Electrical Extension & Mattress upgrade

[drjjj]

We are living full-time in our 3400 waiting on our retirement home to be completed. I had planned on two modifications to the house to make loading and unloading the rig simpler. One: a 50 amp connection installed in the front yard. How long of an "extension cord" could I use without encountering any problems (voltage drops, tripping breakers, etc.)? Would running an electrical line to the street be overkill? Two: a sewer cleanout at the street for dumping the tanks prior to storing the rig. My front yard is not that deep, and there will be a cleanout at the front of the house. Would my money be better spent on one of the macerating pumps? Which one?
After all I have learned from this forum, I finally have a contribution to make. We replaced our mattress with a king size (standard king) Select Comfort mattress and LOVE IT. I did add a layer of 3/8 plywood to increase the bed platform size. It does make the bedroom a little tight, and making the bed takes a little more time, but is it ever worth it for a good night's sleep! Thanks for all the advice and help from everyone.

[exav8tr]

drjjj, We have a 3400 also and have heard rumours of the uncomfortable "stock" mattress. We have sold our king size bedroom set but the new folks did not want the mattress so we are thinking of putting it in the Monty. I have one question: Would the square end (foot end) of the mattress interfere with closing of the BR slide?

I kinda thought that was why they rounded the end of the bed, or was it just to give it the BR more leg room?

[Emmel]

drjjj, when we built our "retirement" home 10 years ago I had the builder put a pad on the side of the house. Along with the cement pad, we had 30amp service and a sewer connection added. This was so I could keep the Montana plugged in while at home. I can do a thurough(?) job of cleaning out the tanks and when plugged in, keep the fridge on and the battery charged. You can put a 50amp if you want, I just used 30amp thinking this was sufficient enough. I'm not familier with your local laws or codes to know how close to the street you could put a sewer cleanout. Our codes have the sewer hookup beside or behind the front of the house. Also in our little town, some neighborhoods will not allow a camper or any trailer at your residence for over 24 hours.

[drjjj]

I forgot to mention that you will need to deflate the bed to close the slide. The bed weighs next to nothing and can easily be lifted. Many people in the park we are currently staying in that have other fifth wheels and motorhomes have beds that must be lifted to close the slide, so having to do that did not deter me.

[richfaa]

We have 50amp service along side the house. Had a unused 60 amp ckt in the home fuse panel.I think the run was about 50 feet to the side of the house. We learned that our storm drains ran into the sanitary drains instead of the storm drains so we now also have a dump station along side the house. We have a fortune in concrete poured along side the house for the camper and it is on line all the time. We have had 5 campers and never had a OEM mattress that was any good. We replaced our OEM thing with a Queen size bear bed 60X80 same as the OEM queen with no modifcations necessary.We can keep our camper along side the house as long as the front of the camper is behind the leading edge of the house .

[fulltimedreamer]

If local ordinances are not a problem I would definitely add a shore power connection and dump connection. We have a 30 Amp connection and a dump connection. If my coach had a 50 Amp power connection I would change to a 50 Amp shore power connection. Our coach stays connected to power all the time. We use our coach as a guest house when we have lots of company. The guests love the privacy and having their own refrigerator (stocked with drinks and snacks), satellite TV, bathroom, etc.