iRV2 – Banned forever

As a tech nut, operator of a few forums, and moderator of a few others, I’m no stranger to the potential headaches of managing a forum and keeping things civil and helpful. I also recognize and commiserate on the desire to protect members from spammers and scammers or those just there for commercial profit. There is, however, a bit of logic that should be kept in mind when maintaining these communities. iRV2 appears to not subscribe to this logic.

Today, friend, fellow RVer, and geek David Bott was banned from iRV2 until January because someone asked him for where to find a video he’d created on the topic of better RV Wi-Fi, and he posted a direct link to it on his blog. Like most bloggers, David does have a small Amazon search on his site and uses affiliate links when he’s talking about a specific product. In the eyes of iRV2, this made his site ‘commercial’ and they banned him for the link.
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Tire Pressure: Great to see it, but what should it be set to?

A couple months back, we posted about how a TPMS saved our bacon (link to that post).  A TPMS is great, but what should your tires be inflated to?  This is a question that many new RV’ers have because, in their regular drive around town car, they just inflate to the pressure listed on the door post of your car (you do.. right?).

The right answer for RV’s is a bit more complicated.
Warning: Lots of words ahead!
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We Be Grillin’*

Spoiled from the built-in grill at our Las Vegas Lot, we found ourselves wanting a portable grill setup. I started, as always, researching the bejeebus out of things (Lehnanne’s words, not mine).

Here are the thoughts that went into the decision:

  • We have an all-electric coach, so I didn’t want to deal with little (or big) propane bottles.  The smell, need for inspection ( at certain bridges & tunnels ), the cost of propane, yet another fossil fuel, etc..  Thus, propane was out.
  • Natural Wood grills seem to need a LOT of tending to maintain temperature. They also take a while to get up to temperature and are large and/or heavy. Sure, there are add-ons and modifications to ease this temperature maintenance chore, but what if there was something.. smarter.. and more integrated that just works out of the box?
  • This lead me to Pellet fired grills, of which Traeger  Grills seem to be the reigning champ.  However, their portable unit doesn’t get very good marks compared to the rest and the grill isn’t particularly “smart”.  The Traeger also require 120v AC power to operate.

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