RE: Water in the Campgrounds
I couldn't help but think about something after re-reading this thread. For all the germ-a-phobiacs out there? OK, you carry bottled water because you're afraid of contamination of germs from campground water. But you wash dishes, take showers, wash the kids, wash down your camping gear, even brush your teeth, from the campground water, Isn't germy water, well, full of germs. What's the difference between drinking right from the garden hose or washing your dishes with the same water, rinsing with the same water, and then eating off the dish or drinking out of the glass that was just washed with that water? I think if you can wash your kids with campground water (even in the shower room), and they fill their mouths full, spit it out, get it in their eyes, and brush their teeth with it, use it to wash out cuts, scratches, and bee stings, what's the difference between that and drinking it outright?
If you've been camping more than 1 time in your life, and you ain't dead, you've survived campground water! You're safe now! Go ahead! Drink! Enjoy!
RE: entry level TT's
Price?
Click here!
If you mouse over the tabs, (Travel Trailers, Fifth Wheels, Light Weight, Toy Hauler), a drop down will display on the page. The RV's are categorized into Lower $$, Mid $$, High $$.
Then select some of the units from the Lower and then some from the High and notice the differences.
Aside from price, the stoves, microwaves, toilets, water heaters, furnaces, plumbing, cushions on the seats, mattris on the bed, sinks, hardware, holding tanks, wire, plumbing, are all identical. Tires, frames, propane tanks, light fixtures, outside lights (for the road) are all the same.
So what's the difference? ... Aesthetics! (the way it looks) (Maybe the higher $$$ ones have better cabinets and real furniture instead in built in benches....
RE: receiver hitch on front of TV with storage rack
Several people on these forums use these!
They attach to the hooks in the front of the truck. The only problem I've read about on these forums (an then only once), was the weight was too much and the hook bent.
Now, if you were to weld a hitch on the front, that might work OK. I've thought of doing the same thing as I have a generator too, and no way to carry it comfortably. But the weight and bouncing would probably bend my hooks too.
RE: Mice have moved in - now what?
When my son was in the 3rd and my daughter in the 2nd grade, they participated in "Odyssey of the Mind". As they were "training" for competition, their group was asked the question, "How can you get rid of a mouse from a house." The purpose was for the group to fire away with as many creative answers as they could possibly imagine, even if it was absolutely crazy. The intent was to stimulate their minds, to think "outside the box" and be creative, think on their feet, and consider possibilities that are not conventional!
Well, the kids started firing off answers in rapid succession, which is what they should do. And the answers were forth coming:
Get a Trap
Get a bigger Trap
Get a Cat
Kill the mouse with a base ball bat
Kill the mouse with poison
Scream so loud the mouse will die of fright
Blast the mouse out with an air horn
Get a dog
Get a bigger dog
Get a snake
Flood the house with water
Finally, the kids were completely out of ideas.
The instructor then said,
Good job. But no one mentioned burning the house down!
The kids (and us parents) looked at each other completely dazed!
--- I just couldn't resist. Your question brought back a great memory!
RE: Travel Trailer inside storage ideas?
If you have bunks, you can turn them into storage shelves. Ours has bunks in the back. We do occasionally have the kids (adults) with us, but for the most part, it serves as a great storage area. You can even make permanent cabinets there.
Other ideas:
Make shelves in the cabinets. There's dozens of way to do this.
Make individualized compartments under the kitchen table benches.
Nothing says you can add extra shelf space over the toilet, sink, above the medicine cabinet, or anywhere else you have space on the way.
Velcro is wonderful! Get the stuff with a sticky backs and then you can attach virtually anything to the walls (great for remote controls).
Don't underestimate any extra space in the truck. If you notice my signature, I purchased the truck for a single purpose, to tow the travel trailer. And then I purchased the shell for a specific purpose ... to carry the canoe. And the storage tool boxes on the side hold everything for camping and the canoe. Space in the truck can hold a lot of things.
You may also be able to attach a storage box on the back end of your trailer. You may need to visit a welder to reinforce the bumper and/or frame to support extra weight, but that is an option. And how about those soft car carriers on the top of your truck?
I just noticed, this is your first post! Welcome to the forums! You've come to the right place for answers. You'll get all kinds of information here, so don't be shy!
RE: Keeping Bugs out
A very simple fix is to set out a couple citronella candles inside the RV. You don't need to light them, just set them out. The odor will keep bugs from wanting to come in, and because it's not lit, the odor will not be very noticeable to the "human" occupants. It works. Give it a try. It's clean, easy, and non-evasive. They also work great to keep ants away.
RE: New to Towing and Clueless
DutchmanSport gave good advice, except for two things:
1. When he mentioned "breaks", he meant "brakes". The trailer will have electric brakes and you will need a brake controller. You may also need a break controller, but that is another subject altogether.
2. The truck in all probability will NOT have a brake controller already installed.
I never did win any spelling bees as a kid! Now you know the rest of the story!
RE: where to find a pantry for a pop up
Here's some shelves I made when we had our PUP. As you can see, I secured them to the A/C braces and they would hold a lot of weight.
Hooks in the bottom held everything from coffee mugs to cast iron skillets. ...
That's EXACTLY what I was trying to describe. Very nice!
RE: Square Dance Camping Group?
My parents square danced. The reason they purchased a travel trailer (in 1963) was so they could travel across the USA and go to the annual national square dance conventions. While Mom and Dad square danced the day and night away, us kids were left in the various campgrounds. Although I was about 8 years old when they started doing this, I've got some pretty good memories. And I really had a lot of fun playing with the other kids (even when we had to go to the local club and the convention).
Anyway, Check here!. See if this helps.
RE: Questions About Suburban Gas Furnace
I think the extra open holes should be closed. Mine has covers over those extra holes. They can be rotated and removed. Perhaps, your's fell off and might be laying in the small space where you can't see it. More than likely, the hot air blowing out of those holes is not allowing the actual furnace to cool correctly once the burners kick off. The furnace thinks it's still to hot, trying to cool down because all the air is trapped in the small space. I think if you block the open holes, both your problems will be solved.
RE: where to find a pantry for a pop up
Maybe you could make one. Need 3 shelves? Take 3 boards. Drill a hole in each corner of each board. Take a rope small enough to go through the holes. Cut the rope into 4 same lengths. Tie a knot at the bottom of each length. Feed each length of rope through the holes. Tie a second knot the same distance upward from the first shelf (say 10 inches) on all 4 sections of rope. Feed the 4 ropes through the corners of next board, and continue doing so for the 3rd, 4th shelf. Then tie all ropes at the top, make a hook of some sort to suspend from the ceiling and presto! You've got a collapsible, removable, foldible shelf you can use for a pantry, or any other purpose.
You can paint, varnish, or use shelf paper on each board to make them a little prettier. You could attach additional ropes (same process), weave them together in the form of a net, or any other creative way to make a back and side so things don't fall off.
It's just an idea!
RE: Awning sag
My awning arms are the same length, so don't know if this applies to your situation. But, some time ago my awning was not rolling up even. I finally realized I had 2 issues.
1) The pull strap location. Once I put it in the middle of the awning when rolling up, instead of on the end, it rolled-up much more even.
2) The awning can move or shift where it slides in the track attached to the trailer. This also happened. I got out a ruler and measured the distance of the awning at the trailer and at the farthest distance from the trailer on both ends of the awning. Although it looked straight, it was off by about an inch. That inch was enough to make it roll up uneven. Once I pulled and tugged a little bit (where it's attached to the trailer in the track) until I had all 4 points on the awning the same distance. Then rolled it up, and never had a problem again. I now check it ever few weeks when camping to make sure is still equal distance on both side.
This may not solve your problem, but is worth considering.
RE: Train Horn
I dreamed of having a set of those train horns for years now. But the air tank is probably bigger than my truck! And where on earth (ok, where on the truck), do you mount the horns. I did some surfing on the internet a few months ago. Came across a photo of these mega-beasts mounted on the bumper of a car. Those horns can get pretty long! Still, I'd love to have a set some day!
RE: Fifth Wheel / Travel Trailer Insurance
We're insured with AllState. We have a separate policy for the trailer. We pay it with our auto insurance. It covers everything, ANY damage for ANY reason when not attached to the truck. This even includes when parked at a campground and someone trips over our garden hose and tries to sue us. (really!) When attached to the truck, ANYTHING that happens to the trailer is covered under the Auto Insurance. All the contents inside the trailer are personal property and are covered under the homeowner policy on our house. This includes everything not attached to the trailer.
Separate policy for the trailer: $92.80 every 6 months with a $150 deductible.
RE: Ford Diesel Smoke
I miss the days when I'd get behind a big-rig semi-truck and get nothing but BLACK smoke through the air vents in my car!
Nah! not really!
RE: New to Towing and Clueless
Others will chime in I'm sure. But to keep very basic and in line with your question. You need a hitch and the hitch needs to be able to support a weight distribution system. And because you are looking at a 1500 truck, I strongly advise a sway control system.
Of course the truck will need a break controller for electric breaks and needs the plug for a 7-way plug.
Now, beyond that, that's the bare minimum. From there it can get confusing because there are dozens of hitch systems, sway control systems, and breaking systems and controllers. They sky's the limit and pretty much what everyone is currently using is what they will recommend.
I use a simple Reese hitch system with weight distribution bars (with the chains type). I have a sway bar (Reese also). My break controller is an off the wall brand I've never heard of before I bought this truck, but works great and I have no problems with it. Chances are your truck already has the controller. If so, use and see if it works for you before switching to something else.
Sway control comes in all kinds of varieties. Hensley hitches are VERY expensive, run into the thousands of dollars. Dual Cam sway systems are a bit pricey, but those who use them swear by them. And no doubt, in the event of a sway (or the attempt to prevent a sway), they are worth every penny.
I'm fortunate my truck is a dually. For me a single sway bar works fine. I've never had sway that I know of, but do use the sway bar all the time.
So, in a nut-shell, that's probably the most direct answer. Others will probably chime in giving advise on the size of your truck and the weight of the trailer. You do need to do research carefully to make sure the truck will perform as you expect towing the trailer you want. But, that's not what you're asking about.
RE: Pics
You upload them to photo hosting site. They need to be resized to 640 x 480 pixles. You can easily do this using Windows Paint and then resaving the image. Upload it to the photo hosting site. Then in these forums, use the Advanced Post link, and click on the icon for Images. You will then copy/paste the URL of the image from the photo hosting site. Finish your post and the image displays in your post.
I use photobucket.com. It's completely free, has some nice features. I use photobucket JUST for posting images on RV.net.
Marango Cave, Southern Indiana:
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii142/dutchmensport/MarengoCave.jpg
Good luck!
