This section of the website has gotten a slow start as I do my best to catch up with everything else I've got going in the midst of a computer change. Photos are here, there, and everywhere. Websites have been totally revamped, I've opened a Square Market store, completed my first video project ... in between working and riding!
A while back I had created a thread on the Dutchman Owner's Forum about full timing in a Rubicon 2100. Today, I received an inquiry from someone looking to do the same. My response (below) seems like as good a way to begin this blog as any.
Hi Jim ...
Thank you for the note! I am in the middle of changing computers and had lost the link to this forum!
To answer your question, I have not been in freezing temperatures with my 2100 (I call her "TowTow" and the emerald green truck that pulls her is "EmaGene" or "Auntie Em").
Anyway, I have been set up in Florida since Daytona Biketoberfest. It has been down into the 30s here, but not so bad that I've needed to worry about pipes freezing, though I've left the hot water heater on during those really cold nights.
I've always been a barefoot person, but I wear house slippers in TowTow because the floor is cold. I also have throw rugs next to the bed and in the bathroom for when I get up at night.
If you use the furnace, heat ducts to the bedroom ok, but leave the bathroom door open, or it gets really cold in there!
I have a small electric fireplace (http://gypsyspiritsrides.weebly.com/uploads/9/7/4/8/9748397/3819672_orig.jpg?146) I use more than the furnace, and leave the heat off at night when I am sleeping.
As far as sleeping goes ... do yourself a favour and get rid of the mattress that comes in the 2100, unless you want incentive to get out of bed in the morning! IMO it's useful only as a pick up bedliner or to cut up to make dog beds out of! Within a couple months it was so compressed I might just as well have been sleeping on the wood platform beneath it! I'm currently using a Coleman air mattress which is infinitely more comfortable!
A note about air mattresses though, use lots of blankets UNDER you, as the air in the mattress will be the same temperature as the air around it! I also used the mattress cover that came with the 2100 under the air mattress to protect it from getting pin holes from the hinges and wood splinters.
I put a heating pad under the mattress (under the cloth, not next to the plastic) to use like a water bed heater, and will click it on for a cycle if I get chilly during the night.
I also found that it is MUCH easier to make the bed and keep the room neat if I put my feet by the window and pull back the corner nearest the door to climb under the blankets.
I've really only been living in it since October, so I am still learning also. Please stay in touch and let me know how things go for you. My website (http://gypsyspiritsrides.weebly.com)will send me emails about comments/contacts, this forum, only if it is a thread that I am subscribed to!
Happy Trails!
Gypsy
A while back I had created a thread on the Dutchman Owner's Forum about full timing in a Rubicon 2100. Today, I received an inquiry from someone looking to do the same. My response (below) seems like as good a way to begin this blog as any.
Hi Jim ...
Thank you for the note! I am in the middle of changing computers and had lost the link to this forum!
To answer your question, I have not been in freezing temperatures with my 2100 (I call her "TowTow" and the emerald green truck that pulls her is "EmaGene" or "Auntie Em").
Anyway, I have been set up in Florida since Daytona Biketoberfest. It has been down into the 30s here, but not so bad that I've needed to worry about pipes freezing, though I've left the hot water heater on during those really cold nights.
I've always been a barefoot person, but I wear house slippers in TowTow because the floor is cold. I also have throw rugs next to the bed and in the bathroom for when I get up at night.
If you use the furnace, heat ducts to the bedroom ok, but leave the bathroom door open, or it gets really cold in there!
I have a small electric fireplace (http://gypsyspiritsrides.weebly.com/uploads/9/7/4/8/9748397/3819672_orig.jpg?146) I use more than the furnace, and leave the heat off at night when I am sleeping.
As far as sleeping goes ... do yourself a favour and get rid of the mattress that comes in the 2100, unless you want incentive to get out of bed in the morning! IMO it's useful only as a pick up bedliner or to cut up to make dog beds out of! Within a couple months it was so compressed I might just as well have been sleeping on the wood platform beneath it! I'm currently using a Coleman air mattress which is infinitely more comfortable!
A note about air mattresses though, use lots of blankets UNDER you, as the air in the mattress will be the same temperature as the air around it! I also used the mattress cover that came with the 2100 under the air mattress to protect it from getting pin holes from the hinges and wood splinters.
I put a heating pad under the mattress (under the cloth, not next to the plastic) to use like a water bed heater, and will click it on for a cycle if I get chilly during the night.
I also found that it is MUCH easier to make the bed and keep the room neat if I put my feet by the window and pull back the corner nearest the door to climb under the blankets.
I've really only been living in it since October, so I am still learning also. Please stay in touch and let me know how things go for you. My website (http://gypsyspiritsrides.weebly.com)will send me emails about comments/contacts, this forum, only if it is a thread that I am subscribed to!
Happy Trails!
Gypsy