I got this ad and it made me question camper pricing. If someone is able to give essentially 50% off pricing does that mean 10,20,30 percent off “msrp” is still a bad deal? Gives me, “buy today and I’ll get you a regular price instead of the inflated price you’ll get if you don’t act now” FOMO tactic
I’d eventually like to own a camper (2 years from now) but are prices inflated on most of them? And I’m not necessarily asking solely about this dealer but in general for most camper dealers.
I’m in RV marketing and have several independent dealers doing half off sales.
With curtailments, at some point it makes more sense financially to just sell the unit at or below invoice price just to get rid of it and hope you make a little on parts or service.
Right now you see this a lot with new in-stock 2023s. They can’t afford to order 2025s nor have the space for them with an older new unit still sitting around. Manufacturers also offer better incentives on the latest year compared to older ones.
But….from what I’m hearing now may be a good time to buy and ask for steep discount. End of season and RV dealers are sitting on lots of inventory and vacation industry is slowing down with lots of uncertainty for next year.
There’s a Canadian version of them called Campmart. They have these outrageously big deals. MSRP on trailers is heavily inflated so the “deals” look better. Nobody is paying 40k for an 18ft bunkhouse. But that’s what the MSRP is. They sell for 20k, but it looks good to the buyer when they’re “saving” 50%.
What Campmart does is use these outrageous MSRP discounts,. But they don’t show you they’re about to add a bunch of heavily inflated freight and pdi and other costs before you sign.
I went to buy a grand river 19bh
for “$18,999”CAD but then they added $6000 for freight and pdi. So now the price was $24,999 which is MORE than other dealers are selling similar trailers from other brand for. Usually there is $1000-$3000 for freight and pdi. 6k is unheard of. When I questioned it the salesman straight up told me “well that’s not how the world works” as I refused to pay for that amount of freight.
I’m thinking of getting a class c motor home. I would be living in the rv full-time as a digital nomad. I am also a gamer that plays different games. One vr game I play is called vrchat. Which is more like a social game. It’s on steam,quest and other vr headsets, it’s also on android phones as well.
It’s a game that requires downloading speeds https://hello.vrchat.com/
I’m looking into getting a weight distribution hitch with sway control for my 17’ camper. The biggest issue I see is how the tongue of the trailer steps down where most of the hitches I’ve seen will attach. Normally the bottom of the tongue is roughly the same level as the bottom of the hitch on the truck, so I don’t think I can get a WD hitch to be able to hook up correctly. Any ideas?
Problem I see is that double decker tongue and how far back from the hitch it goes and finding wd brackets that will fit over it…
What’s distance from the ball to where it’s stepped down?
I would call the etrailer.com support/sales line. Ask the rep for an email address and send them this pic with some measurements and ask them for advice on what will work.
They have been really Knowledgeable and helpful the time or two I’ve needed them and…
The biggest issue I see is the piss poor not fully welded step up on the frame, and the welding looks a little sparce on the hitch to frame attachment too….
I got a WDH that came with a 33 foot HiLo that I bought. I used it once and never used it again. The camper pulled like a champ. I guess a lot of campers need them but mine didn’t.
Hello – need karma!!! But also need to replace this terribly uncomfortable sofa in Ibex 24MTH, toy hauler. It folds flat (jackknife) so the Murphy bed can come down. Any ideas?
Just bought a used 2011 Shamrock 21 ssl and tried to take it camping yesterday and started swaying hard at 50mph. We had everything loaded up front. We have a sway controller connected. Checked tire pressure. Tried with and without water. Tried 2 vehicles. I’m really bummed because this camper is perfect otherwise. What else can we do? I can’t seem to get enough tongue weight.
Something definitely isn’t right. Every picture I can find of a 21 ssl has a deck for four wheelers or a golf cart. Can you post reply with a picture of the full side of the camper? If someone took a 21ssl and shortened the frame to remove that deck you would have the problem you describe. A 21 without that deck would have the axles farther back in relation to the camper body.
This is crazy. Been in the business a long time and have never seen something like this mod. I’m guessing the dealer didn’t realize. If I brought that in on trade we just would end up unwinding the deal. The only way to “fix” it is some serious axle relocation, not certain there is enough frame to do so. Crazy, keep us posted.
Hello everyone… I recently purchased a 2001 keystone hornet 32r… Took it out this weekend and she says all over the place… I'm told I need a distribution hitch.. Camper weighs around 7600lbs.. Does anyone know if this is what I need or is it overkill..
Go to etrailer.com. They carry a bunch of different ones and you can compare them and talk to a person and they can help you narrow it down. Do you know your tongue weight?
Looks nice. Campfires are prohibited where we are camping and with good reason since it is so dry and hot. We made it into the triple digits this afternoon. Lucky for us, our power has been consistent but some of our party has been having trouble with the electric not keeping their AC running. The kids are about to put on their annual Talent Show.
That horizontal slat looks like it has a perfectly straight break, almost as if it was two boards and only the veneer was holding them together.
Remove the entire cabinet from the wall and replace those slats with pieces of real wood. Feel free to replace the stapled fiberboard shelves with wood and screws, while you’re at it.
Get used to it. Build quality is shit. I basically rebuilt the pantry with 1x2s and screws. Not pretty but nobody sees it but us, and it will not plague me again. When something breaks I fix it better than it was so I won’t have to do it again.
You could Use a piece of 1×2 cut to length and stain as close as you can, glue and screw underneath to support the broken piece. Maybe do this in all cabinets to match and add support
I have the opportunity to use a RV for a trip and want to return it better than I found it. The wood on the interior could use some help. There are some dings and scratches but overall the wood to me looks dry?
Is there a good product that would shine these right up that anyone could recommend?
Maybe Murphy’s Oil Soap might help. I tend to think you’re not going to get them looking much better, if at all, though. I think the main problem is the cheap finish used on these cheap cabinets. The Murphy’s Oil Soap won’t hurt anything, though.
Those seem to be standard PEX fittings and the clamps look to be high quality. My only concern would be that the insert inside the PEX is plastic, and I might prefer brass.
Those look pretty perfect to me. Pex can expand and resist freezing. They look properly connected. I would say that looks better than 99% of the trailers I have seen. Its great to have pex.
Note that while pex is both easy to deal with and resists freezing, everything else doesn’t (water pump, etc) so you still need to properly flush everything.
But pex is awesome and also super easy to work on should you need to add a shutoff (they always skimp on them on rvs), add something, etc.
Those are PEX fitting connected to PEX tube (you are good). You don’t want to see PEX fitting on flexible tubing. The material compresses over time and leaks develop.
Yes, they are avaialable after market too. We had a similar solution on our class C which mounted on the hitch receiver and was very convenient for bicycles and firewood.
Ours (now) is a two point hinge mount like this one on the bumper of our TT. I probably like the idea of it more than the actual rack, which I may or may not ever use since I’m pulling the TT with a pickup, I have plenty of transit space for bicycles and firewood in the truck.
It is bolted around the square RV bumper and mounted close to the attachment to the chassis, in the strongest part available there. So coolers, bicycles… I wouldn’t trust it with too much weight, but it’s good for keeping sand out of the trailer.
What I don’t like (about ours!) is that the manufacturer decided that it’s a great place to mount the spare tire (wheel). Which is fine, but doesn’t have a lot of ground clearance when folded down. Who thought that was a good idea?
I have only towed light-weight trailers with small-engine tow vehicles so my experiences are a bit skewed but I would never add that much weight to the rear of my trailer. I feel like fish-tailing would be inevitable.
I am currently looking for one of these that can hold a 200lb generator. Bumper has a hitch, and is frame mounted, but is recessed under the back of the trailer to make a sleeker look I guess, so finding one is giving me issues.
I may have to use a metal fabricator to fashion one.
Their typical weight limit seems to be 400-500 lbs.
Haha… Omg, I took a picture of the same type of thing today going down the road to show my husband! It’s like a hinged carrier installed on the bumper. Love this for travel if you need a little bit more room.
I got a spare tire there. Would be nice to have but I’m not sure if I could add anything but a bike rack for mine and I’m not even sure I’d be able to do that with a tire mounted.
Which brand of hot water heater do you have? You either need the nylon plug or an anode rod. The manufacture of the hot water tank will define which you need.
To me it looks like you need a nylon plug and not the anode rod.
it’s the winterization drain plug. I think it’s 3/4″ and I think you’ll be surprised how easy it is to find the plug. Get the nylon plug. It expands when wet, and you have to take the plug out at the end of the season anyway.
That looks like the drain plug for your hot water heater. It won’t fill or hold water without it. You can go down to camping world and buy a new one or get one on Amazon.
Thread seems to be a mixture of “it’s a drain plug” or “it’s an anode rod plug” or “it’s both”.
I’m curious why a water heater would *not* have an anode, and what the downsides of adding one would be. Sacrificial metals reduct/prevent interior corrosion, can they be a bad thing?
Hey there! My girlfriend and I frequently go out camping and are getting more into the over-landing scene. With that said, we are thinking about pulling the trigger on a teardrop trailer and renting it out on a platform like outdoorsy or airbnb when we aren't using it. We're aware that doing this will increase wear and tear.
So my question (s) to those of you that have done this – how much wear and tear did you experience when renting out your trailer? How many nights could you expect to rent it out each month? Would you recommend doing this for someone like us that wants to have a teardrop and make a little cash on the side? Is there anything you would recommend we do or stay away from going into this space?
We appreciate any input on this!
This is going to depend heavily on your area.Indiana? Probably not much market. Colorado? Demand could be higher.
Having said that, if you need to rent it out to afford it, you can’t afford it. Personally, I wouldn’t feel like it is my own if it is being dragged around and abused by renters.
You might want to check out the r/OffRoadTrailer subreddit. If you’re curious about overlanding trailers, that’s a good community to bounce ideas/questions off of.
Just got to camping spot for the week and noticed looks and feels like oil or lubricant on my cover in the picture. Got under my vehicle and cannot see any signs of leaks, nor did any temps/alarms go off while driving. These marks were not on there before I left yesterday morning. How tf would this get here if I didn’t leak it out? How if there is a leak is there no signs of it?
What the farts am I missing?
I’m just worried for the return trip, maybe just over sensitive. Going for a long drive today to calm some nerves also. If anyone has some thoughts please help! Thanks!
i mean could be 1000s of different things, Roads are dirty and full of other vehicles fluids. Check your oil level, check your transmission level, check your coolant level, look around front and rear diffs for leaks. If all are within spec you should be fine. You can pull over every hr or so at the start and keep checking levels too, see if more accumulation is on the propane cover.
Had similar on a trailer last year. It was a pinion seal leak on the rear end.
Look under your truck including the driveshaft ends, behind the rear wheels and under the motor/trans. You may not see an obvious drip but wetness where it shouldn’t be.
I would personally move one of the fat cables to the other battery’s post to get a more distributed load across both. The wires are fine if you’re only running 12v devices off of them. If you’re inverting to run 110v devices, you should consider upgrading the wire gauge of the smaller connecting wires. At the end of the day, it’s all math.
You didn’t say what wattage the inverter is and what your anticipated load is. If it’s let’s say like my coffee maker (750w) that’s like 70A of load on the batteries with inverter losses. With your setup you’d see a huge voltage drop across those wires. I like to use equal sized wire to maximize the load the second battery can contribute to
I’ve also found on a lot of these batteries there can be significant voltage drop between a screw post and the main battery terminal. So I use only the main terminal for the heavy load stuff.
I would strongly encourage you to use owners forums where there is a lot more knowledge than this sub. You made some good fixes here but 12V DC is not to be messed with, and you’re going to get more reliable and expertly discussed feedback on owners forums than here in general. There’s plenty of pleasant discussion here but the more technical and hazardous stuff should be discussed on the owners forums for your rig.
They keep honest people honest, which is usually worth it.
In my experience, it is often easier to drill the lock rather than cut the pin, unless you have an angle grinder and do not have a drill with good bits.
I imagine you lost the key but I’ve broken a few keys over the years and now put a drop of oil in my locks now. Also have a little rubber cap to keep the dust out which makes them hard to turn.
I was using a locking pin up until my last trip when despite all my key turning it would not disengage the lock. I ended up pulling really hard and was able to get it off, looking like my locking pin might have been a bit bent but I couldn’t figure out how that would have stopped the lock from releasing the bearings. fortunately I had as spare non locking pin in my truck as I was still out on my trip.
I could have waited until I got home but at that point I really wasn’t sure if the pin was actually locked or not and would come off while driving. and I didn’t want to be driving around with my huge blue ox hitch sticking out of the back.
I spray all those little locks 1-2 times a year w/ a cleaner/ lubricant. The one I use is marketed for bicycles and it reduces friction inside locks so much that the locks feel broken because the key turns so easily.
I use a big rug/mat that’s a woven plastic. I use it as a place to take off my shoes before I go inside that way I don’t have to sweep 10 times a day. It drains sand and water and is easy to sweep off.
I’ll use mine, more of a plastic fabric thing than a cloth rug, on gravel or grass sites. Helps with keeping the dirt down and it’s easier on the feet.
I have a 10×20 outdoor rug that allows water and sand to pass through. It’s really nice that the kids can hang out on it without getting shoes on. As for the inside, we have an entryway rug for you to take your shoes off on, and a runner after that that is nice on feet from the living room area. Both rugs are lightweight and easy to shake out, also I removed all the carpet from our motorhome, and replaced with LVP flooring g that’s easily swept and vacuumed.
I would never use rugs like the ones in your photo outside. I have an 8×10′ plastic “rug” that I use outside under my canopy tent. It’s easy to hose off and dries instantly. Inside my small trailer I have a 3×6′ runner because the linoleum was getting too dinged up. I vacuum that, and take it outside to beat the dirt out periodically. Once a season I’ll hose it down and scrub-brush it on a sunny day.
Outside we use what’s really a plastic woven rug to keep the mud down, and a door mat to wipe feet. Inside is one rag rug to catch the rest of the sand, dirt, stickers and burrs. We bring 2 rag rugs and shake/ swap as needed. The spare one shades the drinks crate.
Hey Peoples! Im trying to decide which used 5th wheeler to buy from the list in the image. All are priced around the $10k mark (and I’m hoping to negotiate a reduced final price). Apart from some of the metrics I have provided they all are pretty summer. Option A & B have the exact same floor plans and Option C is slightly different with the kitchen at the back and more internal storage.
The chosen RV will also undergo some DIY renovations internally before an upcoming multi-month cross country road trip with the wife. We wanted something reliable, shorter and easy to get around to all the national parks. The plan would be to then sell the 5th wheel after the trip and recoup some money (of course we are expecting to loose some money on the resell but want to minimise where we can).
This will be our first fifth wheel so I thought I'd would get some feedback from the internet. What should we be considering when inspecting/choosing? Thank you!!
Ps: Any recommendations on a suitable towing vehicle are also very much appreciated.
I like your use of excel, but after buying a used class B a few years ago I found what matters are not the specs (as long as the layout and capacities are in the range you need) but the condition. 10 or 15 year old units will vary greatly in condition.
Not enough info to tell. What kind of surface is that and what’s underneath it? What year was it made? How is the upper surface attached to the substrate?
A few weeks ago, my wife enjoyed a campground so much that she reserved a site for her & the kids during a time I couldn't get out of work.
So last night, I got tasked with dropping off & setting up the camper for the night (and even cooked some hotdogs while I was at it)… All to go home & work the next two days.
I call BS! Perfect camping weather forecast for the rest of the week. Gotta up my rates haha
Took about a decade of training and practice, but the wife can now load her quad into the fifth wheel, hook it to the truck, and go camping, dump it, and park it back into its storage spot.
I like to do that one the other way around, have the family / other half drive out to meet me a couple of days after I have everything setup (provided I have the extra time off)
I’ve learned that I like doing the setup myself, without distractions even if it means more work.
That’s the dust cover for your axle bearing grease fitting. If you can take the wheel off yourself, you can probably just tap it back on. Its normally just a press fit.
Since that’s the grease cap, there is a decent chance your bearing grease has dirt in it now. I’ll bet the cap itself has crap in it just from bouncing around in the trim ring.
I would pull the rim/tires off, take a close look at the grease. If it’s at all dirty you need to repack the bearings. Personally I would just repack them, way easier and cheaper to do it now than on the side of the road.
Get in the habit of checking your bearings and tires every time you stop. Make sure none of them are hot.
I know it’s overkill, I have my bearings repacked every year. Still cheaper than breaking down.
Use a cutting wheel to cut most the way through old race, then split it in half with cold chisel
Purchase and install all new bearings with new races
You can also purchase a new loaded hub that comes with new bearings and races already installed
Then learn how to do yearly bearing packs as part of your yearly maintenance routine
The picture doesn’t show it, but some axles have bolt on spindles you can replace. If not I would buy an axle kit. Less than $500 on Amazon. Refitting bearings on a messed up isn’t worth it. You’ll be driving down the road with constant worry.
Just unbolt the whole hub assembly. Take to a trailer parts supply place . you could buy the complete assembly for not that much money . Something in the $ 200 range + Greece which you should get the other wheel bearings new seals and repacked with grease. Not a big job if you are at all handy with tools
If the spindle is badly damaged, replace axle.
Replace linings and hubs.
I repair electric brake trailers for a living.
Hopefully, you got stopped before the wheel fell off.
Axle. The bearings, seals, backing plate, shoes and magnet all come as a kit. Complete bolt on. Drum too. If the spindle threads are damaged, do you feel safe with it going down the road like that? Even with a cotter pin?
We use Six Robless for our stuff. A lot of the axles are made as needed since Covid.
Zooming in the threads don’t look that bad at all. I’d chase with a die. Then tap the race off. Spray it all down with brake cleaner. Then put a new loaded hub on. Then fill the hub with grease through he easy line fitting in the end of the axle.
I have to ask, how long did it take you to get comfortable driving w that setup? I’ll be perfectly honest and say I’m slightly intimidated thinking about driving that.
Click bait, no way no how, paid to deliver and set up. No fing way. Does that car have the power? Yes. Tranny? No, brakes, no. Hitch compatibility, f no, suspension, F No lier lier pants on fire, super dangerous and illegal
Even if it’s a little off the beaten path, do you have a favorite campground nearby this route. I’m going the first weekend of October. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Both of your routes are going to have a lot of two lane roads. Even though it is a longer mileage wise I would probably take an I-95 to I-40 to US-64 route. It will take less time than your dark blue route and will only be 15 minutes more than your route through Fayetteville. All of the roads once you are on I-95 will be multi-lane until you turn left or right from US-64 to access Jordan Lake’s campgrounds.
Any more pictures of your setup? It’s so much different than what we have, the awning cover looks very cool. And I bet people would freak out about the size of tow vehicle you have as well. I love it.
I'm interested in getting this old RV for short trips into the nearby forest roads on weekends with my family. The camp spots I am interested in are close so I won't be too worried about the bad gas milage. It looks good inside. When I came for a test drive the steering was a little sloppy and the generator did not start. So I think I'll ask for $2k off the asking price to get those fixed.
One downside is that I'd be buckling child seats into the side facing sofa. But only on low speed rural back roads.
Decent price for a class C in good condition. 120K miles over a 24 year period is far from excessive. A steering stabilizer will cost you about a grand, installed. I’d go for it.
The fit and finishes on this old girl are light-years better than modern class c/b motorhomes. For example, you have solid wood cabinetry, not laminate over particleboard. The only thing I would be concerned about is the occasional tendency of pre-2002 V-10s to pop spark plugs out! Apparently the threads are too short in the cylinder head. Strangely, it is a simple fix. Beyond that, the V-10 is a beast that could easily take you,another 120K miles.
A Roadmaster Reflex steering stabilizer is about $400 from etrailer and takes less than an hour to install. I installed one on my 2004.
Thats quite a few miles for an RV, but thats not necessarily a bad thing. They tend to do worse when they just sit and everything dries out or rots due to roof leaks. I dont see any obvious leaks in the video so thats good.
I had a very similar layout and type but it was a 25′. The nice advantage of them is that you can still drive them into any parking lot and use any double length parking stall without much hassle, so picking up groceries and such is quite easy. Also small and easy enough to drive that the wife didnt mind doing some of that.
If there are only 2 adults and a child Id do it. Its a bit small for any more than that as you’ll be tripping over each other trying to pass in the narrow aisle but for weekend trips to the woods it looks like a good unit.
Not sure why the generator is listed as newer but wouldn’t start. Hmm. Hopefully nothing major.
The lack of leveling jacks could be annoying. Sometimes you want to level but often its just nice to have the unit stable, especially in a wind storm when it starts rocking.
The walkaround bed isn’t really a walkaround. Not sure why they put it sideways but you wont normally want to squeeze into that tiny aisle at the base of the bed with the wall that close. Its more of a “jump over your partner” bed. But its camping, so thats not necessarily a bad thing either 🙂
Just outside of Asheville there is a road that leads up to the Blue Ridge Parkway called Pisgah Hwy. Check out Sliding Rock(a natural slide you can slide down) , Looking glass Falls, and a ton of trails are on that road.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is amazing also. I go there all the time and I can still spend days exploring it every time.
Showalter’s Orchard in Timberville, VA is close to your route, and it’s peach season if you’re into picking your own fruit. They have apples as well. We stayed there with Harvest Hosts and it was a beautiful spot up in the mountains, and really good hard cider.
Sandstone Falls at NRGNP it’s not to far off 64, give yourself about an hour to explore the area, make sure to get off the boardwalk to get the best views of the falls.
Stop in Abingdon/Damascus and check out the Virginia Creeper trail. You rent bikes in town and they take you to the top of the trail head and you just coast back downhill to where you rented the bikes from. Very easy cruise on a paved trail through the mountains and farmland it really is beautiful and worth the trip. 2.5-3 hrs
My daughter had a pineapple shaped plastic drink cup thing from a slushie place and my wife told her to put it outside on the picnic table, not inside the camper. I said, “you sure you want a pineapple outside the camper??” – she immediately called out to my daughter to bring it inside now! ????????
I've got water and power but getting the run around on putting a permanent sewer system at my property in time for this years hunt. I've discovered that these portable tanks exist that sit under you trailer. A 400gal one will more than handle my black tank deposits for the season. Anyone have experience using one? Pros and cons?
Make sure you put a valve on the discharge before you start filling it. Don’t want to unscrew that cap and try to attach a hose when it’s full. As long as you can empty it, should work fine. If it freezes in your area you probably want to insulate it. Cover it with old blankets would help.
Be aware some counties require permits and inspections for these. They are most often used at building sites for crew facilities. The fines for non-compliance can be severe.
There’s quite a few where we have our seasonal parked. If they’re installed correctly they work like a champ. Incorrectly and you have my dipshit neighbor who tries to make his shit go uphill.
Sounds like your use case would do well. Just call a septic pumper to suck it out every so often.
Edit: these are intended to be buried part ways underground beneath the camper.
you need to run the vent way up so the smell doesn’t surround your rig
once it’s full, you’re relying on a poo pump truck to empty it, no good back up plan
you’ll have to heat it in the winter
it’s gonna smell terrible regardless
What we ended up doing:
piped a line about 30’ away to assist with grey dump to ground.
held black for about a week then dumped to a transfer tank, picked the tank up with the tractor and took it to our septic field and dumped it. (I understand that may not be an option but you might have a neighbor or something).
What type of land are we talking about here? Is there an outhouse? We have 10 acres of land we leave our unit on (put in a septic tank, though), but one of our neighbours just hauls to his outhouse with one of the usual wheeled tanks to dump the black tanks.
Oh I want this for our Jeep. We have this fabulous, built to play, but still pretty Jeep being towed behind our old class C. It definitely looks like it’s stuck pushing the old thing up the hill
I have looked at this campground a few times over the years since we have family in the area, hoping they change this policy. I have never hear of a place that doesn't allow slide-outs. The majority of modern campers and RVs I see today have some form of bump-out.
There are so many guesses here, all unfounded. If somebody asks a question looking for information, don’t give them false info. Here’s the real story:
For years, the the spots in this RV park have been individually owned. There is a separate company that owns the rental rights. Owners can stay there with any RV they want. In the past, the rental company allowed any RV to come in. The owners and the rental company split the fee, everyone was happy, guests loved the place.
Then a new owner got the rental rights, and he is a fucking crazy person. He immediately started enforcing an obscure clause in a decades old document to prevent any modern RV from renting there. The owners voted to change the obscure clause, and this guy refused to acknowledge it (claiming it was an illegal vote???) and instead launched three law suits against the owners for all sorts of random bullshit, including the right for them to stay on their own lot, or even the right to use the common road to get to their lot — even though courts have said that staying their full time is allowed and the right of way is clearly a right of way. So Idiot posted an armed guard to stop residents from coming in. (Fortunately the county made that stop).
So now, this idiot is driving away all the business. Sometimes, he’ll accept the reservation and then belligerently tell them to go away when they show up, leaving them with nowhere to go. It is a scorched earth policy.
So what is his game? It goes pretty deep, but basically he’s got friends on the county board, and he is trying to shut down the RV park so he can turn it into a parking lot for his other businesses. His friends on the county board have been helping. He was recently awarded a ferry contract to take passengers to Dafuskie Island, and has totally screwed the pooch on that, too. The boats are not seaworthy, not Coast Guard approved, he can’t handle disabled passengers, the boarding process is not safe, and people have fallen into the water. Google “Dafuskie Ferry Contract Controversy”, dig as deep as you want.
The owners of the RV park want your business. They want the old system back. But this asshole is trying to destroy it for his personal gain. There is also a luxury resort in the picture, but that gets more complicated.
Anyway, there are multiple lawsuits back and forth. The owners are slowly winning, but it has been three years and the reputation of this beautiful resort is ruined. It is truly one of the best RV resorts in the country, and I’ve been to hundreds. But right now, nobody can come there because an immoral asshole is ruining it.
I hope the resort can be restored to its former glory in a few years. The tide is turning against the idiot who is destroying it, but unfortunately it may take a while to get back up to its former self.
Plenty of photos show RVs with slide-outs, but a quick read of their Google reviews kinda show that there was some sort of ownership change 2021-2022 and this new policy is now in place.
It’s Hilton Head – one of the most popular and most pretentious beach destinations in the SE United States. They likely fill up their campground even with these restrictions.
Sounds to me like they’re trying to engineer a way to have only airstreams and motorhomes. The guidance doesn’t say anything about slides on a MH. Just trailers.
My 10 years old panel buttons are not working as they used to. The levels seem to depend on the amount on pressure I put on the buttons. Interestingly, I took the panel off and tried shorting the buttons contacts on the board with a flat screwdriver and it doesn’t seem to make a difference – though the board may be covered with some dielectric conformal coating for protection and to prevent moisture from getting in. Also not sure if the issue is somewhere in the wiring instead.
Is this a known issue? Should I try to resolder new buttons using my resolder station on the panel board or replace the whole thing?
Time to get real about marshmallow preferences – do you like yours lightly kissed by the sun or a full-on charcoal briquette? Personally, I'm a fan of the golden-brown-to-almost-but-not-quite-on-fire range, roughly a 4-6 on the toastiness scale.
I could be mistaken, but I interpret this map to indicate that these sites are tent only (the tent symbol), not RV and that is why the access is so awkward.
Why would someone design RV sites with such a difficult entry?
The road to the sites is one way in the ‘wrong direction’.
When you are backing up your trailer, hold the bottom of the steering wheel. By holding the bottom, if you want the trailer to go left, you move your hand left. If you want the trailer to go right, you move your hand right. Hope this helps.
Satellite view looks like a wide road and there’s a few photo blobs on Google Maps that look the same. Wide enough that two vehicles could pass by each other, may not be a one way road?
Those are back in spaces. While there are “pull in” as opposed to “pull through” spaces, they are usually (always?) only for class “A” and class “C” motorhomes. And, usually are set up to take advantage of some view (ocean, river, race track etc.).
We just returned from a national Forrest camp ground in Washington state that was set up like this (counterclockwise road with the campsites on the inside of the circle “backwards”). We spoke with the camp host who had us go the wrong way around so we could back in appropriately. Fortunately, it was a very quiet campground so there was very little traffic.
Had this for about a year now but first time towing with my Thuren suspension modifications. Towed great through the mountain passes of Colorado! Love the dual opposing slides on this unit.
Having a bathroom on wheels is the epitome of luxury, because kids possess a superhuman talent for transforming even the most inopportune moments into a code-red potty emergency, and Mother Nature has a wicked sense of timing
That was the best part of the class c motorhome. Obviously I would never let them get up and go to the bathroom while I was driving. That would be to dangerous. Obviously.
This is probably one of the main reasons I refuse to get a slide. I aside of being a little off level, my camper is fully accessible from the side of the road.
I thought this would be for an adult. I remember once a car pulled over on the interstate and a little boy jumped out to take a leak. He ran to the back of the car facing oncoming traffic. He didn’t need no stinkin’ trailer! (SNL reference.)
When you put it into storage for the winter, choose a place that is not surrounded by tall grass or woods. Too many field mice and other critters. And park it on pavement or gravel. Definitely not grass or dirt.
And put bars of Irish Spring soap in your storage compartments and the interior when it’s in storage; it helps discourage the critters.
And it goes without saying, during off season, remove EVERY SINGLE SCRAP of food, spices, coffee, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. from the trailer. Leave nothing that smells interesting. Except the soap.
Make sure you have more than enough truck to tow it. My last rig, on paper, my truck was good but I found many trips I wish I had more truck. For sewer lines and water hoses- two shorter ones will be a lot easier than one long one. Get a flexible sewer hook up as opposed to a hard plastic one.
Also p, when storing, consider removing paper goods eg, toilet paper, tissue, paper towel, etc. if the critters make it past the Irish Spring they love using paper to make their nest.
RV tech here. For the love of RV, please find your fresh water sediment trap (typically right next to the water pump) and make sure the cap is tight. Last year we had something like 8 new trailers and 4 new RVs with serious water damage due to a loose sediment trap cap. We have one in the shop right now.
Here’s a tip for keeping mice out. Get 100% peppermint oil (not the fru-fru essential oil stuff) and saturate a rag with it. Stuff the rag in an empty water or soda bottle and leave the lid off. Put 3 or 4 of these peppermint bottles throughout the trailer when you aren’t camping. When it’s time to load up for a trip, put the lids on and stash them away. Mice don’t like the smell, and the trailer is minty fresh when you open it up. Put more oil on the rags as needed. We gather up the bottles when we are loading and put them back out right before our final lock up after a trip.
Do you travel with a supply of freshwater and if so, why, or if not, why not? I have a family of six, consisting of two adults and four children under the age of 12. When camping near home, I fill up with freshwater at the campsite and dispose of any unused water before departing. However, for long-distance trips, I partially fill my tank at home, preferring my family to use the RV's
bathroom facilities rather than searching for rest stops or gas stations, especially considering my children's frequent need to use the bathroom.????
Safe Travels Everyone!
I travel with ~5gal and fill up at campground. I look ahead to make sure there is water, we’ve gone to some places that don’t have it so in that case I’ll fill up.
Also, dont travel with like half full. Either just have a tiny bit or full. The sloshing of like 15-20 gallons creates a ton of force. A full tank won’t slosh around. Plenty of stories of half full tanks creating weird handling situations or the straps holding the tank up breaking
I boondock most of the time. So I always have the freshwater full but I also have a 45’ 5th wheel and it can handle the 142 gallons full without issues.
I just hope that is a dedicated fresh water hose and also not used for black tank flushing. Usually the bright orange is for non potable water as a visual aide.
But to answer the main post question – no. I’ve seen how some of these tanks are mounted and there is no way I’d add an extra 600 pounds and stress anything more than it is.
Very nice! Dont see many units with a single door that far back. Whats the model? I’m curious to see the floor plan. Do you know what brand of WDH hitch you are going to use?
Is it better to have it cranked to max or have it set at medium fan and not fully cold? Hot one this weekend. We have short power. Heading to the beach for a few hours.
When we woke up we gave the AC a break from overnight running and turned it off. I want to keep it somewhat cool because in just a couple hours it was back over 80 in the camper. We will likely bring our dog back for a cool rest in her kennel and will have it on then. I just thought it would be better to keep it running so it doesn’t have to cool down so much later. Wife is worrried we’d burn out AC if it ran all day.
Is it a problem to run it all day and night in hot weather (90F and humid)? Is it better to run it full or turned down a little like the photo?
It’s fine to leave it running. If it’s very humid and you have such a massive temperature differential that it runs non-stop; sometimes you can have issues with freezing up. If you do run into those issues; you don’t have to turn it off necessarily (though you might to initially defrost); you just need to turn the temperature up a bit. RV’s are pretty poorly insulted so often a good figure to shoot for is around 15 degrees below the outside temp; but expiriment. YMMV and your A/C may perform differently than someone else.
We usually run ours on the lowest AC setting and the temperature about where the photo in the post shows. It will make our rig too cold if we run it higher than that.
We start ours up once the temp is getting warm out and leave it running all day, sometimes the entire day off the generator if we’re boondocking. We find that if we turn it off to go out its nearly impossible to bring the heat back down later. Bear in mind we’re using undersizd units only 13k btu when it should be about 20k btu.
I raised horses for years and worked on dude ranches. I live in an area with wild horses all over the place and I will never approach them or let them approach me closely.
Wild horses can bite, strike or kick unexpectedly. The biggest danger is if they spook and run you over.
I see tourists in the middle of a herd petting them and just ????
They discovered that some wires on some units are undersized for the amperage load. Oversight error or some dumb schmuck on the assembly floor using the wrong wire. So, they just need to be rewired with heavier gauge wire. They are trying to figure out a way to get it done without having to completely disassemble the RV.
It would help if they said what and where. Like… don’t turn in the tv amplifier. Or your rv might burn down in the middle of the night with nothing being on.
Man if they have to pull new wire that could be really east, or really near impossible, depending.
Man, lots of doom & gloom and misinformation in this thread already. This notice from the owner was released alongside the announcement of a recall and the fix/solution has been in place since day-1 of the announcement. They are pre-authorizing something like 30-minutes of labor for techs, not “trying to figure out if they have to disassemble the entire coach” lol.
I would guess by the comments that some of you have not seen the wiring/plumbing in Brinkleys vs. other manufacturers. There is no rat’s nest to sort through here.
I’m not entirely sure. This was sent to me from a friend who is on the wholesale side of the industry. For the customers sake, I hope they pin point it and get it resolved. I also hope their legal team gave them the green light to submit the bulletin regarding this. As it could open them up to unnecessary lawsuits
You know, all I hope and want for people is that they have fun, are safe, are good camp neighbors and clean up after themselves. Beyond that, I genuinely don’t care what they drive.
The pipe on the left, has a vented cap on it. I think it’s to the gray water tank and spews stinky air when we fill the tank. Is this normal? Can I plug this? It’s in the cabinet that used to have a washer/dryer. Now it’s a cat box closet.
That is the air admittance valve for the grey tank. It is a one way valve that allows air into the grey tank. If you are getting odors from it, change it out. You can buy them at a hardware store, even Lowe’s and Home Depot.
Buy a good one and I wouldn’t buy from Lowes or any big box. They tend not to last long. I gave up and just capped both of ours. All of our faucets are in eco mode so no issues in 2 years doing that.
That is a special vented cap. If it is malfunctioning and letting gasses/odor into your unit, replace it. Don’t just cap it.
Also, if you don’t already, you may need to treat your gray tank just like you do your black tank. We find that if we don’t treat our gray tank, it can smell just as badly as the black tank.
From Michigan and love camping in Michigan. Camping for years and being the woods is awesome but looking to change up the environment with some beach access.
Any suggestions? We normally boondock so no full hook ups necessary. Not being crammed together and kid/dog friendly is what I’m hoping to find that hidden gem.
You may want to retract that awning a little, it is opened beyond the suggested stopping point. The 10” flap should hang straight down. It looks to be on top of the
Man this makes me mad I didn’t take a picture of our breakfast last week. It was to die for. Hashbrowns super crispy, sausage, eggs over medium, bagel toasted on the griddle with the tons of butter and all layered together to make this messy gooey crispy heaven. ????
Just noticed this gap on my roof while getting ready for the next trip. What should I do about this? For reference, it’s in the center of the front of the roof where the roof meets the front. No signs of water leakage and I live in FL so it gets rains on daily.
We are going on a week long camping trip with our 10 month old German Shepherd. On our first trip, we used a cable up high between 2 trees to tie her outside. That option isn’t always possible. What do you all use to “tie out” your large dogs?
I have to put a harness on my dog and then hook her up to the camper on a 25ft coated steel cable. I also will put up a line between two trees if it is close enough. At least for me, when it is just the two of us (minus my better half) I have to make sure all of her needs are met before I can relax.
Pick up a couple of the long plastic covered steel cables with the clips on both ends…more than one so you have some flexibility on distance.
Between trees like you have done is great (I use a ratchet strap to get it nice and tight) – loop the leash on and can roam back/forth.
The same cables – can connect to anything solid – table/truck/single tree whatever.
Also pick up 2 corkscrew ground attachments –
Put that long cable between those two points (on the ground rather than between trees) much less tangled mess around things as you can control the distance/location easily.
I’ve tied mine off to the frame of the vehicle or on one of the holes that you hook tow chains. They can drag picnic tables for the right motivation ????
You have a few options. You can get one of those ground cable spikes. You drive it into the ground and the dog has a circular area to use. Make sure to get one that is rated for the weight of your dog. You can tie them to the RV using a good cable or rope. It limits the area your dog can go but it’s secure. I personally use a rope line that I tie between 2 trees or a tree and the camper or the camper and the truck. I use a heavy duty retractable leash (pricy but worth it) and a large carabineer that I attach to the line. But like you said, it’s not always feasible to be able to tie up between 2 points. So when we can’t we just tie him up to the camper or the ground spikes. Whatever you decide make sure that you use a harness. It’s waaaaayyy safer and it’s less likely to damage your dogs windpipe later in life.
Mine treats picnic tables as immovable objects, so I’d thread the spare leash around the table and clip it to her normal leash. Gives her about 15’ of travel, preferably towards the back of the campsite. I don’t want stray children surprising my dog while she’s napping.
But the biggest thing for us is a proper harness. Our dogs are generally very well behaved but there is one out of 100 dogs, male or female, big or small, that they hate with a passion and they will charge. Having the proper harness that one, they can’t get out of, and two, won’t break their neck, is crucial.
One uses a top hook on her harness. The other uses a bottom latch. The bottom latch pulls her head back towards us so if she charges she gets whipped around. It has helped a lot both for camping and walks in general.
I’ve got a Grey Wolf 26DJSE and my family just dry camped at a state park campground for 6 nights and 7 days. We ran the fridge full time but left all the lights, the radio, the water pump, nothing plugged in to any outlets unless the generator (Predator 3500) was running (2 hours in the morning, 3 hours in the evening).
By the 3rd night, the battery died and I got a replacement on the 4th day and while that lasted the rest of the trip it did get concerningly low by the mornings. We never ran the AC the entire week.
I have an 81ah battery and there’s also a solar panel on the roof. Shouldn’t I be able to dry camp for a week with 5 hours of generator power each day? And shouldn’t I be able to use at least a couple of lights in the evening without fear of running out of battery?
Do I need to increase my battery capacity? Is there something wired wrong? Does the fridge draw more power than I expect it should?
The fridge will draw enough power to drain my 100Ah battery after a few days. Even if it’s set to use propane. A couple of decent solar panels will resolve that issue though.
I do plan to add another 200Ah of battery to my setup. Already have the battery, just need to connect it to my other battery.
For the time being, until I get solar panels, I generally run my generator for a bit each day to charge the battery.
Your 81ah battery is only good for 40ah. When you run the generator it’s only trickle charging the battery.
How much power does the solar panel put out? Even if you fully charge the battery it’s just not enough capacity.
Are the lights in your trailer LED or incandescent, which use an amp per hour.
Lithiums are your best choice. They can be fully discharged without damage. Unless you’re camping in below freezing weather they don’t require any special housing. Unless your trailer is very old the built in charger will maintain them. They’re also much lighter than traditional batteries.
A single 100ah lithium battery has the same capacity as two 6v golf cart batteries at less than half the weight.
It sounds like you have a way to see the battery voltage, does it increase while you’re running the generator? Also, is the fridge on propane, 12v or 120 with an inverter?
That sounds normal. A single 81 Ah battery is not a lot of juice for any length of time. We have a much bigger 180Ah battery (4D size) and I have to charge it daily with a 10A charger. Id like to even move up to a 15A charger. And thats with the fridge running on propane 100% of the time. But we use a lot of lights, water pump, and an inverter for 120v power for computers, phone charging, plus some fans in a big RV.
If youre charging only off your generator with DC output thats often only a 5A to 8A charger (doesn’t specify exactly on the Predator 3500 specs), so its going to take a lot longer to recharge a depleted battery.
Double your battery capacity with 2x6v deep cycle batteries (golf cart) from Costco and get a bigger, faster charger and you’ll be fine.
I’ve got a grand design imagine 2250rk towed with a Chevy Silverado z71 half ton. I have the sway bars and stabalizers on the trailer hitch. Trailer is about 27’ total length.
It feels like every bump in the road is going to rip the trailer apart on the inside. Every time we get to our destination pieces of wood is all over the counter and floor from the bouncing. All out pots and pans have wood pieces in them at every stop too. And our magnetic glass cover on the radio console is open and flopping around. Plus it’s rough on the body. An all day drive on the road is back breaking bouncing around. I’d love to figure out how to make it smoother. The truck itself gives a smooth ride without the trailer.
Is there an adjustment I’m not getting right or something to add to the tow package?
Do you load most of the trailer front heavy and then store a lot in the box of the truck too? Payload of the truck could be the issue. Try distributing the weight more in the trailer to take some weight off the front. Adjusting the WDH could help quite a bit here too.
That’s not a very heavy trailer for the truck. I’m running a Coachmen Apex 256bhs (7500lbs max loaded) with a 2018 sierra z71 and after the first trip was a bit bouncy we distributed the weight a bit more in the trailer and now it’s absolutely perfect down the highway. Things like cloths, bedding, accessories for the trip were moved to under the dinnette in the middle and some stored on the bunks in the back.
E: Also I have some friends that think it’s a good idea to fill there fresh water at home and travel with it full, they complain of the same issue regarding bouncing and the trailer felling like its going to break, but they won’t listen to reason. Hopefully you’re not doing that!
Let’s be clear here.
Sway bars are not weight distribution bars.
Air bags do not replace the need for weight distribution if weight distribution is needed.
From the photo I see what looks like a friction sway bar mount point ( the plate with 6 bolts in it) I won’t get into the efficacy of these but these have nothing to do with what you have described.
What is the tongue weight of your loaded camper ? You can use a lever and fulcrum on a bathroom scale to figure it out google will show you how.
What type of hitch do you have now ? A Reese straight line weight distribution would be my first suggestion as it also has integral sway control
What is your tow vehicle ?
What is the load range on your tow vehicle tires and and what is the air pressure?
Back the truck ball hitch under the hitch on the trailer and don’t lower onto it quiet yet, go around and measure from top of tire to the fender edge all the way around and write this info down for all 4 corners. Lower the trailer onto the ball and lift all the jacks etc so full tongue weight is on the tow vehicle and re measure report this info back
Diesel owner here, I agree with your sentiment and that of your husband. Unless you’re towing this thing regularly like weekly or more do you have enough truck when I had a half ton hauling a travel trailer we installed airbags and that seems to help, but it is a very expensive option. Others have said I agree with possibly upgrading your stabilizers. I used an equalizer hitch from that brand and I oversized it to 13,000 pounds from 10,000 pounds and that really helped minimize the bouncing when I was towing a travel trailer
Bought a barely used 2022 camper. It is beautiful. However. The mattress was stained underneath and there is a stain of god knows what on the plywood bed platform. Naturally I am freaked out but now we own it! Mattress was immediately removed.
Our carpenter cannnot remove and replace rhe plywood the piece of wood would require taking out the storage cabinet etc he suggested bleach and painting it over it with a Killz type stain product. Any suggestions ? I want to buy a new mattress and go camping!
I have no idea but I’d guess it is a bit of mold due to moisture from sleeping
I’d spritz it with bleach, wait a few days and then do a heavy kilz application and let it dry for a few days. That’ll be about as good as you can do it without replacing the board totally
This happened to me. I am pretty sure it is just condensation. Warm body on mattress and cold air on the other side of the plywood.
I think you need some airflow between the new mattress and the plywood to ensure this does not happen again.
You can buy something online.
And id be happy with Kilz. If the stain leaks through or you feel it is mold, then you should remove plywood. But I don’t see why you could just out the center part. I assume there are supports under there you should cut to so the joint bets the new and old wood is over the supports.
Hey everyone. I just purchased this 30A watch dog and I noticed it has a metal ring to secure it to the pole I’m assuming. It’s expensive so I’d like to lock it up somehow. My question is what should I use to lock it up? I know a lock only keeps an honest thief out but it’s better than nothing.
Honestly, can you exchange it for a hard wired unit?
I had a 30 amp PI unit in my last trailer, and put a 50 amp Hughes unit in my motorhome. Install is not hard and then you don’t have to worry about it walking and (and this was big for me knowing myself) you won’t neglect to plug it in when you are rushing to set up in the rain.
I’d be a little concerned about the heat generated by the inverter directly in contact with the batteries. Especially since it seems that you would be building a cover for that.
A buddy of mine drives from San Diego to El Centro for work and pulled someone's burning truck away from their 5th wheel this afternoon. At the time he said it was 109f ambient as they were climbing the grade out of the desert on interstate 8.
Good work, OP. For anyone experiencing an engine fire, if you have an extinguisher, and you can unlatch the hood, just stop there, and do not fling the hood wide open, providing more air to the fire, but instead aim the extinguisher under the hood and spray at the fuel/base of the flames.
Weird, I was just looking at camping here an hour ago. The stupid California parks website is broken and indicated there are a couple nights available. (Point Mugu)
We knew we had the infamous “china-bomb” tires. We’d hoped to make it one more weekend trip before replacing them. Shouldn’t have pushed our luck.
We were going about 70 when I happened. Went to get the spare and didn’t have a four way. Luckily we were only about an hour from my FIL and he brought me one.
Once he arrived I got the spare on, but it was almost 9pm. We found a nice RV park nearby and got a spot for the night. The next morning we rolled into the nearest town and bought 5 new tires.
Sorry about your tires. Def worth pre tripping them especially if you’re not traveling a ton/only use seasonally. Not saying it had anything to do with the blowout, but in my opinion 70mph is a tad fast for really any RV towing set up. I’ve found that going that fast diminishes fuel economy. At least with my previous setup (diesel truck + fifth wheel) the difference between let’s say 60-65 and 70+ was like 2mpg.
So many people assuming it’s the propane tank that caused it because of the headline. Like someone else said, it has nothing to do with what caused it, they shut down lanes near it because the tank could blow due to the fire.
This way they can charge an exorbitant price for roach removal. There will be a six month wait for roach removal, it will have to return three times to correctly remove the roaches, other things will be destroyed in the process, and you will end up with six more roaches.
If the dealer can’t be bothered to take decent pictures I’d be worried about how thorough and careful they are with the more complicated stuff. This would be an immediate walk-away for me. I wouldn’t buy from them, not even parts, and I wouldn’t trust them to perform any service.
I was told by a very good RV technician that the space is there in case moisture develops on the back of the shower wall. It will then drip down and into the tub. If you seal it, it could lead to mould/moisture issues.
I have the same in my trailer and was going to seal it but was told not to.
When I used to rent out my Class A Rv, I had a renter once thinking they were being helpful, put caulk all around the shower pan at the bottom.
I charged them $500 damage for my time to remove it all.
I was pissed!
As an electrician, I can tell you that it is a 30a 120vac rv outlet. What I can’t tell you is if that will supply 120vac 30a power.
First thing you need to do is get your multimeter and verify proper voltage at the plug.
If you don’t have a meter or know how to use one, zeroth thing you need to do is get a meter and learn to take basic readings with it. Every homeowner or rv owner should be able to do basic checks with a meter. You don’t need anything fancy. A basic auto ranging harbor freight special will be fine
Second thing would be to flip off the breaker. (notice what the size if the breaker is. It should be no more than 30a) verify there is no power at the outlet and examine the outlet. Make sure there is no corrosion on the contacts, look at the wires connecting to the outlet and make sure the are tight and in good shape. If there is any question, put a new outlet in there.
I’d hire an electrician to take a look at that. It might be able to be used, but I would want to make sure the wiring is correct, including the wire size.
In theory yes, but check it with a multi meter to make sure it is 120V, as some people will use whatever is handy to wire up a 240V welder, etc. There is one just like this in the shop building on the family ranch that was used to plug in a 240V stick welder.
That is a 125v 30 amp receptacle, printed right on it. You can plug your camper into that with the correct adapter, similar to the 30 amp hookup at a campground. Most decent size RVs today need 240v 50 amp to run everything but can run a reduced load (no AC, etc) on this outlet. Just depends on what rig you have.
I can’t tell you about EV’s but I’m fairly certain no, it won’t do you think it will do.
I’m just impressed that you baked an actual cake in a RV oven. We never got a single thing to come out right (albeit we usually camp at altitude). We opted for no oven in our new trailer.
Hello everyone. I have sold my property and due to other plans falling through need a camper to live in with my wife and son well we house shop for the summer. I Live in Saskatchewan Canada and have endless choices for campers but no knowledge. Looking for quality that is comfortable to live in under 20k. Thanks for any input and i will follow up with end results.
find a good 4 seasons camper, arctic fox, outdoors RV. They are better built have better insulation to help with the heat and fall temps.
Heck if you can, Larger 4 season fifth wheels are on fire sale right now. No one has trucks to haul them, season is half over. You can get a really nice large fifth wheel and rent a truck to pull it somewhere to park it.
As title says, my older RV i had before this was basically “Fill tank, turn on water pump, TADA! PRESSURE! and everything went to a black tank. Can someone help me navigate all the settings? I cant find a clear guide online.
City Fixtures = a hose is hooked up to the inlet and is providing the pressurized water for the system which comes out your faucet/shower
City Fill Tank = a hose is hooked up to the inlet and the pressurized water is flowing into your fresh water tank
Country Fill/Sanitize Tank = your pump is running to suck water into the inlet and pumping it into the fresh water tank. You would use this to take water from a bucket/jug into your water tanks or to put sanitizer/antifreeze into your water tanks
Normal = your pump is running to suck water from your fresh water tank and pumping it out of your faucet/shower
Sanitize/Winterize Lines = your pump is running to suck water/sanitizer into the inlet and out your faucet/shower. This is the same as normal except it likely bypasses the water heater
Hell no I’m not paying anywhere near that. If I’m paying $200 a night I’m renting an Airbnb or a hotel room. I live in southeast US and we camp all the time a state parks with full hookups for $30 or less a night…
Agree 100%. We rock a topper (shell) on our F-150 tow vehicle. Camping gear, folding bicycles, inflatable paddleboards, etc, all go in there, protected from weather and theft. This is me picking up our new-to-us Rockwood Geo Pro just yesterday!
Remember though, it adds a few hundred pounds to the payload, so you’ll want to account for that when you are calculating the tongue weight and the combined weight of passengers and all that stuff you put in the truck bed.
I have a trailer exactly the same as the one in this photo. On my last trip, the small metal latches that keep the fiberglass panel over the window latches down broke, the wind caught the panel and flipped it up as far as it would go. After a lot of struggle, I've gotten this panel flipped back down into the closed position, and at this point I just want to permanently seal it closed. (The window doesn't provide fresh air when it's open, just natural light. I've got enough other windows for that.)
My question is: What is the best way to permanently seal this panel closed? What considerations do I need to keep in mind?
I lived there until a few years ago and kept my RV on a storage lot. Not this one, but I can kind of guess which one this might possibly be. I don’t think people seeing this post understand how common extremely high winds are in that region. I had straight line winds gusting to 70 mph last night outside of Chicago so I’m sure SWMO got pummeled much worse if this system passed through there. The odds of having major damage from straightline winds in a summer cold front are much higher than getting hit by a tornado. I took the long way to work to check for damage many mornings.
There is also always the possibility that a methhead tried to steal that car and hit the boat and trailer. Actually I lean towards that being the most likely.
I recently bought a 1997 Toyota Camroad Zil that was imported from Japan about a year ago. Since the Camroad is rare in the US I’ve been having trouble figuring out if this is normal or cause for concern: the gearbox gets VERY hot when driving and pretty warm when just idling in the driveway. Like radiating heat, hot.
The engine is located right in between the diver and passenger seat and the gearbox sits right in front of it, so I’m not sure if it’s just heat from the engine, or if it could be some sort of pump/cooling issue.
I’m sorry if this is a dumb question, I don’t know much about cars and any input would be appreciated. Also, if there’s a better r/ to post this in please let me know!
Thank you!
I know nothing about this vehicle specifically. All my questions are from general vehicle knowledge.
Is it a manual or auto? I’m assuming everything is housed in a dog box like a van? If so what is the condition of the insulation on the “business side” of the dog box?
Take a look at it. Open it up and take an actual temperature measurement of the fluid (off the dip stick) let us see the temp. It might just be the engine heat going through the floor.
You need actual measured temperatures of the fluids to know if you are operating in the normal range. If you are asking about felt heat through the firewall and floor/tunnel area it really has no meaning here. Engines and transmissions get hot that is normal.
What do you mean by gearbox? The gearbox is internal to the transmission, and shouldn’t be hot at idle. Shifter maybe? I’d be inclined to think the shifter is allowing heat from the engine or exhaust into the cab.
Buying a Dufrene camper tomorrow but I can’t seem to find any information about Dufrenes anywhere and this is my first camper. Does anyone know if this is a good buy??
Perhaps some info about it, year, model, condition, price, interior photos, you know, the stuff that would allow us to give you some advice, might help.
With vintage trailers it is less of is it a “good brand” and more about its condition and if restored, as many are, was it a quality restoration. The only way to answer these questions is to get and inspection before purchase.
If you are looking for background on the brand there is an old Youtube video of the restoration of a 1947 DuFrene where one of his son’s made a post. He has contact information in his post. You might try there.
If it came with the rv it’s junk. That’s the game. Buy as much junk as you can and build a camper around it. When that junk runs out get a new pallet of junk and start the next one.
Is this on your propane fridge? I had to blow my tubes out a while ago when I was getting a dirty flame and the fridge wasn’t cooling. Probably had something to do with the fact that we were camping at >7,000 ft elevation too.
Who ever came up with this both succeed and failed at the same time.
The success was doing something that people would take pictures of and share.
The fail is not putting the business’s name on the signs for the free advertising. (sure it is cringy af, but there is a group of people who eat this shit up and failing to connect your business to them is a missed opportunity)
This is the plastic protective covering that’s sun cracked and highly deteriorated. Mixture of plastic and adhesive buildup. Heat gun doesn’t really work as it’s cracked. I’ve also tried xylene which is somewhat effective but it’s going to take me about 10 hours to scape off. Anyone have any other ideas on how to remove this mess?
I have 16 years in the rv industry my family owns an rv dealership and my wife’s family owns a separate rv dealership my biggest worry with sitting for 6 years would be the state of all the sealant I’m talking every square inch of it the roof sealant should be inspected 2 times a year industry standards form manufacture want it done more like every 3 months so I’m really worried what the water damage looks like on this unit as for the Dimond shield they make a steamer to install this ive spent 10 of my years in the collision side of the rv business and have found the this is one of the easiest ways to get it off a heat gun works as well be you can easily pull paint off when trying to remove this stuff good luck with your project here are somethings you need to test for…
Refrigerator getting cold
Hotwater heater lighting
City water pressure test to look for water leaks
Check all sealant top to bottom side to side
Furnace lights
Water pump builds pressure
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