What state are you in? I know in Utah the online booking is closed, however most state parks allow you to drive up and won’t close until first snow fall
Thank you. I’ve been telling my S’O’ that we should do the same, only to be told I’m ridiculous. I now have a picture of someone having done it, and it isn’t so bad. Thank you.
As a solo grandma full-time RV-er I’m so thankful for this great group I can run things by. I’m finding myself in need of a carport right away, as I’m tucked under tall firs in WA. Thought I could slip by til spring but am already being hit by debris and it’s only October. My brother and son in law can install it, but I would like your opinion on a couple things first: first, any thoughts on buying VersaTube? I want a steel frame or at least truss, and the size needs to be 20×40 minimum, (cover porch as well). Second, I’m set up on fresh grade, just filled last month. Would it be ok to pour two concrete strips in which to anchor the thing? Thank you so much yet again friends. -Grammie
This is funny, me and my pal who lives 1000 miles away have the car versions of these things. Mine has to be going on 20 years old now and I have drilled holes in it for some things but it is holding up well. It is ugly as it is under a black walnut tree but not the carports problem. I got mine I think they were going for more like 600 for the car sized ones. Called an 800 number on a sign by one I saw someone put up. I forget how I paid but I think it may have been when they came with the pieces. It was about 4 Mexican guys and OMG they have put those things up before. Just rat a tat tat. Honestly I do not think they were here an hour and the thing looked great. When I saw my buddy had one I told him about getting mine. He had the exact same experience. And he too was amazed at how fast they had the thing done. The one I got was for storage, but now I wish I had got one to put the car under too.
I would say go for it, but how are you at backing the RV up. I am not good. I have had enough go rounds with friends not paying attention that to get into something like that I might have to get out 3 or 4 times to make sure I am lined up etc. The structures themselves, as long as you do not hit them seem very sound.
Pretty common design. We have something almost identical except ours have more fancier eaves. About the same price too though we paid to have them put up. They had them both up in about a day but for us to do it would have taken a few days and likely using some type of lift. Yeah people can put these up with ladders but you have to ask if you yourself can do it.
This is what we have for our two RVs in Florida. It just survived 2 CAT 3 hurricanes in the past 3 weeks to within 30 miles of the eyewall. No damage. Anchor it well.
That is so dangerous, the unit should preferably be outside but if it’s inside the exhaust should be sealed. In your current configuration wind could blow it right back inside and it could kill you. Not to mention the fire hazards, that pipe gets very hot, even though its only near the window frame it will heat the frame and could cause styrofoam insulation or luan to ignite.
The most reasonable answer would probably be to go down to your local hardware store and pick yourself up some Dicor or Geocel and just epoxy it.
Dealership would probably take it in to build you a quote in 2-3 days. Then they would call on the 3rd day and say they just got to it, but it wouldn’t be inspected until the following day. Then, on day 5, they would send you a quote saying to replace the entire panel.
I would say try to bend it back best as possible and weld it. But doing that would probably catch the insulation on fire and burn the trailer down unless you removed the panel for the work.
Tapes are a temporary solution but work great in a situation that requires a rapid response for repair.
I’ve got this plastic tank from someone, and I’m going to be using it specifically to hold shower water. It has this pink coloration to the bottom. I know that it was only used for water in the past, and has been sitting more or less covered outside for a year. I can’t really get in there with a scrubber. My question is, what do you think it is, and should it be okay for shower water? I’m soaking it in vinegar now.
The city water where we live always leaves a pink stain if we let it dry on something. I don’t know what it is but I assume it is harmless as it is city water.
Yes. Like cooking on an campfire? You can use that skillet, but also consider a camp oven. The feet on the bottom and the lip on the top make it camp oven.
Picture is for attention. I'm going to be starting a new remote job next month. I've got an ibex 19mbh and I want to take it somewhere warmer than NJ for the winter. I'm hoping to get full hookups for less than $60/day and I'd like to be near the coast. I don't want to go to Florida so I'm mostly looking at the Carolinas. I'm hoping to not have to move a bunch of times and I'd like to be there from mid December into March. What do you recommend?
My wife and I currently have a 2013 Winnebago Minnie 1801fb and really enjoy spending time camping (mainly boondock ing) in it. I just bought a full Victron setup and 800ah batteries and now I feel like I need to upgrade to a nicer trailer. My trailer is paid off and I don’t necessarily want to enter a new loan. Should I just be content or…?
I heard that one before, happened to me. Had a Sorento we towed a pretty big pop-up a Somerset Mess. We got tired of not sleeping well because of the heat no AC in it and no one would put it in even though it was equipped for it. We bought a small hard side was well under the max towing weight.
When taking it home the 1/2 tank of water in the tank sloshed around rocked us so bad even with the WDH, got it home parked it went and bought a full sized truck the next weekend.
Just because the salesman says you can and it’s under the max towing weight doesn’t mean it can’t control the rocking when going down the road.
Try and make it down/over to Disney fort wilderness. You will find many people have their own DIY Mickey lamp posts made from 3 opaque fish bowls, a section of pipe, a 5g bucket. It’s on my list of camper crap to make.
2017 Prime Time Air 215. It has the extreme thermal package and the underbelly is enclosed. The online manual is more than useless and I can’t find a printed one anywhere.
Does this mean there are heat pads on the tanks or just its heated with the underbelly vent? There is not a heater tank button but know they could have their own thermostat.
That would typically mean both. The underbelly is enclosed and heated, plus there are heating pads on the tanks. There’s no specification defining marketing speak though, so if you’re unsure you could contact the company and ask.
I have a 2019 Grand Design Reflection 28BH with artic package.
Heated and enclosed underbelly, tank heaters.the tank heaters are thermostat controlled to turn on at set temp.. mine have no switch.
Enclosed underbelly is chloroplast material covering the underside completely.Heating it coming from a couple of furnace vents, so you’ll need to run furnace to heat the cabin as well as underbelly.
I can’t imagine they would install the pads without an on/off switch. The pads are meant for when you are travelling with the furnace off and are normally off when parked. They are a 12v draw and you’d want to be able to control that draw for battery management.
Been looking for a 5th wheel toy hauler around the 50k price point. Found one 8 hours away. Ask the salesman for videos / photos of the roof and undercarriage. This looks bad. Thoughts?
I had the same issue on a trailer I bought during COVID. The issue was that they didn’t clean off the roof after drilling the holes. Ended up finding a bunch more issues through the trailer. Sold the trailer back to the dealership after 6 months at a $10k loss just to get rid of it.
Is this a new or used unit? I have about 16 years in the rv industry. From the picture, it looks like they pulled up the rubber roof and re-glued it. Hard to say for sure without seeing in person or better pictures, but for me yes this is a big problem. A roof replace is like 10 grand on the low end
Looks like grand design didn’t sweep debris off the roof during construction. This is a pretty common problem with rubber roofed RV’s. I’d personally pass on this unit because they debris will eventually tear through the roof rubber.
That is a rotten Roof. I started a Flexarmor location…Get a good deal on the camper because the roof needs replacement, take it a Flexarmor location and put a lifetime roof on it.
I have a 98 Jayco. It’s in a long term with WiFi and full hookup. Can I swap out my thermostat for a smart thermostat and advice on which ones should I look at.
Should be able to, but you have to open it to find out. The biggest issue is going to be power. The trailer runs on 12v dc and most thermostats run on 24vac. The Honeywell Home RTH5160D1016/E is an example of a thermostat that will work as it has it’s own power source, but not a smart thermostat.
First time at a site that requires generator exhaust be vented over the roof, name brand kits are in the hundreds so I ran to the store and grabbed $7 in aluminum gutter and a hose clamp. Working like a champ, figured I'd share in case anyone else found themselves in the situation.
Let the haters hate! Pretty ingenious! Looks like you’re allowing some air flow at the bottom entry. But I would find a way to connect it and leave more of an air gap around the exhaust pipe going into the gutter. Would not worry about the bungee cords as the exhaust is probably cooled down enough at that distance. Get a CO monitor not just for your rig but all the other rigs around you.
If you run into issues or to ease the concerns of others. I think there’s solar powered vent caps that have little fans you could put on top to pull the exhaust up
Far and away bigger than any super C I've seen by a long shot. This thing rattled my trailer as it rolled by. That trailer they're pulling is a triple axle. If I had to guess it's probably close to 75ft long. The spot it's in is about 100ft long.
So I talked to a race team driver about his similar rig. A standard tractor trailer has a bunch of DOT regulations attached, when you add either a toilet or a shower, I can’t remember which, it becomes an RV and most of the DOT regs go away. For example, a class C license is not required to drive an RV.
Hate to say it, but I never change that anode rod. Last RV I used to 12 years and never changed it, and I have 5 years on this RV. Guess I should go look at it. I figured they were good for at least 10 years.
That’s what it usually looks like after 1 year. Change them every year folks.
Note: I just finished a call for service and their 2.5 year old 10 gallon water heater tank was leaking….because they had never changed the anode. Cost them near $1500 out of pocket because they had no idea it was a yearly maintenance item.
Soooo what is this..? Lol I’m new. Just got a TT. Trying to keep up to date on things I gotta Maintenance. This is for the water heater, right? would i still have one of these if mines tankless?
Downsizing to a Casita, Scamp, or Escape is my 15 year plan, when it’s just me and the wife again. They seem so much higher quality and easier to tow with a modest vehicle.
Are you still using 10th or locking out? I started locking out of 10th and my fuel economy gained right at 1-mpg when towing my 43-ft Cedar Creek at 68-72 mph in 9th gear
I had this setup and my rig was a bit low. So I scraped quite a bit and had to straighten then out several times. It’s worth marking some how where they are currently mounted on the frame so if they drift you can get them back exactly. And ya, like others have said, they are creaky. Gonna make lots of noise.
10MPG guy here too. Spent 5 nights on the road back and forth last month. $400 in gas and camped at the most beautiful spots up and down the Eastern Sierras. We were shoreside on a beautiful lake one of those nights with an uninterrupted view of those majestic mountains. There’s nothing like it.
I have a forest river 23LT work & play toy hauler. Tow vehicle is a gas RAM 2500. Fully loaded with my harley inside I averaged 11.5mpg. This was the average of a 6,000 mile trip. In the average mpg, there was approximately 25% driving without the tow vehicle for sightseeing when not using the motorcycle. Pretty happy with the end result. Note that I closely monitor the ongoing mpg and keep my speed under 60. Takes longer but good on safety, tires and mpg. Not in a hurry.
It’s like a plastic that covers the front end I’ve tried a heat gun with a putty knife kinda just spreads it around and damages the paint underneath. Any recommendations on some kind of chemical that would melt it away?
Go to Napa and buy/order a case of 3m general purpose adhesive remover. And order a a tint scraper tool. The adhesive will setup in seconds and then the film will scrap off like butter. Then just spray again and wipe with soft cloth. It’s a long project but it comes off and doesn’t destroy the paint.
WD-40 is a fantastic solvent for adhesives. You’ll want to get it through the plastic somehow, peel up an edge or something. You’ve said it’s too thin for that but gotta be able to get at the adhesive somehow.
We have that stuff, but our previous owner took awesome care of it – didn’t wax it, only did ceramic coating. Whole coach still looks almost brand new. I’m really sad for you that yours looks like that. 🙁
Yep its delam. Pull the vent cover off and find where water is leaking in. If it is actively wet try to air it out (put a fan on it or something) before you reseal it.
You fix delam by putting new glue between the outside of the wall and the structure (from the vent hole), and then you put something flat like a piece of plywood against the outside and brace it against a building.
Once the leaking is stopped though it shouldn’t really get worse
Does this look like delamination coming from the vent? Anyone have experience with this or fixing it? Trying to decide the best way to address this area that is slightly raised. This is on a Sabre 5th wheel on the kitchen slide.
Hello guys,
sorry if this is the wrong sub, I really don't know where else to go.
Our caravan was stolen from our private property in Southern Germany. We're absolutely devastated.
It would mean the world to us if you could share this post and the picture that goes with it in other groups and maybe, just maybe take the time to look out for this kind of model on camping grounds etc. The police doesn't believe we will ever see it again, but we would still like to try. If only to bring these criminals to justice.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read and possibly share.
We believe the thieves might have gone the south route so they might well be in France or maybe even Spain already.
We have a small trailer with a small fridge/freezer. We never seem to have room for the ice we need as well as everything else to store in the freezer when we go camping. This year we bought an electric countertop ice maker and it's been game changing. We not only use it for our drinks but also to cool the extra food in the portable cooler. We gifted one to my brother and they used it on their next camping trip and said they constantly had ice and the kids loved it.
Yes. We are in our second one. Make sure you store it in the shower with the water drain plug out so it can drain appropriately. Otherwise you’ll get slimey pink mould in it.
We are in our fifth RV: 2020 Grand Design 30’ Imagine 2250RK (discontinued). I love having a back end kitchen with a wide window. Love the theater seating and do not miss having a dinette at all. The electric fireplace is all the heat we need. Easy to pull, park, and maneuver with our pro-pride hitch.
This is the third camper we’ve owned and also the smallest. This is just something for now until we get our “big one” that my wife and I really want. Our kids are getting older and into the teen years so not wanting to do the camping thing quite as much. I bought this for myself, I like to go with a few guys to boondock directly on the beach in South Texas so this is “my” camper for when I do guy weekend type of stuff.
I really like how much this little guy has for only a 21ft camper. It is small but packs as much as it possibly can into it, and the single slide makes all the difference. I mean, granted, I like to be outside anyways so this is just for sleeping, showers and bathrooms and cooking out of the elements. Also has a mini-kitchen outside which is real nice.
Probably 2-3 years away from my wife and I getting our 5th wheel that we will use for serious travel.
We are finishing up our 4 week journey from Michigan to Acadia and back. So far I love the kitchen island and the amount of counter space. The only thing I don’t care for is how hard it is to reach things when it’s closed up. The opposing slide outs make it really big when opened, but nearly impossible to be in when closed.
We live about an hour from Watkins Glen. Go there several times a year. We have stayed at the state park, great sites, when we have had the kids. The last few trips last year and one last month were 1 night quick getaways to Finger Lakes RV Resort which is on the east side of the lake, about 10-15 minute drive North of the town.
Great spots, nice facilities, and it is basically attached to two wineries that you can walk to (less than 5 minutes on a designated path) and if staying on site you get specials at each winery. Bonus is both allow dogs so we take our pup and she gets to sit and eat/relax with us as well.
From this angle the front of your trailer looks higher than the back. This can lead to dangerous sway. If this is the case you should lower the ball some
The trailer is not anywhere near road worthy yet. It’s been sitting for a couple of years as a guest house more or less. Needs tires, a skylight a faucet and a full once over (including removing the awning brackets). The tow vehicle is a 2023 ford lightning and has a capacity of 10k lbs. Am I sagging too much in the front of trailer? Thank you!
You do want the trailer either level or just slightly nose down for best handling performance. The truck looks pretty close to level even without a weight distributing hitch, I’m assuming this is a fairly light trailer?
The true test will be what the scales say. My f-150 was at capacity with a 5800 pound trailer, passengers, and cargo on board. All axles were within 40 pounds of their limit.
Front end looks like an RV but it definitely got kinda… “custom” behind that. The door, furnace vent and roof vent are RV parts but I’m guessing someone said, “Ah Millie, I ain’t spending 100k on no damn RV when I can build one myself outta those scrap parts I got layin’ in the yard” And then he did.
I got it one piece at a time and it didn’t cost me a dime
You’ll know it’s me when I come through your town
I’m gonna ride around in style, I’m gonna drive everybody wild
‘Cause I’ll have the only one there is around
Any idea what would cause this crack between my wall above the left slide out and the ceiling?! the dealership apparently has no idea and is reaching out the the manufacturer. It’s a heartland mallard.
Anyone called them to see what this is all about yet?
I’d bet money it’s about putting a camper in everyone’s driveway….for minimum profit of course.
If anyone is considering this please check your insurance policy for the “additional living expenses” clause.
It's terrible….I took 3 days off so now I'm forced to be out here for 5 days…all I hear are birds and chipmunks….all I see are deer and rabbits….I don't even have 5g on my phone. Traffic, OMG I can't here any traffic… terrible…just terrible.
Your first mistake was not parking in a Loves parking lot right next to Semi Trucks.
Your second mistake was not bringing your star link and an extra TV for that table.
Your third mistake was not including your tow vehicle in the picture cause we all know you are pulling that with a Toyota Camry.
For the money, these are looking pretty slick. I could see hanging one in one of those windows you have that are vertical closing. Bet they use very little electricity and ultra quiet, probably way quieter than rooftops.
Start by blocking all of the windows. Sun coming through that windshield and those side windows turn the coach into an oven. You can get fancy with shades, etc, or go desert old school and just put foil in the windows.
I used to live in California where it was 110 or more each day of the summer. A few bucks of foil saved us 100’s on our electric bills.
One way to help would be to clean the roof, and paint on a coat of Cool Seal. It’s a paint that is so white that it reflects almost all of the sun’s heat. It’s like adding insulation to the roof.
You may be able to run both ACs while running the generator.
Do you have a/c units on the roof? How many and do they work? Our class a is 35’ which is about what yours appears to be. We have 2 duotherm units that work well, it stays nice and comfortable in Texas summertime temperatures so you should be able to at least get a comfortable temperature in yours once things work properly.
Looks great! What did you have before, or did you take the plunge straight to a massive 42′ trailer? Did it actually come with pet bowls as shown on the floor plan?
Beautiful rig. Many happy miles to you! I’ve heard so many good things about Brinkley – how they’re made, the workmanship and products used in the building of them. Plus, they have some really cool features that as we get older, we’d definitely appreciate. We have a 5er right now that we are very happy with, Keystone Astoria. But, the end goal is either a Redwood 4001LK or a Brinkley (the one with the outdoor kitchen on the patio). The 4001LK has a half bath a ton of counter space in the kitchen – I bake (a lot), hubby is a chef (literally). I think, if by the time we’re ready, Brinkley adds a half bath, the patio w/kitchen would be our pick.
Interesting. Wife and I looked at them to possibly be a future replacement for ours. Not that impressed, especially for the price. Hope it has longevity.
Working on fixing this before I do more driving in the coming weeks.. what is this strip called? I cant find the right strip to save my life ( not looking for advice on the repair. I’m well aware of what’s going on here. 💦)
It’s a belt line. 3/16ths stainless steel rivets, 1 inch grip. Take about 10 screws out and push the metal back into place, then drill and rivet. USE A STOPPER SO YOU DONT GO TO FAR INTO THE RV. I suggest a sacraficial piece of wood to only allow the rivet to stick in up to its collar.
So yesterday I was running my AC & electric hot water heater at the same time getting ready to take a shower. When the breaker tripped I just flipped them back on. This is common since my trailer is a 30amp & when I have the ac & microwave on it trips.
I flipped the breakers back & then a few minutes later they tripped again. This time i noticed smoke coming from behind the panel. I immediately unplugged the rv from the hookup & then unscrewed the panel & found the wires melted.
How screwed am I? Are my breakers bad? Did i blow a fuse? Should i replace the wires? Calling a mobile repair guy tomorrow but any advice is appreciated.
I had a similar issue I posted about it and it was caused by running the ac the microwave and a portable dryer for a long time. The breaker did trip but I didn’t know. Thankfully I caught it before it became something worse. I replaced some wires and for me everything works great! Hope it’s nothing major and an easy fix for you
Greetings.. those look like the white or neutral wires that are roasted… I’m no electrician nor do I claim to be.. 9 out of 10 times when I see this in the park… Go pull your plug and check your plug and receptacle at the box….. You probably have a bad connection on the neutral at plug / receptacle at the pedestal..
Looks like there might be enough wire there to do some repairs.. if nobody’s looking maybe some heat shrink…
Trace back and look for signs of anything arcing. Take the wires out of the breakers and shine them up, you can put a re layers of heat shrink over the part that looks crispy. Clean everything up well and look up the breaker to see if it has a preferred torque, if it does, tighten to that, otherwise tight but not to the point of breaking things. Do not run all that big stuff at the same time again, and in a week or two, recheck the wires are tight. Might be a good annual thing to look at. BTW, that looks like aluminum wire, if it is make sure the breaker and anything that connects to the wire is rated for it. It is bad enough in trailers that are lives in full time, that are usually always at a livable temp and not trucked down the road all the time. In MH’s it really sucks, it has temp extremes and gets vibrated. I think it got loose and arced and that is what you have there. You can clean that up easy.
I imagine I'll be off grid most if not all the trip(so no electricity), usually I just bring extra blankets but my pup will be with me and want to keep it safe. I'm pretty broke and so cheap options are appreciated. I was thinking I'd just go with a propane mr heater
If you don’t mind cutting a hole in the floor (sacrilege, I know), maybe install a cheap Chinese diesel heater. If you have a solar panel, it can keep a deep cycle battery charged pretty well for the amount of power the heater requires, and a 5 gallon jug of diesel should last the week pretty easily. They’re really easy to install, too. The heater could be mounted under a bench, or wherever works for you, and can be pretty well hidden.
An electric blanket averages about 50 watts per hour. Underneath a comforter it’ll keep you toasty in utterly cold weather, you’d just need to be able to supply 0.5 kWh per night (about as much as you’d need to run a counter height 5 cu ft fridge – one typical sized deep cycle battery can safely provide you about 12 hours).
Similarly, you could get a couple hot water bottles, get some water hot, fill them, and throw them under a few blankets. If you’re worried about it going cold in the middle of the night, a nice big thermos could be used as a refill, just don’t spill it on yourself in the middle of the night.
If you do the mr. heater please make sure you have adequate ventilation, a safe place to put it where the dog won’t knock it over, and a CO alarm.
If one night gets super cold, or you’re just trying out your setup and decide you are too cold, have a backup/emergency plan. Maybe some of those cheap air-activated hand warmers, another set of clothes to put on underneath your blankets, and a hot beverage in a thermos to warm you up until the morning. No shame in running your truck for the heater to get yourself warm again. Don’t let water freeze in such a way that it bursts anything.
Good pair of booties or mukluks never hurt anyone.
Absolutely a buddy heater. I have the single, not the giant one, and I get 3 to 4 hours out of a little bottle on low. I’d suggest getting a 20lb bottle adapter.
No , the cabinet under the range has plywood . Easier to unplug the RV , remove the cover from the breaker box , and then unscrew the breaker box and pull it out about 8 to 10 inches . That should give you enough room .
I did to change my water pump. The oven in mine was held in by 3 screws per side along the top sides and one simple gas connection in the rear. After that it slides forward and out. It is not that heavy.
Mine did sit on a shelf which I had to remove and re-staple down.
That’s funny. Just this morning I was bitching about working on my water pump I finally found behind my three kitchen pull out drawers. You’ve got it worse. I feel better… sorry.
I feel dumb but couldn’t find anything via Google. How do I secure this style of hitch so that someone can’t just pull the pins out and easily take it away. I guess they would still have the ball attached because I have that locked but I feel like I’m missing something…
But, be careful: you want the bolts not to have the threads in the gap between the parts. Add washers under the head of the bolt/nut as required to achieve this. Use a bevel washer as the last washer under the nut and use a self locking nut.
Outside of welding the entire assembly to itself and to your vehicle, nothing will prevent a determined person from stealing your hitch out of the receiver.
If welding isn’t an option, simply remove the hitch from the receiver and store it in your vehicle. Otherwise, look into Locking Hitch Pins.
And these are like $50 at harbor freight. IMO, there’s no real big risk to simply leaving it as-is.
If you don’t want to buy a locking pin, a judiciously applied blob of JB Weld would make removing the pins a major pain in the ass (for you as well as thieves, unfortunately).
My spouse is picking up our “new to us” 2023 motorhome and driving it 16 hours back home for us to move into. He says the shower door lock failed and this happened. Day one.
We have a 15 day warranty on the motorhome. I suspect that would require use to return to the dealer and that’s less than ideal. The dealer doesn’t usually carry this Make of motorhome, so I’m guessing they’d have to order stuff.
I’m currently staying with my mother in law with our two kids and two cats and it’s been a week and I’d like to get out sooner rather than later.
Is it worth turning spouse around and trying to get them to fix it or refund some money so we can fix it?
Or do we just sigh and go “motorhomes innit” and remove the other half and put up a shower curtain? Or is there a better option for the shower door?
You could install a generic door for a few hundred dollars or substitute for a good curtain. The alternative is to see if the dealer will even cover this under warranty (you’d have to convince them that the motorhome door was defective and not that someone just leaned on it wrong or tried to press it closed incorrectly or with something in the way). Assuming they agree to cover it, yes, they order something, even with motorhomes they normally sell, and with warranty work they’ll have between a 2 to 8 week backlog.
Alternatively, if the dealer will cover this under warranty, you can ask them to order and ship you the door and install it yourself, which can avoid some hassle, assuming you’re handy and willing.
If you can avoid subjecting your motorhome to a schedule it would be for the best. The industry is not in good shape.
If you have 200 to spend I highly recommend the nautilus sliding shower door. I replaced my glass door in my fifth wheel out of fear of having this exact thing happen.
Its for gas struts. They put them on all doors for some manufacturing. If you have slam latches, they don’t use them as the slam part wouldn’t happen, and they hold the door open. You should have magnetic blocks to hold the door open.
I've never owned, operated or stayed in an RV but my girlfriend's mom just bought a 2014 Winnebago trend 23B and without any prior knowledge we are taking it to a campsite tomorrow night.
Can any provide any pointers , tips or advice?
Is the generator gas? It doesn't say in the owners manual. We won't be hooked up to electricity so I'm wondering if I can use the power in this thing?
Based on the photo it looks like you have an absorption fridge. Run it on gas if you do not have power. I do not know if it is a 2-way or 3-way. If it is a 3-way do not run it on 12V unless you are driving as it will deplete the battery in no time.
Can’t say what type of fuel the generator will run on. It might be gasoline or it might be propane and it is possible it is dual fuel. You need to lookup the model number and see. You will need to learn how to get it running in-order to charge the house batteries if they run low during your outing.
You also need to know the type of battery as that determines how much you can drain them before needing to recharge and avoid battery damage.
We’ve been on the road for 6 months now. We’ve seen some interesting things, including “zombie” drug addicted people appearing out of the national forest in the middle of nowhere, but today will stick in our memories far longer.
My family and I were walking on the east side of the park, walking along a trail, when sheriffs and aid cars started pouring in. The entrance to the park includes an iron gate and toll booth. The park staff opened up the gates, allowing emergency services to pass without stopping, and the parade came in. Initially the police were driving 30-40mph through the park to pass the marina and reach the spit.
One emergency vehicle after another poured in, then personal vehicles of volunteer divers. Boats, jet skis, pontoons, all flowed into the park.
At first we weren’t sure what happened. Having our children with us, I felt the need to hurry back to our trailer in case it was a violent situation. My husband went to the lake without us to assess the situation. Back at the trailer I turned on the local scanner. I heard the words “plane crash.”
It didn’t make sense. We were walking around the lake and didn’t hear anything.
My husband came back without information. Now that I know the kids were safe I left them with my husband, grabbed my camera and went back to the lake.
By this time a crowd had started to form. The first woman I talked to happened to be family of the emergency staff. She told me a plane went down.
A man walked up to our group and shared another story. He was in the airport and witnessed the plane go down. He said the plane did one or two loops before nose diving into the water. His flight and all others were canceled immediately.
On the scanner I heard mention of the deployment of a parachute, but the plane was too close to the water for it to deploy properly.
We left before the recovery process was in full-swing. At the front of the park, at the check-in gate, all visitors were being turned away, even people on foot.
8 hours later now and no one has located the pilot. I sincerely pray for a miracle.
I woke up this morning to a double whammy in my recentlt full-time RV. The AC capacitor went bad, and the fan motor burnt out while sleeping because I foolishly left it on. I awoke to the burring noise of a locked motor, and when going to the bathroom after turning it off, discovered a soaking we carpet. Attached is where it is leaking, I placed a new O-ring inside but the leak continues. It seems to be coming out of the bottom part. Any advice? Do I need to replace the entire plastic bolt/endpiece assembly? I've never worked on plumbing before recently, and just replaced the Wax seal underneath wirh a Korky wax-free thinking it was the wax getting warm overnight.
The pic isn’t the best, but if it’s similar to my aqua magic I had a leak there shortly after we bought the trailer. The fitting just wasn’t tight.
I had to replace the valve assembly this year but that was leaking from the top of the valve. Its possible it may be leaking from somewhere else in the valve and not at the fitting itself.
Mine was very easy to replace as the toilet is about 4 inches from the wall. The YouTube videos I watched they had to remove the toilet so ymmv.
Otherwise the fitting itself may be cracked and that would need replaced. Looks like you have a hose going to it? Mine was pex so that might be more difficult depending on what you have there.
I ended up putting a tee in at the pex behind the toilet and added a handheld bidet.
My wife and I travel for work and move every 3-6 months. Every move we have to find a contract somewhere that has a Rv park close by so we can stay. This in itself can be frustrating as many areas, like the entire state of West Virginia, have few parks and aren’t close enough to city centers to make a daily drive for work.
However that’s just the tip of the iceberg. So many rv parks do not have a website. If web design is profitable then I think I’ve found an untapped market, nearly half of the parks I find do not have one. Then many that do have websites are no longer functioning or are poorly made. I like to visit websites for rates and rules information to see if we are interested and then I’ll call to find out more info like availability.
Another annoyance is finding a great looking park with a great location, plenty of amenities, and spacious lots but it’s a 55+ community. Try finding an open lot in Arizona that’s not 55+ during the winter half of the year. These parks do tend to have a website thankfully but when I see resort in the name I start hunting for 55+ somewhere on the website and it’s a huge letdown when you find it.
Compound this with having to look at 5-10 different cities when searching for another contract and maybe you’ll understand my frustration. Hours and hours of searching that feels like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Forgive me if this is too “ranty” but we’ve been doing this for nearly 3 years now and the process is still just as frustrating as when we started.
On the brighter side, when we have found a place to stay it’s been worth the headache. We’ve been all across the country and have loved this life. We’ve stayed at some great parks, visited amazing scenic areas, and met plenty of friendly rv’ers on the way. We’re still deciding on when to go back home and settle but for now we’re still enjoying traveling. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
I agree, it sucks. I do software architecture and systems design. This is a tough problem.
I suspect there are a number of intractable issues:
There’s no clear winner in the park-finding app space, so it’s far too much work for park owners to participate in all the different apps and keep their data up to date so it’s searchable in all of them.
There’s no clear winner in the park-management-software space, so integrating with park reservation systems for real-time information on availability, rates, etc. is almost impossible. Much of the software that does exist is total crap. There aren’t web APIs hooked into the reservation systems for data push/pull. There’s simply no practical way to get real-time availability for most campgrounds in one place.
RV park managers aren’t the most tech-savvy lot. A lot of them don’t even have Internet-connected office computers. Even if you gave them all the tech in the world, it’s not going to be easy to work with them. This is a generalization, but I’ve interacted with dozens of them, and I’m confident saying this would be a huge barrier to solving the problem.
I worked on a similar system: Slice. It’s a pizza shop ordering system. They specialize in pizza, specifically mom-and-pop pizza shops. All the problems are the same: no consistent PoS/in-house software; non-tech-savvy owners; etc. It’s a solvable problem, but it takes a lot of work. Slice had the benefit that there wasn’t as much competition for a nationwide ordering site for mom-n-pops, and they managed to largely capture the market.
There are way too many players in the campground-finding space, and no campground has the resources to work with them all (or often to work with any of them). It’s also a more difficult problem. Managing reservations well in advance, and a lot of other aspects of guest services, is a lot harder than taking orders from a menu for immediate delivery.
On a technical level, this isn’t a hard problem to solve. It’s a lot of work, but the implementation is obvious and any team of engineers can do it. That’s why there are so many players in the game already. It’s really a problem of marketing yourself, getting enough campgrounds on board, and getting the campgrounds to put in the effort to make it viable. You need to get enough people on board to hit critical mass. No one’s done it yet.
The solution is to get something under 20′ that fits in the back of your truck bed and isn’t classified an rv in most states. Then everywhere is a campground
I use rv trip wizard and it makes searching for campgrounds much easier. You could filter by not 55+ and view them on a map to gauge location and check pictures etc. It’s definitely effort though I agree.
Retrofit to 12 volt LED bulbs. I bought a 1996 Motorhome with all incandescent bulbs like the one in the picture. What I found that according to my calculations
was that 10 LED bulbs had the same amperage draw as 1 single 12volt incandescent bulb. These LED bulbs are sold on Amazon. https://a.co/d/ilWvaLl
Greetings people!!
Been looking for a lil'pup trailer for about a year now and finally came up on one without even looking for it this time.. Owners just wanted me to haul it away..
It needs a bit of work (new tires, fix the brake lights, and a little patch up)
Anybody know a place in the OC or SGV area (California ) to patch this old beauty up . I don't mind spending a little bit and getting it looking new…
Stopped at a Cracker Barrel in VA last night and saw something in the trees above where we parked. I retrieved the mystery item this morning. There’s someone driving around this week who just discovered a massive water leak in their roof…
Y’all stay safe out there and don’t forget to look up.
My wife and I recently got a travel trailer. Its a dual axle and we are RV newbies. I’m wanting to get leveling ramps like the ones in the picture but I’m a little confused as to whether or not I should get a a leveling ramp for all 4 tires. In the picture and all the other images I’ve seen everyone has them only on one side of the RV. Do I need a ramp for all 4 tires? I’m not sure how leveling ramps on 1 side would level the trailer especially since it seems like everyone is already on fairly level ground. Should I buy 2 sets so that in the case I need all 4 leveled I have the option or is that not ever necessary?
If you are not level side to side, find the low side and put the ramps there to raise it until level. No need to adjust the height of both sides, just the low side.
You only need them for one side because you use them on the side that’s lower to raise it up to the side that higher. They are for leveling left to right.
In what situation are you thinking you’d need them on both sides?
Have a set of these and absolutely love them! It makes leveling side to side so much easier…less bickering between my partner and I during setup is an added bonus!
Hello, I bought a Raptor 429 to live in full time, it has two bathrooms and the one in the toy hauler garage seems to always smell bad, the other sinks don't, any idea why it might? Picture for flair
if it stinks under the sink it might be a bad air admittance valve. If you have one it will be a short piece that sticks up from the drain pipe. The AAV is just screwed on so you can screw it off and replace with a new one from any big box store for about $10.
Sinks would be grey tanks,not black. and they can get smelly too depending on what has been washed away. Shaving, washing greasy/grimey hands ect. What you can try is doing a good rinse, leave about a 1/3rd full and then breaking up a chem pac that’s used in the black tanks and rinse it down your sink. Leave it for a day then flush your grey tank. If it’s a minor issue, this should clear up the smell. If it persists, you may have to have it professionally looked at
Upgraded to a 2500HD Duramax Silverado (max tow) last month in preparation for the delivery of our 25' Reflections. Grew up RV'ing, we are very excited for our family of 5 to have new adventures and make some great memories!
Thanks all! Let me clear any confusion, I was not worried about the truck being enough for the rig. I’m not sure how others spend money on a truck, but I wasnt doing it without researching it’ll tow more than what I need for this 5er, and with headroom for something a little bigger in the future, if needed. It’s not a coincidence we opted for the duramax and 3500 max tow package.
Anyway, thanks for the support. Just wanted to share our excitement with the RV community. Happy camping!
My wife and I have November 2nd through the 9th off from work and we are looking to take the camper out for the week. We live in Central Texas and want to get away, but not so far that we spend half of the trip driving. Does anyone have any suggestions for spots with full hookups, nice views, and not a two day drive from central Texas? If we can stay in the state great but open to bordering states. TIA
Hi, I’m 27 year old female and I moved to El Paso from Houston Texas. I financed an Rv from camping world for work since I work in road construction and move all over New Mexico. Now my life has taken a turn that I have to move back to Houston due to my father declining health, he got diagnosed with COPD and I have to go there and live with him in the apartment. I have no use use for this rv and I’m lost on what to do. I have thought about voluntary repo but worrying so much about the deficiency balance. I know I made a stupid mistake but I just need to know all my options.
I would try to refinance the trailer with anyone that gives you a better rate. Looks like you are paying more than 20% interest and that’s kind of crazy.
There’s no magic solution. You signed up for what you signed up for. You know your options, you probably just don’t like them. You’ll have to keep it and continue to pay monthly, sell it and probably have to take a loss, or have it repo’d. I would not rent it out unless you know someone trustworthy that will not destroy it. Campers are not built well, so renting to an average Joe they will most likely destroy it and make the value even less.
You can sell the RV, and you’ll need to cut a check to the bank to pay for the difference between what you can sell the RV for versus what you still owe on it. This preserves your credit.
If you turn the RV back in, they will sell it, and they won’t get a good price for it. You’ll still owe the difference between what you still owe and the wholesale price that they sell it for at auction. This option will destroy your credit, and you’ll still get harassed until you file for bankruptcy. This will make your life harder than it needs to be for the next 7 years or so.
Or you can keep making the payments. This is likely the easiest way to preserve your credit, unless you can afford to sell it and pay the difference. If you can put extra in on it, you’ll be out from under it faster. The downside is you’ll still need to pay the insurance, maintenance, and carry costs as well, including storage. If you can put enough money per down to get the RV to be worth more than you owe, you can sell it.
I worked for a company that REPOD motorhomes, 5th wheels, travel trailers and toy haulers. Want to know how to hide them, or what we would look for when trying to find them? We would start with family, and sometimes they would tell us the state he’s in or about the city they are in. We would look for mailbox stores and then RV parks nearest to those mailbox stores.
The ones we couldn’t find were the boondockers, and even if we could find them, which we only did once or twice we cant take them because the person is usually living in them. The banks will NOT attempt to evict you. It’s too costly. Even at RV parks you could just tell the repo person that you are living in it. They can hook it, but can’t take it with you inside. Banks usually give up, and the repo rate is real low. The only times we were able to get them was when the person that owned it died, and they wanted to get it out of there.
Is there any other options? I don’t mean to question your family obligations but is your father really in need of a live in caregiver at this point? If so are there others that can share a sitting schedule, like a week at a time with dad if you can get off to do your week rotation? Would he be safer in a care facility with 24 hour staff? Can someone transfer the rig to their name and they take over payments?
Just some options off the top of my head. I’m 70 with COPD and a stroke. I’m alone and just pace myself taking rest breaks when walking or activities. I wish your dad the best, it’s not a diagnosis you recover from but hopefully can manage effectively.
Grease/check the wheel bearings. Keep an eye on all tire pressure, also watching out for potential “china bomb” tires. Watch your weight, especially loaded with water (but that looks like an F350, so not as concerning with that truck). Maybe get or check to see if that truck has air bags in the rear suspension, so you don’t start blinding oncoming traffic since the trailer weight could raise your trucks front end. Look into getting a back up camera, you can also leave on while driving which acts like a rearview.
Just first things that come to mind for when I traded a class A in for a fifth wheel, you may already have or know these things.
Obviously having a hot skin issue, but I've got no idea where to start. Lucky one of my safety chains was touching the ground – I used a wooden post to lift it up and the meter went up to a full 120v!
So the only way to know where the short is happening is to power the unit back on and flip breakers off one by one until the issue goes away. With that info you can then determine which run of 110 has a short and start pulling the receptacles or switches on that leg until you find the issue. If it’s not visible or easily locate-able you have a break in the wiring in the walls. Harder to locate at that point but you’ll have to get into the walls to find the break and repair
Good, you have a meter. Are you in a park or at home? Do you have a surge protector plugged in that looks for issues? Is this an RV with a transfer switch? Checking for issues at the pedestal would be where I started. Inspecting and ohming out my power cord would be next. Transfer switch next. If you find a low resistance, then you can flip breakers to see if you can remove the issue.
An open neutral can do this. I’d check the outlet that you plug your power cord into. Make sure you see proper voltage between the hot and neutral connections. If you do not see voltage between hot and neutral, but you do see voltage between hot and ground, you have an open neutral. An open neutral can be very dangerous in an RV.
Here’s a story for why we should all have a quality electrical management system (EMS) which among other safety measures will not send power to your rig from a miswired post.
One very important detail about multimeters: their voltage sensing range is high impedance. This means it isn’t showing you if there is a lot or a little bit of power available.
You can get stray voltages induced in pieces of metal. The voltage setting on your multimeter will not really tell you if it’s a tiny amount of current that will immediately dissipate if you were to make contact with it yourself.
I’m not actually sure what the best way to measure this would be. Probably connecting a resistor between the multimeter terminals. But I’m going to guess you don’t have resistors with you 🙁
I noticed that these 2 thin tubes frost up within 1 minutes of turning on. On the inside (lower unit) the part that resembles a radiator I was told should be is not. I replaced the Freezer Sensor to see if that might work. Please help me. I’m aware that it is a closed unit and can’t be repaired. I don’t see why it would be bad with barely any use. No blockage either. Thanks team
I bought a 2024 TT, neither of the GE acs worked. I had both of them replaced under warranty. The brand name GE isn’t what it used to be. They’re stamping the name on crap
It looks like a camco gen-turi vent tube. You’re supposed to stack more pieces on there though. It takes the exhaust from the generator and puts it up higher over the vehicle so you aren’t breathing it. They are used in congested places, like at some race tracks where coach’s are all in tight and everyone runs a generator.
The extension is a big pipe that is about 5 feet above your roof. I’ve seen hundreds of RVs packed side by side at an airport all running their genies.
Gen turi generator exhaust stack for close quarters camping. Routs generator exhaust up above the roof of rv. Looks like it’s missing 2 sections. Mine is 3 3’ pieces and an elbow that connects to generator
Half tons and compact trucks are pretty capable. It’s just that the numbers confuse a lot of folks, and RVs chew up payload like crazy compared to other trailer setups. The dealers aren’t helping the situation either. Math is hard!!
There is a significant difference between the standard trucks and HD trucks. Same as the difference between having weight distribution hitch and not. I’ve driven ¼ton, ½ton, ¾ton, 1ton and whatever a f450 is. The smaller the truck the less overall control you have. Goes without saying, you lose braking power and payload. Currently I’m driving a ¾ton and it does a hell of a job towing my little fibreglass trailer, but I’m likely to downgrade my truck to a ½ or ¼ ton. A lot of the benefits that are found in the modern HD’s are not going to make a difference for the average user. The upgrades to the new ½ tons are pushing the tow capacity up to the ¾ ton range and negating their purpose. Yes the HD’s are better, but not necessarily more useful to a weekend warrior.
You can say what you want, and study the payload/tow ratings all day long, but if you’ve ever had opportunity to tow with both a 1/2 ton vs a 3/4 or 1-ton class, you’d find that even at just 6000 pounds of trailer the 3/4 ton will be a much more comfortable and confident experience. There are a lot of differences between these trucks that aren’t really shown in sales brochures. 1/2 ton uses p-rated tires, 3/4 ton is LT tires, 1/2 is a semi-float rear end, 3/4 ton is a full float, 1/2 has solid boxed frames, 3/4 ton is c-channel. 3/4 ton have much larger brakes, much larger transmissions, stronger steering components, etc. The list goes on and on. I get it that you can make a 1/2 tow 12,000 pounds, but it’s not a recipe for vehicle longevity or safety, driver fatigue, etc.
But, if you’re not towing very often, it may not be worth the cost. Only you can decide.
I live in an HOA neighborhood that doesn’t allow RVs to be parked in driveways, so I used a storage facility that is just a mile from my house. Because I live in the desert, I kept the trailer in a covered space to reduce sun damage. I hadn’t used the trailer since Julie, and had been traveling most of August and into September. A few days ago I got a letter from a police department about 75 miles away, with a parking ticket dated September 5. My wife and I immediately went to the facility to find an empty space where our trailer had been. There was a local law enforcement officer taking a report from a man whose storage unit had been robbed, so we made our report too. Have filed all the paperwork with the insurance company, and are waiting on a response. Of course the police where it was parked were contacted, but it’s not there now.
I don’t know what to do now. I was looking up campsites the night before receiving the letter. My wife says we’re not getting another trailer unless we can store it at our house, which isn’t an option. A friend has offered to let me store it on his property, about 10 miles away, and it is gated, but it would be inconvenient to pick up and it would be out in the full desert sunshine.
I guess I’m rambling here. Still in shock. Maybe things will get clearer in time, and I’ll figure out what direction to take.
>A friend has offered to let me store it on his property, about 10 miles away, and it is gated, but it would be inconvenient to pick up and it would be out in the full desert sunshine.
Sounds like a very reasonable solution and all you need to get is a cover.
I’m a HUGE fan of Trak-4 solar trackers.
Just buy one, stick it on the roof, set up the account and activate it. You can either pay the monthly fee to get real time location and Geo Fence alerts, or just turn the service off and then if you ever need to know where it’s at, you just hop onto your account and reactivate your plan and it will turn back on.
It was stolen from a gated storage facility? Does the facility not have cameras? Storage space is a complete scam and the people that manage storage facilities are usually the slimiest assholes around and often help their friends steal shit from the storage unit by giving info and getting kickbacks
With all of the other stress; don’t forget about the parking ticket. You don’t want that to escalate and cause even more of a headache for you. Your best bet is to contact the agency who issued the ticket, with a copy of your police report. If they’re decent they’ll take care of it.
AirTag / tile is a good solution. If your site has power and you have a means for Internet; you even have the option of geofence alerts and security cameras. I store mine off-site in a storage facility. But I also have solar panels and a cellular modem; a security camera inside and alerts that get sent to my phone if the trailer moves. And to top it ALL off I even have a hidden AirTag.
Step 1: Heavy Oxidation Removal
– Use 3D ACA 500 cutting compound with , White Wool on Rotary.
– We used White Wool by Starke on the Dewalt Rotary.
Step 2: Finishing Polish
– Use ACA 520 finishing polish with the rotary buffer. (This step should also be done by Rotary)
– We used yellow wool by Starke on the Dewalt Rotary.
Step 3: Switch to a dual action polisher.
– Use the 520 polish again.
– Use a yellow Money pad by Starke on the polisher to take away any haze or trails left from the first two steps and finish refining the surface
Step 4: Final Protection
– Apply your favorite wax or coating to lock in the results.
– We used soft black CCS pad by Lake Country to apply Shine supply wake up 💥
I see you’re in Florida so I wouldn’t be able to use your services, but how much did you charge for this? I’ve got a 31′ class c in need of detailing and I suspect the cost would be similar.
In another post I complained about the stink and smell that would never go away no matter what I tried.
Tank additives, replacing toilet floor seal, checking vent pipe, etc. Nothing seemed to work. Then I stumbled across a forum describing the toilet bowl having two separate halves that were connected with a less than ideal seal. I pulled the toilet and took it all apart. It was very apparent where the smell was; the giant POOL OF URINE AND FECAL MATTER!!! What the heck Dometic!!?? I still haven’t figured out how or when it happens, but it gets trapped inside the two halves and just sits and smells.
The fix! Take apart the toilet via 4 long screws on the under side. Then 5 small screws and tabs around the bowl to separate the halves. Clean and dry. Then apply liberal amounts of silicone wherever the seals are. Be careful with applying silicone on the oval shaped gasket style seal. The internal flushing mechanism moves close to that area and you don’t want to impede that in any way.
TLDR: The Dometic 300 can hold liquid waste inside the toilet where you can’t clean or wash without taking it apart. Caused by poor seals from the factory.
This is actually well documented as an issue with the 300. If you call them and complain, they will send you a new one. You did the fix that most people suggest. I upgraded to a 310 because of this.
This happened to my 300 that came in my 2018 camper.
Dometic insisted they updated the design but would not send me a free replacement as I was not the original owner so I bought one on Amazon.
2nd one lasted 2 season or there about and same issue.
Dometic approved a goodwill replacement, I asked about upgrading to the 310, they approved.
310 installed and no issues yet (half a season). I have 1/8 gap between toilet and wall now as I was a solid inch plus under their rough opening requirement. It was a calculated risk and it paid off for me.
So, if sticking with dometic, upgrade to the 310 or pivot to another brand entirely.
Yeah, it’s strange, but they’re all hollow plastic, to save weight. I have a Thetford which I had to replace the flush valve, and the inside of that thing wasn’t very nice smelling, either
While shopping for a toilet 6 months ago, I found the Dometic 300 at about half price on Amazon…Thought I’d save myself a few bucks and get it…Terrible decision. The Dometic 300 is cheap, doesn’t hold water very well, and is not good holding back tank odor. I’m half hoping it breaks soon so I can justify buying a new one.
I’d just buy a new toilet that wasn’t there model. Now I need to see what toilet i have tbh. If it’s this one I’m ripping it out. Thanks for the update that’s gross as hell
Those are 6 volt batteries combined to make 12 volts and a shunt to check the power usage and battery’s status , all the negatives go to one side of the shunt then the other negative from the battery goes to the other side
The block at the top is a shunt/monitor. Some are Bluetooth compatible, if you can find the brand, you can look to see if there is an app and pair with it, so you can use it as a monitor. If there’s no obvious display for it, it’s likely Bluetooth.
Those look like GC2 6v Golf Cart batteries. In series they will give you 12v. The block at the top is a shunt to monitor battery capacity. If you follow the small cable that has the white connector on it, it will likely lead to a display/control panel for it.
EDIT: you can tell it’s 6v because there appears to be 3 vents on the top for 3 cells. a 12v battery would have 6 cells
For those who mistook these for 12v and for future battery reference: look at the battery caps. Typically each cap is 2V. So 3 caps is 6V and 6 caps is 12V.
You don’t have much capacity for boondocking with those two 6v batteries. Figuring out the largest 12v battery you can fit in your space is a good place to start. Some single LifePO4 12v batteries can store over 500 amp/hrs so be sure to look around. 560ah seems like your best bet if it’s in your budget and can fit
These are two six volt batteries connected in series to equal 12 volts. You have what appears to be 75 total amp hours but I wouldn’t take it less than half of that so let’s say 35 total amp hours make it easy. The others are correct that the little box on the negative is a shunt. You can see if it connects anywhere to report usage or not, but it could be Bluetooth.
We went camping for the first time ever and our cat loved it too. We were very scared she would get out of the trailer. We took her out walking on her leash at night and she went so far I got scared and picked her up and carried her back to the trailer. She didn’t want to go outside in the daytime choosing instead to nap on the bunks and have a peek out the window every now and again. I have a feeling we may just have to buy her a trailer.
We take our 19 year old orange female tabby camping. She would get sick from the drive, but she’s more used to it now. She enjoys all the places and is always curious to look outside and see the different things. We have a leash and a harness for walks and when she’s riding in the truck. I really didn’t think that it would be possible to take her camping, but start easy/slow, and before you know it you’ll be doing 2000 mile trips with a cat!
There is a chance that you may have a stray current from a battery or other source, and it is causing corrosion where the aluminum is exposed to water or is against a different metal (like a screw, frame, or other fastener). I noticed that the exterior seems to have two pits that are coincidentally along the horizontal.
Hey all, what do you think about these mystery holes that are appearing on my RV? When the bubbles burst, the grey underneath is chalky. They turn into holes eventually.I feel like this photo shows the entire lifecycle of these blemishes. This is happening on a 2024 rig in Central Texas.
It looks like someone broke a mercury switch or thermometer. It could be caused by a stray current but I imagine you could feel a current strong enough to do that in a year.
Greetings… I had an older Lance travel trailer and had the same issue.. I would clean them off and spray zinc on them… I figured it was some type of electrolysis or stray current.. I believe I located The source there was several grounds for lighting that were attached to the aluminum skin.. it was kind of strange the electrolysis seem to be localized near the right corner.. hope that helps, 🚐
We picked up a 1972 Boler a few years ago that's had a lot of work done to it.
My question is regarding the power converter (if that's the correct term?). It has two unlabelled switches on it (the black 'buttons' are fuses), but I have no idea what they do. The top switch seems to turn a fan on and the DC Volts drops to around 11.5, the bottom switch seemingly does nothing unless hooked up to a 120v power source, where it then kicks on a fan in high gear.
Switching both on, moves the battery condition needle to the '1' position, with the DC volts needle bumping up to 15 volts.
All the lights hooked up to the battery seem to have power regardless of the switch positions.
I don’t know what the battery condition meter means.
From the rest of your description it sounds like the bottom switch is an on/off switch for the converter — if it’s on then the converter is providing 15V DC charging current from AC.
The top switch sounds like a battery disconnect, but I don’t know why there would be a fan for that. Maybe a DC/DC charger for charging the starter battery, but at that age that would be weird; normally they just have a direct connection between the batteries somewhere. Maybe a master switch for turning off the DC loads driven by those five fuses? But again, don’t know why there would be a fan involved with that…
Hey y'all, wife and I usually camp put out of the back of our SUV or Tent camping but with the addition of a dog & future baby the wife wants a little trailer.
I have always been partial to 14ft/16fy 80s trailers (pic) as I think they are a real bargain and we don't need anything fancy.
To future proof ourselves I want to be able to upgrade the suspension as we do like to do camping on public land (I also wfh so something I can work off grid with would be sick) but these tend to have trails/roads still (big hills but no obstacles really ) in the Canadian foothills/Rockies so something with a bit of ground clearance would be nice.
Can't afford a 40k “over landing” trailer.
Are we out to lunch on this? As anyone else done this already, are there guides already?
I took the same route, I’m a pretty handy guy and we loved the look of the old shastas so I found one that had been moderately restored and modernized and bought it as our first trailer.
I ended up having to partially gut it 3 separate times. I spent way more time working on it than camping in it, and I grew to loathe the thought of taking it out, just wondering what would go wrong next. and it was a small basic one just like you show.
For your situation, I would get a popup. Yeah, they’re kinda disposable, but they’re cheap and will get you out there NOW instead of constantly working on an old trailer.
This will require a MASSIVE amount of work to restore, as a first-time trailer? Unless you have the skills, tools, and space to work on it — find something else.
Have you looked at any molded fiberglass trailers? If maintained, they can last a long time. Boler, Trillium, Casita, Scamp, Bigfoot, Escape, and Oliver ($$), are some of the more popular brands.
There’s a fair number of vintage (70s, 80s, 90s) molded trailers out and about and still in great shape. Water is the biggest enemy of old trailers, and the molded fiberglass ones have a lot less trouble with leaks.
We bought one of these. Great shape. Went to add bunks and found rotten framing and a layer of dried dog food in the ceiling. Stanky. Wouldn’t have noticed if we didn’t pull it apart.
Typically, corrugated siding indicates wood framing and rot and instability. Flat fiber siding indicates aluminum framing – less to rot.
Suggestiom is to look at aluminum framing and seal that shit up once a year.
My first camper was an ‘86 tandem axle fleetwood wilderness Yukon…in 2018.
It’s not for the faint of heart, but restoring it a few years ago made me know exactly what I was looking for in every system across the new RV when I got a 2023 travel trailer.
I would focus on camping in one spot until everything is working well in the camper before you conquer roadworthiness. Most traveling camping trips involve driving away from the store that has all the shit you need, so fix most of it before you’re in BFE.
I’m hoping someone can help me out with this. I have a forest River Salem Cruise Lite and the roof fan doesn’t start by itself anymore. When I turn on the switch it wouldn’t move, but if I start it with my finger, it runs. It has a different sound like a bearing might be worn out. Is it possible to replace just the bearing, motor, or fan, without having to change the whole square thing too? How would I do this? Would I work from inside my trailer or go up on the roof to change it? Thanks in advance
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