First Test of Version 2

We don't have our upgraded window treatments, but the rest is pretty much complete. So we are off for a short test trip to the Okefenokee Swamp.

Stephen C. Foster State Park in Fargo Georgia is sometimes confused with Stephen Foster Nature Center and State Park in White Springs Florida by first time SBA festival attendees. They're 50 miles away from each other, and Stephen C. Foster is in the Okefenokee Swamp which is the headwaters of the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers. White Springs has a distinction of having two of Florida's 13 bridges crossing the Suwannee.

So we packed Ernie T and headed off to two nights in Georgia. The forecast was wet and cold, cold being relative. The morning lows would be above freezing, and the afternoon highs would be sweater jacket weather. Rain was a fair chance, but with luck we'd miss it. With an electric site we should be fine.

Yeah, we're not gonna miss the rain. Thursday arrived, and it was raining in Neptune as we loaded up our trip stuff. We decided not to bring the kayaks, since the forecast didn't seem conducive, and I am fighting a bit of a sore throat, and wasn't really interested in adding more cold wet to the equation.

The drive was pleasant and traffic free. We got off I-10 in MacClenny and headed north for Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp, where we turned west along the edge of the swamp until arriving at the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge, and Stephen C. Foster State Park within it. The rain continued in varying degrees during the drive and setting up at our campsite (taking the power cord and surge protector out of the back of Ernie and plugging into the site's outlet).

It's difficult to start a bike ride in the rain, especially when the cold is so biting. So we turned on our little space heater and relaxed amidst our upgrades to Ernie T. We were delighted to turn on the new Pioneer receiver and find that we could pick up WJCT FM, our local PBS station in Jacksonville, a hundred miles away. The original receiver had abysmal range, delivering static while still in town. The Pioneer did a yeoman's job grabbing what remnants of a signal it could and delivering a static-free audio experience. There are circuits in there that make the AVH-4200NEX a superior choice. Thank you, Tony!

We learned that one of the upgrades didn't fare so well. I installed a new faucet, and then with Steven's help a water pump to drive it. The electrical connections are perfect, the switch to send power to the pump easily accessible but out of the way. And we ran the water to the cold water tap of the faucet, and plugged the hot water tap. We ran our testplan, and found everything worked with no leaks. But in Georgia, water seeped out of the plugged tap. My new plan is to split the water coming out of the pump into two lines, and connect them both to the faucet. This will allow for a relatively simple upgrade to put an instant water heater on the second line! The idea of adding a port on the side to allow for using campsite water is tempting, but I am loathe to cutting a hole in the side of the van.

It turned in early, lulled to sleep by rain on the roof, glad that the fiberglass of the roof and the insulation and beadboard made the sound quietly soothing and not loudly tinny. We awoke to temps a degree or three above freezing, depending on your units, though the rain had stopped. My sore throat migrated to my sinuses during the night, but denial isn't just in Egypt, so he took off in the morning light for a hike into the swamp. We met some deer not 50 meters from our site, who seemed nonplussed by our presence. Along the boardwalk in the swamp we saw several more keeping the groundcover neatly trimmed. (Would a Program to maintain a Lawn using Deer be a PLD? It might be better for the smaller areas than a goat array. Points to anyone who gets this. :) There were a myriad of small birds cavorting and denuding bushes of edibles, and one hawk lording over his domain. No alligators, though, I expect that the cold kept them lethargically holed up and sleeping in.

After breakfast we broke out the mountain bikes and explored all (both) of the trails in the campground. "Trails" is marketing term, rather we rode the mown swaths of mostly dry grassland around the camping area. The softness of the earth precluded Ernie from making it along these paths, but certainly not their width. We did verify that there are a lot of deer hanging out around the park.

Two outings were enough for me. I was chilled and sniffling and achy, and perfectly happy to stay in the relatively warm confines of Ernie. Sharon ventured out for a hike through all the areas we hadn't already visited, and some we had. We had planned to rent a canoe for a few hours, but I wasn't up to it, and Sharon was easily dissuaded by the cold damp weather.

Friday night was even colder than the last, though our heater pretty much did its job. Though I insulated the floor, it wasn't enough to keep a persistent chill from emanating up. Sharon will find a nice runner to provide another layer of insulation and foot warmth. Saturday was supposed to a long paddle, but the cold just didn't make it the slightest bit appealing. We had a list of list of some 20 things we forgot or otherwise needed to address before our next venture, so we had a leisurely breakfast and put away our power cable and left the park.

But not the Wildlife Refuge. There was a side road that I visited years ago with my friend Edwin, and we drove down it to see where the Suwannee River starts. We were the only people there (but there were turkeys and buzzards), and enjoying the purity of the Okefenokee like that was a privilege. There was a grove of cypress and water oak with a water line about seven feet high, reminding us of how variable water levels are here.

The drive home was serene, randomly choosing more back roads circling the swamp before taking US 301 to Baldwin and the US 90 into Jacksonville. Our luck continued, letting us drive by the stadium without slowing for Taxslayer Bowl traffic.

What did we learn on this foray? We need to get more incidentals for Ernie, and not rely on memory to move them from home. We also need to pay more attention to securing everything, better techniques to keep drawers or cabinets from opening on turns, dishes from rattling, and the like. And I need to refine our water system, it is so close! Overall, with 22+ mpg for the trip, and staying relatively warm and dry, and well fed and entertained, this trip was a great success. Life is good, Yippee!

We have Stereo!

Mercedes Benz offered two stereo systems in 2016 for the Sprinter van, the Level 20 stereo and the Level 30. The Level 20 was a solid base choice, and the Level 30 had a number of nice upgrades, making it attractive for long drives.

Well, the only Super High Roof available came from a Fleet buy, with options not available for simple folk, geared for customizing. So Ernie came with a Level 10 stereo, which was fairly basic: no CD, no HD radio, no Android Auto or Apple Carplay. I really wanted the Android Auto and HD radio. Our local PBS radio station broadcasts on all three HD channels, and HD 2 is my second favorite station. And worse, the sensitivity of the radio was horrid, delivering a blend of static and signal even in town.

While researching the best stereo system to get, our friend Tony suggested that he had an old stereo with Android Auto and an HD radio tuner that he would give us! He and Judy have several vehicles that always seem to have the latest units, on the Saturday before Christmas I drove down to Gainesville with a Crutchfield installation kit, and Tony showed me how to remove the old unit and wire and install his old Pioneer unit. With a 7" motorized display, our phones can connect to it by either Bluetooth for a phone or music connection, or via a USB cable for Android Auto. The unit also has a DVD/CD drive, so we can also watch movies in the evening. It also has an SD card reader, so we can put our audiobooks on it, or music albums, for easy retrieval.

The size difference between the two units is significant. The Level 10 fills the double DIN space with a hole that doesn't really hold much, while the Pioneer is more massive. It has many more connectors that I am using (HDMI, camera, rear speakers, and more).

Tony was an able teacher, and it all connected up pretty well. The steering wheel volume control doesn't work, but that's minor compared to being able to listen to WJCT and WUFT with crystal clarity. I took back roads returning to the Beaches and I was delighted how soon WJCT started coming in strong, well before Starke. And I noticed the HD icon when I was still outside St. Augustine, and was able to switch to HD 2 for some classical music.

The touch screen is more responsive than the screen on our Subaru's stereo, It seems like we (Sharon) will be able to adjust things easily on the fly. The Pioneer evidently comes originally with a remote, but that bit the dust sometime while in another car.

A nice feature of Android Auto is that it is Android, so I can ask it questions, tell it to make phone calls, send text, etc. And it can read incoming texts to me. Pioneer put together a nice promotional of its capabilities,

Reviews of the Good New Stuff

We've added a lot to our Sprinter this Fall,  cooler, A/C, a solar panel, a Gel battery, inverter, wall cabinets, drawers in the existing cabinets, a rear storage box, lighting, water pump and new faucet.

The Dometic ac unit only works when we're connected to shore power. It cools the van reasonably well, but the heat setting doesn't work at all. (Of course, heat starting at the ceiling isn't very efficient, since heat rises, so it's not a great loss.) It a bit noisy, but not obnoxiously so. I would feel guilty sharing a campsite with a tent, but not too guilty, especially if they asked us to share our site with them. I probably would try to avoid using it if we asked to share a tenter's site!

The ARB refrigerator is wonderful. It doesn't use very much power, and our solar panel generates enough power to keep it cool.  Sitting in our driveway, it kept its cool for two weeks relying solely on our meager solar cell.

Our solar setup is minimal. Camping World installed the smallest/cheapest panel they offer, which lies flat on the back of our van. They also installed a 1500 watt inverter, a solar controller, and a box to hold the fuse panel and wires, and a Winnebago box to hold the Gel battery underneath, behind the wheels. It is a clean installation, and since we really didn't know exactly what we wanted, it meets our needs nicely. So far we've added a separate line for the water pump, and a second dc outlet. Their box uses the same size fuses as the Sprinter, so we only need to carry one size to fit all uses. I would've preferred a more expensive higher output/efficiency panel, but I can't argue with its production.

We originally had a hand pump for sucking water from the jug under the sink, and the drain was connected to a second jug. That pump worked wonderfully. Once. The next day it wouldn't hold its vacuum, and no amount of priming would get it to do anything more than a few drops. It seemed that a leak formed in the system somehow, but the result is it never worked  for the rest of the trip.

So we upgraded to a nice faucet and a Sureflow pump and accumulator. It's pretty quiet, and the accumulator keeps it from going on and off quite as much. I'm sure we will go through a lot more water now, but it's delightful having the faucet work.

Update: I forgot to mention our lighting. I really didn't want to run a bunch of wire behind the ceiling boards, so we have a half dozen battery operated lights stuck on the ceiling and under the counters. Touch the center of one and it toggles on/off, or use the remote to control them all, either at full power or various dim values. They're bright enough, and we'll see how many AA batteries we eat.

Version 2.0

Building out Ernie Tortuga, our Sprinter Van

After our first 10,000 miles traveling in our wonderful van, we are back home in Florida, and ready to refine our ride before our next major trip. We learned about ourselves, what we liked and what we missed, what worked and what didn't. 

We needed to add a real power system. Initially all we got was a port on the back of the van and a bare wire. I added a simple outlet, but it only worked when we were plugged into shore power. In 55 days that turned out to be only 10 nights. Having a second battery and an inverter will make charging our devices simpler. 

We originally had a 50 gallon Yeti cooler. It kept things cool but we were buying ice for it every day or two, and and keeping things dry was a losing proposition. Adding a proper refrigeration box will make our excursions far simpler. Our Arb refrigerator is about the same size as the Yeti, but it keeps cool using DC power, and the solar panel is sufficient to keep it cool for weeks sitting in our driveway. 

Storage was our other bugaboo. We had more stuff than we needed, granted, but it was also randomly stuffed into random corners. We need to make it more organized so we can get what we want more easily, and not take apart everything to get to the odd item. In the back we had the bikes on each side, with a row of boxes between them. For 2.0 we moved the bikes together on one side, and then built a long wooden box to replace the smaller plastic crates. The new box can slide out, and a stick holds up the outside end. We put a shelf over the box for the stuff we need to get to easily: the power cable, the chocks, and the screenroom we like to set up, along with the floor mat, two camp chairs and a camp table.

The living area also got an upgrade. The foot locker moved around a bit while traveling, and the wheel wells made for poor bases for much of anything. So we built platforms over the wheel wells that also better constrained the foot locker to its centered position. We also added a shelf above the foot locked. Sharon finally realized we didn't need the whole sliding door space to get in and out, so we moved the cabinet on that side forward, creating a new space behind it for a couple of things.

Then we made wall cabinets. They aren't pretty, being the first cabinets I've ever attempted. The second one is better than the first, and they should be functional. They already function as clumsy meters, reminding us to be careful with head movements.

And then we replaced the myriad plastic boxes with drawers. On our inaugural trip, we built two shelves for canned goods, and the rest of the spaces were open for piles of plastic boxes. Now all that space is filled with sliding drawers. Like the cabinets, they aren't perfect, but they should be more functional than the boxes. (The clothes you want were never in the top box, resulting in boxes all over the countertops.)

Finally, our water solution needed upgrading. We started with a manual pump that worked great. Once. Then it wouldn't work more than a dribble. We quickly gave up on it, and reverted to our camping mode of pouring out of jugs on the countertop. We did that for 10 weeks last Summer, so it wasn't a hardship. But it would be nice to make better use of our big jug of water that's too big/heavy for counter use. Everything suggested a particular water pump as being the quietest, and the accumulator is supposed to allow it to come on less frequently. We shall see.