Steph and Dud B

Coachmen Class B production will have Truma A/Cs on the roofs of new units in 60 - 90 days. They've been quietly testing them for the last year. Hmmm....

In our first camper we drank the water from the fresh tank for years with no problems. Then, while doing some maintenance, I saw the inside of the clear tank overflow tube and the green stuff in there. Even though it never caused us any harm, it put the idea of what could be lurking in some other pipes in my head and we've been drinking bottled water ever since. The fresh tank is for washing and flushing now.

I was thinking about driving the rear wheels of my truck onto some leveler blocks. Not as easy as using the jack, but not as damaging if you forget about them before you leave.

Consumer Reports is saying some of the new GM gas engines are having significant reliability problems. New-crate-engine level failures.

One of the little things I've wondered about Olivers. All our previous RVs had an indoor switch for the AC side of the hot water heater, right next to the switch for gas. Very handy. In campgrounds with low voltage we would often leave the AC heating element off during the day, when voltage was lowest, and just kick it on while we were showering (to speed the heater's recovery time). Now wondering: Is the electric hot water element wired to the inverter? Wouldn't want that.

Hi, could you folks expand on this a bit? Any thoughts on what others should check at their deliveries would be very helpful. Thanks!

He couldn't smell it? Humans become "nose-blind" to the stink additive in propane after a while. If it's a slow leak that builds over time you might not smell it.

A full 30 lb propane tank will last us most of a season in our 32' fifth wheel running hot water, furnace, and stove as needed. Even if you have 20 lb tanks, something doesn't sound right. I'd look for a propane leak somewhere.

The Camping for Dummies link from the OP doesn't work.

Congratulations!!

Common problem. The insulation breaks there due to flexing. The plug is very easy to replace with just wire cutters and a screwdriver. Search Amazon for "7 pin trailer plug." They are about $5. If you can't do that right away, I'd cover it with electrical tape to seal it, then reinforce it with a zip tie around the cable connected to the plug "ears" with a couple more zip ties to take some of the strain off the damaged section.

No need for a portable pump to fill the Ollie water tank. They can draw water from containers directly into the fresh water tank. One of my favorite features.

Yes, we mentioned it to Jason when we paid our deposit and I mentioned it to him again yesterday.

No reason given. Seems consistent with previous posters saying December-January-February dates had shifted about a week. We'll be OK as long as the delivery stays outside of the school year. Once school hits we'd have an issue. 😬

Our July delivery date has slipped 9 days to early August.

We don't have an Ollie yet but 2 hours of charging from the landline (120v outlet) at our house wouldn't be enough to keep up with the parasitic draws in our fifth wheel. It's connected to power overnight for 5 hours every day in the winter. Probably overkill, but I prefer that to dead or frozen batteries.

Perhaps report this to the NHTSA as well. They can do an investigation and, if it's a repeating occurrence and a safety hazard, initiate a recall. https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index

Over a foot this morning. 😕 Someday, we'll be able to flee this weather!

The batteries are connected in series so the voltmeter agrees with your trailer battery monitor. 6.1v X 2 = 12.2v. I doubt you damaged anything by disconnecting the batteries as long as you kept the + and - wires away from each other and the + away from any metal trailer structure (even without the batteries there will still be voltage coming from the solar panels).

Also remember as you shop: the "tow rating" is calculated based on an empty vehicle with only a driver. If you have a 150 pound passenger and 50 pounds of camping gear in your car you just reduced your tow rating by 200 pounds.

Pizazz: The partition at the top of the image is a closet, not a shower. The wet bath was one of my concerns, too, but after reading up about them we think it's worth the trade-off for more interior space.

With 2 million new RVs on the road since the pandemic started, and the industry planning to sell another 600,000 this year, we expect to do more state park/forest boondocking than we used to. We just booked Memorial Day weekend sites in our usual full-hookup campground. They want $95/night this year! The state park is still $20 for residents.

I only mentioned our fifth wheel to talk our experience with the Rockwood brand. They make travel trailers, too. Agreed, fifth wheels are usually HD truck territory, no matter what the salesman tells you.

Yes, in a nutshell. Budget is a determining factor. The Elkhart, IN offerings are cheaper up front but will require considerable self-repair and diligent maintenance. Generally speaking, they're good for about 10 years and then you get a few thousand dollars back when you're done with them. Not an investment, but many young families find this workable, especially if they're handy. Some general advice for newbies: Rent a couple of trailers before buying. Make lists of what works and what doesn't for your family. For instance, we rented a trailer where the bathroom light switch was on the ceiling light itself. Fine for us, but our son couldn't reach it. We had to get up at night to turn the light on for him. Thus, "bathroom wall switch" went on the must-have list for our first trailer. We wouldn't have thought to look for that. Avoid the absolute entry-level trailers (lowest price, aluminum sliding, single pane sliding windows, no wall switches, exposed underbelly, cheap fixtures, steel rims, etc.). These might not make it to 10 years, even with maintenance. Pay more for a better unit, within your budget. I'd spend my money on quality over size, given the choice. That said, don't go too small if you have growing kids. We've all seen the family that goes popup, small travel trailer, large trailer/fifth wheel while losing money on every one. Better to get it right the first time. Slideouts have their place when you have a rainy day and a bunch of active children. We had multiple slides on our last 2 rigs. No leaks and one slide mechanism issue I fixed myself. That said, now that we don't need the space we're going with a slide-less Ollie. Different times, different needs, different priorities. Remember, the truck tow rating includes the weight of the contents of the truck too, including passengers. Factor that into your decision, along with an extra safety margin. If the new trailer comes with anything other than Goodyear Endurance trailer tires replace them immediately. Google "RV China bomb" and you'll see why. Been there, done that. Once purchased, get on the roof and check all the caulking multiple times a year. Can't stress this enough. There are lots of seams to leak and water absolutely destroys conventional RVs. Hope they find something that works for them.

Competent truck, so they can go bigger. Lance makes nice travel trailers, again by reputation, not my personal experience. One thing I like about them is they use stainless steel screws on the exterior body seams where most manufacturers use painted steel screws. That was a point of water intrusion on one of our previous trailers. The painted screws corroded behind the heads and let water into the seam. From personal experience, both ourselves and our friends have done OK with Rockwood fifth wheels. Ours did have a bad seal on a slide out, but the factory took good care of us with the repair and added some slide toppers at cost while we were there. So, I can tell you Rockwood customer service and factory repairs were good 5 years ago. All other issues have been minor and easily fixed by me. All Indiana mass produced trailers are really "some assembly required," unfortunately. It's rare to hear of one rolling off the dealer lot without any problems found, and dealer warrantee repairs can take a long time. They could look for a good used rig that has already had most of the bugs worked out and the depreciation eaten by the previous owner. Just make sure to have it inspected by someone competent and experienced before signing on the dotted line.