Recent content by christine

Oh, I see that I wasn't clear about when the flame was happening. So the big flame isn't happening when I light the flame spreader, it's happening after that, when the catalytic combustion is supposed to start. The instructions say to keep the control knob depressed for 30-60 seconds after the...

I have a Wave 3 heater, and starting it is ... stressful. Sometimes (but not all the time) starting it releases a big flame. It's so large that I'm afraid that if it gets any bigger, it'll burn my hand so I've resorted to wearing silicone oven mitts when I start it. Does anyone else have this...

Do you ever make campfires? If so, you can season the pan over that. If not, just using the pan should season it. To season my pan, I made bacon on it about 20 times and simply didn't wash it. For cleanup, I used a flat metal spatula to scrape off any bits of food stuck to the surface, and then...

Well, I guess the first thing you need to do is figure out where you want to put everything. Take lots of measurements, draw everything out. Then, start building the bed, and whatever storage compartments and cabinets you want. 6 flexible 100 watt solar panels is going to be expensive, as are...

I've heard great things about Yeti coolers. The only thing is they cost just as much as a 12 volt fridge! Oh, and they're not metal--they're plastic.

Installing a grey water tank can actually be very simple. All you need is a hose or a pipe going from the sink drain down to the tank. You can get the tank and fittings at Plastic Mart. If you want to get fancy and make sure that smells from the grey tank don't come back up into the van, you can...

That looks really nice! Great idea.

Neat! Thanks for sharing your photos.

Yeah, slides are expensive. I ended up just putting four wheels on a piece of wood, and then sitting the fridge on top of that.

I put the foam on the bucket itself, and then put the bag on top. Keeps the foam from getting icky. Drilled holes in the side of the bucket were the edge of the foam meets the plastic, used zip ties to hold the foam on.

Let's say you see a van with a club parked next to a van without a club. All other things being equal, wouldn't a thief be more attracted to the van without the club? What do you guys think of wheel immobilizer boots? Or the steering wheel Disklok? (it looks like a frisbee over the steering...

You'll have to figure out if you want to wire the two solar panels in series or in parallel. Series would probably be easier. I mention that because if you're wiring in series, don't forget that you'll need 2 MC4 extension cables--one for the positive, and one for the negative. And if you're...

So do you have a crimper for size 8 wire that you recommend?

I'm digging the links that SternWake posted. I made my own cables, and they seem to be holding up. Not that I did any of this the "right" way, but here's what I used: For thick cables (size 2 to 4/0), I used a hammer crimper and a hammer. After hammering them down, I placed the hammer crimper...

Renogy 100 watt monocrystalline panels. I have 6 of them. Yes, I'm satisfied so far. They've been up for several months, and haven't had any problems (knock on wood). But I will note that one of my panels is different from the rest. Looking at them from the bottom, 5 are totally opaque, and one...