WIND TURBINE TOWERS
We're frequently asked about how to build a suitable tower for a wind turbine. The best advice: ALWAYS follow the manufacturer's recommendations for tower sizing and tie downs. A fellow in the desert set up his brand new wind turbine on a free standing tower. All went well for the first few days, but then an unexpected wind came up. His new tower and turbine met up with the laws of gravity. He rebuilt, using heavier materials and plenty of guy wires. Now his system easily withstands the heaviest blows. Don't even think about using thin aluminum conduit. Always use thick walled stuff that meets or exceeds manufacturer specs.

Learn how to live on a shoestring budget in your RV without hookups. Learn about solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, inverters and ways to get freshwater and get rid of waste water without moving your RV.

GAS PAINS AND BATTERIES
Boondockers are rightly concerned about having enough battery power. But with batteries come dangers -- some not easily recognized. Charging batteries produce hydrogen gas, a highly explosive byproduct. Hydrogen is not something to fear, but respect. To keep safe:
- Always have plenty of ventilation in the battery compartment. Make sure that hydrogen gas can easily vent to the outside atmosphere.
- Never operate RV batteries inside the coach. The living quarters of the rig is no place for an explosive atmosphere.
- Don't set up equipment in the battery compartment that could spark. That includes power inverters.

WATER PUMP WIZARD
Getting water to your rig without having to move the RV is a blessing if you stay in one place for a while. Many boondockers use a water barrel - a food grade drum - they carry on their truck bed. Getting the water out of it and into the RV is a bit of a trick. Some place their barrels in custom cradles that hold them high enough to allow gravity to drain the water from the drum into the RV tank. Others set them on a bed-mounted tool box and use a siphon action. Using an auxiliary 12-volt pump can eliminate the "high flyer" methods. Immerse an inlet hose into the barrel -- possibly taping it to a metal pipe to keep it "stiff" enough to reach the bottom of the drum. An appropriately sized outlet hose fits into the RV water port. Getting electricity to your pump can be done in different ways. You may "tie in" to the battery charge line plug in the truck bed, which normally serves to charge the RV batteries when towing. Or run a 12-volt 'extension cord' to the cab and power off the cab's lighter socket.

THIS COOLER DOES THE TRICK
For us, monthly shopping is a 200-mile round trip to the "big city." On hot days, keeping the frozen foods solid while getting back home was once a problem. We tried Styrofoam coolers with bags of ice from the store -- which works, but Styro chests get mauled easily. We finally found a "low voltage" cooler chest that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket. While it isn't actually a freezer, if we pack the frozen goods together and pre-cool the cooler, our stuff gets home just fine. It works great too, when you have "bring a dish" to a potluck and want to be sure nobody gets sick from the potato salad!

EXTRA POWER NEEDS?
Bad weather left us stranded -- not enough sun for solar power and not enough wind for our turbine. It's a rare occurrence, admittedly, but still a problem. If your battery "charge line" from your tow vehicle is heavy enough, simply hook the tow rig up to the RV and run the engine to make up the loss. Yet many folks have wimpy charge lines, and it'll take nearly forever to charge up this way. You might consider taking your battery jumper cables and carefully connect them between the tow vehicle battery and the RV. The larger gauge cables will pump power into the RV much more quickly. Keep in mind, the closer batteries come to "full" the higher resistance they have against charging. Better to bring the batteries up to say, three-fourths of charge, and let the solar panels and wind turbines do the best they can to make up the difference.

Russ and Tina Demaris are the authors of RV Boondocking Basics.

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