steelypip
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LP made a lot of sense back in the day when electricity was an awkward thing to manage in an RV. Now, small electric refrigerators are very efficient and draw very little power and inverters are drastically cheaper, better, and more efficient than they used to be. Also, most people seldom camp in the rough, which means that electricity is usually available where you pull in for the night.
Having an off-road capable RV changes the equation a little. But I still think I'd do what my dad did and pull the LP fridge out of the RV (it died) and replace with an electric fridge. They can be had in AC/DC models now, too, if you are willing to spend a little more money to avoid having to run the inverter if you don't have shore power.
Probably the only two LP appliances I'd positively recommend are the water heater (hot water is right behind indoor plumbing in the list of things that make civilization worth putting up with) and an LP heater/furnace big enough to keep it comfy at 20 F or so. Whether or not you want a multi-burner LP cooktop depends entirely on how often you expect to get three hot squares in your day when living in the RV. My parents have both the original cooktop and LP oven in their vintage RV, but they tend to use them seldom. They eat sandwiches a lot, and have installed a microwave for heating soup, tea, coffee, etc. The other item they use a lot is one of the tabletop plug-in icemakers. It's an energy hog, but cubed ice is a very nice thing in summer....
I know other people with similar RVs who have elected to pull the cooktop and oven out entirely and make their coffee with one of the little tabletop gas burners to save weight and cubage. It's all about lifestyle choices.
As his is a vintage RV, air conditioning was a difficult thing to add. The good news was that it had a roof-mount 120 VAC air conditioner, so his solution was to get a small 2.5 KW generator and use that to run whatever electrical stuff he desires when underway. It's strong enough to run the AC and anything else they're likely to need, and it has the significant advantage of already being there if you need to charge the deep cycle back up or want to run the icemaker without shore power. The rule of thumb here is to buy the smallest generator that will run your biggest single load. Smaller is lighter, quieter, and more efficient and you can always shed loads to get down to what it will run (you're camping, remember?).
My experience with the LP fridges is that they're not all that reliable and that they don't keep food cold all that well. YMMV.
Given the amount of roof area that trailer has, I would think that solar panels would be a great idea - be forwarned, though that they get hot, so you'll want some air gap or plenty insulation between them and the ceiling. You'd probably have enough solar power to run the fridge without discharging the battery during daylight hours. Nice.
Having an off-road capable RV changes the equation a little. But I still think I'd do what my dad did and pull the LP fridge out of the RV (it died) and replace with an electric fridge. They can be had in AC/DC models now, too, if you are willing to spend a little more money to avoid having to run the inverter if you don't have shore power.
Probably the only two LP appliances I'd positively recommend are the water heater (hot water is right behind indoor plumbing in the list of things that make civilization worth putting up with) and an LP heater/furnace big enough to keep it comfy at 20 F or so. Whether or not you want a multi-burner LP cooktop depends entirely on how often you expect to get three hot squares in your day when living in the RV. My parents have both the original cooktop and LP oven in their vintage RV, but they tend to use them seldom. They eat sandwiches a lot, and have installed a microwave for heating soup, tea, coffee, etc. The other item they use a lot is one of the tabletop plug-in icemakers. It's an energy hog, but cubed ice is a very nice thing in summer....
I know other people with similar RVs who have elected to pull the cooktop and oven out entirely and make their coffee with one of the little tabletop gas burners to save weight and cubage. It's all about lifestyle choices.
As his is a vintage RV, air conditioning was a difficult thing to add. The good news was that it had a roof-mount 120 VAC air conditioner, so his solution was to get a small 2.5 KW generator and use that to run whatever electrical stuff he desires when underway. It's strong enough to run the AC and anything else they're likely to need, and it has the significant advantage of already being there if you need to charge the deep cycle back up or want to run the icemaker without shore power. The rule of thumb here is to buy the smallest generator that will run your biggest single load. Smaller is lighter, quieter, and more efficient and you can always shed loads to get down to what it will run (you're camping, remember?).
My experience with the LP fridges is that they're not all that reliable and that they don't keep food cold all that well. YMMV.
Given the amount of roof area that trailer has, I would think that solar panels would be a great idea - be forwarned, though that they get hot, so you'll want some air gap or plenty insulation between them and the ceiling. You'd probably have enough solar power to run the fridge without discharging the battery during daylight hours. Nice.
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The current title makes it sound like you are turning a cool MV into a civi vehicle...
