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Showing content with the highest reputation on 04/13/2019 in all areas

  1. This is an easy and rewarding mod, and a lot of fun. I wanted to add some brightness to my new rear cargo rack and a couple of other places, and some non-skid material near the emergency exit. That last area should have tape there from the factory. Exiting out through the window, across the spare tire and any bikes or other cargo is risky enough, and then you have to step across a possibly wet and slippery bumper. Ouch... There are endless sources of inexpensive low-grade reflective tape but I chose the real deal, the commercial 3M "Conspicuity Tape" that is used on semi truck trailers. It is available locally but you probably have to buy it in 150 ft rolls for up to $250! Here you can get various widths in smaller lengths at a about a buck per foot. If applied properly it has a ten year life expectancy. I bought 15 ft of red and yellow in the 1" width. Shipping was $7.53. You should buy the correct width that is "edge sealed" ... don't buy a wider strip thinking you can cut it lengthwise since the cut will allow dirt into the cells of the material. Sealed edges prevent that, you only get some dirt in your cut ends. https://www.identi-tape.com/3M-conspicuity.htm [attachment file=3M Conspicuity Tape Instructioins.pdf] A smooth and clean surface is important. I sanded lightly with 360 grit sandpaper and cleaned with 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner. Good stuff. I used regular 2" Gorilla black non-skid tape from Home Depot for the tops of the surfaces in back. Round the corners a little so the patches look neat and there is less likelihood of them lifting. I used a fresh clean roll of 1" masking tape to make guide lines. Don't use an old roll with dirty edges since it can contaminate the area with oils. Rollers are helpful but not necessary. Just make sure the colored and black tape is really pushed down hard. Here are ambient and flash pics of the areas I taped. Notice that the teeny round factory installed reflectors are quite bright, but they are very low down and possibly obscured by a rack or bikes. The tail lights don't reflect much at all. I was surprised by that. If you use a pressure washer be really careful around the tape, it is rated for 1200 psi at a foot distance. Don't get too close. I'll add some outside and night time pics later. I took my time and it was done in about 90 minutes. It was fun. Highly recommended! John Davies Spokane WA 3M-Conspicuity-Tape-Instructioins.pdf
    4 points
  2. We've done a lot of Canadian crossings. Never been asked about propane tanks, in a land crossing. You'll get questions about firewood, alchohol, tobacco, and probably extensive questions about weapons. Also, sometimes, questions about produce and meat products. Check the Canadian board for what's allowed before you go. Usually, you get a pass on personal use items, but, everything should have a label, for meats. and any products containing meats. And pet food. They don't like eggs, raw or cooked, for some reason. I use those up before we cross. I usually have no fresh produce, either. Don't carry firewood. Just as in the US, no one wants buggy hitchhikers. Leave weapons at home, unless you have the required permits. If you can answer " no" to all the questions, you'll go through faster. We had a casual search in a small port in Quebec, because the guy wanted to see our unusual trailer. The bigger rigs get pulled over more, I think. We've had more searches ( though few) on the USA side. Much more strict about produce and meat products. Watch your supplies, use it up, and buy fresh on the other side. My philosophy is to spend my money where I travel, and buy local. We've been rewarded with awesome Canadian beef, and fish. Especially, fish. You should check the Canada website, and US website, before chucking stuff. There are small changes every year. Put yourself in the position to be able to answer all the questions truthfully. Then, you're all good to go.
    2 points
  3. You might want to put a strip up high on the rear. I've learned from experience that traveling down a muddy gravel road will completely cover your rear end with mud, due to a considerable low pressure area behind the trailer. I've had it so bad that even the marker lights up top were covered. I placed a few red/white strips on back of my rear solar panels, but a strip on the AC housing or above the 'Oliver' would work, so long as it doesn't angle upward any. I think you'll find that the flat strip on the front of your trailer won't be of much use, since you have to be about 90° to the tape, both you and the light source, for it to reflect. The cross strip should work, though. Test it with your rear view camera, though. Those cameras don't have a ton of range and a strong light source could make them darken the image so much that you can't see the hitch. Here's some tape I put onto my hitch for the same reason. Looks amazing in a photo, but in real life does nothing -
    1 point
  4. We crossed (North) at Montana after visiting Glacier National Park. The crossing was easy, with emphasis on wood and weapons. The agent was most interested in three things, our vehicle registration, our wood chunks for the grill, and whether we were carrying any weapons, including, specifically, bear spray. Oddly enough, we did not have a copy of our F150 registration. I typically drop that into my tax file when I buy tags for the year. He wondered how I could ever do that-"don't they check registration in Missississippi when you get pulled over?". I assured him that first, I seldom get pulled over, and secondly, even in Mississippi, the police have computers and check our tags before they ever approach. He questioned about whether there was any bark on 0ur wood chunks. While the wood was fairly barkless, the dogs were not. I think the agent got tired of hearing them and offered us a pass, but only after ascertaining that we had no weapons-including (specifically) bear spray. He must confiscate a lot of the spray-we had none. Crossing back in (further East) to North Dakota, we had such an eventless crossing that I do not even remember the event.
    1 point
  5. We live in Johnson City! We are close Karen
    1 point
  6. When we picked up we didn’t bring chairs so we bought a couple of cheap ones at the Hohenwald Walmart. Comfortable if you didn’t sit in them for more than 30 minutes. Very lightweight and small when folded. We still have them and throw them in the back of the truck when we travel. We also have a couple of zero gravity chairs that we don’t use much, while they are comfortable they are big, bulky and heavy. We also picked up a couple of director style chairs with an attached side table at Costco that we don’t use much anymore either, they are lighter weight, comfortable for short periods of time but take up more space in the truck than I like. For the past year we’ve been using these chairs from Core. They were about $50 on Amazon. When folded they take up very little space, are light weight and comfortable.
    1 point
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