Welcome to our

New Years Trip, 2019

with Ernie Tortuga, our Sprinter van

It's been too long since we slept in Ernie. Some friends were camping after Christmas in a park we used to tent camp at, and Sharon was able to get a site for a few days, overlapping with our friends. Then she was able to get a few more days at another campground we used to tent camp in between Christmas and New Years. We had a plan!

We were due at Collier Seminole on Monday, New Year's Eve. But Christmas was over, and we wanted to start sooner. Sharon found a campsite at Oscar Shearer for Sunday night, which is on the way to Collier Seminole. I wanted to see how high the Suwannee River was around White Springs, so we left Saturday and spent the day in White Springs, parked in front of SBA headquarters for the evening.

The trip ended too quickly, we didn't have to be home for anything, so we enjoyed another two nights on the road. In all, the trip was 12 nights on the road.

The Plan, Uh, Not Really.

Our destination is the Everglades!

We essentially drove all around the Peninsula of Florida, counterclockwise. The plan started with camping with friends who were staying at Collier Seminole, and then the trip grew on both ends.

Our latest travel gear.

We are hoping we are ready for our big Summer 2019 excursion, and thought it would be worth doing a test run. We took our kayaks on a trailer, and left the SUPs.

So this year the improvements have been much less visible, but like our previous efforts aimed to make our life on the road even easier. The 100 Amp-hour GSM house battery of last year was overall inadequate. The problem with lead acid batteries is you can only use 50% of their power before you start to shorten the lifespan of the battery. Towards the end of our trip last Summer we were finding the battery wasn't really keeping a charge for too long, and we found ourselves buying ice to keep the ARB cool. So we went to Battery Distributors Southeast in Jacksonville and replaced the single GSM with a pair of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries and Victron Battery Management Software. Lithium batteries can be drawn down 80% without degrading the battery's lifespan. I look at it as the GSM gave us 50 A-Hr of power, while the new batteries give us 160 A-Hr (80 from each). More power in reserve, more options for comfort!

We also ran a line off the alternator to assist in keeping the batteries charged. Between the solar panel and the trickle charge we get while driving we expect to be in great shape powerwise. Todd from Beaches Electric in Jacksonville Beach came out and made sure that the wiring was correct; I don't want to do anything that would impact the operation of the Mercedes drivetrain!

I didn't like having the bikes off the back of Ernie. Yes, the Yakima rack swung out nicely so we could open the rear doors easily, and they were secure on the rack with it's integrated lock. But they were susceptible to road grime, and we were aware of the dust around the bottom bracket and wheel bearing and shock tubes. So we have moved the bikes back inside on a new tray that makes loading them much easier. And we put a shelf over our storage boxes on the other side of the back, with just enough room to stuff the SUPs in. So now we are back to our original stealth mode, or as stealth as a 10' tall and 24' long van can be!

The wall cabinet doors were a pain last year. The storage space was wonderful, but we went through several iterations keeping them closed. We found some good rubber ties at an REI around Seattle that wrapped effectively around the latches, but it was a lame solution. So we replaced the side opening doors with top opening ones, and making two of them wider. And I finally installed better hardware that should keep them closed without any extra attachments.