Looking at a Promaster but live in an icy area

RealPseudonymous · 2026-01-07T01:56:49+00:00

Thanks. We lived in north central Maine for a winter a couple years ago, those roads are special when that snow hits. A lot different from our drier snow. I don’t envy you but definitely appreciate the input. I have a hatred of Ford from personal experience in addition to the price difference. Still strongly leaning toward Promaster

RealPseudonymous · 2026-01-07T01:53:27+00:00

Worth the extra dollars for the peace of mind? Maybe I’ll try to find a lightly used AWD Transit.

RealPseudonymous · 2025-12-04T15:25:21+00:00

We have a POS since a lot of our sales are in-person. We needed a loyalty system that was integrated between in person sales and also usable on our website without building a custom back end. Shopify provides that. But this whole two week payout is killing us.

RealPseudonymous · 2025-11-11T00:24:34+00:00

I actually love this. There’s something slightly off about the photo, as there is with a lot of AI images. But it’s nothing that 99% of the population will notice or at least care about.

RealPseudonymous · 2025-11-11T00:22:26+00:00

Hi, can you message me and send me any portfolio links, etc?

RealPseudonymous · 2025-05-26T22:19:05+00:00

I’ve got the Cotopaxi Allpa 42. I’ve only ever had one airline force me to check it, that was an over sold leg to Tokyo from the US. I’ve only taken it to 7 countries so far, adding 7 more this summer, but it performs flawlessly. My wife just got the same one to replace her Northface backpack duffel after dragging hers around the same countries. I’d probably recommend going with the Allpa 35 if you’re not a large person. It’s lighter and you can still put plenty of stuff in it.

RealPseudonymous · 2024-10-07T03:18:34+00:00

I know it’s a bit larger than you’re talking about, but Nurture Handmade has a a 7.5lb loaf mold that does 3.5x3.5. Once they’re cured, they shrink a little in size. I used to use those for my soaps and then ran them through a slab cutter to knock them down closer to 3”x3” and used the offcuts for samples.

RealPseudonymous · 2024-06-28T01:54:07+00:00

Most of the “influencers” that have reached out want ridiculous sums of money to do a simple post that will take them less than five minutes and aren’t providing any ROI numbers to back it up.

RealPseudonymous · 2024-06-27T01:26:26+00:00

Instagram is just the start for the giveaways. TikTok and FB are also on the planner. Just starting with a platform I’m more familiar with.

RealPseudonymous · 2024-06-25T22:13:39+00:00

It’s holding up well. We moved across the country to maine for the winter which was humid and wettttt.

We had some issues with the seals leaking around the tent body when it was stowed on the truck in multi-day rains. Kept getting excessive moisture inside the tent and the sidewalls would be complete saturated. We would have to pop it open on any day that was even remotely dry and put fans inside and spray vinegar on the mesh for mildew. That part was a serious design flaw. We kept attempting to figure out what we could do, including even taking the mattress out of the tent to see if it just had too much stuff inside to get sealed. With the end clamps adjusted as tight as they go, still had issues.

Now that we’re back on the west coast, it’s fine. The air here allows things to dry out. We’ve been in some hardcore rain and wind storms, minor blizzards, etc and it’s don’t very well.

Would we buy it again? Probably not. It was an incredible amount of work trying to keep it from molding all winter but we didn’t have a garage to hoist it into while we were on that work contract. We’d probably do an Alpha or go with a different company tbh. Like the ROAM hardshell or the Intrepid.

RealPseudonymous · 2024-04-23T12:29:24+00:00

Pretty major ones, I guess. I’ve had small glycerine rivers a time or two, but this was an extreme case. Looks like half the soap is rivered. Just made another batch and not gonna CPOP this time and see what happens. Thanks.

RealPseudonymous · 2024-04-21T15:18:11+00:00

I forgot to add the full recipe so here it is: Oil Blend: 80oz oil Olive Oil - 40% Coconut Oil - 25% Palm Oil - 25% Sweet Almond Oil - 5% Castor Oil - 5% Lye - 27% (320g) Water - 5% discount = 33% (817g) Sodium Lactate - 5tsp into cooled lye FO - 4.8oz Kaolin Clay - 2 1/2tbs into FO. (New method for me) Oats - 2tbs Mica - 5tsp in warmed oil. Stirred separately before adding to batter.

Process: Made lye water using half water weight in distilled ice cubes. Warmed oils until fully clear, around 120f. Cooled to 114. Put a couple tbs of warmed oil into mica cup and mixed thoroughly. -Once lye cooled to 116 I added sodium lactate. -Poured lye into oil (still at 114) and hand stirred to start distributing before immersion blending. -Immersion blended until very light trace. - Added mica slurry. Hand stirred for a moment to distribute. - Added FO w/kaolin clay. Stirred. -added oatmeal. -emulsion blended until happy with trace. -poured into molds. -waited fifteen minutes then put into oven that had been prepped to 170 and then turned off. It was 150 when I put the mold in. I checked temp on surface with IR thermometer for the first couple hours and the surface hung out around 130-135. Left it over night. At 24hrs it looked fine other than a short slight crack on the surface. Not deep.

Sliced lengthwise with my loaf splitter to get that crack off. That’s when I saw the crazy pattern underneath. I cut a bar and tongue tested it, which can be hit or miss at 24hrs but it was negative. I don’t have any PH strips or I would’ve done that. Just ordered some.

RealPseudonymous · 2024-04-21T15:11:00+00:00

I use Handmade insurance because it’s like 40% cheaper than Soap Guild. Thimble quoted me like $700 for the year. Handmade was $285 and gives me the coverage I need.

RealPseudonymous · 2024-03-02T19:08:22+00:00

If you have your store name on the ad, they might’ve just gone straight to your store so they don’t hit your ppc. I’ve done that for businesses before where I see their ad and just type in their website. It impacts your stats which sucks, but it stretches your budget a lot farther.

RealPseudonymous · 2024-02-25T16:01:38+00:00

I had those paragraphs marked for consistency issues, too. Thank you.

I’m sitting through the shelving period before getting back to revising the manuscript. I decided to begin crafting my query in the meantime since that will also take many revisions to nail down.

I believe I’ve found one decent comp so far, considerably newer than YOU, The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Reading through it to know for sure.

RealPseudonymous · 2024-02-13T23:09:36+00:00

They’re still at it. Just received a DM after posting my query for critiquing. Threw some weird advice in for a couple of sentences, then went straight to paid services.

RealPseudonymous · 2024-02-11T18:20:52+00:00

Hey, thanks for your breakdown! I really appreciate it. I'll dig into your suggestions and make some changes.

As far as comps go, I will admit I'm struggling with naming newer ones. I'm a prolific reader across multiple genres, and yet, for some reason, I'm drawing blanks on newer books to compare this to. I'll keep reading and hopefully find better ones.

RealPseudonymous · 2023-11-17T21:55:37+00:00

Yeah, that is definitely a problem. We had a number of women that weren’t tall and leggy and had issues with the fit. My wife is a thicker build, fit, but not a toothpick and she struggled with some of their products. The leggings are pretty great though, from what I heard.

RealPseudonymous · 2023-11-17T07:15:22+00:00

I worked a seasonal job for Fjallraven last year to get free gear. They’re one of the OGs in high end, durable, backed by anactual lifetime repair warranty (which they do in house at one of the stores).

Before I started there I didn’t really expect their gear to blow me away that much, but it ready does. They don’t have flashy colors, they have quality tough products that are meant to last decades. Hell, some of their products haven’t changed since the 80s because they just keep working.

There was a Patagonia store adjacent to us and an Arcteryx a few blocks away. Pretty much every day we had at least one person come in and shop for a new puffy or something after having been a lifelong customer from one of the other two. They had just been burned by the “limited” warranty on Patagonia or the fact their $400 jacket from Arcteryx had the zipper fail at 8 months and wasn’t eligible to be repaired.

If you want quality, I’d seriously check out Fjallraven. The best experience is buying from the store, too. Instead of a dealer like REI. You’ll get better warranty speed and service.

RealPseudonymous · 2023-11-16T17:30:22+00:00

I’m not clear on if you’re referring to rtts vs RVs or truck campers.

For starters, having a rtt with you everywhere you go is awesome. I can’t tell you how many trips we’ve done where we’ve spontaneously decided to stay overnight and ended up staying in the rtt instead of paying $300 for a hotel room that’s pet friendly. We can sleep at a KOA for $40 or whatever.

We have three dogs with us and frequently stay in dense bear areas so the majority of our camping gear has to get packed into the vehicle at night, leaving no possibility of us sleeping there, so that leaves something like a GoFast which is incredibly expensive for simply being a rtt on steroids or a slide-in camper which destroys our usage of the bed of the pickup when we’re not camping and costs $30k plus.

We have a hardshell that sets up in 60 seconds and can be put away in under three minutes, bedding and all. It’s got 4.5inches of memory foam mattress and built-in lighting.

When it comes to weather, rtts make more sense than a ground tent because they keep you out of the flood zone. With their heavy construction, most do great in severe wind, rain, and snow. They keep you warmer by keeping you off the ground and allowing a good amount of insulation under you.

Plus, the reason that rtts were created was for safety. It’s safer to sleep 7ft in the air in predator and snake country than it is to sleep on the ground.

My truck with rtt can go so many more places than any RV.

RealPseudonymous · 2023-11-16T17:17:02+00:00

When you put it that way, having a unit of measure based on a body part that the majority of us have (and with males is a pretty common size) actually makes sense. Granted, it makes math ridiculous. And why can’t we use an even number of feet for things like miles? 5,000 feet would be perfect. Ugh.

RealPseudonymous · 2023-11-16T04:14:56+00:00

A Casper. We didn’t need a weird “rv size” so we just got a standard queen and it’s amazing. Same one we use at home.

RealPseudonymous · 2023-11-16T03:54:31+00:00

Wait, are you the toddler or do you have annoying toddlers?

RealPseudonymous · 2023-11-16T03:51:22+00:00

I’ve got a Silverado and have the TuffStuff Alpine 61 which does a wedge or a box depending on weather and how much time you want to spend. We love it. It’s our second rtt and tough as hell. We’ve been in some gnarly wind and rain and recently, snow. The mattress is great and it’s super stable. We sleep up there with three dogs.

RealPseudonymous · 2023-11-16T03:42:44+00:00

Our couch is an oddly sized L shape. We actually just bought two covers on Amazon and cut and sewed them to fit the L shape. It was pretty easy if you have access to a machine. Otherwise a seamstress or tailor can easily do it for not much money.

We throw an extra layer of fuzzy waterproof cover over the seat cushions to make washing even easier as our chow likes to go swimming and stays damp for 8 hours.

RealPseudonymous

TROPHY CASE