Hello radin2son. I have read your posts on the sportsmobile forum. I am picking up a high roof nv sportsmobile in the rb-50. It is a white one from Costa Mesa, CA. i am flying out to pick it up on monday 8/12/13. i am considering going to Fresno to get the flat plate put in. I was wondering what you thought of the flat plate water heater? Did you have to drain it every night in the cold on your AK trip or do you have the hydronics pump? It seems one would have to start the engine and run it for a while to get hot water. I was thinking of adding the ectotherm L5 on demand unit instead. It would save me about $1000.00, but if the flat plate really works great it would perhaps be worth it. I wondered what your thoughts were in real use. I also wondered about the heat for your van. Did you have an airtronic furnace installed or did you use a catalytic heater like the big buddy? My current van has a webasto gasoline furnace and I love it, but it too is a lot of money and I was wondering if the big buddy would do the job for about $1500.00 less. :). I live in Salt Lake so I need the heat. I attended grad school at the U of A though. I love the old pueblo. Thanks again for your great AK write up. I hope to use some of your wisdom soon. The information pushed me to buy the van. Thanks again.
