I had a 18v Makita Kit, the white and black models, for about a decade, but the batteries became nearly completely worthless in the last 18 months, and 2 new actual Makita batteries cost 80% the cost of a new drill driver kit with new batteries.  Was not going to risk the generic battery replacements.

So, I was using an ancient old Craftsman 9.6v drill, with ~8 feet of 12AWG, to my 18 or 22AH AGM batteries via APP's for any task requiring strength and duration, but the 18Ag AGM battery is 11 Lbs and the cord gets annoying. 
 Gobs of torque and torque for days though.
  The motor could pull as much as 35 amps.  
Its showing its age and abuse, but made the cut in the move, the Makita's didnt. 

So new drill and driver needed.
Basically dedicating to a battery system, although there are now adapters to use one tool's batteries in another brand tool.

I had it narrowed my decision to Dewalt, or Ridgid.
The 20v Dewalt kit was 20$ more and comes with 1.3AH batteries, the Ridgid 18v kit comes with  2.0AH batteries.

Beware of marketing.  In the US, the battery pack can be rated at its full charge voltage, instead of the nominal voltage of the cells within.  In South Africa for instance, Dewalt's battery has to be called 18v, in the USA they call it 20v.  Both ridgid and dewalt use  5, 18650 cells, in series.

Ridgid also has the 'lifetime service agreement', meaning if one registers it properly within 90 days of purchase, they fix it free, for original owner, forever, and dead batteries, replaced for free too whether failed or just worn out and no more capacity.

I thought what other cordless tools that I might like to acquire in the future, and checked out what was available between the two brands. I also checked out additional battery prices, and Ridgid has 2, 4.0 Ah battery deal going,  for 99$, which is far less than Dewalt's offerings, or pretty much any other brand.

So, I Figured I go Ridgid.  I used a Ridgid  contractor's Tablesaw at a friend's workshop, and liked it far more than my Makita contractor's tablesaw.
Another friend had the Ridgid heavy ass iron top workshop tablesaw, and it was almost dreamy to use after the portable models.

I've own a corded Ridgid jigsaw for 6+ years now,  and like its design and function, though I never bothered to register it for the LSA.

I had no experience with cordless Ridgid products

So the Kit arrives 2 days after ordering, via fedex. 
The impact driver's gearbox seems a bit loud and gritty, but had no issues driving 45 3.5 inch screws into old hardened treated lumber.
 The drill's trigger is a bit weird, At first I though it was a delay, but more recently realized the first 1/4 inch of movement illuminates the light, and after that range it responds instantly.  Takes some getting used to  after the instant response of the other drill's triggers, that I am used to.

I don't know why they insist in 6500K+ blueish LEDS. I'd understand if they were super bright, but I find the output a bit lacking and far too blue. 

The batteries are not really a super tight fit in the drill/driver.

The battery charger's wall wart says 18v, 60 watt output,  but voltage has to go as high as 21v to fully charge 5 18650 in series.

I drained the batteries to 1 of 4 bars, down in to the 17.3vDC range, split the wire and used my clampmeter to see how much amperage it allowed the batteries to feed on.  2 amps exactly, lets assume 21 volts, and  42 watts.

Should take about an hour to fully charge a dead battery to full, but I did not drain completely, nor charge until the charger quit, nor use a timer.

My Makita charger was bulky, had a noisy fan for force flow feed the battery, and would draw far more than 40 watts via my PSW inverter IIRC, but was 15 minute charger too.

Anyway,  I don't think the Ridgid has the fit and finish of the Makita's I owned, but I spent more on them 10+ years ago, than the Ridgids 3 weeks ago.
  
My Makita drill developed gearbox issues, and at the end needed new brushes, but with the capacity free batteries and weird intermittent gearbox issue, i just gave up on the drill entirely rather than order 8$ of brushes and install them.

The Ridgid did not come with the handy hooks to hang on a belt, or waist band or pocket, but I ordered some cheap generics.

Been contemplating a leaf/jobsite blower.  Ridgid offers 3.

While comparing the three, I saw that the two ,4.0Ah battery deal for 99$, was now 79$, for the next 5 days. 

Trying hard to not click 'add to cart'.

Found a new (to me) van.  PO called her Baby
1995 Dodge 2500 204k on the Odo, 70k on reman motor.
Lots of recent med-big ticket items (have receipts)
Classic conversion van.

   

She’s going to need some refit to be a live-aboard, but good bones!

Hey fellow wanderers. My name is Brian, my home base is in Florida, and I've got a van that I'll never be done adding to 
I stumbled upon a Truckin' magazine from the mid 70's in my teens, early 00's. Fell in love with the Cragars, VenturiVents, over the top interiors, and knew I'd have a van someday. Well, I don't have a classic, though it's a 2006 so it's getting there in due time lol
I bought my E150 in December of 2019 (terrible time to make any plans, as we noticed a few months later). I wanted something low top, small, that looked like any other van. Stealth was important, until later down the line I added a couple of solar panels on the roof and a MaxFann. Still love my little low top though. 
I didn't actually start throwing things at my van until early last year. I was just using it as a daily driver to get me to and from work, and taking random, spur of the moment trips a few hundred miles out, roughing it in the van, and heading back. 
Still not really done, but since adding the solar, 100ah lithium, small pure sine inverter, 40qt compressor fridge, bed platform, memory foam mattress, and other small odds and ends, I've taken it for a long stretch in the Appalachia region and enjoyed every minute of it. It may not be done, it may not be pretty, but I've gotten by with much less for much longer. 
I'll cut it short because I can ramble for ages. I'm in the process of saving up now, taking off again, and hopefully getting a workamping gig soon. Hope to see y'all on the road. Safe travels.
   
   
   

New news coming soon:

(Select few- do not ruin the surprise, please.. thank you)

The RV is almost out of here. I have a buyer and he is scheduled to come get it on Saturday. He's had it inspected and it's all good and he has the check from the bank in hand (he sent me a picture of it). So now, I'm happily in research mode and soon to be in hunt mode...

What I want is a van to build out. I have help here locally too. So first question is...what van... 

Pros and Cons as I have read/heard them.

Promaster: pros are the walls being boxier, width is better for bed placement, generally cheaper / cons higher mainteance costs

Sprinter: pros are smoother ride, diesel, better gas mileage / cons higher maintenance costs, harder to find mechanics

Transit: pros are lowest maintenance costs, mid-range costs / cons (and this is a new thing I've seen popping up in the last few days) rust is worse

Please add your thoughts, etc. Dispute the pros and cons etc. I first wanted a promaster, then I wanted a transit. I may end up getting just what I can find due to availability. 

I'm also planning to travel in my RAV for a bit so I'm not in a super hurry, but it sure would be nice to start a build sooner than later. 

I would consider a Class B, but they are super expensive and I've yet to see one with a layout I'd even remotely like.

Pros/Cons to buying new vs used? (Warranty a concern?)

Pros/Cons to going with a build out vs an RV that I'm not thinking of? (I'm already aware that they might not be welcome in fancy RV parks, which is fine with me.)

Sometimes when I have a problem I think that and smile. 

Little frustrations that get dealt with when updating a used vehicle. 

Today I brought my “new” truck to the mechanic for brakes. At one time I would have been all over this job. But no more. Anyway I was informed that it would be a week before he can do the job. It needs pistons and 10 inch drums. Total cost. $200 including labor. He cleaned everything up so no worries for the next week. The front is in great shape. 

That I can live with. 

A box arrived from rock auto. I had a bad feeling looking at this one. Inside was two shock absorbers. And six spark plugs. 



What kind of nitwit packs porcelain in the same box as heavy metal items without anything other than bubble wrap?

Hold on a second while I hammer on these for a little.   I refuse to use anything that might have stress cracks. If one of them breaks in the motor ~~~ dead truck. 

I filled out an online complaint. We will see

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So the admins have been monitoring these nonposting accounts. A handful has been banned since last night. We've noticed that even though they never post or contribute, they've been in the private messaging system quite a bit. I don't know what's up with that, but I suspect it's nothing good. 

I've created a new group. All of us fall under "registered user" and that is where we get our permissions to private message others. Now, there's a new Veteran group. If you have posted more than 10 times, you are automatically moved to the new group and still have permissions to private message.

IF you can't private message, please let me know and I'll look into it further. If I hear no complaints, I'll assume I got it right and all is good.  = )

We want anyone interested in van life/rv life to be able to research fully; however, we do not want spammers or scammers finding a way to scam or bother any of our members.

I go to post a new thread and am kicked out. When I go to log back in I get a notification that the password has been hacked. 

"We have noticed an unusual activity from your IP"

I'm not going to fight the damn captcha bot over and over

Amazon Prime still says “two day shipping “. 

What does that mean?  Every single item I order takes 7 to 10 days to get here. 

I remember ordering a gift while in LA and it was delivered the same day. 

Has the Quartzsite post office taken over the delivery service?  (Quartzsite will not deliver the mail. You must go there to get it)