RE: Traveling in Tornado prone areas
Here in MN, it seems to me that the meanest t-storms blow through during the middle of the night. The evening looks ok, and then, BAM! the storms blow in with hail and straight-line wind at 2am. With a hybrid RV, I'm always watchful of falling trees. More than once my wife has pulled the kids off the bunk ends.
Smarphone weather apps have been helpful. Last year my phone actually woke me up with a screeching alarm and a red blinking tornado warning message. I guess my GPS was on so it knew where I was. Luckily no RV damage, but did lose my screentent.
RE: fridge fan
We have the Camco one. It works ok, seems to help with keeping things cold. However, there's no on/off switch on it. So the only way to shut it off after a weekend of camping is to pull the back off so it breaks the battery circuit. So this thing is now sitting on top of the fridge until the next trip in 3 pieces: the front, the back, and the charcoal pack. Poor design if you ask me.
RE: Extension Mirror for Dodge Caravan
Curious..what brand/model of HTT is this? The weight that you mentioned, is this from the yellow sticker on the unit or the fictional dry weight listed on the brochure?
Regarding mirrors, I've had suprisingly good luck with the suction-cup tow mirrors. Some say they fall off all the time, but not so if you dampen the suction cup. They come in two styles, convex and flat. I hated the flat one; bought two convex ones and they work great for me. Simple to take on and off.
RE: Camping and towing newbie
If your sewer hose connectors are a little too big, you can try using a dremmel to carefully shave down the plastic "ears" on the connectors a bit.
RE: 2011 featherlite 17c. how to tell if water damage?
Hope this helps...Here's what Jayco states on page 87 of the 2010 Jay Feather owner's manual:
"Water is a RV’s worst enemy when it enters where it is not intended. Sealants perform a very important function; they must be inspected closely and be regularly maintained. We incorporate many different types of sealants, including butyl/putty, black butylencapsulated
foam, silicone (clear and colored), roof sealant, foam, etc. In general,sealants do not have “set” lifetimes. Varying environmental factors affect the pliability and adhesiveness of sealants.
Sealants can be affected by ultraviolet exposure, air pollution, extreme temperatures and exposure to other elements. Conditions
such as rain, salt, dust and pollution may increase the need to maintain your RV’s sealants. Checking the sealants is considered
customer maintenance. It is recommended that you or your dealer
Inspect all sealants a minimum of every six months. Make sure to check the roof and all four sides of the RV including all moldings,
windows, doors, vents and exterior attachments. Reseal as necessary and at least one time each year as preventative maintenance."
So by "reseal" they don't mean reseal the entire roof surface, just go around and check the caulking. Wash the roof with Spic N Span periodically too, to get rid of the tree sap, etc that can damage seals.
RE: bed rails?
The normal bed rails proved too cumbersome for us, as the braces are designed to go between a mattress and a boxspring. Another RVer recommended bed bug bumpers. We tried them and they worked great for my twin 2 yr olds sharing one queen bed. Now, 3 years later we still use them with no complaints.
RE: Towing with a Jeep Grand Cherokee
Hi, I have an 18ft hybrid (3500 lbs)and for the first two years I pulled it with a 1997 Grand Cherokee with the 5.2L V8 and tow package (7200 lb tow capacity). That vehicle had 220HP and did OK pulling the trailer. Acceleration was slow and headwinds/sidewinds really impacted performance (MPG suffered, difficult to maintain 55 MPH sometimes) but with the Equal-i-zer WDH I never felt out of control; it always felt solid and stable. I thought it was a good pairing, but the Jeep lacked overall power. So as you can guess, I would not recommend a Grand Cherokee with the smaller I6/V6 for towing a 23ft hybrid.
RE: Question on Camco towing mirrors
The Tow N See suction cup mirrors have worked well for me for the past 3 yrs. I wet the suction cup with a little water and that helps it to stick to the mirror. I had both the convex and the flat mirrors and found that the convex mirrors worked the best for both sides of the vehicle. The flat mirror was useless, couldn't see the outside of the trailer at all. My tow vehicles are Jeep grand cherokee and Jeep commander.
RE: Chev TrailBlazer SS V8
I looked at the Trailblazer SS when I was researching tow vehicles last fall. The motor is awesome, but I recall lots of comments on the Traillazer forums about how the suspension and transmission aren't designed for towing.
hail storms
Do you pull in the bunk ends during storms? We did on our last trip as we had strong wind, hail, and rain blow through, but now I question if it was needed. Anyone ever had their tent ends damaged by storms?
RE: Palomino S-17?
I saw posted on Palomino's FB page on Wednesday that they have a new floor plan coming for the Stampede S-172. Looks like it is a much better use of space than the previous cramped S-17
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/546348_429616060401965_164617373568503_1320134_1985915418_n.jpg
This is the exact same layout as the Jayco 17Z..should be a good seller for Palomino.
