18v Li-ion Ryobi which is the house brand at Home Depot. Been using it for about a year now and works great but my axle weight is only 2,000. I am thinking about devising a socket for the tongue jack but haven't yet.
Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
- Will Rogers, American actor
I bought one of those BAL LEVELERs early on as well... It worked out great when I used it. I probably used it five or six times then finally just quit bringing it along. That thing is very heavy haha... I didnt use a power tool for mine. I had one of those ratchet socket tools that worked just fine even for my 4200lb loaded popup trailer.
It is very seldom I setup in a real bad unlevel site. I have a set of those plastic things and if I need to raise one wheel higher it is usually noticeable before I get into the spot so I just lay out a couple of those before hand.
ALL photos from google images
My Posts are IMHO based on my experiences - PM me Roy and Carolyn
RETIRED DOAF/DON/DOD/CONTR RADIO TECH (42yrs)
K9PHT (Since 1957) 146.52M
2010 F150, 5.4,3:73 Gears,SCab
2008 Starcraft 14RT EU2000i GEN
2005 Flagstaff 8528RESS
POPUP PHOTOs-Pg52-Pg56
This is another thing I do for my Starcraft 14RT OFF-ROAD POPUP..
My POPUP tent fabric when setup has a side-to-side sway about 6-inches. Never did like that and finally one day a gush of wind came up and knocked my microwave off the portable shelf onto the floor.
My fix is an over-kill but fits into my camping scheme real good so works great for me.
I installed 1-inch eyelets in the four corners of the popup roof on the sides just below the roof. I actually have an eyelet both on the outside and the inside. These have large washers on both sides so are pretty solid mounts.
I can stop my sway by doing two ways using the 1/2-web straps.
I can go on the inside from the roof down to the opposite wall just where my fabric windows start up. Then do the same thing on the opposite ceiling eyelet and this gives me a criss-cross 1/2-inch web star across the bed entrance opening. There is only two of us so we can do this to the bed we are not sleeping in. This is a day-time catch all area for us anyway. Close the drapes and this hides the 1/2-strap. Just having this on one end of the POPUP stops the sway dead in its tracts.
The other way which is the one I use the most is to run 1/2-inch x 15-foot web strap down to the ground from each corner roof eyelet. These are the ratchet type straps and go up real easy... tie them in place and tighten up the slack.
I use some three-inch by 16-inch screw into the ground earth anchors. These go into the ground real easy using a large screwdriver thru the eye or a 1/2-inch breaker bar. I screw them down even with the dirt and this allows me to hook right into them with ease. the trailer does not any any side-to-side movement at all after doing this...
We do alot of dry camping at camp sites without power (Elkmont camp in the Smokey Mt Natl park in TN - Loft mtn on Skyline drive - etc)
We like to throw a 30X20 tarp over the whole trailer which has two large holes in place where you can slip this over the roof mounted air conditoner and fantastic roof fan area. this tarp droops down almost to the ground on the back side and out over the existing awning on the front side. I use the four earth anchors to tie down the four corners of the tarp along with some additonal tent stakes etc. On the front where the awning is out I add four tent poles from walmart lined up with the awning and the tarp gives me a whole trailer length porch setup. Makes for great sitting especially at ELKMONT where when it rains there the trees drip water for two or three more days after the rain storm has passed. Everyone camping up there has tarps over the trailers and tents...
using the ratchet type web straps makes it real easy to pull down if the wind gets up over 40MPH.
Anywho this is what we did to stop the 6-inch side-to-side sway - a bit overkill but works great for us.
Storing inside when not in use will definitely save the popup over the years. Especially things like the wood floor and framing. I didn't see it mentioned, but we always left the door open when raising and lowering the roof to allow air flow without binding the canvas. You get some air flow under the unattached bunk canvas, but having the door open allows more. When lowering, make at least one stop to tuck in the canvas. We would stop several times, making the last stop at about 4 inches for a final tuck in. Also, as you are aware from tent camping days, never put the trailer away damp. If need be, open it up inside your garage for final drying after a trip if damp, you usually do not need to pull out the bunks for this drying.
The single most important thing we found was getting level,the roof will go up if not level,but dammed if it would land where it should coming down.It would take two of us to lower,4" before the roof sat down ,one would have to walk around stuffing canvas.Canvas has to be stored dry otherwise mildew will rot it.
Just got back from my first day out with my new popup camper, it’s a 2013 Rockwood HW277 and it’s my first experience with anything that’s not a tent. I never pulled a trailer before and at 3800 pounds I found that hitching it up to my Jeep and driving with it attached was the most stressful part of the weekend. Once at the site however all was great. Everything worked, hot water, heater, air conditioning, fridge, stove and oven, no water leaks, and my first gray and black dump went well also. The only thing that was not perfect was one of my three speakers turned on and off at times, my retailer will fix this problem. I still can’t find were to drain my fresh water tank, the manual says I have a drain for this but failed to say where it is, so I opened all the faucets to drain the tank and I will look for it next trip.
I setup up my camper at Walmart to try it near home before going to the camp site and made a check list as recommended. It made the camp site setup much more fun.
The reason I bought this camper is because I do a lot of scuba diving and this is a way to save on hotel prices and add to the diving experience. My wife likes the camping aspect as well; in fact it was her idea to begin with. I’m telling you this because I take many underwater photographs and videos. I then look at the results on my computer to see what adjustments I need to make before my next dive. To do this I purchased a HDTV. While I was at Walmart getting supplies, I came across a RCA indoor multi-directional digital flat antenna (ANT1450BR) for only $30, I tried my luck with this. I was shocked that it picked up no less than 16 channels, most of them in HD, three were choppy and three more were unable to display. For $30 I thought I’d share the product. Take note that I was at Plattsburg and there are two if not more TV station there, I think.
I took some pictures but can’t find a way to upload them.
Thanks again for you contribution to my first popup camping trip.
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic. Wolfgang Riebe
Glad you enjoyed the first trip and most went well. 3800lbs is not a small popup, but it's far from the largest available. I was nervous the first few trips with mine. Now it's second nature, just takes time and practice. And patience. Lots of patience!
2004 Toyota Tundra SR5 (V8, 4WD, TP, TRD)
2005 Fleetwod Allegance with axle flip
Honeywell 2000i Generator
Me, DW, DS, DD, Dog & Camping Kitty
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