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Canada Questions
Hello All- Thinking of taking a family trip north this summer. Looking specifically in Quebec first followed by Ontario. The catch is, while my immediate family likes rustic camping, this includes extended family without RV's, so we are looking for a resort. One with nice amenities and rental units similar to the Margaritaville resorts and others in the US. The thought was to find a place nice to stay but within a reasonable day trip drive to sight see. We would love to visit Montreal and / or Quebec city for example, but also want to hike or fish or other outdoors activities. The trip would be 1 week long. I'm not finding many of the "R Resort" type places with a google search so I figured I'd try here.
Thanks all!
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kfp673
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02/09/23 10:38am |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: America's first automated RV park
As I noted above, I'm a big fan but the buy in cost I am having trouble wrapping my head around. If you click on the franchise details they estimate $600-$800k plus the land. Assuming you don't already own the land this is likely a $2-5mil expense. That's a lot of $39 stays to make it up. Never the less, I hope it works out and I see these along highways.
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kfp673
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09/16/22 12:42pm |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: America's first automated RV park
I only think this would work in that way if the cost was minimal.
Most folks parking overnight at Walmart do so because it's a free overnight. Unless the park was under $15, most people won't choose it over Walmart.
Yes, I know there are exceptions to that. But in most cases, folks who overnight at Walmart do so for the cost savings, not because they didn't want to deal with humans at an RV Park.
Per the website, its $39 for 14 hours. That's cheaper than a state park site here in PA. I don't stay at walmart because it's cheap. I stay there because we are not retired and have limited time, so I push every day/night as far as I can go and then start looking for a place to stop. That's usually 10pm to 1am and I never have an idea of how far I will make it (or not). Starting to get tough to find walmarts but when we do we setup generators and cary some water with us. Not the end of the world but would much prefer a secure location with hookups. My wife is always nervous when we stay at walmart or cabelas.
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kfp673
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09/15/22 02:58pm |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: America's first automated RV park
I like it. Funny enough, I made a comment to my wife about this concept a few years ago. I hope they pop up all over along highways / interstates. No interest to "stay" here, but boy would this be nice as a last minute stop instead of a walmart during our long hauls. I kind of wish there were no reservations allowed and that you could simply pull up a website on your phone to see availability but first come. That way, at midnight when I'm tired, I can roll in, park (with hookups) for the night, shower in the morning, run AC etc and head out. Should just have sensors that can tell if you are still there and bill you for another 12 hours if you don't leave.
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kfp673
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09/15/22 09:26am |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: Unhooked for the night.
I suppose it depends on when you call it a day and where you stay. We are both still working and have limited time, so when we have to stop for the night it is not until midnight and typically at a Walmart so I have never unhooked. If I was stopping at 5pm, staying at a campground, and leaving the next morning I probably would unhook just to make it easier to level, and because many sites are not long enough for our trailer plus truck. Never done this however so I'm just guessing.
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kfp673
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06/20/22 03:19pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Florida Spring Break RV PArk
We have a 16 year old son and his schools new Spring break that started this year is the last week in March and same in 2023. We normally go to Ocean Lakes in Myrtle Beach for SB but end of March is still the snowbird time there and not many kids.
We would like to go to Florida next year but don't want to do Fort Wilderness as we have done Disney 5 times already. Would love a resort like Ocean Lakes or Fort Wilderness with tons of stuff, people, golf cart riding etc. We spend most times at the CG so doing touristy stuff is not at the top of our list. Hard to find a similar Ocean Lakes or Ft Wilderness CG in Florida so looking for any suggestions. Thanks
We have gone 2 years now to what was originally called Cabana club now part of the Margaritaville RV resort chain that is growing. Smaller but super nice, clean, tons of activities for kids a nice pool and a brand new second pool. Also right next door to a wake board / water ski park if your teen is up for that. Check it out.
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kfp673
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06/12/22 10:56am |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: CG Prices
Sun recently purchased frontier towne in OC.
I feared for the worst. However it has not been as bad as expected.
They added a new fully paved full hook up section that is very nice.
I agree rates increased substantially, but I'm sure adding 50 full hook up sites was a few million dollar project.
As mentioned Frontier towne is in a resort town and will never be an economy destination.
There are budget friendly destinations but they are generally not located in prime tourist areas
You cannot realistically compare resort town CG prices to other non resort CG's.
You need to consider what hotels and condo's go for in resort areas to get a better feel for pricing.
Not comparing resort to non resort. Just saying that those 2 in particular you mentioned had a range of prices over Memorial Day of $200-350 per night. That’s insane and as mentioned in my first post, I’m sure was the reason they did not sell out. They are both decent places but I have stayed at far far better for a small fraction of the price. You could never touch a site at one of those two resorts over Memorial Day if you did not book far in advance. Now that they are owned by the corporations who jacked the prices to more than double with the private owners used to charge they are not Selling out. Again $350!!! Now I know that is not their regular price on a non-holiday weekend but Just poking around I have noticed even their regular weekend rates have gone up substantially as have every other park purchased by corporations that I pay attention to.
I appreciate all of the comments on this thread. It’s great to hear all the different perspectives from all of the different areas of the country. At the same time it’s just a shame to see the costs continue to rise with very little improvement. It’s also a shame to see two or three large corporations buying up so many of our favorite private resorts and essentially ruining them with decreased service and increased pricing.
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kfp673
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06/06/22 06:57am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: CG Prices
Good thoughts all! I should clarify that my point is not a 100% blanket statement. Certainly plenty of lower cost CG's, especially in lower demand areas, but my findings have been those are either very difficult to get in without booking far in advance, or they are just bad / dumpy places. I should also clarify that while prices have been climbing as we all know, I am specifically referring to this year / right now. And I totally understand that a private CG with lots of "things to do" is going to be much higher than state parks or others, but there's a limit. Seems like the majority of major hikes (some have doubled or nearly doubled over the past 2 years) are the corporate campgrounds. We used to actively avoid Sun, Trails, etc. We did not mind KOA so much as they still tend to feel like personally owned. problem is, Sun and Trails are buying everything, doing nothing at all to improve them (or maybe very minor tweaks) and hiking prices. Again, I can't speak for all locations but in my experience so far this year. Up and down the east coast I am seeing these privates sell to the corporate names and it's really a shame. Can't blame the owners as I'm sure it's a win for them but prices go up immediately in my experience.
Anyway, not much we can do I guess other than keep looking elsewhere and increase my boondock trips
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kfp673
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06/05/22 06:39am |
General RVing Issues
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CG Prices
Preaching to the choir, beating a dead horse, etc etc I know but I still have to vent.
I've been camping my whole life and have had travel trailers for the past 18 years and never thought I would see site prices even come close to approaching what I have been seeing lately. Thankfully state parks (which we love and prefer) have kept prices somewhat flat, but we can rarely get a site at state parks. We are not year in advance planners outside of 1 trip each year so we rarely get in. We do it all from boondocking to "luxury RV resorts". The mid tier to "luxury" range has always been from $65-$150 that we have seen, and places like Fort wilderness up around $200. While looking for a site over memorial day weekend, we found a few near Ocean City MD, NJ, and elsewhere that we have used in the past (but not for the last 5 years) that ranged $200-$350 per night! Are they crazy?!?! It's a darn camp site not an all inclusive resort!! It's no wonder the few we found in that price point were not sold out over the holiday weekend. And, KOA's and others we looked at similar to KOA's are all over $100 now. We ended up boondocking and had a great time but we are finding our boondocks sites are far busier now likely because of it. I just can't believe anyone would pay even $150+ let alone $300+ per night at any RV resort / campground. For that price it should include food delivered to my camper, unlimited cocktails, and someone should come make my bed and clean my camper each day. I really hope people continue refusing the Sun RV and others like it so prices start dipping again. This is not inflation. This is "because we can" greed and its ruining camping for those of us without deep bank accounts.
Sorry for the rant ;-)
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kfp673
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06/04/22 10:34am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Electric bikes !!
To those talking about speed governing (not me I love the top speed ! ;-)) that is precisely how the Lectric XP2.0 works and likely all the new Lectric models as well. It is not specifically a governor but it sets the pedal assist top speed in roughly 5mph increments. For example, setting the bike to PAS 1 will only help you up to 5mph. You can go faster but only by peddling just like any other bike or by turning the throttle which again is a choice you are making as the rider. Within smaller campgrounds is pretty much the only time I ever use 1. PAS 2 is 10mph etc up through PAS5. Vast majority of my riding is PAS 3 which is a nice 15mph cruise speed.
I would assume many other electric bikes work the same way but look into it.
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kfp673
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06/03/22 10:38am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: DC to AC help
Curious, where did you mount the inverter to make in convenient for your shore power cord? Also, what size inverter do you run and off what size cable from the battery system? Thanks!
Front pass through storage of a travel trailer. Battery connection is about 5' of 2/0 gauge.1500 watt pure sine wave inverter
Thanks! I like the simplicity of your method of simply plugging the shore power cable into the inverter, but doesn't that cause the batteries to try to charge themselves? With onboard chargers in the camper any time I have AC plugged in the charger is on. Does this cause a problem?
Edit- Actually, I see you dedicated a breaker to the onboard charger so you can isolate and turn that off. Found a youtube video of this exact install. I guess the only downside is having to change the shore power cord back and forth from inverter to generator throughout the day.
Thanks again
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kfp673
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05/27/22 05:52am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: DC to AC help
My technique is similar to pianotuna's. When boondocking I do the following:
1. Fridge and water heater on propane
2. Disconnect converter. I isolated my converter's power supply to its own AC breaker that I switch off. I also have air conditioner, electric water heater, and microwave breakers switched off to avoid accidentally running them (too much load for my battery system)
3. I plug my camper's shore power cable into the inverter's AC outlet.
4. Turn on inverter, now all outlets are live in the camper.
Curious, where did you mount the inverter to make in convenient for your shore power cord? Also, what size inverter do you run and off what size cable from the battery system? Thanks!
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kfp673
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05/26/22 08:04pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: DC to AC help
Great feedback everyone. I'm busy reading all of this and appreciate the help!
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kfp673
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05/26/22 12:35pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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DC to AC help
Hello All. I know it has been discussed a million times but I'm struggling to find posts that start with "step 1". Feel free to simply point me to a post if you know if one.
We started doing a lit more boondocking 2 years ago. We upgraded to dual portable generators, added more water storage, and upgraded the single 12V battery to a pair of 6V. The 6V upgrade was huge and allows us much more time with out the generators. I might add to that but the next thing I'd like to do is power some AC devices such as coffee maker and TV off the battery. When I search, most of the inverters have AC plugs directly on them but I would like ours hard wired in. Ideally we would like to have any AC plug have the ability to run off the battery with an inverter before the panel but I'm not sure how to do that or which (relatively affordable) inverter to go with. If I learn from your replies that picking 2 or 3 AC outlets is easier then I am fine with that as well, but I still want it hardwired with either an auto switch over or manual switch but where it feels to the user as if you had AC power to the trailer. Auto switchover would be preferred.
Any help is appreciated and thanks in advance
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kfp673
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05/25/22 10:43am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Electric bikes !!
Another one for the Lectric XP. We bought 2 of the XP 2.0's around Christmas time. Really just started using them. Had a few minor issues but the company took care of us right away. Love them so far! We ride them at home and on the road. A bit heavy so it is a challenge getting them both situated when folded in the truck bed but not too big of a deal. Also got a pair of the Jetson's from Costco for our 14 yr twins. They are designed to hold adults so I have ridden them as well and also no complaints. Much slower than our Lectrics but perfectt for the kids or anyone really who wants to save some $ and maybe pedal around towns etc.
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kfp673
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05/04/22 10:10am |
General RVing Issues
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