Advancing Alvar

[Davydd]

This is the face of the back storage wall from the inside living space where the hanging plastic strips are. We put the cat litter box facing that opening. In this photo the strips are pushed away or draped over the top of the box so you can see the litter box. The cat likes to hide on the passenger side right behind the wheel well under the passenger side bed.

[Davydd]

We arrived home today and it might be it for this year. For the year we had been on the road for 146 days, 26,214 miles, 34 states and 6 Canadian provinces since January 26. We had three extended trips. This last one was since September 5. I kept a log. Now I am curious to assess the results.

[obgraham]

Now there's a man who gets good use out of his B rig.

Well done!

[Fastpaddler1]

Congratulations. That must be one very comfortable RV. What an adventure. We are good for a couple of thousand miles a year, maybe, on average.
AL

[Scottbaldassari]

Excellent.
Awesome trip, Fantastic Rig.
I'm doing my best not to be envious.

[Boxster1971]

Great trip! Looking forward to see the results of your assessment.

[Davydd]

We winterized today. Advanced RV is a little unique in winterizing. I am not sure anyone else does it their way. First we dumped our tanks and then we followed a procedure where you only put the pink antifreeze into the water lines. It is explained in this video by Advanced RV a little bit but not demonstrated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uYydFftUMI

This is a close up photo of what Advanced RV explained. What you see are two quarter turn valves. First the longer handled hose when turned will shut off the fresh water tank to the water lines. The shorter handled valve next to the cap if turned will open to the water lines. You unscrew that cap and hook up a female end hose to it. I cut off an old hose about 5 foot in length to do this. You insert the cut off end into a gallon of antifreeze and turn on the water pump. That will draw antifreeze out of the bottle until the lines are filled. Then you, in turn, turn on each faucet until you see pink antifreeze flowing. The lines will be filled with antifreeze but the fresh water tank will still be empty. Next spring you can flush the lines without ever getting antifreeze in your fresh water tank.



This is the end in the antifreeze bottle. I can lay down beside the van and just reach both valves and the cap to turn the valves and screw on the hose. It had to be done blindly by feel but I did not have to put Alvar up on jacks.



It took about 1-1/2 gallons. I also manually added a gallon to the back water tank. They grey tank had the test antifreeze. We only have one waste trap in the bathroom floor so that was all I had to treat. The other two sinks are Hepa valves. The macerator is flushed with waste antifreeze. We plan to use our B once this winter and will carry water in jugs for coffee, drinking, food prep and brushing teeth. We will flush the toilet with antifreeze.

[avanti]

Why did you not choose to simply blow out the system with compressed air? I have done that exclusively for a decade.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by avanti

Why did you not choose to simply blow out the system with compressed air? I have done that exclusively for a decade.

I've done the compressed air in the past. My Pleasure-way had low point water line drains that were very effective without need of compressed air. I've done the antifreeze in the tank but once and it takes at least two tank refills to drive it all out even though we don't drink, make coffee and cook with that water and it really won't harm you. This method was provided and I wanted to try it. I could still do the compressed air and I know anything left will be antifreeze and not water. It would all just go into the grey tank and that is OK.

We have one winter trip planned in January to join the Roadtrek folks at Tahquamenon Falls SP on Michigan's UP. We will also head out for the south sometime in February and like last year it takes about two days to drive out of the cold weather. If I wanted to I could just stay plugged into shore power and let the glycol heat warm the water. It worked for us last January.

[obgraham]

As a long term devotee of the compressed air technique, I realize that for the air system to work, you have to have a reliable low point drain. In my prior Winnie, it was very easy to use the compressor method. The only place I used pink was in the traps and waste tanks. Not so in the RT.

Of course, there's nothing to stop doing like Davydd, and using both methods.

[Applegater]

Our Leisure Travel Serenity had similar system, only difference was we could do it from inside the coach.

[riplips]

Davydd,

Thanks for sharing so much about your Ocean One. I originally looked at ARV because i am so close to them, but finally decided to go the Travato G route because it ticked 95% of my boxes at 40% of the price.

That said, I am planning a few years out and considering a 4 season 4x4 custom build.

My Question to you is:

What is the biggest thing you learned from Building Alvar, and what would you do differently?

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by Applegater

Our Leisure Travel Serenity had similar system, only difference was we could do it from inside the coach.

I'm trying to envision how you would do this inside. I'm not sure I would want potential leaky hose connections and open bottles of antifreeze inside. On the other hand had I waited one extra day I would have been faced with steady rain and potential snow working outside. My fallback then would be to plug in and turn on the electrical heat portion for hot water temporarily until better outside conditions. The bundled insulation and glycol would then keep the water lines and fresh water tank warm. It worked last winter for a week with temperatures down to -5 degrees F.

My Pleasure-way Plateau and Great West Van Legend had nothing like this. The main thing is keeping pink antifreeze out of the fresh water tank and still using that method to winterize the lines. My lines are solidly filled with antifreeze. I am still thinking about blowing out that antifreeze as Avanti mentioned. I've gotten comments elsewhere where you can't get the water out completely with some Bs by blowing compressed air. I don't know if that is true or not. However, what is left would be antifreeze and not water.

I didn't have to do antifreeze or line blowing in our Pleasure-way. There were two low point drain cocks and usually on our last trip home we would dump all the water we could into the grey and black tanks before dumping and via the outside shower and then drive home with the two drain cocks open. I did try blowing them once and got nothing. Could have guessed that since I did that in my fourth year of ownership and the Pleasure-way passed four Minnesota winters.

[Applegater]

David, LTV had valves and permanent tube installed by the water pump under a seat, with place to sit a gallon of antifreeze. Very convenient and clean but it was a small C with more room than we have in our B.

[avanti]

IIRC, there are also aftermarket kits for setting up that style of winterization.

You don't really have to get ALL the water out of any system. No damage will be done either in PEX lines or anywhere that there is adequate room for expansion. Of course it is always best to do the best you can. The biggest problems tend to occur in fixtures, which are confined and fragile.

BTW: Don't forget to remove your Keurig coffemaker. They retain water and there is no practical way to get it out.

[Davydd]

I took the Keurig out. Ours just lifts out and is mounted on studs. I first looked underneath the slide out tray assuming there were screws or bolts holding it. There were none so I figured it would lift out and it did. I was thinking if it didn't one could put some cheap bourbon in and enjoys some first brews next spring.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Davydd

I took the Keurig out. Ours just lifts out and is mounted on studs. I first looked underneath the slide out tray assuming there were screws or bolts holding it. There were none so I figured it would lift out and it did. I was thinking if it didn't one could put some cheap bourbon in and enjoys some first brews next spring.

Hmm. Two good ideas in one post.

My Keurig does have screws on the bottom. I would love to see how ARV does it. If you get a chance to take a picture sometime, it would be great.

Does the bourbon have to be cheap?

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by riplips

Davydd,

Thanks for sharing so much about your Ocean One. I originally looked at ARV because i am so close to them, but finally decided to go the Travato G route because it ticked 95% of my boxes at 40% of the price.

That said, I am planning a few years out and considering a 4 season 4x4 custom build.

My Question to you is:

What is the biggest thing you learned from Building Alvar, and what would you do differently?

I was about 6 months too soon in getting a 4x4. They weren't available when I placed my order. I had already lost a fall season of RVing and wasn't about to wipe out this past spring. If I were ordering today I would get the 4x4.

There would be a few tiny dimensional changes I would make to my beds had I been able to be on site and work more directly. We are talking 1/2" to 1" increments and a few little details. As it is we were very pleased with the result.

Had I known I would be the first person to get the easy to use Smartplug 30 amp shore power connector I would have had it installed installed under the back bumper. I was assuming it would be the traditional visually line up and insert, twist and screw on locking collar. Other than the roof items that is the only thing that screams RV. I could be an airport shuttle for all anyone knows. We seem pretty anonymous. We haven't been approached nearly as much as our previous Bs.

I pretty much maxed out on the solar at 420 watts, but the second fast charging alternator, huge battery bank and my frequent touring habits made it really seem to be a non-factor.

Had I left off the back solar panel I could have installed satellite TV. Nah! We rarely watched TV and we carried 3 DVD movies we never got around to watching. My TV use consisted of mainly seeing how many channels were available.

I was also too early to get in on the 360 degree camera system that gives you a visual plan look at where you are and what is around you. That's cool.

Even though I am an Apple fanboy I passed on installing Apple TV. I wanted the next version and figured I could install my old one. Other than 3M Command Strip hook installations, the Apple TV may be my first modification.

I passed on putting an awning on. That was a last minute decision to eliminate as I hate the look of them, find them to be leaf trappers and make brushing snow off the roof difficult. As it turned out I monitored this closely and could identify only two days where I could say I wished I had the awning. We had rarely put out our awning on our previous Bs. We carry an Eddie Bauer screen tent for when we want shade or rain protection while outside. It does double duty to mark our site as occupied when we come and go.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by avanti

Hmm. Two good ideas in one post.

My Keurig does have screws on the bottom. I would love to see how ARV does it. If you get a chance to take a picture sometime, it would be great.

Does the bourbon have to be cheap?

I was thinking along the lines of a Trader Joe's $14.95 bottle of Bourbon. After a winter and mixed with coffee at that point in time what difference would it make?

The Keurig sits on three screw studs that are about 1/8" diameter by 3/8" high like this. There was some resistance in lifting it off.



This is a close up of a stud.



Edit. This is the Keurig underside. Those rubber grommets I think are standard on Keurig and that is where the studs insert.

[Applegater]

Gotta come to Minnesota, Oregon doesn't allow Trader Joe to sell hard liquor!