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Dennis and Melissa

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Posts posted by Dennis and Melissa

    Newbies taking the plunge - Are we missing anything

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Dennis and Melissa
    spellink

    On 4/21/2024 at 10:17 AM, Dennis and Melissa said:

    I appears to me the water pressure at the sink and shower heads does not match anything like the pressure coming from the city water inlet.  Moreover, it appears to fluctuate continually.  

    User error 🤣

    I eventually realized I could look at the pressure gauge (I was told to buy here) while my wife looked at the flow from the faucet.  The fluctuation was coming from the campground.  And, apparently, I wasn't the only one to notice.  The camp host told me they were having a plumber come by today.  So the water might go out intermittently.

    • Like 1
    • Wow 2

    Unhitching

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I fell asleep last night trying to analyze this using my "simple machines" physics from 50 years ago. 🙂
    I think that goes like this....

    Instead of an Ollie, we have a sled with 4 wheels that spin and roll frictionlessly across a plane.  If that plane is inclined, the sled will always roll down hill.  To keep it from rolling, put chocks (another inclined plane going the other way) on the downhill side of the wheels.   If held motionless, there will be force on those chocks equal to the force pushing the sled down the hill (sine of the angle of incline IIRC??? :classic_sad:, doesn't really matter). 

    It's clear from this picture, the bigger the incline, the bigger the chock needed. (IOW, a little chock will just get run over before creating enough back pressure.)

    It's also clear that, if you put a big enough chock on the downhill side, and drag the cart "up" it, eventually the cart will "roll backwards" when released.

    So, how do you know when you are in the sweet spot?  How do you know if you let go of the cart, it won't roll?  How do you know if you have 0 tension on the hitch?

    Honestly, I don't have an answer for this.  Unless there is some way to actually measure pressure at the ball.

    It leads me to conclude that I have been getting really lucky, and that I don't live on a frictionless plane.  So far, friction has made my guesses "good enough".

    Henceforward, I'm vowing to chock all 4 tires, front and back, before unhitching.  I'm even considering the advice to leave the chains on.  

    Unhitching

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

    When the bulldog came off the ball, the trailer lerched sideways close to 1-1/2' and back a foot

    What stopped it from going even farther?

    I'm not trying to be snarky.  Whatever stopped it might expose what was "missing" when you decoupled.

     

    • Like 1

    Newbies taking the plunge - Are we missing anything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    13 hours ago, topgun2 said:

    Congrats!

    I seem to recall at least a couple of Forum members advising you to stick with the process and things would get better.  It looks like you are over the big hurdle.  However, be warned, don't let the success go to your head.  These things seem to be able to pick a great spot to act up.😇

    LOL.  For sure.

    The handholding was very much appreciated.  We are still very seriously considering changing our truck.  (Either airbag suspension or Andersen.  Not both.) But that won't be until at least next year.

    Now I'm off to wander around my next National Park: Shenandoah for 10 days.  And that's the whole reason I bought this thing.  So the plan is working!

    • Like 4

    Newbies taking the plunge - Are we missing anything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 4/15/2024 at 9:08 AM, Steve Morris said:

    We found that you can crack it partially open until it just taps the inside of the basement door. This seems to keep up with accumulation. I know that some owners have opened a hole in the door to allow full opening of the handle.

    Since we are a NH team, we tried this.  And it seemed to work.
    Our next stop is 10 days on full hookups, during which I'll also try closing the drain for most of the day.
    We'll see which is better for us.
    Thanks, all.

    P.S. Another Andersen success today.  That's three in a row.  So, I'm gonna stop mentioning it unless I fail again.  And that's a very welcome silence y'all will be hearing. 😀

    • Like 2

    Newbies taking the plunge - Are we missing anything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    15 hours ago, mossemi said:

    If your drawers now open without trouble, it’s a good time to practice taking them out. Before you begin, a word of caution is needed!  The edges of the metal portion of the drawer slides are very sharp, so be careful.  Also take the time and unload the drawer you want to remove, it will make everything that follows easier to complete.    
    Only 5 of our drawers come out, the exception being the one under the sink.  So pick any of the other drawers and slide it all the out until it stops.  Now put your thumbs inside the drawer on each side close to the front of the drawer and your fingers outside with the tips of your fingers under the bottom of the drawer.  Now you should be able to feel the release for the drawer slide and squeeze the tips of your fingers to the outside of the drawer on both sides and slide the drawer out of the drawer slides.  Dang if that paragraph doesn't have a lot of drawers in it!

    Or just get on the floor and slide a drawer out and you will see the orange handles that you will squeeze to remove the drawer.

    Good luck,

    Mossey

     

    Found the orange handles AND decoded the dance steps 🤣
    TYVM.  Works perfectly.

    • Like 2
    • Haha 3

    Newbies taking the plunge - Are we missing anything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Another good Andersen day.  Took two tries.  I'm calling that a win.

    In other news:

    1) After yesterday's spectacular hike on the cliff trail, I drove 10 miles through Del Water Gap with my tailgate down.  :classic_sad: But NOTHING fell out.  This is the first plus from our dramatic overpacking.  Things are so crammed in there I don't even need the tailgate! 😏

    2) We got a drawer stuck.  I was able to slide a ladle in, push down on the offending dish, and get it to open.  But this is the second time I wish I knew how to remove the drawers.  Now that we have wifi, I'll go take a peek in Oliver U.

    3) 4 days in Worthington State Park with no hookups, we used half our fresh water, half our grey tank (of course), maybe 1/3 a tank of propane, and left with 50% charge in our batteries (it was cloudy almost the whole time).  That confirms my suspicion that fresh water is what will limit anything we do that approaches boondocking.  (And I was using the campground shower.  DW, refused cuz it was stinky.)  And I now know that our major electric draws (beside the AC) are: jacks, microwave, hair drier, water pump.  TV, radio, fridge and lights are almost nothing by comparison.

    • Like 5

    Newbies taking the plunge - Are we missing anything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, mossemi said:

    Don't forget that the drain vent is above the closet and you would be closest to it while entering the Ollie.  
     

    Mossey

    yes.
    And when we came home tonight, i could smell it from in front of the trailer, too
    So, I'm back to thinking that's the most likely culprit.
    But the drains smell like nothing, so not sure how it could affect inside???
    Be that as it may, we are doing the "clean the grey" tank stuff tomorrow.

    • Like 1

    Newbies taking the plunge - Are we missing anything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, topgun2 said:

    Well - 

    there is a "one way air valve" under the galley sink that prevents grey tank odors from coming back up through the sink drain.  Every now and then this valve can become "stuck" and what you will get is almost exactly what you describe.

     

    TY.  That's what I first suspected.  But I would expect the smell to be stronger at the drain if that were the case.  And that's not true.

    Newbies taking the plunge - Are we missing anything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I need some advice....
    We have a (mild?) smell at the entrance, only at the entrance, just as you step inside.
    No smell in the bathroom.  Nothing in the closet.  Nothing at any of the drains to the grey tank.  Nothing in the fridge.
    It's almost as if it comes from the ceiling???
     

    If I had to guess, I would say it smelled like natural gas (specifically the mercaptans they add to it).
    But, I'm assuming, if we really did have a propane leak, the alarm would have gone off (or we would be dead by now).

    The obvious suspect was the NH toilet.  But it doesn't smell at all the same.
    Any thoughts?

    Newbies taking the plunge - Are we missing anything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Another first today: the dreaded emptying of the NH "compost".
    Truth be told, I've had much worse experiences changing baby diapers.  But don't tell my wife 🙂

    Yesterday we made all the reservations for our trip to the rally in AL.  Starting in RI.  Stopping in: Delaware Water Gap (4 days),  Gettysburg NP (3), Shenandoah NP (11), New River Gorge NP (12), Mammoth Cave NP (4).

    Now to go buy a grease gun and figure out what a zerk is, and how many of them I have..... 

     

    • Like 1

    Newbies taking the plunge - Are we missing anything

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Dennis and Melissa

    By the way, after eight nights in subfreezing temperatures, we finally depleted the first propane tank. Very impressed. And I now know how the regulator works. I also know that you can Google the Truma error codes and get a wonderful description of what’s going on. I could not have asked for better automation.

    • Like 3

    Newbies taking the plunge - Are we missing anything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    My Anderson issues aren’t really Anderson issues.  With the hitch attached the truck and trailer have driven quite nicely.
     

    My issue is more the airbags on my ram.  They raise and lower the hitch during hook up and release. Not only is that a bit scary, but it means it’s never the same. Or at least I don’t yet know how to make it the same every time. Ultimately that has meant that I manually tension the chains after hook up. and I am not a trained technician.

    I think in the long run, I will either become a trained technician or get a truck without airbags. We will see.
     

    Thanks everyone for all the handholding.

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