Our RV Purchase Prorities

The title says it all. We are going to be writing a series of articles on what you need to get the most out of your RVing experience.

Here is where we are what we have and what we still want to complete our home away from home project. Since we will be living in our rig for 6 months out of the year we would like to make it as comfortable as our home. For me high speed internet, Direct TV with NFL package, Apple TV with NHL package, etc. Yes i am a sports nut.

Now Denise needs her space set up the way she wants as well. She will be posting her wish list right here on this blog very soon.

We talk about all the entertainment stuff with a bit of humor. However, for a true sports fan this is a big deal. Now then being a responsible RVer lets talk about the essential items we really need. Today we will be looking at Generators.

Before we dive in to this to much more lets discuss where we are today. The reason i say this is if i has to do it all over again I would have had the factory install a pre wired unit when we made the purchase. At the time that was just a bit hard on the budget.

I have a Honda eu2000 from back in the day when we had our Lance camper and even when we stepped up to our 27' pull behind with bunk house. The eu2000 did just fine for those rigs. Now that we are in a 36' fifth wheel with dual A/C units we need a bit more power.

The second A/C was added nearly a year after the original purchase again due to budget. We tried using just the one unit for a while. I will tell you installing the A/C in the bedroom was worth every cent. We paid just over $1200. installed. When we were in Disneyland its was in the high 90s outside I turned on the unit in bedroom feel a sleep for 4 hours from 2 to 6 pm when i woke up i was cold and very well rested. I would say some of the best sleep i have had in months.

Powering that unit was not an issue at Disneyland because of the awesome 50 amp service we were able to plug into.  What would we have done had that not been there or working. You will someday need a generator. But which one. They are very expensive so you want to try to get it right the first time.

You could alway tow this unit with you. Ok maybe not lets look at few other more reasonable options.

When looking at generators these days we can pretty much look at the big 3.

• 1 - Honda
• 2 - Yamaha
• 3 - Onan

Onan of course is the best choice and of course it is the most expensive. This 2800 watt unit will cost you $2399. plus installation. Our only concern is this is only enough power for one of the A/C units. Not a problem if its just Denise and I. But if we bring the Kids or guest you will want to run both.

You could get the 5000 watt but hold on to your wallet $6000. I just can't justify that kind of money.



The bottom line is you wont need it very often. But that one night you cant find  place to stay and you crash for a few hours in the Walmart parking lot in Redding, CA where its 100 degrees at midnight you will be glad you have a generator.

Next time we will look at the Honda models.

Thanks, Dennis