philpom

@John Setzler thanks for taking the time and effort from your personal life to pursue kamadoguru. It's been a very fun journey here. I think I was member # 12 so I certainly got my value out of it!

Some may find this useful, the "way back machine". https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://kamadoguru.com/* The initial load will take a little time.

www.tnttt.com Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailers. You may need to Google it. Lot's of conversation about RVing, cooking at camp and of course DIY.

The electric is done, tongue box mounted, battery wires etc. Everything is working well. I ran 10 Guage wire from the battery to the distribution bar through vinyl tube. One of my group 24 batteries was dead so I used this group 27 I had sitting around. It's 110 ah and should work well. Passed everything through a manual reset 30 Amp breaker to the 150 Amp bus bar. 3 circuits power everything, each run with 12 AWG wire. The box is a 15x15x40 aluminum box mounted with side compression bolts so no holes in the tongue. This represent all of the 120v power (for a heater) everything else is 12v. This is the 12v 150 amp bus bar setup. Main power feeds in on 10 AWG wire to the lower large lugs. Room to expand 3 more circuits. Solid brass plated with Nickel. I have 2 of these to provide power ports and monitor the state of charge. Just a shot of the box, plenty of room for additional storage. I have a battery box but I need to clean it up. It mounts to clips in the bottom of the box and is secured with a nylon strap to prevent anything from spanning the terminals in transit - don't want a fire! That is a 30 amp manual rest breaker, 100% waterproof with solid copper core and gold plated contact surfaces. Closer and closer to a trip but it seems like I have so much more left to do.

I use parchment all the time. I started using cornmeal and switched because I am normally making 3 or 4 pizzas and with parchment it makes it easy to roll all of the crusts out first and dress in advance like an assembly line. Easy to move around the kitchen etc. I trim it right up to the edge of the dough. I typically cook around 450 to 550 f and even though the paper darkens I've never had an off flavor from it. Sometimes I remove it after a few minutes and sometimes I just leave it. I use the sams club parchment that says "up to 400f".

Looks and sounds great!

I've had my Primo Oval XL for IDK 8 years? It's in a table with casters but no cover and no roof year around. Nothing is wrong with it, just keep the vents closed so nothing moves in. IMO no special care is really required beyond cleaning it out every once in awhile.

Inside wiring finished up. Flooring installed. I recieved the bus bars and breakers to wire up the distribution panel and route the main power out to the battery box. Going to use 10 AWG wire and a 30 Amp breaker. Each fixture is individually fused. Internal wiring is based on 12 AWG wires. I've got 2 group 24 marine batteries for the box. I'll upgrade at some point to AGM but I had these laying around.

I have the same exact model you had, the Ultra USV32 and I looked back in my Amazon orders, it was $599 + tax. I'm going to say that your problem is common because I had the same issue with the sealer bar not retracting all the way. For me it caused the bag to be closed during the evacuation of the air which caused the bag to grow so bad seal. After I figured out what was going on I called them and they suggested I lube the pistons with WD-40 and over time it would loosen up. For the first 100 bags or so I had to press it down between each cycle but now it's fine. I never had the other issue you had with a hot seal bar sealing bags early but I have seldom done more than 20 cycles in one setting, usually 1lb packages which puts a meal together for my family of 4. I also do what you do and press the meat flat in the bag. They store in the deep freeze like a files in a filing cabinet. Works perfectly for pulled pork, shredded brisket, ground beef etc. Also works well for liquids if you lay them flat while they freeze. If someone was looking for a chamber sealer and an extra $400 - $500 above the cost of the Avid Armor is no issue then I would suggest the JVR over the Avid simply because it's a better machine. I got the Avid because it was a hard sell at home (if you know what I mean) and I had a cabinet space for it but dimensions were tight, the USV32 fits perfectly. Everyone should get a chamber sealer, ours is out more than it's up. Mrs philpom enjoys making her own pre-packaged foods from Mac&Cheese to "Pan Burger Partner" and more then sealing it up for us to use later. Far better than what the store offers (We know what is in it and we can pronounce it).

We have had the avid armor ultra series for 18 months and use the holy moly out of it for all the things John mentions in the video. Zero regrets, it's a solid machine. We bulk purchase and bulk cook. We season, pack, freeze for dropping straight in the sous vide at a later date. We pre-package crackpot meals for another day etc. Far superior to a foodsaver style machine. John does a good job pointing out 2 of the 3 primary differences between the 2 machines. That is 1. Avid uses an oil free maintenance free pump and 2. The avid will one day die and that's it. You can replace seal bars and gaskets but it ends there. I expect 10 or more years out of it. The 3rd is price point and here also they are much different with the JVR being more than double the avid. Do you want a carefree car that costs $10k that will die in 10 years or do you want a $25k car that needs maintenance that can be repaired and will last 25+ years? At the end of the day the JVR is a better machine. John has had both so he could probably give some specifics.

John, I have to agree with everything you said. We use our chamber sealer for bulk purchases and leftovers and the hot water bath reheat is hands down the best way to do it. We have even grilled burger patties, sealed and froze them just to reheat in water for a cheese burger out on the trail. The ability to do liquids is another compelling reason to get a chamber sealer. The JVR looks like a solid machine.

Welcome! I second Jack's question, what an amazing lineage from father to son.

I made a big bit of progress with the electrical and got the cabin light installed and it and the fan wired up. It's a 400 lumen 4000 Kelvin l.e.d. with a stepless dimmer and a 3 speed reversible fan. Turned out better as a combo than I thought it would.

It is what I call "the trunk" and yes, it's for tables, chairs, stove, fuel, and other misc. camp gear you wouldn't want inside with you plus the battery/tongue box will have additional storage for such things. The battery and electronics will be isolated in the box.

Some more good progress, at this point the camper is street legal. I'll post some details on light mounting, floor insulation, trim and power below. The interior and porch lighting have arrived and once I get those installed I'll start wiring the battery box and electronics. The flooring should arrive next weekend and probably a few weeks after that it'll be ready for a test run. This is R5 insulation set in the floor cavity, it will be covered with basically gym flooring (easy on the knees) The sleeper/sofa that goes inside, it's a queen. The camper has 2 of these panels, they have a battery volt meter to monitor the charge % plus 2 quick charge USB ports and an old fashioned 12 volt socket and power cut-off to prevent any vampire drain on the batteries. One in the rear and one in the front near the door. Side mark install, I didn't want to flush mount and put more holes than needed in the camper plus the body is wider than the frame so I used allthread and an aluminum to extend them from the frame out to the edge. Same with the tail lights except these are just corner brackets from the orange store. To make the trailering lights more robust I wired the ground directly to each light instead of relying on the frame. A poor ground is responsible for most trailer light issues plus this trailer is a bolt together kits I assembled myself and grounding to the frame will certainly be iffy "down the road". Sooner than later I get to discuss our favorite topic here, "what to pack for grilling while in the camper"!