Mike and Carol

Ralph, Carol is a graduate of Emporia State U. So are two of my brothers. We’ve spent a lot of time there…. Mike

My statement about tire brands and model years was not correct. We had BF Goodrich tires on our 2016 because it was started in 2015, then put on hold and finished in early 2016. Mike

JC, welcome to the forum. Good advice above. Take some time to go through posts on this forum and then ask any questions you might have. There are some smart folks here eager to help. Mike

We were at the Luling Buc-ee’s this morning. They are expanding it and parking and gas pumps are very limited. We were driving up to Bastrop State Park and see that there is a new, large Buc-ee’s in Bastrop, nowhere near an interstate. Mike

I had one. Great generator. Only ran it on propane. HEAVY. I sold it an opted for a smaller Champion that’s easy to lift and doesn’t take as much room. Mike

I have two 10’ rubber hoses and one 15’ rubber hose. I keep my Blackstone connector on one hose. The Weber doesn’t have a unique connector requirement so I can use either of the other two hoses or connect them together if I need more length. Mike

Bigfoot and Oliver

Steaks are normal fare whether on the Weber or Blackstone!

I like my 17” Blackstone too! I carry both it and the Weber when we camp. Mike

It’s difficult to get it started. They weight of the anode tends to make it hard to keep it level. I insert it and then make an effort to support the bottom as I’m screwing it back in. It usually takes a minute or two. I’m sure there is a better way, maybe someone will share it. Mike

You can search online, there are YouTube videos on the Weber. You can also buy the parts needed. It’s pretty easy.

The panels have evolved over the years as technology moves. My two factory panels give me 320W. Then they moved progressively higher up to todays 400W. Mike

I use my Blackstone with no modifications on our QC. For my Weber Q1000 I removed the regulator and it works well that way off the QC. I think our Outland fire pit would also work, but we usually have it far enough from the trailer that I just use a 20 lb tank that I carry. Mike

Your PEX presentation and hands on learning started me on my PEX repair abilities. It was what I needed to get started. I think the dump valve class would also be good. Steve showed me what to do years ago and I’ve been able to remove, clean and lube my cables a few times. Ditto on the valves. Mike

That must be why you need a hex wrench!

If you use a generator to supplement your solar you can use your trailer power cord just like if you are on shore power. You might need a simple 30a to 15a adapter, depending on the generator. I had a Champion that had a 30a RV plug on the front. My current generator does not. Your solar connection is entirely different than a power connection plus you don’t need anything other than what is on the side of your trailer. We’ve done a fair amount of camping and have rarely needed to use our generator to charge. A few occasions during extremely overcast weather and cold nights caused our batteries to run down to the point I pulled out the generator. If there is any amount of sun and you aren’t in the shade you’ll find you solar will keep up just fine. Lithium batteries allow you to more of the amp hours than traditional batteries do. If you get a generator just ensure it’s a quiet inverter generator. Nothing is more annoying that campers with open frame contractor generators polluting the air with lots of noise. Mike

Look into your fresh and city water connectors (where the water goes in). You’ll see it’s 1/2” square. You just stick your Allen wrench in there and tighten (righty tighty).

Hmmmm… that’s interesting advice from OTT service. I replaced my AGM’s a couple years ago with lithiums. Kept my 2000 watt Xantrex inverter (if that is what they are referring to), kept my cabling, didn’t add a battery management system (just reprogrammed my Blue Sky controller), kept my fuse panel and didn’t add a DC to DC charger. The only new component beside the batteries was a new charger (PD4045, less than $150) that has the lithium option. We did change some cables, but only to clean up the battery compartment. Existing cables were reused. I’ll talk to Jason at the rally, upgrading to lithiums should be fairly straightforward with the cost being the batteries and the PD4045 charger panel that fits in the fuse box. Mike Edit: we did add a surge protector on the Maxxfan circuit to prevent any surge to the fan.

There will be trips where something falls off, loosens up, breaks off, wears out, etc. With some camping experience these events will seem routine, you’ll pull out a tool and make an adjustment, reattach something, tighten something else, etc, etc. On the city water connection, if I remember it takes a half inch Allen wrench that inserts into the fixture to tighten it up. It’s a larger Allen wrench than comes in sets, I think I got mine on Amazon for less that $10. Happy 2023 camping! Mike

Steve, terrible news! I hope they can get her back to where she was. We will certainly keep her in our prayers. I hope we see her at the rally. Mike

Cooper AT3’s on trailer and truck:

Two Battle Born 100aH lithium batteries would give about the same performance as your four T105s. They will fit nicely in your battery tray. Due to the age of your trailer you would also need to change out your charger (PD4045) located in the fuse box under the dinette. I has a switch for lithium battery charging. If you have the Blue Sky solar controller you will need to change a couple of settings on the charger. Not difficult, I did both of mine in about 30 minutes moving very slowly. Battle Born supplied the new PD4045 and can provide the Blue Sky setting changes. We had two BB’s for a year and had no issues ever running low on electricity. Mike

I replaced my BF Goodrich tires with Cooper AT3’s (same that’s on my truck) a couple of years ago. No regrets. Mike

We ordered our trailer in Sept ‘15 for delivery in December/January sometime. We put off our delivery until May so I was told our chassis and other parts were put aside until early ‘16 when work on it resumed. So, parts of our trailer were pre-2016, including tires. I believe that is why we got the BF Goodrich. Mike

That’s what we use, too.