RE: Windows
You can, but they will crank in or out with the vibrations of the wind. If you have a cover (like an Air Max) over your roof vents, you'd do better to leave them open. If you don't have a cover, they too will vibrate in the wind, and eventually crank open or closed.
I've not seen anyone towing their trailers (TT or 5er's or Toads) with windows open.
I once transported a car for my daughter from Indiana to Charleston, SC, and had to leave the sun roof open to get out of the car. Oh my, what a mess when we got there.
RE: Toilet Seal does not hold water
Use a toilet brush, open the valve with your foot peddle, and brush DOWN the hole and around the area where the slide seal moves. Chances are, you've got some hardened "stuff" caught in the grove, not allowing a seal. Simple solution, keep brushing with the toilet brush until it softens of breaks looses. Let lots of water run when doing so.
RE: What do you tie your awnings down with?
Two dog stake cork screws... 2 wratchet straps ... 2 bungie cords to create a shock absorber. Total cost: $0. Got the dog cork screws from my mother years and years ago. Never used them, but tossed them in the first camper we had thinking we might use them for the dogs. Turns out the worked better for the awning. Wratchet straps? I got several, mostly to secure the canoe to the top of the truck, but double up for the awning. Bungie Cords? Dime a dozen. I have a few dozen bungies laying around all the time. I use them for everything. So when I saw how some of the awning straps were made, that people pay a premium for (many years ago), I put 2 and 1 together and came up with 3. Been doing it ever since, and no cost involved as I already had all the parts laying around anyway.
RE: No power climbing a hill from dead stop
This may sound stupid, but have you checked your transmission fluid lately? If it's low, this could be the reason you're not moving, especially when it's still cold and you're on a hill.
RE: Stuck with Rude Neighbors Argh...
Be sure to leave your outside lights on tonight, and about midnight, hit the remote on your vehicle key and beep the horn locking the doors. Get up early and warm your vehicle up (about 6:00 am), and be sure to encourage the kids to get into a fight at 6:30 am!
RE: Does the fridge cycle?
The fridge will cycle just like the one in your house. If it did not, it would constantly get colder and colder and colder and colder. They run on a thermostat and once they reach the temperature setting will turn off. It usually takes 12-24 hours to cool a refrigerator in an RV if it's not been turned on and already cold. If you put a bottle of ketchup and a glass of water in your chilled household refrigerator, would it cycle on? Probably not. It will cycle on eventually though.
I think your refrigerator is perfectly normal. Keep that water in the freezer over night and I bet it's frozen in the morning (if not sooner).
RE: What TV for 6000lbs?
Get the biggest truck 1/2, 3/4, 1/1 ton you can possibly afford. Dually if you really want good stability, but also costs more. Brand, pick your choice. They are all good.
I drive a 3500 dually. We got it 1 year used. We had a 3500 dually gas and traded for the 3500 dually diesel. The diesel walks circles around the gasser. I know I did not need a truck this big, but thinking down the road, it gave me the option to tow a TT or a 5er later we we change campers. It also gives me the ability to tow almost anything, including my brother-in-laws boat. The bed of the truck is 8 feet and got the shell specifically to carry our canoe (which we could not do with a 5er).
The choice is yours. But one thing you really need to consider - will you be trading for a heavier trailer in the next 5 years? If so, get the truck now? Are you planning on towing anything else other than your camper? If so, how much truck do you need. Is your truck a daily driver (a reason to go smaller).
What you need to do, just like selecting your camper, identify what you want to use your tow vehicle for first (all the reasons you will be using it, more than just towing your camper). Then narrow down brand: (Chevy, Ford, Dodge), then gas or diesel. Factor your personal finances and what you can REALLY afford (you do need to have disposable money for camping you know. What fun is having a new camper and tow vehicle and all your money goes to making payments and nothing left over for actually paying for campsites, fuel, and food?)
Use your head, think smart, and you'll discover what will work for you.
RE: What are most common greenhorn mistakes?
Best advise is to create a check-list of "do's" for setting up camp and breaking camp until it becomes first nature. Even then, things can happen. We all do a pretty good job of setting up and taking down, but even the best of us have on occasion forgotten something. Looking back is now funny. At the time was embarrassing. No damage, or minimal damage resulted, but IT could have been much worse.
Once with our PUP I forgot to throw the catch on the hitch. Started moving, first bump, the trailer bounced off the hitch ... oops! Thank goodness we were only a few feet from our campsite and still at the campground. Embarrassing? Yes! Any damage? Only my pride.
Then once with the TT, forgot to unplug shore power from the house. Got down the road about a 1/4 mile with 35 feet of cord dangling behind the camper. Any damage? No. Dangerous? Yes. Embarrassed? Exceedingly!
It happens to everyone. You'll misjudge and back into a tree, back into a water spiggot or clip the electric plug pole, or misjudge and get a wheel in the grass and get stuck in mud. There's no fool-proof, bullet proof list. Things DO happen. You do your best, and always check and double check when setting up and taking down.
Advise: Never park anywhere (even flat ground) without chocking your trailer tires ... no matter what kind of trailer it is.
Advise: When leaving a campsite ... walk twice all the way around your rig, and check everything.
You'll do fine!
Hope you have great adventures down the road! Good luck!
RE: Claiming a first come campsite
Carry a small pup tent with you all the time and set the tent up if you have to leave. This will mark the spot as taken. Would not hurt to leave a couple folding chairs out too. We've not ever had to do this with a TT, but if in a MH, and you want to leave your site for whatever reason, the small, inexpensive pup tent would mark your spot as taken.
RE: Dumping holding tanks explained... Sorta.
When my daughter was about 4 - 5 years old she asked where the "stuff" in the toilet went. We lived in a ranch style house with a full basement, at the edge of town with city water / sewage / gas. I took her in the basement of the house and showed her the pipes under the floor going through the wall of the basement, underground to the street. From the street, we followed the line and took a little road trip to the city sewage plant. We did not go inside, but by now, she got the message and was completely thrilled with her new-found knowledge.
I think explaining the trailer holding tank and dumping procedures would have been easier. Now, if she asks where the contents of that "stuff" goes once it goes in that pipe in the ground .... face it ... you're in trouble!
RE: How to use Generator
I'm certainly no generator expert, but I seem to recall reading that nothing should be plugged in until after the generator is started. This is assuming the writer's generator is not built in.
I had the same question when I read the post. Whenever I've use my generator, I turn it on first, let it finish sputtering and get it running smooth (which usually only takes a couple seconds after starting), and THEN plug in the camper, same as plugging in with shore power. Get the "power" up first, then plug in.
See if that helps.
RE: Help making my Refrigerator Cover White again.
I've used Krylon for plastics (spray can) on several outside items. Works great. 3 years ago I spray painted all the shutters on our house. They are a vinyl you know. They were a dingy blue color. I took them all off, repainted with Krylon for plastic a bright red. When painted with the dark dingy blue under it, it actually came out more of an antique (rich color) red, which turned out beautiful and really gave the house that "zing" we wanted. I did 11 windows (22 shutters) some 3 years ago, and all of them still looks great, no pealing, no flaking after 3 weird winters, spring rains, high winds, and lots of corn and bean dust beating against them during harvest season.
Krylon is the way to go.
RE: Camping while traveling
Every private campground is different how they handle drop-in's vs reservations. State sponsored campgrounds (like State Parks or Federal Forests) are found on the state DNR (Department of Natural Resources) web sites. Federal campgrounds, here's a start: http://www.recreation.gov/
If looking for overnights,in addition to Wall Mart and Cracker Barrel, don't forget about private campgrounds or campsites maintained by private clubs, like American Legion, Elks, Masonic Lodge, Moose Lodge or even military. If you are a member of one of these organizations, consider contacting them and see what's available. Also, if you are the member of a specific religious group, church, synagogue, mosque, it's possible you might be able to get an overnight in the parking lot if you contact the right spiritual "grand poo-bah!" (We belong to a church and we link with other ministers and churches and inquire about overnighting in their church parking lot. Sometimes we can, sometimes we cannot, but it's worth a shot if you belong to something like this).
There again, to answer your question, there's no standard. Every campground is different, and prices are different for every campground too.
RE: %#$&# salesman
That's sad for the young man who probably doesn't have the means to upgrade but he just got a lot smarter. What's an education worth?
Probably somewhere between $30,000 and $45,000 for a new truck that will do the job.
RE: Warped Attitude
If it was't for all the "off the wall" comments, I would find this web site very boring. Humor is good and helps break the seriousness in life. Life is too short to be so hard-nosed about everything. Camping is a fun experience. I think these forums should be a fun experience. Apart from all the humor, joking, and wacky comments, I find that every forum I've read, good answers are always there.
Maybe we should start a thread under "around the campfire" where anyone can say any whack-ed out thing they want? (within family-orientated boundaries of course).
RE: How much do you need?
What you get is determined by the type of camping you do, where you go, how much storage space you have in your camper, and what you can afford and willing to pay for.
Sewer hose. My camper is 31 feet long. The black and gray drain is in the middle. That means it's approximately 15 feet from the drain to the back or the front of the camper. At a minimum, I always carried enough hose to reach the back or the front of the camper, in the event a full hook-up site does not have the sewer connection 10 feet or less from where I park to where it's located in the ground. Moving the camper 5 feet can make all the difference in the world. I carry 50 feet of hose. 2 twenty feet connected together and 1 10 feet to use at dump stations.
Water hookups can be equally as Questionable. So I always carry 200 feet of hose in 50 foot lengths (and I do not use the white one, just normal garden hoses that are, always have been, and always will be 100% dedicated to the camper for fresh water.
Electric Cord (30 amp) RV cord, I carry 3 extra 25 foot sections, giving me a total of 105 feet of potential extension cord (with the cord in my camper).
And yes, I have on a few occasions used every bit of all of this.
Very few Indiana State Parks have water spigots 25 feet from the connection of my camper. Most are a shared spigot, so no one can attach permanently to one. But I do plan my campsites within 200 feet of the spigot so I can attach the hose, fill the fresh tank on my camper and then unhook the hose so others can use the spigot.
I use a simple PUR water filter at the kitchen sink faucet.
I use a simple in-line water pressure regulator that attaches to the garden hoses.
I do not use any kind of surge protector (I probably should) but never have and have never had any problems. If anything, I've experienced LOW voltage at campgrounds, never high or over voltage. And theres really nothing you can do when the voltage is low.
The best think you can do is a driveway camp (camp out in your driveway for a week-end) withouth the assistance of your house. That will teach you real fast what you need and how much you'll need.
There's no right or wrong answer, every person is different, their camping needs are different, their financial resources are different. You just REALLY have to figure out what will work for you, and go from there.
RE: Are you a sales or storage organization.
At least the dealer was honest and did not waste anyone's time haggling over something that camping world will not be able to beat.
