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How we survived the cold
We spent our first month camping above the frost zone this year. It got down to 12* one night and in the teens on others. The first evening when we got to the rv park in the snow zone we went to the home improvement store and bought a 12' heat tape and some 1" pipe insulation, I made up a water hose to fit the length of the heat tape by cutting one down and adding a fitting on the end. Taped the heat tape to the hose and wrapped it in the foam insulation. While I was at it I bought a heavy duty adapter so that I could plug the heat tape and the engine heater cord in for the truck. I had foam board type insulators already made for the smaller windows in the fifth wheel so we used them and with the help of the electric fireplace and a couple of portable electric heaters the furnace ran at a minimum. I opened the gray water valves and let the water run at a slow stream on the coldest nights and one morning as it warmed up outside the kitchen faucet took off and started gushing so we must have been close to freezing up that night. We stayed there for a month with a minimum of advanced planning for it. I know if we had to stay where it gets really cold we would have to do a lot more but I'm sure happy that we managed as well as we did.
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7.3 psdman
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02/28/13 06:20am |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: What happened??
I think RVers are still friendly but they are not stupid. Why wouldn't you want somebody to protect themselves? Watch the news and you will find that there are a lot of crazies out there and I have been aproached by a few. If you exist in an enviroment where you feel perfectly safe all of the time then you are either pretty lucky or pretty confined. What has happened is that everything has changed since the days when your kids could run around outside without anybody harming them or you could stop anywhere along a highway to take a break without some dope head approaching you either to beg or to try to sell you something for their habit. And you will be lucky if that is all they try if they see you have twenty bucks on you. I will never be put in the kind of compromising position I was in at a rest stop in Fl. without some protection on me. The key part of your little story is that so many people carry guns to PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM OTHER PEOPLE. I think that is your answer. If you don't like it don't approach strangers when they might feel uncomfortable with you.
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7.3 psdman
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02/12/13 12:19am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Slideout insulation?
I already use 1/2" insulating board inside the smaller windows and then pull the day-night shades down over it. I don't think we would miss 1/2" inside the back of the cabinets or the closet. I am thinking about coming about half way out under the couch and see if that helps. The wife doesn't want it to look tacky but nobody looks behind or under the couch except me.
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7.3 psdman
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01/18/13 08:44pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Slideout insulation?
We have added 1" foam board type insulation in the backs of cabinets that keep them both warmer in cold and cooler on hot days especially if the sun is shining. I also added thicker foam board to the wall behind the couch and at the ends of the dinette seats between the seat and the wall. I figure any you can add has to help.
Thanks! That is the kind of advice I was hoping to get.
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7.3 psdman
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01/18/13 08:56am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Slideout insulation?
For the draft: I would add another slide seal gasket on the lower edge of the slide. Evidently yours is not doing a good enough job to stop the "leak" of cold air.
JM2centsW
Catfish
You may be right but the thing is the draft is coming out from under the couch not from out in front of it where the seal area is at.
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7.3 psdman
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01/18/13 08:53am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Below Freezing Tonight
Wouldn't it save a lot of trouble if you carried a heated hose or a hose made up with heat tape and insulation? I added heat tape and insulation to our hose and put a remote sensor for the thermometer in the compartment where the water connects and the heat tape is actually heating the compartment to anywhere from 37*F to 45*F. The way I did ours I bought a 12' heat tape and I bought a hose fitting so that I could cut the water hose down to fit the length of heat tape. Then I taped the heat tape to the hose and covered it with 1" foam insulation and taped that on. I had to buy a short extension cord that has three outlets on it to plug the heat tape into and I plug the engine heater for the truck into it too. One thing you should know is that if your water connections freeze up you can thaw them out with a hair dryer pretty quickly and a hair dryer won't burn your hose and wiring up like a torch will. Just thought I would throw this out there for anybody who is camping where it might get a little colder than 15*F.
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7.3 psdman
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01/18/13 08:42am |
Beginning RVing
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Slideout insulation?
The other night it got down to 15*F here and when I took my shoes off I felt a very cold draft come out from under the couch. The walls were cool and I had insulation over the windows so there wasn't a draft above the couch. I was wondering if anybody has ever insulated the floor or part way up the wall area of their slide outs? I looked at insulating from the outside but I think it would be a lot easier to insulate the inside. Anybody ever tried this and if so how did you do it? Thanks!
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7.3 psdman
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01/18/13 08:19am |
Fifth-Wheels
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Rusty hitch
A guy across the road was doing a lot of yanking on his hitch handle the other morning so I went over to see what was wrong. He said he was trying to unhitch and his fifth wheel looked fairly new. I told him to let the landing gear down until he had some weight on the hitch so he worked the landing gear up and down while a guy with him yanked the hitch handle. It came loose in a few more minutes. I looked at his hitch and saw it was a double jaw Reese that was rusted up pretty bad. I told him I have the single jaw Reese and that mine has a grease fitting on it but that I spray mine good with white lithium grease anyway. I don't think he got the idea because he said something to the effect that these hitches last forever. I would rather grease mine once in a while than yank on that handle.
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7.3 psdman
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01/13/13 09:02pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: How much length do you save?
I'm not sure model numbers reflect ANYTHING anymore...
or else we'd have the same model numbers for different rv's :)
Yes, way back when I started, the 1st two digits meant the length...
but how many "29's" would we have over the years :)
To the OP, as stated by others - a little ambiguous in the meaning of your query, but if you are going after the total length 'savings', MOST states have at least a 60 ft legal length, anything under that is good...
if you are trying to save a few feet because of towing issues :),
with a 5er, you shouldn't have any if you size the TV properly....
but the math you are looking for depends on the reasoning -
I'll take a guess too... (rounding for simplification)
given:
a 3 foot tongue on a TT AND
a 1 foot of trailer hitch AND
a 3 foot distance to the 5er hitch AND
a 2 foot front overhang (on mine!) YRMV
add all that up and it's 9 foot of length/living area, etc...
and as stated YMMV (Your Measurements May Vary :) )
good luck !
Thats pretty much what I figured going from a 28' coachman travel trailer to the Bighorn 5er. I figured there is about 8'- four foot for the old hitch and tongue and then four foot from the back of the truck bed to the 5er hitch. So now I pull a 37' fifth wheel in the place of a 28' travel trailer and don't notice any difference except the fifth wheel is a lot better all the way around.
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7.3 psdman
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01/07/13 11:41am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Torqued it pretty hard
We towed about 200 miles yesterday and I haven't noticed any problems yet so I might have dodged the bullet on this one. Right after the incident where I pulled the brake pin I installed an eyebolt that is behind the hitch and I snap the cable to it now. I'm hoping that I won't have any more problems with that now.
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7.3 psdman
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01/07/13 11:30am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Torqued it pretty hard
Electric brakes don't do much in reverse so I don't see how you skidded the trailer while backing into the site. Were the problems from the brakes or just trying to cut it extremely short?
I have heard that electric brakes don't work in reverse too but when I reset the pin the truck and fifth wheel sure bucked like the brakes let go. HMM go figure.
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7.3 psdman
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01/06/13 07:18am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: General Preventative Servicing of RV
I just thought more about this and the way I feel about it is that what is working okay one day and might even look good during an inspection could possibly fail anyway a week later. So I think I would get the things serviced that need periodic servicing and save some of the money for when things might need fixing.
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7.3 psdman
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01/06/13 07:15am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: General Preventative Servicing of RV
I think I would be asking about the semi annual plan. This could be a real deal if they pack the wheel bearings twice a year and keep the brakes and suspension in good working order and if the cost of the inspection goes towards labor costs if repairs are needed. Keeping the rig in good shape saves a lot of headaches in the long run but you have to have insurance for when things break down anyway. I'm thinking fewer inspections and more insurance. The main thing is if you are happy with the way it's working for you. GO FOR IT
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7.3 psdman
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01/06/13 07:04am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Torqued it pretty hard
Likely flat sports the tires, backing over concrete with tires locked seems like something one should notice!
I could tell that I was having a hard time getting the back end to go in the direction I wanted it to go and couldn't figure out why at first. So I pulled forward and tried from the other direction. I would have kept trying if it didn't jack knife so badly that I could hardly move it. You can tell by the black streaks on the concrete that the tires didn't skid all of the time. Most of the marks are in an arc like pattern.
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7.3 psdman
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01/06/13 05:04am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Torqued it pretty hard
Thanks! Yes it is an embarrassing thing to do and I have changed the location that I fasten the cable to. I added an eyebolt to hook a snap onto. You could tell how much strain was on the rig when I plugged the pin back in and the truck and fifth wheel both made a lurch. That in itself is scary because of the location you are in when you plug the pin back in. I am going to take another look at everything before we leave. Sure would be nice if nothing needs fixing.
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7.3 psdman
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01/06/13 04:56am |
Fifth-Wheels
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Torqued it pretty hard
While backing onto the concrete pad that was our site for the last month. I snagged and pulled the safety brake pin and was trying to back it in with the fifth wheel tires skidding. Because I was trying to back it with the wheels locked up I put a lot of torque on everything. I have checked the springs and measured the distance between the axles and I didn't find anything that alarmed me. It rained all day and we are leaving in the morning and I got to wondering what else should be checked for damage. I will watch for flex at the pin box and frame when I hook up in the morning and do the pull test to test the hitch. Anything else to watch for?
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7.3 psdman
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01/05/13 07:18pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Keystone Cougar 304BHS Water Damage (and warning)
We had a coachman travel trailer one time that had a bathtub like that and the water would run out onto the floor along the wall like that. I ran a little dam of plumbers putty to keep the water running back into the tub. Probably saved me a lot of damage and work in the long run.
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7.3 psdman
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01/05/13 06:14pm |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: How much length do you save?
I don't understand the question. If you were asking about how much living space you gain at the front I could see that that makes sense. Otherwise are you asking what the distance would be from the front of a pull trailer to the back of the truck or what the distance is from the front of the truck to the rear of the pull trailer or fifth wheel? If so it would include the length of both the pull trailer and the length of the fifth wheel you have in mind. Otherwise you might be figuring how far a fifth wheel hitch is in the back of the truck bed and how far it is from the back of the truck to the front of the pull trailer by measuring the tongue length plus the distance the hitch sticks out of the receiver. Looks like every unit might be slightly different. Take a tape measure along to a dealer's lot that has both travel trailers and fifth wheels and do some measuring.
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7.3 psdman
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01/05/13 06:08pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Will batteries charge when running on 120v?
I didn't know you could fry a converter because you leave the rv plugged in to shore power all of the time. I have had my fifth wheel plugged in at home for the last 3 years and plugged in to the posts in the camp grounds all winter. The rest of the time the battery is charged from the pigtail on the truck while on the road. I would be willing to bet that my battery will outlast the ones that are shut off for some time and that my converter will be good for a very long time too.
It doesn't get 120* in Ill. Here the temps inside the trailer where the conv is will reach 140*+ in summer. They will overheat because there is a constant draw. The cooling fans run constantly until they fail then the conv will fry. My neighbor used to do this till he was on his 3rd conv in 3 yrs. He then learned his lesson.
You are right I am not used to those kind of temperatures. Had a friend who bought a condo in Arizona and flew out to set it up. He left a can of pepsi in the rent-a-car for a few minutes and went out to find a blown up can and a very sticky rent-a-car. Didn't mean anything --you have to do whatever the circumstances demand. Sorry! You are right I was talking about normal circumstances.
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7.3 psdman
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01/04/13 06:14pm |
Toy Haulers
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RE: A little bit of soap.
Why do you feel the need to "clean" the holding tanks? You gonna spend a lot of time in there?
Find something more productive to worry about.
This is not required reading, you may be excused.
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7.3 psdman
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01/04/13 06:02pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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