Category: Vanlife
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Eighty on Eighty
The fastest way to drive across the northern plains is to hit one of the Interstate highways, set the cruise at 80, and zone out for a day. Much slower, but it far more interesting is to pick one of the even numbered US highways and drive through the small towns, past the farms, fields…
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Mako Sica
For many, the South Dakota Badlands are a drive-by on the way to the Black Hills or Yellowstone – a short detour off I-90 through what would have been wasteland in another era. The beauty of the Badlands isn’t fully appricated through a car window at 25mph. Hitting the dirt – hiking the footpaths and…
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Power Consumption – Venting the Fridge and Disconnecting the Propane
To tackle power consumption I made two changes. The first was to add an inside disconnect for the remote propane gas valve. The propane disconnect draws just under 1A continuously as long as the propane is on. The Crossfit comes with a switch for shutting off the propane located outside by the propane fill. I…
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Powering with Lithium
As built, the 2019 Crossfit comes with 200Ah of lead acid batteries and 200 watts of solar. The lead-acid’s are under the chassis behind the rear wheels. Coachmen installed a 12.2V automatic battery disconnect, so the under ideal conditions the coach batteries get disconnected when about 60% full. In cold weather the disconnect occurs when…
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Fitting and Outfitting
The day I drove the Crossfit home, I threw a bit of gear in the back and camped in a local boondocking spot in a wildlife refuge that night. Nothing like jumping with both feet. That got me started on tweaks and modifications to the coach. Observation #1: The space behind the couch is hard…
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The Coachmen Crossfit
Deciding to purchase a Class ‘B’ was hard. But surprisingly, picking the make and model really wasn’t. The Chassis. All class B’s are built on one of three chassis: Mercedes Sprinter, Ram Promaster and Ford Transit. Sprinter and Promaster are by far the most popular, but I really wasn’t enthused about either. Sprinters are the…
Michael Janke 