I forgot to mention that there will be no electrical hookups, and no hot
showers, but "down the road" there are coin operated hot showers.  My
husband and I have a small motorhome, and we actually drove from CA to NJ
and back during the winter about 10 yrs ago, but it was fully self-contained
and had a generator, so it was more like riding around in our house!  It's
only 23 ft long, but is a Class A, and I'm afraid to drive it!  It's much
too wide for my driving comfort.  I think the Westy will be much more more
manageable, once I get the "camping routine" down.
Patti
******************************

On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 6:29 AM, Edward Duntz <eduntz@hotmail.com> wrote:

>  I would get the Mr. Heater Buddy heater. I think it gives you much more
> flexibility, and even with a 1-lb cylinder, doesn't last that less a time
> than the others. I have a Dynaglo brand almost identical to it, but cheaper.
> It gives you the flexiblilty of using a larger tank, so you don't wake up
> cold in the middle of the night. (Some people warn against sleeping with
> them left on; that's another topic of discussion. I would recommend a
> combination CO and smoke detector and keeping the heater in a safe location,
> with the bulk propane tank stored outside your van. Or plumb it into your
> stock tank under the van)
>
> Mine takes a few tries to light. If I think I'll be warm for a while, but
> may want to re-light it in the middle of the night, to make it easier, I
> don't turn it off completely, but leave it on the pilot setting. Then when I
> want to put it on the low or high setting, it's very fast and I don't neet
> to keep hitting the piezo-electric lighter. Coleman lists run time on the
> Black Cat as seven hours. You can get six out of the Mr. Buddy type on low
> setting. Slightly mre heat, slightly less time. And if it gets really cold,
> you will need the high setting of the Mr. Buddy.
>
> As for the Dometic- I had tried to get mine to light on propane with no
> success. I could have pulled it out to do the whole troubleshooting routine,
> but I guess I wasn't ambitious enough. I used it for dry storage, and
> brought along an Igloo 5-day cooler. I would keep five to ten pounds of ice
> in one of those "dry bags" uusally used to keep your belongings dry while
> rafting. I'd keep this on top of my food. This way, I never got my food all
> wet from dripping ice bags.
>
> I finally decided I wanted something better. I was tired of dragging along
> the cooler, having it in the way, and having a fridge that didn't work well.
> So I invested in the Vitrifrigo that you may have seen mentioned on the
> list. (www.westyventures.com, then "parts" and see the installation of
> Karl Mullendore's) It runs on a.c.(if you pay a little extra for that model)
> or dc. I use two extra deep-cycle batteries under my rear seat for it. I
> used it last weekend in Ontario, Canada, and loved it. Installation was a
> bit of a pain, but it is a real working rerigerator.
>
> If your Dometic works on a.c. and d.c., I would make a modest effort to use
> it on propane, and see how well it cools. Some people get them going without
> too much effort. If you're more ambitious, take it out and troubleshoot
> using Frank Condelli's web page description.
>
> Good Luck,
> Ed Duntz in CT
>
>
>
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