Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » Trip Report -- Gadsden AL (Another good trip report)
| Trip Report -- Gadsden AL [message #334863] |
Mon, 09 July 2018 15:51  |
jknezek
Messages: 1057
Registered: December 2007
Karma: 5
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Senior Member |
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We made a short weekend trip up to Gadsden AL and River Country Campground. Nice place. On a spit of land that sits between a river and a wide creek, lots of waterfront spots. 3 different pools and a splash pad for the littles, a couple fishing piers. Really nice and clean, but a bit nickel and dime and heavy on the rules.
Only about 90 minutes away, so we got to really test the new AC situation. Moved our Coleman Mach 15 into the front hole, added a 13.5 Dometic Brisk Aire into the middle hole. EV6010 ran both with no problems. The Coleman, despite being 11 years old, moves a ton more air than the new Dometic. Moving that forward really helped with heat in the cab. The Dometic was pretty cheap, $500 delivered, but doesn't seem to have the same build quality. Part of that is their are 5 different directions you can blow the air. And none of them seal off very well. So if you want to blow front to back, side to side, straight down, whatever, you can do it, but closing the other flaps still allows for a massive amount of leakage out of the "non-used" flaps. It certainly saps the directional benefits.
Still, for our purposes it solves a problem. The Coleman helps with the cab, the Dometic with the straight down vents open, plus the back side of the Coleman, really cools the sofa/dining/kitchen area. So my kids are nice and cool and the cab is a lot better. Next step is sealing up the chipmunk cheeks, firewall holes, and everywhere else that we are getting hot air blasts from the engine. When the fan clutch comes on, you can feel the heat pouring into the cab. Going to have Jeff Sirum do one of his seal up specials when we are down that way at Thanksgiving.
Doubling the ACs up front also allowed us to park in full sun and keep the coach close to 70-72 degrees on a 90+ degree day with high humidity. Typically we've begged for shady spots, though the Coleman kept the coach in full sun at about 80, it just worked better with some shade. With both ACs cranking, the coach was comfortable parked even at 2 p.m. on a roasting AL day. Night has never been a problem, but again, the Dometic just doesn't have the power of the Coleman to force air to the back bedroom. My wife likes it frigid at night, so while I was happy not to be buried under 12 blankets, she deemed it acceptable but not as good as before. Maybe I should have gone with the 15K Dometic...
Anyway, a few other interesting notes. With both ACs roaring up front, the engine pounding away, and the Honda running in the back, I knew the kids were not going to get the volume out of our TV they needed. They can watch TV when we are driving and when it rains, otherwise they are outside. But the driving was going to be a problem. Our TV is over the front dinette seat, folding down from the cabinet. I ran a headphone cord up and over the headliner, coming out by the couch on the far side. I then added a 5 way splitter, 4 sets of headphones, and the kids were cool, happy, and not even bothering each other since they couldn't hear each other with the headphones on. It also mean I no longer had to listen to whatever garbage they were watching and could instead turn on the radio or talk with my wife. This was a great victory.
Finally, our blanket cabinet had rotted out over the last couple years. Truthfully it had been in poor shape when we bought the coach 11 years ago, and it was just getting disgusting. So I pulled it out and built a new one from scratch. I shrunk the cabinet section, added 2 cup holders to the front side, one cup holder to the back end, and then moved the electric outlet from where it poked my wife in the head while she slept to a popup socket on top of the cabinet. This scored me many brownie points as my wife was in love with the improvement. The pop up socket is water resistant, has 2 USB ports and 2 outlets. We could plug our phones in without bringing extra chargers, and, I can't say this enough, they weren't poking my wife in the head.
All in all, some good useability improvements. The kids and wife were getting tired of sweating while driving, so that's a major issue solved that has the kids looking forward to more summer camping. It had been a problem for our last couple trips as it was approaching 90 in the cab and probably close to 80 in the living area. Thermometer showed about 80 in the cab today, on a baking sunny drive home, and close to 75 in the back.
Thanks,
Jeremy Knezek
1976 Glenbrook
Birmingham, AL
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| Re: Trip Report -- Gadsden AL [message #334867 is a reply to message #334863] |
Mon, 09 July 2018 16:03  |
Scott Nutter
Messages: 782
Registered: January 2015
Location: Houston/San Diego
Karma: 4
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Senior Member |
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As long as the passengers are happy, you will have many years of enjoyable GMC travels!! I've heard some good things about the Coleman 11,000 btu powersaving AC as a 2nd AC unit. Very low amperage draw.
Scott.
Scott Nutter
1978 Royale Center Kitchen, Patterson 455, switch pitch tranny, 3.21 final drive, Quad bags, Dave Lenzi super duty mid axle disc brakes, tankless water heater, everything Lenzi. Alex Ferrera installed MSD Atomic EFI
Houston, Texas
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| Re: Trip Report -- Gadsden AL [message #334870 is a reply to message #334867] |
Mon, 09 July 2018 17:13 |
Carl S.
Messages: 4186
Registered: January 2009
Location: Tucson, AZ.
Karma: 13
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Senior Member |
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Jeremy,
I gave you a 'Like' on Facebook. Would do the same here if that was an option. 
Carl Stouffer
'75 ex Palm Beach
Tucson, AZ.
Chuck Aulgur Reaction Arm Disc Brakes, Quadrabags, 3.70 LSD final drive, Lenzi knuckles/hubs, Dodge Truck 16" X 8" front wheels, Rear American Eagles, Solar battery charging. GMCSJ and GMCMI member
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| Re: Trip Report -- Gadsden AL [message #334873 is a reply to message #334863] |
Mon, 09 July 2018 17:24 |
SpookyEng
Messages: 208
Registered: June 2016
Location: Navarre, FL
Karma: -5
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Senior Member |
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Nice to hear a good report! Happy Wife= Happy Life 😁.
JD Lisenby- USAF Ret
1978 Royale-455
MacDash, Manny Tranny, FI-tech, 3.70 etc etc
Navarre, FL
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| Re: [GMCnet] Trip Report -- Gadsden AL [message #334874 is a reply to message #334863] |
Mon, 09 July 2018 17:31 |
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USAussie
Messages: 15912
Registered: July 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Karma: 6
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Senior Member |
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Jeremy,
The reason the build quality of the Dometic is poor is because they are made in China. That's how RV dealers sell them for $500
delivered!
The 1977 Kingsley I bought from Kerry Pinkerton has two OEM Dometic that both work forty odd years after they were made because they
were made in the USA!
Regards,
Rob M.
The Pedantic Mechanic
Sydney, Australia
AUS '75 Avion - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
USA '75 Avion - Double Trouble TZE365V100426
USA '77 Kingsley - TZE 267V100808
-----Original Message-----
From: Gmclist [mailto:gmclist-bounces@list.gmcnet.org] On Behalf Of Jeremy
Sent: Monday, July 9, 2018 3:51 PM
To: gmclist@list.gmcnet.org
Subject: [GMCnet] Trip Report -- Gadsden AL
We made a short weekend trip up to Gadsden AL and River Country Campground. Nice place. On a spit of land that sits between a river
and a wide creek,
lots of waterfront spots. 3 different pools and a splash pad for the littles, a couple fishing piers. Really nice and clean, but a
bit nickel and dime
and heavy on the rules.
Only about 90 minutes away, so we got to really test the new AC situation. Moved our Coleman Mach 15 into the front hole, added a
13.5 Dometic Brisk
Aire into the middle hole. EV6010 ran both with no problems. The Coleman, despite being 11 years old, moves a ton more air than the
new Dometic.
Moving that forward really helped with heat in the cab. The Dometic was pretty cheap, $500 delivered, but doesn't seem to have the
same build quality.
Part of that is their are 5 different directions you can blow the air. And none of them seal off very well. So if you want to blow
front to back, side
to side, straight down, whatever, you can do it, but closing the other flaps still allows for a massive amount of leakage out of the
"non-used" flaps.
It certainly saps the directional benefits.
Still, for our purposes it solves a problem. The Coleman helps with the cab, the Dometic with the straight down vents open, plus the
back side of the
Coleman, really cools the sofa/dining/kitchen area. So my kids are nice and cool and the cab is a lot better. Next step is sealing
up the chipmunk
cheeks, firewall holes, and everywhere else that we are getting hot air blasts from the engine. When the fan clutch comes on, you
can feel the heat
pouring into the cab. Going to have Jeff Sirum do one of his seal up specials when we are down that way at Thanksgiving.
Doubling the ACs up front also allowed us to park in full sun and keep the coach close to 70-72 degrees on a 90+ degree day with
high humidity.
Typically we've begged for shady spots, though the Coleman kept the coach in full sun at about 80, it just worked better with some
shade. With both
ACs cranking, the coach was comfortable parked even at 2 p.m. on a roasting AL day. Night has never been a problem, but again, the
Dometic just
doesn't have the power of the Coleman to force air to the back bedroom. My wife likes it frigid at night, so while I was happy not
to be buried under
12 blankets, she deemed it acceptable but not as good as before. Maybe I should have gone with the 15K Dometic...
Anyway, a few other interesting notes. With both ACs roaring up front, the engine pounding away, and the Honda running in the back,
I knew the kids
were not going to get the volume out of our TV they needed. They can watch TV when we are driving and when it rains, otherwise they
are outside. But
the driving was going to be a problem. Our TV is over the front dinette seat, folding down from the cabinet. I ran a headphone cord
up and over the
headliner, coming out by the couch on the far side. I then added a 5 way splitter, 4 sets of headphones, and the kids were cool,
happy, and not even
bothering each other since they couldn't hear each other with the headphones on. It also mean I no longer had to listen to whatever
garbage they were
watching and could instead turn on the radio or talk with my wife. This was a great victory.
Finally, our blanket cabinet had rotted out over the last couple years. Truthfully it had been in poor shape when we bought the
coach 11 years ago,
and it was just getting disgusting. So I pulled it out and built a new one from scratch. I shrunk the cabinet section, added 2 cup
holders to the
front side, one cup holder to the back end, and then moved the electric outlet from where it poked my wife in the head while she
slept to a popup
socket on top of the cabinet. This scored me many brownie points as my wife was in love with the improvement. The pop up socket is
water resistant,
has 2 USB ports and 2 outlets. We could plug our phones in without bringing extra chargers, and, I can't say this enough, they
weren't poking my wife
in the head.
All in all, some good useability improvements. The kids and wife were getting tired of sweating while driving, so that's a major
issue solved that has
the kids looking forward to more summer camping. It had been a problem for our last couple trips as it was approaching 90 in the cab
and probably
close to 80 in the living area. Thermometer showed about 80 in the cab today, on a baking sunny drive home, and close to 75 in the
back.
--
Thanks,
Jeremy Knezek
1976 Glenbrook
Birmingham, AL
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Regards,
Rob M. (USAussie)
The Pedantic Mechanic
Sydney, Australia
'75 Avion - AUS - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
'75 Avion - USA - Double Trouble TZE365V100426
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| Re: Trip Report -- Gadsden AL [message #334877 is a reply to message #334863] |
Mon, 09 July 2018 18:19 |
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Jerry Sitzlar
Messages: 206
Registered: February 2013
Location: Lenoir City, TN
Karma: 4
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Senior Member |
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Rob,
That's a "Roger" on the new Dometics. I bought the two Penguins for a song, but with just one running it sounds like you have captured a tornado inside the coach. They are nice and quite on the outside and the low profile looks really good, but what the hey, isn't looking good what's it's all about now a days? I have no idea how long they will last. When I bought the coach, one original Dometic was still working in the rear with the front (middle) having been replaced with a Coleman which did not work.
Happy Motoring,
Jerry
Jerry Sitzlar..... 77 Eleganza II, Twin bed, dry bath...... Lenoir City, TN (near Knoxville)
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| Re: Trip Report -- Gadsden AL [message #334892 is a reply to message #334863] |
Tue, 10 July 2018 08:37 |
jknezek
Messages: 1057
Registered: December 2007
Karma: 5
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Senior Member |
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Thanks guys. It was a good trip. We are mostly on track to do one trip every month from March through November. We lost our May trip due to an unforseen booking problem, the tour I wanted to go on at a local wildlife area booked up before I could get them on the phone. Next up is a trip to soccer coaching school for me in early August, then maybe a mid-August replacement trip for May. Labor Day is booked, October might be a lost cause, just too much going on, but FL in November and then a Fort Wilderness trip at end of Jan. Even as we approach 11 years, still an absolute joy for our family. We are always looking to improve our usability and comfort in the coach and try to do one project a year to keep her up to date.
We also use the coach for taekwondo and soccer tournaments. Nice to have a cool place to retreat to between events. Even local trips to the lake for mid day siestas and lunch. The more we use it, the better she runs.
Thanks,
Jeremy Knezek
1976 Glenbrook
Birmingham, AL
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