Choosing a Ladder for the RV

I've been searching on and off for several months looking for a ladder that we can carry along on our travels.  In the process, I have come to understand that there are two basic types that are most useful for people who feel like they need them:  telescoping and a-frame.

Telescoping ladders are great for RVers because they collapse into a small space, typically requiring less than three feet of storage.  A-frames may take up to six feet of storage, but they're safer because of their better stability.

If you have a larger motorhome, your roof is probably anywhere from 12 to 13.5 feet high.  Getting an A-Frame that will allow you to safely get on and off (and stay under six feet in storage) is not easy.  Telescoping ladders are therefore a better choice for roof access because you can get them in longer lengths - and they'll still collapse for storage.  Since you need to stand the ladder away from the RV a bit to climb it, you'd probably be most comfortable with a 15-foot telescoping ladder for hopping on and off the roof.

In the early days of my research, I had decided on a telescoping ladder similar to the Xtend and Climb 785P on Amazon.  It collapses and requires three feet of storage, yet extends to a more comfortable 15.5-foot length.

But that was before my wife expressed concern that my feeble old bones might break if I tried to get on and off the roof; if that happened it would "ruin" the trips we had planned (forget my injuries, the trip would be ruined!).  Back to the drawing board.

I made a promise that I wouldn't climb on the roof.  But I still need to get up high to clean roof drains, gutters (along the sides), and the tops of awnings and windows.  Sometimes, light bulbs may need to be replaced and tree branches moved out of the way.  I needed something that was tall enough to get the job done, but that was sturdy and stable enough to be comfortable using.

So here are the new requirements I drafted for my ladder:

• A-Frame with foot stabilizers (legs wider at the bottom for stability)
• Able to support up to 300 pounds
• High enough that I could stand on the highest safe step and reach around the top of the coach
• Storage length no more than six feet
• Weight that I can handle (Note: almost every ladder I looked at, telescoping and a-frame, weighed about 35 pounds - so this is a "wash")

In the end, I found one that met every requirement and ordered it.

This is the Little Giant Ladder Systems Model 15109-001 ladder available from Amazon.  As you see it here, the top of the ladder (the thicker orange platform) is about 5'9" from the ground.  The "comfort step" is the highest safe place to stand, and it's a wide platform.  The comfort step is two rungs below the top orange piece.  When the ladder in its shortest position, the comfort step is 3'10" off the ground.  But when you extend the ladder, you are standing 7'8" above the ground.  I'm 5'10", and I can easily reach around the top of my rig, which is a little over 12'7" when not aired up.  Here are some photos of my ladder so you can get an idea of its size, both in its shortest position and fully extended:

I'm really happy with the new ladder, but am still trying to decide where to keep it.  There's room in the basement, but it might be better to keep it in the bed of our pickup truck. 

Until next time...

Buying, Carrying and Using a Cricket Golf Cart

Back in September 2015, I published a blog article titled "Should we take our own golf cart?".  At that time, I knew that I wanted a cart small enough to fit in the back of a pickup truck and still be able to put up the tailgate.  We ended up with two possibilities: a Kangacruz or a Cricket.

Both the Kangacruz and the Cricket are lengthwise collapsible, so they will (barely) fit in the back of a pickup truck with a raised gate.  They both have published carrying capacities of around 600 pounds, travel at about the same speeds and have about the same battery life.

The Kangacruz Aspire SS

Kangacruz Aspire SS (from their web site)

Of the two, I became convinced that I wanted the upcoming Kangacruz Aspire SS.  The SS was to have a longer battery life and, more important to me, an increased carrying capacity of about 650 pounds.  It also had a few more bells and whistles than the Cricket; things like turn signals, a better suspension, and bigger wheels.

The problem with the Kangacruz was their ongoing promises that the SS model was "coming soon".  Initially, it was to be available in early and we were told that it would be ready on time.  Then they said it was delayed to the summer because some parts were on backorder.  That changed to late fall, and so on.  I corresponded with them by e-mail and they were very nice, but had nothing that they could sell me.

When it came time for the Tampa RV Show in early 2017, they told me that they planned to actually have one at the show.  I noted that their booth at the show seemed to be inside of an expo hall and asked them if we'd be able to drive it.  Their answer was "no", it would not be available to test drive; just available to look at.

On the 18th of January, the opening day of the Show, we went to the Kangacruz booth early and looked at the prototype of the new SS.  And even though we were one of the first ones to visit them, we were told that we would have to pay them over $4000 now and that shipment "might be in March or April".  Not only were they kicking the can again, they had reduced the recommended weight back to 600 pounds from their earlier online listing of specifications.

At that point, we decided that we didn't want to put our faith in Kangacruz because 1) they had been promising shipments for about 18 months and still wouldn't provide a firm delivery date, 2) the weight limit matched the more popular Crickets, and 3) they are located in Canada, which worried us in case it might ever need service.

The Cricket SX-3

The Cricket SX-3 cart weighs about 305 pounds, collapses to about 58" in length, and seems to be the most popular collapsible golf cart we could find anywhere.  In the months leading up to the 2017 Tampa RV Show,  we were told by a local Florida Cricket dealer that they would not be shown at the show as they had in some previous years.

To our surprise, we saw the outdoor Cricket display at the Show shortly after we had walked away from the Kangacruz booth.  The sales people willingly handed us a key to one and told us to take it for a spin, on our own, away from their area.  We did and were impressed that such a small cart did such a great job.

The seats on the Cricket are just wide enough to fit two adults.  It's tight, but not uncomfortable.  The back seat folds down to make a bed that can be used to haul anything from groceries to camping chairs. It's top speed is about 8-10 miles per hour.

One of the things I never liked about the Crickets was that the steering wheel was in the center of the  cart.  With the new 2017 version, that has been changed and the wheel is thankfully more towards the left-hand side.  Their later models also feature LED headlights, which is either good or bad depending on your opinion of extremely bright lights on such a small cart.

Options included a top frame that has a vinyl cover at the top that is tied to the frame, a long rear-view mirror, and a plexiglass windshield.  There's also a cart cover (only used if top frame isn't in place) and a rainproof slip-cover that fits over the entire cart (top frame included, with windows on the front and side).

Our Cricket, bought at the 2017 Tampa RV Show

We liked it a lot, and decided to buy it with the standard (no-top) cover, top frame, mirror and windshield.  We also got a pair of aluminum ramps so we could load it into our pickup truck.  The ramps were about $200.  The total price, which had to be paid using cash or check, was in the neighborhood of $4300.  We got to pick our color (candy apple red) on the spot and after about a half hour of some top assembly and instructions, were able to drive it away into the fairgrounds and use it during the Show.

The Cricket sales people were very nice at the Tampa Show.  They apparently were getting about 10 of them every day of the show and were selling them all.  If you think you may want to get one at the show, I recommend that you get there on Wednesday (opening day) so that you can pick your colors and options  - and drive it home.  You'll also be able to use in inside of the show each day - a real bonus.

Cricket post-buy review

Now that we've had it a while, we still love our Cricket.  However, there are some things that are definitely worth noting:

• They told us at the show that it should carry more than 600 pounds.  We were concerned because you sometimes may want to take four "larger" adults.  We tried it out and it seems capable, but it can "bend up" (picture an upside down "V") with all of the weight.  It does a lot better if you put the two heaviest people in the front seat.
• One of the biggest reasons we wanted a Cricket was because it could collapse to fit in the bed of our truck.  However - and this is important - you can't collapse it unless you remove the frame for the top; the top won't collapse.  So, if you want to collapse it, you have to remove the  entire top and store it (it's pretty large), or break the top frame down into pieces by removing 8 bolts, 8 nuts, and 16 washers.  Not good at all if you plan to take your cart in and out of your truck/SUV a lot.   In the long run, I decided to remove my truck topper so that we could fit the un-collapsed cart in our truck while traveling.  We will have to remove the vinyl top, windshield and rear footrest each time, but that's a lot better than removing or dismantling the entire frame.
• The charging cord isn't long. To charge it at night without an extension cord, I had to park it about two feet from my coach and use a plug in the basement area.  One morning, I went out, turned the key and drove off - cutting the still-plugged-in charging cord.  I quickly replaced it with a cord bought at Home Depot, and bought a magnetic reminder strip to put on the steering wheel whenever it's plugged in.
• Those LED lights are bright.  Man are they bright.  Especially at night.  

We have driven the Cricket in loose sand, through bumpy grass fields, on concrete, asphalt, and over tree stumps in the campground and have never had a problem.

Choosing an RV-specific GPS

A lot of people on Facebook ask what RV-specific GPS unit they should buy.  Since many RVs can only travel on roads where they'll "fit", it makes sense to have a GPS that will guide you along routes where the bridges aren't so low that they'll rip the top off or the turns so sharp that your long RV just can't make them.

I begin many of my articles by saying how much research I've done to reach my conclusions.  I just don't like the idea that readers might think that I just grabbed the first thing that came along.  In the case of GPS units, I've had various brands over the course of many years - just not for RVs.  When it came time to look at RV GPS units, I began the long process of scouring more than 20 RV-related Facebook groups, reading posts on IRV2.com, and asking a lot of fellow RVers what they use.

As part of my research, I ordered (or downloaded) and tried Garmin's RV 760, the Good Sam version of the Rand McNally RV 7730 (the 7735), CoPilot for RV, Waze, Google Navigation, and others.  I also read detailed reviews of them, as well as the RV-specific model made by Magellan.  On the first pass, I ended up returning both the Garmin and the Rand McNally because features were missing that I wanted to use - or they existed but were difficult to use.

If you look at the responses received on Facebook every time someone asks about RV-specific GPS units, you'll quickly see that users overwhelmingly recommend Garmin, followed by Rand McNally and then CoPilot.  Magellan is rarely mentioned.  Google Navigation isn't RV-specific, and neither is Waze.

Quite a few people say that they don't have much faith in RV GPS units because they've been led down roads that their RV should never have taken.  I get that.  But from what I can gather, this is rare.  I'd rather have an RV-specific GPS direct me on safe routes for RVs 95% of the time than not have one and take my chances.

Another consideration is that there is value in keeping with the mainstream.  In other words, sometimes it's best to get what everyone else is using because you know that there is a large community of support - not to mention that there must be something good about it because everyone is using it.  Comes full circle, doesn't it?  Thinking along these lines, I immediately throw out anything that's not RV specific (like Google Navigation and Waze) and anything that, from the hundreds of responses I've read, isn't used by most people (relatively speaking).  So, that pushed out Magellan.

Given all of this, I was left with three reasonable choices that required serious consideration:  Garmin, Rand McNally, and the CoPilot app.

Apps are great because they are easily updated and can go on most of your devices.  CoPilot is a good app because it has a nice interface and provides easy to understand voice turn-by-turn directions.  They have several different versions, one of which is called CoPilot for RVs.  It costs about $45, so it's much cheaper than standalone GPS units.

CoPilot for RV

CoPilot for RV allows you to enter your RVs specs (height, length, weight) so that you'll be properly routed.  However, there's a serious flaw in their app because it only lets you input a maximum weight of 26000 pounds.  Most large motorhomes weigh much more than this; mine weighs about 46000 pounds.  Therefore, the weight option is worthless.  I called them about this and was told that I should consider buying their version for truckers, which has higher weight limits.  However, the truck version doesn't have certain features for RVers - like campgrounds.  And, it also costs about three times as much. [Update:  I've heard that Apple's App store has a March 2017 update that fixes the weight limit issue by allowing any more thousands of pounds.  As of this writing, the Android (Google) Play Store's latest version is March 2016 and still has the weight limitation.]

On the good side, CoPilot allows you to download full maps to your device.  This is a big plus compared to standard phone-based navigation apps because you don't need to have a cellular signal to navigate and continually update your maps.  Your phone's GPS works directly with CoPilot and you can always navigate.  You can download map updates as long as you own the app.

Garmin and Rand McNally

The Garmin 760 and Rand McNally 7735 both had similar features.  If you want to waste your time, go ahead and search the Internet to find some of the comparisons.  You're wasting your time because they both handle RV navigation, have lots of Points of Interest (POI's - things like campgrounds, fuel stops, attractions, etc.), and are well supported with lifetime maps.  I'm about to tell you their main differences...

Some of the biggest differences between the two were that the Rand McNally had more campgrounds in its database, while the Garmin had more overall features (like backup camera add-ons and other things).  The Garmin is more expensive, but you don't have to pay extra for live traffic updates (like the fee charged by RM).  The Garmin, in my opinion, has a better display layout and brighter display.  And the Garmin can accept voice commands.

After reading everything I could and testing them out, I became convinced that Garmin was the way to go.  So many RVers can't be wrong, can they?

One of the key things I've learned about shopping for RV technical toys is to wait and not buy them until just before you need them.  If you just bought your RV and aren't "taking off" for several months, wait until a month before you leave because tech updates happen all the time.  It can be frustrating to buy something only to find out that the latest and greatest version is coming out two months after you bought it.   I wasn't striking out on our full-time journey until May 2017, so I decided to hold off on the GPS purchase until April (now).  And I was glad I did.

Garmin RV 770 LMT-S

In April 2017, Garmin introduced it's new RV 770 LMS-S GPS unit, the successor to the 760.  It's almost identical to the 760, but it includes Foursquare and Tripadvisor information, weighs less, and has a better screen with a higher resolution. [Note:  See Garmin's comparison chart of differences between the 770 and the 760]  I decided to order the 770.

So far, I've been very happy with the 770.  Admittedly, we haven't had chance to use it on our cross-country trip yet, but I can see that it's fast and is loaded with features that I like.  The display is easy to read, lane guidance is great, the voice is clear and easy to understand, and it's easy to lookup POI's.  I also preloaded a couple of trips into the Trip Planner.  Very nice in that you can just call up a predefined route and get going.  The Voice Command feature lets me interact with the device while driving and is easy to use.

I really like the integration with the phone.  I can use Voice Command to dial any number in my contacts and the 770's speakers and microphone will let me talk while driving.  When you select POI's (like a campground), you can even elect to call them using this feature.

As Garmin recommended, I loaded their SmartLink app to my phone and connected it to the 770 using Bluetooth.  Once you have done this, the 770 gets live traffic information.  We were driving from North Carolina to Florida on Interstate 26 when I saw a sign on the side of the road that said that the Interstate had all lanes blocked about 60 miles ahead.  I was wondering if the 770 would "know" about the blockage and, similar to Waze, would re-route us.  About 20 miles from the incident, a tone came on and the 770's female voice said something like "I-26 is closed.  Rerouting.  Please take exit 159 ahead."  Exit 159 was about 6 miles ahead of us.  We followed directions and it took us right to I-95 with about a 10-minute loss in time.  Nice!

Garmin and Waze

Note that Garmin, like most navigation programs, is not "social".  That is, you don't interact with others on the road.  That's where Waze shines.  Waze uses real-time reports of accidents, slowdowns, police sightings, and road hazards to warn you before you encounter them.  It's the only navigation program that does this.  Since it's social and real-time, expect that Waze is going to have the latest and greatest information about what's ahead.  Sometimes, you'll want to avoid things that Waze points out well before any GPS traffic program, like Garmin's, will know about it.

Conclusion

The setup that works the best is to use three things:  SmartLink running on your phone, the 770 handling RV navigation, and another phone (maybe even the one running SmartLink) running Waze.  You'll have total awareness of everything around you, what's coming up, and be reasonably assured that you won't be going under a bridge that's too low for your rig.

SeeLevel II Tank Monitoring System

A frequent post on Facebook or IRV2 by many RVers concerns the tank monitoring systems in their coaches.  Usually, the factory-installed system shows you the levels of your tanks in 1/3 increments.  For example, you'll only know that your gray tank is 2/3 full - and that's the last thing you'll see before it backs up into your shower.

The people at Garnet Instruments Ltd provide a solution for this with their SeeLevel II Tank Monitor.  Using the SLII, you can read your fluid levels in increments of 5% or less - much better than the default using thirds.

Garnet offers a good variety of monitoring systems, including some that continually show levels and several that show propane levels.

When you install the SLII, you can usually use the existing wiring already in your coach to replace your old monitoring system with the new one; there are no additional wires to run.  Each of your three tanks (fresh, gray and black) has sensors installed with two wires that run back to the monitor inside of your coach.  Twelve volt power is usually supplied to the monitor, which in turn "feeds" the power to the sensors.  When connecting the SLII, you use those same wires that run from the sensors on the tanks back up to the monitor.

Having read a lot about this system over the past few years and seeing many recommendations for it, I knew that I had to have one.  One of the things I really wanted was to not only replace my existing monitor, but to add another one in the wet bay.  The SeeLevel system easily supports this, and in many cases you still don't have to add additional wiring.

Norm MacLeod - Expert SeeLevel Installer

I got really lucky when my good friend Norm MacLeod (NKK & Hoots member extraordinaire and, with his wife Ellen, author of the great Norm & Ellen's Miss Adventure blog), told me that he had installed the SLII in his coach and would be happy to help me install mine.  Knowing that Norm is great with details and is quite the handyman, I eagerly accepted the offer and we set up a time to do it shortly before the 2017 Tampa RV Show.

The morning we were going to do the install, Norm rolls up to our site in his golf cart looking like the Home Depot tool department on wheels.  He had chosen all of the tools needed for the job, brought quite a collection of wire connectors, and had even made a bezel for the new inside monitor because it was smaller than the old one and he wanted it to be perfect - which it was.  When he laid everything out on the table he brought over, I noticed a styrofoam lid (one of those you use for takeout food) that had a bunch of screws with their tips screwed into it.  The screws had all been spray painted black.  At first, I thought it was some sort of "device" he had made to string wire or something.  Nope.  Norm had painted the heads of the screws so that they would match the monitor plates!

Needless to say, Norm had already (when he installed the SLII on his own coach) gone through most of the research and wiring diagrams to the point where my installation would go much smoother. And it did.  For the next six hours, I became the occasional operating room nurse - handing Norm a few tools and fetching pencils - while he whipped around from one bay to the next pulling wire and completing the installation.  Whenever he pulled out a connector with multiple wires, or simply pulled a single wire from behind a panel, he took the time to prepare a wire label with his label maker and ensure that nothing would get messed up.  We didn't want to "get our wires crossed".

At the very end, Norm attached the two displays - one in the wet bay and the other in the coach - and we took readings...and it worked the first time.

Many thanks to Norm for all of the work he did!  Such a nice thing to do.

Installation Steps for the SeeLevel II

My coach is a 2015 Newmar Dutch Star 4369, so the things I mention here particularly apply to that rig.  However, my understanding is that the installation procedure is the same for just about all coaches.  The only difference is where things are located.

My rig is all-electric, so I didn't need to monitor propane.  I wanted two displays instead of one because I wanted to add one to the wet bay.  And I wanted to monitor three tanks:  fresh, gray and black.   Accordingly, I ordered two of the Model 709-P3 display units.  These show levels for the battery and the three tanks at the press of a button.  One press of a button displays the level in percent for about five seconds.  Two presses of a button keeps the percent display up for about five minutes so that you can monitor it as it changes.

Part of the order is for the sensor strips that attach to the sides of the tanks.  These strips kind of work like sonar in that they look "through" the tank and can see where there's liquid vs. air.  The strips are mounted vertically on the tanks and have two wires coming out of the top of them that will be connected to the remote monitors.

The display panel also includes a button that allows you to turn on your water pump.  The button that does this is a rocker switch (up is on, down is off).  However, my coach's water pump requires a momentary switch.  That is, you just apply power for a second and the pump "toggles" either on or off.  I had to order these momentary switches to replace the ones that Garnet installs on the SLII display board. I bought the ones Norm recommended:  JR Products 12815 Black SPST Mini Mom-On/Off Switch.

Here's a photo of everything that was installed.  All but the two switches were ordered from Garnet (or anyplace else that sells them).  The switches were ordered from the link above.

Switches (topLeft) Displays (bottomLeft), Sensors, Monitor screws, and Manual

In my coach, the tanks are between the pegboard bay and the wet bay.  The wiring for the existing sensors runs right behind the wet bay.  This made it easier to tap into the existing sensor wiring that ran from the tanks to the display in the coach, and still add a monitor in the wet bay.

There are quite a few videos on YouTube that go over SeeLevel II installation, so I'm not going to get bogged down in the details.  But it may be helpful to let you know the steps you'll have to take to do the sort of install that Norm did on my Dutch Star:

1.  Remove the pegboard from the passenger side bay.  It is in front of the tanks.

2.  Find the blue & gray wires in the wiring harness to your right as you face the pegboard bay.  All of the sensors will tap into these two wires.

3.  In the wet bay, drill out a hole to put in the new display.  Be sure to measure the display accurately so that the hole won't be so big that you can't put the screws in to hold it.  We chose to dremel out the area surrounding the existing water pump switch, since the new display will have a new switch that will replace it.

4.  Pull the wires off the back of the existing water pump switch (label everything before you pull any wire off of any device OR cut any wire!!). 

5.  Find the tank sensor wires behind the wet bay panel and pull them through the hole. 

6.  Go inside to the existing indoor display in the cabinet above the passenger.  Remove the display and label all wires coming into the connector.

7.  Replace the water pump rocker switches on the new monitors with the new momentary switches.  You'll probably need to trim the holes a bit to make the slightly-larger momentary switches fit.

8.  In the pegboard bay, temporarily tape the sensors to the appropriate tanks (see the Instruction Manual for details about cutting the strips to proper length and to properly set each strip to the  appropriate tank type).  Then connect all blue wires together and tap them into the blue wire in the wiring harness.  Do the same for all of the black wires with the black wire in the harness.

9.  In the wet bay, make the connections described in the manual.  This means cutting the wires coming FROM the tanks and using the blue/black wires coming from the new sensors to connect to the wet bay display.

10. After deciding what lines ("old" sensor lines going from the tanks to the inside display) you'll use, connect them from the wet bay monitor to the corresponding place on the inside monitor.  (Again, READ the instructions!).

11. Inside, ensure that wires you connected to the wet bay display (that were "old" sensor lines going to the inside display) are now properly connected to the new inside connector.  There are four of them, plus another couple used for the new water pump switch in the new monitor.

12. Once everything's connected, test it.  Make sure that the sensor strips are pressed firmly against the tanks - the ENTIRE length of each strip.  You should see some sort of reading.  If your tanks are approaching empty (maybe 15% full or less), you may see a "0" on the display.

13. Finally, remove the adhesive from the back of the sensor strips and attach them to the tanks.  Leave about 1/2 inch from the top of the tanks to the top of the strips.  Once they're attached, use duct or gorilla tape to more firmly secure them.

14. Screw in (mount) your displays.  The inside one may be smaller than the original hole, so you may need a bezel to mount it to.  Make one by cutting something that will fit over the existing hole and can be screwed into the existing screw holes.  Before mounting, cut a hole in the new bezel that'll fit the new monitor.

I'm fully aware that a lot of detail about the wiring is missing from the above description.  You can look at the manual and figure a lot of it out.  The main thing I wanted to communicate is the general process to make it all happen and suggest that you do it in the same order that Norm used.

Since it's been installed, the SeeLevel II has worked really well.  It's nice to see a more detailed display of our tank levels.  Quite an upgrade!

And once more, a BIG THANK YOU to Norm MacLeod for sharing his time and his knowledge.  I learned a lot.

Should we take our own golf cart?

[Updated:  see Buying, Carrying and Using a Cricket Golf Cart]

Whenever we rented RVs, we we would see people using golf carts to get around the campgrounds.  We didn't think much about it, though, until we stayed at a cabin at Fort Wilderness many years later and they wouldn't allow cars in many places.  Instead, we had to rent a golf cart for $48/day.

Having a golf cart would certainly be a luxury, and we wondered how much we would use it.  After all, we have bikes we enjoy riding and we like to get out and walk.  But if you're staying in a campground for more than a few days, it would be nice to have a cart to run up to the store, or just take a drive through the campground at night.  In the larger campgrounds or resorts, I can see where it would really be nice to have one.

Golf carts can be pretty big, though, and I wasn't sure how we would carry one once we bought our motorhome.  We would have a tow vehicle, but there was no apparent place to carry a cart.

Cricket SX-3

At one of the Tampa RV shows, I saw a small, collapsible golf cart called a Cricket.  At first, we thought that a Cricket, measuring about 60" long and 28" high when collapsed, would fit in the basement of the motorhome.  But it won't because the chassis rails are too low.  So I began to wonder if it would fit in the back of a pickup truck.  As it turns out, it will.

Buying something like a Cricket cost a bundle, though, when you add up the cost of the cart and it accessories.  The cart itself is over $3000, and then you have to add a cover (for transport), rails (to load it in the truck), and a top (to keep out the sun).   By the time I priced out what I wanted for a Cricket, it was something over $4700.

Kangacruz - Aspire

While lurking around a forum somewhere, a contributor mentioned something called a Kangacruz.  The Kangacruz has specs very close to those of the Cricket.  I priced the Kangacruz with all of the options I'd want (minus the rails, which were about $200), at about $3200 after you adjust the price for  the U.S. dollar (Kangacruz is sold by a company in Canada).  I'm sure it cost more to ship it, but the same is probably true for the Cricket.  At this point, I'm leaning to the Kangacruz.


Since we plan to spend more than one month every year at Fort Wilderness, we'll probably get a golf cart.  We'll need the ramp (to get it in the truck), a top and the cover so that it'll be covered up when we're transporting it.  But I think we'll be very, very glad we have it.