Tahoe is my favorite place on earth to the point that I have been there more times than the Pope got prayers .....Have a whole slue of things i love to do there and the surrounding areas....I may have missed , but have you ever been to Virginia City ??? Its a hoot from days gone by....Looking forward to next season and you letting us know what is ??? Be well
Thanks bud! Here ya go, it's an oldie and therefore lacks some of our current production values: th-cam.com/video/SeTnwzY4JO8/w-d-xo.html We also had an excellent meal there this year at The Cider Factory with Homie at Large.
Wow! You covered a lot of area! Nice big loop. There are a lot of favorites in this video for sure, but our favorite was getting the opportunity to meet you all at a reservoir in Nevada! Ram and Kuuipo 👍🏼👍🏾
Great video, very informative, and very interesting. Yikes, those to RV parks might have been nice but boy are they expensive, LOL. This was a wonderful video. Thank you! >Merton 😎✌️👍
Wow! I really enjoyed this video! Brought back fond memories of kayaking Rainbow Springs & visiting Lassen Volcanic NP. Gave us some great ideas on planning our future grand adventure! We're going to have to do some more research on doing the outer banks and see if we can make it in our 44" Class A & where we can camp out there. Will be headed up the East coast from Florida come March traveling to Savannah, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and would like to do outer banks after that. Marc & Phyllis
Glad you enjoyed it Marc & Phyllis, thank you! I can tell you that there are indeed sites in our Outer Banks campground at Oregon Inlet that could accommodate your 44-footer without issue.
Loved this Marc! As I’ve said before, yours is the best filming from any of the RV channels we watch. What an incredible year you and your wife had! Thank you so much for sharing your adventures! BTW, are you traveling with two vehicles now? We spotted a white vehicle in your campsite in most of your locations, so just curious.
Wow, thanks Steph! Really appreciate your very kind words. After a couple of years of a closed Canadian border, Mrs GA returned home to Canada this summer to spend a few months with family. So she brought her vehicle along to be able to leave for Canada when she wanted, and return to our travels when she was ready to. Normally her car spends the summer inside our Utah storage unit.
great music to go with the tour. happy and safe travels. My list just gets longer, thanks. that Bowman lake is beautiful. A place I just learned about, McCloud, CA; I'll be visiting sometime June.
Great Video! Going to be out there this summer. I just added a MUST do drive. So did you do that Burr trail and switchbacks pulling your trailer? If so....great job!!! Keep up the great and very insightful videos.
There's no way we could have negotiated the Burr Trail switchbacks with our trailer, Grant, nor would we recommend attempting them with anything other than a truck camper or a 4WD class B. And thank you so much for your kind comments!
Marc, thanks for the excellent summary. I must say it’s almost a crime that you came through Iowa and completely missed out on the unique jewel known as the Driftless Area. The landscape where Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa come together is stunning and paradise for the outdoorsman. Maybe next time!
MARC, I GET A CHUCKLE WHEN YOU SHARE ALL THESE GREAT PLACES AND YOU END UP SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR DISCOVERING NEW AND UNKNOWN DESTINATIONS. I GUESS THAT'S ONE WAY TO KEEP THE "BEEN THERE DONE THAT" COLUMN FROM FILLING UP THE DESTINATION SHEET. HOPE TO MEET UP AGAIN. THANKS BROTHER
You're most welcome, bud! I'd much rather go someplace new to us, than return somewhere that we've been within the past year or two. There's the occasional exception to that rule if it's a place that we truly loved, but much of the time I'm pulling out our interactive travel episode map grandadventure.tv/2019/07/28/interactive-episode-map/ and looking for the obvious gaps and holes.
What an epic adventure you three had. Looking forward to watching 2023. Maybe our paths will cross again. Not going to quartzite this yr. Daughters last year of traveling Volleyball is taking us all over the US. Thanks Don
Me and my wife enjoy your videos verymuch as we slowly preparing for Full time. We are looking at Durango and GD campers. I like that Durango will do al the solar install. I noticed your solar panels are tilted is it like that from the factory ?
No Mirek, they aren't - or at least they weren't in our case. Our Durango is a 2020 which came with a single flat-mounted 190W solar panel, a 30-amp solar controller and a 1200W inverter. At the time that was the only solar package they offered. We've since upgraded ourselves to 1200W of solar panels, a 150V/100A solar controller, a 3000W inverter and 600 Ah of LiFePO4 batteries. We did all of that work ourselves, including those tilting solar panel mounts. It was installed gradually over these three episodes: th-cam.com/video/p22xqx4PyZM/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/ok-k9RXnE6M/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/e3BEH6-Zxzw/w-d-xo.html
On my annual trip from Denver to Milwaukee for Mother's Day (and back) I pretty much have to drive through Iowa. They have WONDERFUL state parks with campgrounds, especially during May.
2023 needs to be an Alaska trip while you have the old truck that you don't mind getting a little beat up on the poor roads. Would not want to do that to a new truck. Just give it a through mechanical check up and replace belts, tensioners, brakes, etc if questionable.
That's actually an excellent point that we hadn't thought of, Charles. Then again we're never easy on a truck anyway. We let a truck be a truck. LOL We kinda wanted to let the COVID foolishness still taking place in Canada calm down a bit first, let Starlink first beef up its coverage at far northerly latitudes, and we're also a little late now to start the planning for 2023.
@@GrandAdventure Marc, Consider the horrible wear and tear on you new 5th Wheel RV. It would definitely be an epic video documentary. But you need an off road RV trailer with huge shocks and clearance to handle that amount of road torture. Just my opinion based on others reports. Gord
Good day to you Marc. I love your videos, especially the one on Grater Lake so much so my wife and I will be staying at Diamond Lake for 9 days this year. My question is where did you find your Kayak rack T-bar for the front end of your truck. I can only find and bed extension for the bed of the truck via Yakima. We have a setup much like yours (5th wheel and kayaks) but having difficulty with that T-bar. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Hey there Kevin! Thanks for your kind words, and you'll love your time at Diamond Lake. That Yakima T that we're using is the same as their bed extension that they call the LongArm amzn.to/2NxQVkB. It may be used either horizontally or vertically. There are less expensive no-name brands available, but we found that they just didn't have the reach that we needed to get our boats level during transport, whereas the LongArm has an available extender amzn.to/3u2oH1X that gave us the reach we needed. Here's an episode we did of the whole setup: th-cam.com/video/N01Jhum2BTE/w-d-xo.html
@@RhondaD68 for that, I assume that you were already familiar with our interactive travel episode map, but in case you are not here it is: grandadventure.tv/2019/07/28/interactive-episode-map/
Hi Marc! I happened across your vid’s because I’m looking For a fifth wheel that has generous Boondocking ability and attributes. You seem to really like your Durango HTcan you comment on some of the things that you like about it for Boondocking off the Grid please. I looked for a video on this area but the only one I could find was How the Durango’s are made at the factory. Any information you or your followers can provide would be very received. David, Conway, AR
Hey David! I can tell you that we've been extremely pleased with our 2020 Durango Half-Ton D283RLT. We kept a list of things to address under warranty, to deal with the whole shebang at the two-year mark, and aside from one issue that I'll explain below, all were strictly cosmetic in nature. We had Durango address them directly at KZ's Customer Service Center when we visited the plant this past August th-cam.com/video/im7lflhuoYQ/w-d-xo.html and not only did they take care of everything with a smile, they even addressed some things that they noticed that we didn't have on our list. As for the single item that wasn't cosmetic, we had a loose neutral arc in our main service panel while we were boondocking in Montana. Perhaps it wasn't properly torqued at the factory, or perhaps it worked its way loose from road vibration, etc. -- I can't say. But I sent an Instagram message to KZ and they were on the phone with me within 10 minutes. They overnighted a replacement service panel to Montana, and instructed me to find any local electrician to replace it and send them the receipt. I can't possibly ask for more than that. So, unlike most RV owners I have nothing negative to say about quality, unlike our previous travel trailer from another manufacturer that had constant, significant structural issues. As for what we like about it for boondocking, I'd only point out that ours is just about the right size (small enough to get into most places, big enough that we don't kill each other 😁), that it has substantial ground clearance, adequate axles, and 16" wheels. Everything else for boondocking we did to this fiver ourselves. It came from the factory with one 190W solar panel, a cheap GoPower 30A PWM controller (I understand that they're now putting better solar controllers in), and a 1200W Xantrex inverter, although beginning with the 2021 models they upgraded to a 2000W Xantrex from the factory. On our own we upgraded to 1200W of solar on the roof, a Victron 150/100 MPPT solar controller, a 3000W Xantrex inverter, a wall-mounted remote for the inverter, a Victron smart battery monitor, and 600 Ah of Battle Born LiFePO4 batteries. You can find all of these upgrades in our "Boondocking Solar Power, Batteries & Inverters" playlist th-cam.com/play/PLjEHCrqmvs1_MtyTAtjrMffdaOmtYBhJT.html . I wish that we had a bit more fresh water storage capacity (ours is 56 gallons IIRC), but such is the nature of trying to keep weight down to stay in the range of a half-ton towable. Hope this helps! Feel free to hit us up with any questions.
I’ve watched most of your western or mountain camping videos but missed out on all your midwest to south eastern videos as those regions have zero appeal to me. That being said the sites that you’ve show here are beautiful and that is enough for me to affectively say “been there done that“ lol keep on adventuring👍🏻
I was wondering what the white cushion looking thing is hanging on your (RV?) door, behind you in the last scene, you can see it at 48:44. Is that some sort of door insulation?
Fantastic year-end video sir! Question Marc. Are you familiar with the various Bluetti power stations? I've been thinking about alternatives to complicated, planned-out solar/lithium installations (that are more/less permanent) and looking at the AC300/B300 combined with a few portable solar panels to get our 12v fridge through the night while boondocking. It looks like I could just plug that system into the 30 amp plug on our TT and avoid tampering with the OEM systems altogether. This seems to be an up-and-coming simpler alternative for achieving boondocking capabilities. Just curious if you had any opinions on it. Thank you sir in advance!
Thank you CO! Yes, that would work. I haven't used the Bluetti systems, but I have used somewhat smaller models from its competitors. In fact, we carry a 1000-watt model on board as an emergency backup. As an alternative, you could also upgrade your existing RV battery bank and carry a couple of portable solar suitcases. You say that your fridge runs on 12 volt so you don't need the inverter for your fridge, and with the Bluetti you're just adding an unnecessary battery in between just to keep your fridge powered. However, your idea also provides the ability to power your 120-volt AC equipment, that upgrading your battery bank and using portable solar panels would not enable. The third option, which is certainly the lowest cost especially if you only boondock occasionally, is to simply run a small ~2000W generator for a couple of hours each morning and each evening. We did that ourselves for a year or two. Our portable Champion generator has remote electric start and stop, so that kept it incredibly convenient even if we just had to fire it up for a minute to brew a pot of coffee. Sure, you have to put up with a few hours of generator noise each day, and you have to go out and top off the fuel tank every now and then. But it avoids the need for a substantial investment If you just want to boondock every now and then.
@@GrandAdventure Thank you so much for your quick reply. Your noble effort to respond to so many comments does not go unnoticed. I like the second option you gave and I neglected to mention that I have the same setup that I believe you did with the 190w panel, 1000w inverter and GoPower panel. I also have 2 agm batteries that came with it. Yes it would be nice to briefly use the microwave from time to time, keep the 12v fridge running 24/7 and charge batteries with solar during the day. I do have a Champion 4650 generator. Yes it weighs 100lbs but it was a bargain at less than $600. Thanks again for your great advice!
@@hfd413 well then, it sounds like you're already all set. Have you calculated the consumption of the fridge? I'd think that with two AGM batteries and that 190W panel you'd be able to keep things humming, as long as you weren't too spendy on other electrical consumption. And if not, you've got the generator backup.
Aside from one loose neutral on the main service panel, Bob, everything was very minor and entirely cosmetic. KZ was wonderfully responsive in addressing everything, too.
@@GrandAdventure my KZ should be on its way back to Roy, UT (my dealer) and can get ready for the 2023 season. Mine suffered what they called frame camber that caused severe external cracking. What I still don’t understand is that it had no wear effect on the tires just large slide cracks and internal wall displacement.
@@robertnasser9937 that's most unfortunate and I'm so sorry to hear that. Frankly, I'd point the finger at Lippert for that. KZ doesn't build the frames. Instead they get raw frames in from Lippert and build their RV onto them. So if the frame warped, KZ had no control over that. However what KZ *does* have control over is how they handle their customer and it sounds as if they're making good on it. Just like the suspension absorbs irregularities in the road, I'd think that it could compensate for irregularities in the frame. So the fact that there's no uneven tire wear doesn't really leave me stumped. Here's wishing you success the second time around.
Marc, This was definitely an epic annual review. My favorite so far! So many incredibly epic and beautiful areas covering all different kinds of views and adventures. When you took the free ferry over to the island, did they allow you to launch your drone off the ferry to get that water view of the ferry running to the island? Gord
Glad you enjoyed it Gord, and thank you! That shot you're referencing was a handheld clip of our ferry passing another ferry heading in the opposite direction. No drones were harmed in the filming of that clip.
@@gorrdd oh, it could be easily done. The boat is moving at something like 6 knots whereas the drone can do around 20 knots without even trying. Not sure the boat crew would be very happy with me, however.
@@GrandAdventure my son's worked for America's Tire so they wont let me take my april Reno trip without new tires. My kzrv is a 2018 purchased April 2019 so that puts my tires at the 5 year cutoff.. I still get the family discount so I'll buy new in march..
@@SevenBears1 We've always bought our trailer tires at Discount Tire, aka America's Tire in California. We've gone with Goodyear Endurance and have been happy.
A Kaleidoscope of grand adventure...
Gord
It was a pleasure for us to meet you in Quartzite, thank you for taking time to greet us! We know the feeling about a long ride, we just got back from driving all the way from California to Massachusetts. It can be very tiring at times! Thank you for the share it was a wonderful ride. >MERTO😎✌️👍
Whoa! That's a big'un. The pleasure of meeting was all ours, and we look forward to seeing the both of you further on down the road.
As the rest of the comments confirm this is another excellent vid. We would struggle to do this with our full time 2022. Best Boondocking - Hiawatha National Forest, or outside Apache Junction, or Sedona or...Best campground Garden of the Gods Illinois or 7 points Nashville or Shenandoah national park or... See what I mean? 🤣 Can't wait to start again in Feb 2023, and hopefully check out some of the places on your list. Cheers Marc, and please keep up the good work.
Oh, we definitely know what you mean, Leigh! 😄 Thank you so much as always.
You are like the Rick Steves of RVing! Love it.
That's definitely a compliment We will take. Thank you so much!
Living in the Bay Area and loving skiing as you do, have to say Lake Tahoe is my favorite place on earth to the point that I have been there more times than the Pope got prayers .....Have a whole slue of things i love to do there and the surrounding areas....I may have missed , but have you ever been to Virginia City ??? Its a hoot from days gone by....Looking forward to next season and you letting us know what is ??? Be well
Thanks bud! Here ya go, it's an oldie and therefore lacks some of our current production values: th-cam.com/video/SeTnwzY4JO8/w-d-xo.html
We also had an excellent meal there this year at The Cider Factory with Homie at Large.
Another great video Mark !! Thank You !
Thank you Joseph!
Wow!
You covered a lot of area! Nice big loop.
There are a lot of favorites in this video for sure, but our favorite was getting the opportunity to meet you all at a reservoir in Nevada!
Ram and Kuuipo
👍🏼👍🏾
That was definitely a highlight of our season, too.
Hello. Your best at these reviews Happy New Year!, 😊. Can’t wait for your new video in 2023. Many Blessings 😊😊 Michelle Greenville Fl
Thank you so very much Michelle! Happy New Year to you and yours as well.
Great video, very informative, and very interesting. Yikes, those to RV parks might have been nice but boy are they expensive, LOL. This was a wonderful video. Thank you! >Merton 😎✌️👍
Thank you sir!
DON'T FORGET THE BEAUTIFUL OZARKS !!!
@@jamesford3322 We have been in years past, and will be returning again this fall. We just didn't make it there in 2022.
Wow! I really enjoyed this video! Brought back fond memories of kayaking Rainbow Springs & visiting Lassen Volcanic NP. Gave us some great ideas on planning our future grand adventure! We're going to have to do some more research on doing the outer banks and see if we can make it in our 44" Class A & where we can camp out there. Will be headed up the East coast from Florida come March traveling to Savannah, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and would like to do outer banks after that.
Marc & Phyllis
Glad you enjoyed it Marc & Phyllis, thank you! I can tell you that there are indeed sites in our Outer Banks campground at Oregon Inlet that could accommodate your 44-footer without issue.
Excellent video. Thanks!!
Thank YOU Alicia!
Loved this Marc! As I’ve said before, yours is the best filming from any of the RV channels we watch. What an incredible year you and your wife had! Thank you so much for sharing your adventures!
BTW, are you traveling with two vehicles now? We spotted a white vehicle in your campsite in most of your locations, so just curious.
Wow, thanks Steph! Really appreciate your very kind words. After a couple of years of a closed Canadian border, Mrs GA returned home to Canada this summer to spend a few months with family. So she brought her vehicle along to be able to leave for Canada when she wanted, and return to our travels when she was ready to. Normally her car spends the summer inside our Utah storage unit.
Very nice! Great wrap up of 22, we have a few new destinations to check out now...
That's terrific Bob! Happy to add to your list, and thank you very much for watching.
great music to go with the tour. happy and safe travels. My list just gets longer, thanks.
that Bowman lake is beautiful. A place I just learned about, McCloud, CA; I'll be visiting sometime June.
We will have to look that one up, Joe. Thank you so much for your kind words!
Great recap!! Relaxing, beautiful, and so informative! Thank you!!
Thank you so very much!
Great recap, you are the best.
Thank Jim! You and all our viewers are the best.
Nice video Marc! Enjoyed your adventures and thanks for sharing. John
Thank YOU for watching, John!
Great Video! Going to be out there this summer. I just added a MUST do drive. So did you do that Burr trail and switchbacks pulling your trailer? If so....great job!!!
Keep up the great and very insightful videos.
There's no way we could have negotiated the Burr Trail switchbacks with our trailer, Grant, nor would we recommend attempting them with anything other than a truck camper or a 4WD class B. And thank you so much for your kind comments!
We are currently at Rutherford Beach thanks to your tip! Love it here.
Have fun Anne! It's such a relaxing place.
What a great year! Thanks for sharing.
We feel lucky everyday, Kathy! Thank you very much.
You're so good at this Mark.❤❤❤
Thanks so much, bud! It won't be long, we'll be sharing turns.
Marc, thanks for the excellent summary. I must say it’s almost a crime that you came through Iowa and completely missed out on the unique jewel known as the Driftless Area. The landscape where Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa come together is stunning and paradise for the outdoorsman. Maybe next time!
Is the Okoboji area considered part of that? If so we did: th-cam.com/video/YTgV_Q9sBmM/w-d-xo.html
Lake Okoboji is approximately 150 miles west of the western boundary of the Driftless Area.
@@tenkaraintheiowadriftless Thanks for the clarification. Will check it out the next time we pass through that area.
MARC, I GET A CHUCKLE WHEN YOU SHARE ALL THESE GREAT PLACES AND YOU END UP SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR DISCOVERING NEW AND UNKNOWN DESTINATIONS. I GUESS THAT'S ONE WAY TO KEEP THE "BEEN THERE DONE THAT" COLUMN FROM FILLING UP THE DESTINATION SHEET. HOPE TO MEET UP AGAIN. THANKS BROTHER
You're most welcome, bud! I'd much rather go someplace new to us, than return somewhere that we've been within the past year or two. There's the occasional exception to that rule if it's a place that we truly loved, but much of the time I'm pulling out our interactive travel episode map grandadventure.tv/2019/07/28/interactive-episode-map/ and looking for the obvious gaps and holes.
@@GrandAdventure I LOVE YOUR WORK
What an epic adventure you three had. Looking forward to watching 2023. Maybe our paths will cross again. Not going to quartzite this yr. Daughters last year of traveling Volleyball is taking us all over the US. Thanks Don
Well that's a cool reason to travel, Don! Here's wishing your daughter a successful season.
Me and my wife enjoy your videos verymuch as we slowly preparing for Full time. We are looking at Durango and GD campers. I like that Durango will do al the solar install. I noticed your solar panels are tilted is it like that from the factory ?
No Mirek, they aren't - or at least they weren't in our case. Our Durango is a 2020 which came with a single flat-mounted 190W solar panel, a 30-amp solar controller and a 1200W inverter. At the time that was the only solar package they offered. We've since upgraded ourselves to 1200W of solar panels, a 150V/100A solar controller, a 3000W inverter and 600 Ah of LiFePO4 batteries. We did all of that work ourselves, including those tilting solar panel mounts. It was installed gradually over these three episodes:
th-cam.com/video/p22xqx4PyZM/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/ok-k9RXnE6M/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/e3BEH6-Zxzw/w-d-xo.html
On my annual trip from Denver to Milwaukee for Mother's Day (and back) I pretty much have to drive through Iowa. They have WONDERFUL state parks with campgrounds, especially during May.
We were very impressed with Iowa, and look forward to returning to sample more of the state.
2023 needs to be an Alaska trip while you have the old truck that you don't mind getting a little beat up on the poor roads. Would not want to do that to a new truck. Just give it a through mechanical check up and replace belts, tensioners, brakes, etc if questionable.
That's actually an excellent point that we hadn't thought of, Charles. Then again we're never easy on a truck anyway. We let a truck be a truck. LOL We kinda wanted to let the COVID foolishness still taking place in Canada calm down a bit first, let Starlink first beef up its coverage at far northerly latitudes, and we're also a little late now to start the planning for 2023.
@@GrandAdventure Marc,
Consider the horrible wear and tear on you new 5th Wheel RV.
It would definitely be an epic video documentary. But you need an off road RV trailer with huge shocks and clearance to handle that amount of road torture.
Just my opinion based on others reports.
Gord
Awesome video 👏👏👏
Thank you George!
I would love to do this in our 2018 Riverside Retro 285FK. Tomorrow is never guaranteed.
That's why there's no day like today, Bob. 😉
Great adventures and wonderful shots!
Thank you Mario!
Nice video
Thank you Joe!
I'm going to have to check that spot in Louisiana Out... We are planning on going to the Texas coast next New Years.
Well then, it's right on your way.
Good day to you Marc. I love your videos, especially the one on Grater Lake so much so my wife and I will be staying at Diamond Lake for 9 days this year. My question is where did you find your Kayak rack T-bar for the front end of your truck. I can only find and bed extension for the bed of the truck via Yakima. We have a setup much like yours (5th wheel and kayaks) but having difficulty with that T-bar. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Hey there Kevin! Thanks for your kind words, and you'll love your time at Diamond Lake. That Yakima T that we're using is the same as their bed extension that they call the LongArm amzn.to/2NxQVkB. It may be used either horizontally or vertically. There are less expensive no-name brands available, but we found that they just didn't have the reach that we needed to get our boats level during transport, whereas the LongArm has an available extender amzn.to/3u2oH1X that gave us the reach we needed. Here's an episode we did of the whole setup: th-cam.com/video/N01Jhum2BTE/w-d-xo.html
Really enjoyed your 2022 Review.
Glad to hear it Rhonda, thank you!
When I am planning our next trip, I look at your videos for best hints. Thanks
@@RhondaD68 for that, I assume that you were already familiar with our interactive travel episode map, but in case you are not here it is: grandadventure.tv/2019/07/28/interactive-episode-map/
@@GrandAdventure Way Cool. Didn’t know about this resource. Will share it with Tim as we are planning our getaways for this year now.
Hi Marc! I happened across your vid’s because I’m looking For a fifth wheel that has generous Boondocking ability and attributes. You seem to really like your Durango HTcan you comment on some of the things that you like about it for Boondocking off the Grid please. I looked for a video on this area but the only one I could find was How the Durango’s are made at the factory. Any information you or your followers can provide would be very received.
David, Conway, AR
Hey David! I can tell you that we've been extremely pleased with our 2020 Durango Half-Ton D283RLT. We kept a list of things to address under warranty, to deal with the whole shebang at the two-year mark, and aside from one issue that I'll explain below, all were strictly cosmetic in nature. We had Durango address them directly at KZ's Customer Service Center when we visited the plant this past August th-cam.com/video/im7lflhuoYQ/w-d-xo.html and not only did they take care of everything with a smile, they even addressed some things that they noticed that we didn't have on our list.
As for the single item that wasn't cosmetic, we had a loose neutral arc in our main service panel while we were boondocking in Montana. Perhaps it wasn't properly torqued at the factory, or perhaps it worked its way loose from road vibration, etc. -- I can't say. But I sent an Instagram message to KZ and they were on the phone with me within 10 minutes. They overnighted a replacement service panel to Montana, and instructed me to find any local electrician to replace it and send them the receipt. I can't possibly ask for more than that.
So, unlike most RV owners I have nothing negative to say about quality, unlike our previous travel trailer from another manufacturer that had constant, significant structural issues.
As for what we like about it for boondocking, I'd only point out that ours is just about the right size (small enough to get into most places, big enough that we don't kill each other 😁), that it has substantial ground clearance, adequate axles, and 16" wheels. Everything else for boondocking we did to this fiver ourselves. It came from the factory with one 190W solar panel, a cheap GoPower 30A PWM controller (I understand that they're now putting better solar controllers in), and a 1200W Xantrex inverter, although beginning with the 2021 models they upgraded to a 2000W Xantrex from the factory. On our own we upgraded to 1200W of solar on the roof, a Victron 150/100 MPPT solar controller, a 3000W Xantrex inverter, a wall-mounted remote for the inverter, a Victron smart battery monitor, and 600 Ah of Battle Born LiFePO4 batteries. You can find all of these upgrades in our "Boondocking Solar Power, Batteries & Inverters" playlist th-cam.com/play/PLjEHCrqmvs1_MtyTAtjrMffdaOmtYBhJT.html . I wish that we had a bit more fresh water storage capacity (ours is 56 gallons IIRC), but such is the nature of trying to keep weight down to stay in the range of a half-ton towable.
Hope this helps! Feel free to hit us up with any questions.
Loved your doondocking spot near Glacier. Hope the local harrassment team didnt run you off. 😊
Nope, we ignored them. 😉
I’ve watched most of your western or mountain camping videos but missed out on all your midwest to south eastern videos as those regions have zero appeal to me. That being said the sites that you’ve show here are beautiful and that is enough for me to affectively say “been there done that“ lol keep on adventuring👍🏻
There you go! A virtual visit. 😉
I was wondering what the white cushion looking thing is hanging on your (RV?) door, behind you in the last scene, you can see it at 48:44. Is that some sort of door insulation?
That's just my down jacket. We keep a hook next to the door.
Fantastic year-end video sir! Question Marc. Are you familiar with the various Bluetti power stations? I've been thinking about alternatives to complicated, planned-out solar/lithium installations (that are more/less permanent) and looking at the AC300/B300 combined with a few portable solar panels to get our 12v fridge through the night while boondocking. It looks like I could just plug that system into the 30 amp plug on our TT and avoid tampering with the OEM systems altogether. This seems to be an up-and-coming simpler alternative for achieving boondocking capabilities. Just curious if you had any opinions on it. Thank you sir in advance!
Thank you CO! Yes, that would work. I haven't used the Bluetti systems, but I have used somewhat smaller models from its competitors. In fact, we carry a 1000-watt model on board as an emergency backup.
As an alternative, you could also upgrade your existing RV battery bank and carry a couple of portable solar suitcases. You say that your fridge runs on 12 volt so you don't need the inverter for your fridge, and with the Bluetti you're just adding an unnecessary battery in between just to keep your fridge powered. However, your idea also provides the ability to power your 120-volt AC equipment, that upgrading your battery bank and using portable solar panels would not enable.
The third option, which is certainly the lowest cost especially if you only boondock occasionally, is to simply run a small ~2000W generator for a couple of hours each morning and each evening. We did that ourselves for a year or two. Our portable Champion generator has remote electric start and stop, so that kept it incredibly convenient even if we just had to fire it up for a minute to brew a pot of coffee. Sure, you have to put up with a few hours of generator noise each day, and you have to go out and top off the fuel tank every now and then. But it avoids the need for a substantial investment If you just want to boondock every now and then.
@@GrandAdventure Thank you so much for your quick reply. Your noble effort to respond to so many comments does not go unnoticed.
I like the second option you gave and I neglected to mention that I have the same setup that I believe you did with the 190w panel, 1000w inverter and GoPower panel. I also have 2 agm batteries that came with it. Yes it would be nice to briefly use the microwave from time to time, keep the 12v fridge running 24/7 and charge batteries with solar during the day. I do have a Champion 4650 generator. Yes it weighs 100lbs but it was a bargain at less than $600. Thanks again for your great advice!
@@hfd413 well then, it sounds like you're already all set. Have you calculated the consumption of the fridge? I'd think that with two AGM batteries and that 190W panel you'd be able to keep things humming, as long as you weren't too spendy on other electrical consumption. And if not, you've got the generator backup.
Nice, very nice. Hopefully on the road. Have you had or what issues have you had with your KZ ?
Aside from one loose neutral on the main service panel, Bob, everything was very minor and entirely cosmetic. KZ was wonderfully responsive in addressing everything, too.
@@GrandAdventure my KZ should be on its way back to Roy, UT (my dealer) and can get ready for the 2023 season. Mine suffered what they called frame camber that caused severe external cracking. What I still don’t understand is that it had no wear effect on the tires just large slide cracks and internal wall displacement.
@@robertnasser9937 that's most unfortunate and I'm so sorry to hear that. Frankly, I'd point the finger at Lippert for that. KZ doesn't build the frames. Instead they get raw frames in from Lippert and build their RV onto them. So if the frame warped, KZ had no control over that. However what KZ *does* have control over is how they handle their customer and it sounds as if they're making good on it.
Just like the suspension absorbs irregularities in the road, I'd think that it could compensate for irregularities in the frame. So the fact that there's no uneven tire wear doesn't really leave me stumped.
Here's wishing you success the second time around.
Great video..... Have you checked out the Eclipse Rovers for capturing moving video? You can up your game. You should check them out.
They look like slick little moving camera machines, but they're way out of our price range.
I can always count on Mark to give me camping ideas. Thank you so much!
Thank you Jose, and thanks for watching!
Marc,
This was definitely an epic annual review. My favorite so far! So many incredibly epic and beautiful areas covering all different kinds of views and adventures.
When you took the free ferry over to the island, did they allow you to launch your drone off the ferry to get that water view of the ferry running to the island?
Gord
Glad you enjoyed it Gord, and thank you! That shot you're referencing was a handheld clip of our ferry passing another ferry heading in the opposite direction. No drones were harmed in the filming of that clip.
@@GrandAdventure Yeah, it would have been tricky retrieving a done at those speeds.
Gord
@@gorrdd oh, it could be easily done. The boat is moving at something like 6 knots whereas the drone can do around 20 knots without even trying. Not sure the boat crew would be very happy with me, however.
@@GrandAdventure What boat crew? I thought we were taking about drones here! 🤣🤣🤣🤔🙄💨💥
1st place: Lake Tahoe
2nd place: Lake Tahoe
3rd place: Lake Tahoe
4th Place: Lake Tahoe
5th Place: Lake Tahoe
6th Place: Lake Tahoe
😂
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Must be time for a set of new tires after all that travel
We're rare in the RV world that our trailer tires get replaced due to wear, rather than age.
@@GrandAdventure my son's worked for America's Tire so they wont let me take my april Reno trip without new tires. My kzrv is a 2018 purchased April 2019 so that puts my tires at the 5 year cutoff.. I still get the family discount so I'll buy new in march..
@@SevenBears1 We've always bought our trailer tires at Discount Tire, aka America's Tire in California. We've gone with Goodyear Endurance and have been happy.
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Thank you Nicholas!