Montreal Road Trip

lapowers57

We left Friday morning from central Connecticut headed for a music festival in Joliette, Quebec which is about 30 minute north of Montreal.  We expected the trip up to take about 7 hours or a little more.  This turned into over 10 hours as we had an 1:45 minute wait at the border and that threw us into Montreal rush hour traffic where we lost almost another 1:30 in time.  We still made it to our destination, Festival Mémoire et Racines, in time to hear the first bands play in the distance while we set up our T@B.  After getting set up and having a hot meal we were able to relax from the hectic drive and start enjoying ourselves.  We had good weather for the weekend and the T@B performed perfectly.  

The camping was in a field without hookups.  We ran up with the fridge on DC and I was glad to see that the alternator in my TV was able to keep up with the drain of the fridge.  Because of our late arrival we ended up camping under the trees so sunlight was at a premium.  We have Zamp 160 panels are trying to avoid buying a generator.  I had a small patch of sunlight I could chase with the panels and get about 5 hours of charging each day.  We are quite miserly with our power use and even with the fridge and ALDE running we could make do with this for many days except my wife has a CPAP machine and this is the first time she used it in the camper  and it took a pretty heavy toll on the battery.  Luckily she can do without it because we probably we have drawn the battery down below 50 percent after the third night if she had to use it.  If we had full sunlight we would be fine with her CPAP running for a night but even with our 100 ah battery I don't think we could go two nights if we could not get nearly a full charge into the battery during the day. 

In the camping area they put out some portable toilets that are pretty ripe by the end of the festival and there was one portable cold water shower.  A half a mile away in the main venue there are about 4 shower stalls that you can use but the lines are very long.  We have tent camped in the past at this event and this is one of the things that drove us towards a T@B with a shower and toilet.  The first day we didn't fire up the ALDE and the water was pretty warm from sitting in traffic all day.  The second day we fired up the ALDE and the small but private hot shower was so nice. I don't mind the portable toilets but my wife was quite happy to have a nice clean fresh smelling bathroom.  

Since this was dry camping we arrived with empty waste tanks, a full water tank and another 5 gallons of fresh water in the TV.  This was about perfect and while we were careful we did not have to scrimp on water use and I even dumped a few gallons of fresh water on our way out Monday morning.

Walking around the campground we found one T@G in the perfect colors with a huge side tent and lots of old VW campers.

Issues we encountered besides the traffic were very low mileage in the Green Mountains and a blown cruise control.  Unlike western interstates that tend to have long but not too steep climbs the highways in New England tend to have shorter but much steeper climbs.  My TV is a 10 year old Ford Explorer with a six cylinder and 4x4 drive.  It never got great mileage and with the T@B on rolling highways I get between 12 and 13 mpg.  When we had to cross the Green Mountains we hit some very steep grades and my mileage dropped to about 9 mpg.  I tend to use cruise control and it has a serious issue with the steep grades when pulling the T@B.  I help it out but using the throttle on the climbs but on one climb I wasn't paying attention and the cruise control shut off and would not come back on.  I am hoping it is just a fuse and will check now that I am home.  I won't make that mistake again.

Very happy with the T@B after our first real trip.  Next up a week and a half in the Gaspe Peninsula.

Cyclonic

Sounds like a great time.  Love the VW conversions. 

Your typical mileage is on par with what I get as well, 9mpg is really low though.  Those old mountains will put your TV through a workout.

jcfaber1

For your CPAP,are you using an inverter or a 12V power supply?  I use a 12V power supply and the drain is much lower.
John

ericnliz

Glad you had fun! Cruise control while towing is not a good idea unless you're on a long flat surface. Has a tendency to tax your transmission big time. Hope it's just a blown fuse! By the way, is that a harp?

lapowers57

We used an inverter.  What do you mean by a 12 volt powers supply for this application?  Is this the assumption that the CPAP runs on 12 volt and that with the correct connector you could plug it directly into the 12 volt outlet in the T@B?  Any improvement that would lower the powers draw would be a big help.

Nomad

lapowers57 - I don't use one but based on a few threads here I believe there is a model that can run on either AC or 12v DC and runs more efficiently than using an inverter.

lapowers57

The harp is my wife's newest hobby.

jcfaber1

I have a ResMed S9.  I purchased their 12V power supply from CPAP.com for $90.  It uses much less juice than running through an inverter.  I also turn down the heat on the humidifier.  I also have a polar fleece tube to cover the hose which insulates and is more comfortable on the skin.
John 

ericnliz

lapower57, thanks for the reply, good hobby!

Ratkity

My resmed cpap had a 12v option. Not all of them do, but it was miserly on 12v when not using humidifier. Of course, the setting pressure on the unit may increase or decrease power needs.

lapowers57

Found the 12 volt supply and have added it to the must have list. Also need to get her to followup with the doctor on lowering the pressure,  She needs the pressure lowered but I didn't think about how that could impact electric use also.  Our next trip will be about 75% in campgrounds with hookups so we will make do with what we have for now.