how big a pad ?

[Dorn Hetzel]

The pull thru has plenty of overall length, perhaps 80 feet or more. The level area is a little close to the road for a long rig pulling a toad to pull straight in, but since it's a pull-thru connected to a loop, if one doesn't want to drop a toad, it's possible to pull around the loop and park coming the other way. To move the level area farther away from the road would pretty much mean regrading the whole site or moving the road, either one of which would probably cost more and damage more trees than we could bear. I'm thinking I may put electric in on both sides to simplify things. On my 77FC35, the electric and water are on the drivers rear corner and the sewage is about 1/2 way back on the drivers side. On my old fifth wheel, the electric was center rear, water drivers rear corner, sewage drivers 2/3 rear.


The dump station is pull-thru and lots of room. Of course, most days we have pull-thru full hook up sites available, but most of them are a little small and many have trees close so that parking in one after dark in a big rig has been more adventure than some visitors have found to their taste. (When it's dark here, it's dark, we're in the middle of a 500 acre farm and there are no streetlights on the campground (and only a couple across the street) We want camping to be like camping, not like parking at wal-mart )


Hence the couple of super flat, super easy, sites for folks with poor vision, arriving long after dark, in huge rigs My experience has been that the 11pm arrivals rarely plug into anything but electric that night, at least here. With a big and very very level (1/16" in 40' or so) concrete slab, I'm hoping folks won't even have to do anything but set their brake, plug in, and go to sleep, if they don't want to do more


The trouble with certification for more water outlets is the things the state would make us do to get certified might add as much as $5-10K or more. They seem to have stopped differentiating between a site with 10+ faucets and a small city Our other option is a new well for every nine sites or waiting until county water reaches us someday. It's all really stupid, the campground has been here fifty or sixty years and our well water is wonderful, but I don't have the money or time to argue with the state


Dorn Hetzel
77FC35
Hogansville, GA

On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 3:43 PM, Pete Masterson <"aeonix1@mac.com"> wrote:

On Apr 21, 2008, at 9:11 AM, Dorn Hetzel wrote:

Actually, the two pads I'm pouring for "easy in - easy out" nightly spots will be 6" at the thinnest spot and 12"+ at the edges.


I'm mostly trying to decide if 40 feet is long enough for the wheelbase of most rigs or if they need to be longer.

My 42' coach has a wheel base of about 30' or so. I doubt that even a 45' will be much longer. So a 40' pad would allow plenty of room to position even the longest RV all on the concrete. Do leave another 25' or so space at the back of the site so a toad can stay hooked up. (i.e. the pull through is best if it's 65-70 feet in length.

The main problem I've had is a site that has a poor placement of the utilities. While RVs will all have different utility locations, most coaches can accommodate hook-ups that are about 2/3 or so toward the rear end of the pad. But, I don't have a clue how this matches up to the typical fifth-wheel unit or larger travel trailer that might also use the space.

<snip>

I have a limit on the number of sites with water I am allowed to put on my well without paying for a state-mandated metering system, so the "one night" spaces will be electric only for now (though I'm setting pipes for water and sewer for the future).

If you have a separate dump station, be sure that it is actually reasonable for a big coach to get to it. One of the main reasons I use an RV park (rather than a Walmart lot) while I'm enroute somewhere is so I can dump my tanks. I've been at a few water/electricity only sites where the dump station required a maneuver that a large coach simply couldn't make. (Those when into my never again file.) The dump station should be reasonably accessible _on the way in_ since that's when I'm usually most "desperate" to dump.

The 'electric only' might prove to be a problem as many RVers will be using an RV park because of its water availability. Once we get there, then it depends on how much of a discount for the inconvenience is offered. While dumping the storage tanks only takes a very short time, it can take 30-40 minutes to fill my fresh tank, if it is way down. Not really for making a 'happy camper' if I have to hang around after a day on the road to take on water.

I'd suggest getting water to the sites would be worthwhile, even if there is some additional certification of water quality required.

I've stayed in a fair number of water & electricity only sites and been perfectly happy. Indeed, there are times when I've stayed overnight in a full hook-up site and simply didn't bother with dumping the tanks at all...

However, I realize that nearly all RVs have smaller tanks than my 'bird.

Pete Masterson

'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42

El Sobrante CA

"aeonix1@mac.com"