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If you are dispersed camping, as you say, on NF and BLM land, you can easily find creeks and rivers and streams and waterfalls where you can find clean water that you can directly filter, or simply boil if you're just making coffee. We recently finished up a 60-day trip while topping off our...

Nice catch on the disable switch, and good on you for sticking with it and sorting this out on your own. - Rich

Chet - I ran 4 AWG from the start battery back to the camper and covered it with expandable PET sheathing. It comes in different sizes, so that you'd buy something appropriate for 6 AWG. It will protect the wire from the elements and sharp edges as well as oil...

Hey John, no, I didn't take it as criticism at all. Happy to hear that the 6 AWG worked out for you as you had intended. - Rich

Like I said, I use 4 AWG and a 30 amp Sterling B2B. 4 AWG is not overkill, it's just the next step up and provides a healthy margin, which I happen to like. That's my opinion. It works for me and it has worked for a lot of other people. It's also my opinion that using thin wire wouldn't deliver...

Yep. I don't imagine you'd have any issues getting full, continuous current back to your B2B with your 130A alternator, unless it's a smart alternator that drops the output below the minimum B2B theshold on occassion. As I've said, I don't use an Orion, mine is a Sterling 1230, so what applies...

In terms of the cabling, I’m simply saying to get thick and short cable INTO the BTB as the BTB can be quite voltage sensitive and might shut off if it’s not getting enough input. If the cable run is going to be longer than 4m away or you want to play it safe, I’d be looking at, minimally, 6...

OP - Blue Seas 50 amp thermal CB is mounted to the fuse box under the hood on a 2nd gen Ram 2500. The fuse box lid can still be removed with the circuit breaker attached. Secure and as close to the battery as it gets. May not be the same set up on a new Ram, Jon- as for using 4 AWG marine...

Keep it simple, with some redundant backup. Solar can handle most of your energy loads. If you find yourself under a heavy tree canopy for a few days and don't want to move, or in low-light, short winter days, a B2B charger can top your battery off in a few hours, on your way to the next camp...

I installed a Blue Seas 60 amp thermal circuit breaker (similar to the one you show) under the hood, next to the lead-acid battery on the driver side. I have a second one near my DC-to-DC charger in the camper, which is next to my LiFePo4 battery. I use both of them as switches to turn on/off...

Jeff, Craig is right, you need to spend some time diving into the electrical threads (here or elsewhere, there are many good forums on the Internet), form a solid, basic plan, based on your anticipated needs, and then buy the component parts and start piecing it together, hopefully, using...

Good to hear that! When electronics go randomly wonky, resolution is more often than not a matter of a hard reset if nothing else appears obvious - Rich

Any exterior plywood on my rig that isn't already protected or needs extra protection is coated with Herculon bedliner for protection from the elements. It's extremely tough and non skid and does what it's supposed to do. It just needs time to dry properly once applied. Rich

+1 on Coyote. Quality, one-engineer shop. Great guy. Ask him what time it is and he'll explain the inner workings of a watch. We talked about washboard roads and occilations and wound up having a twenty minute discussion of Fournier transforms. Set mine @ 40 psi. Rich

Stan, thank you for your clear pictorial and past/present methods for routing the wire. I think the S-method you described is a good solution, however I would think that using small nylon clamps or a glue gun, would be a better method for routing and securing the wire to the back of the folding...

Ian - airbags, as you've have implied, give you the option of distributing your weight the way that makes sense for you, based on your interior design, weight distribution and ergonomcs. But you are still masking the fact that one side is possibly a lot heavier the the other. The airbags will...

+1 on Ride-Rites, with remote control, on Cummins 2500 flatbed.

1. Check controller fuse. 2. See if each panel's voltage gets up to full voltage in direct sunlight (~ 22vdc-30vdc depending on panel brand) All wire pathways from solar plug on roof, or J-box to controller, have good continuity and corrosion free? (if one doesn't, then it could show zero power...

TS - Are you planning to hold onto the 1500 if possible? Assuming you want to, and you're within the payload limits, I think the solution for your short, shortbed is probably going to be a set of Ride-Rite airbags so that you can adjust the rear height correctly and also add a bit of stability...

Oh, my mistake, Kim, I misread the dimension on the width. Happy to hear it's 24 inches instead of 20. You should be fine then. Sounds good for your setup! Rich

I think you're on to something with swapping out to a 2500, with leaf springs in the rear. For starters you're tail heavy and extended 10 extra inches beyond what your wheelbase is designed for, which isn't helping. The later Rams have rear coils vs. leaf springs, which I imagine is...

Better but still a bit narrow. I'd think 24-30 inches minimal for sitting and sleeping.

Kim - if you really want an aluminum settee (one piece or two seperate hinged pieces) you could specify exactly what you want to an aluminum fabricator. They could make a very simple frame that would sit level and/or fold up level as well, made of standard 1"x2" t-6061 aluminum tubing for...

You should speak with Elke Nickle, at nickleatlantic.com (Froli dealer in the US). She'll walk you through exactly what you need to know regarding the low-profile Froli Travel and the type of foam that works well with the Travel - typically hi-resiliency polyurethane, at 2.8-3.0 lbs c/f/ ILD ~30...

+1 on that sentiment. Nicely done and congrats on your DIY. Rich