Brought home the new 23B

[glsimms]

Hey gang, Well we now have a new grandson, he's 2 weeks old today! And now that the new baby is here, my wife and I were able to get our new 23B TT that we bought last month. The dealer is in Cincinatti, which is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from where we live in Southern Indiana.

We decided to stop and stay a couple of nights at a state park that was on our way home. Everything went well in spite of the brutal heat (triple digits)! I may have to look in to those solar blankets from PUGS that I see folks talk about here. Any way here are a few pics:

At the RV dealership all hitched and ready to go with the wife and grandson #1:



And here it is at the campsite:


And here is what it's all about, with my 2 boys!!

[Campin' Muds]

Great news glsimms - both on the TT and the 2nd grandson! That has to be a record for youngest to go camping! How did the TT tow with the Explorer? Looks like you had a nice site for your first run too. We had the same kind of heat for our first trip this summer but the AC worked like a charm. I had read-up on the PUGS too. I am a little concerned with strapping the covers on the actual tent ends even though the reviews have been pretty great. I think I am leaning towards the material in the windows between the screen and the outside to start - the heat hasn't been unbareable - I just direct one of the vents right over to the bed and we get a nice breeze. Thanks for sharing the pics and enjoy your 23B - we love ours!

[tlhdoc]

Congratulations on the grandson and the trailer. The PUGS are a very good product.

Campin' Muds what are your concerns about attaching the PUGS to the bunkends? Using reflextix or PUG's bunkend liners (you can use them on the outside of the bunkeds too) will help reduce heat on the sides of the trailer. The Solar Covers do much more to keep the bunkends cooler. Most of the heat enters through the "roof" of the bunkend, not the sides. I have used the Solar Bunkend covers for many years and have not had any damage to my campers (1999 Coleman/Fleetwood Nevada and my 2010 Jayco 17Z). I close the bunkend with the covers on and only remove the covers to clean them.

[glsimms]

Originally Posted by Campin' Muds

Great news glsimms - both on the TT and the 2nd grandson! That has to be a record for youngest to go camping! How did the TT tow with the Explorer? Looks like you had a nice site for your first run too. We had the same kind of heat for our first trip this summer but the AC worked like a charm. I had read-up on the PUGS too. I am a little concerned with strapping the covers on the actual tent ends even though the reviews have been pretty great. I think I am leaning towards the material in the windows between the screen and the outside to start - the heat hasn't been unbareable - I just direct one of the vents right over to the bed and we get a nice breeze. Thanks for sharing the pics and enjoy your 23B - we love ours!

Thanks for the comments!

Let me say first that this is our first TT as we moved up from a pop-up that we bought brand new in '82! We still have it and everything on it still works. At my age, gettin' down on the knees to let the stabilizers down got to be a chore!

Now as far as towing with the Explorer went, I'd say it did pretty well. My wife and I will go camping pretty close to where we live and our terrain here is pretty flat. We had 5 passengers, luggage, and a full tank of gas. On the interstate, I knew I was going to have to change my driving habits and I kept it at 60-63 mph with the a/c going full blast and the temp gauge never budged. The Equalizer WDH with sway control was worth every cent I paid for it. I did a lot of reading on this site and a lot of folks highly recommended it.

[chuckworkb]

Very nice rig! Great pics! Congratulations.
When you pull the rig with your Explorer, are you running in overdrive, or in a lower gear?

[mcfarmall]

Enjoy! We love our 23B....all the comforts of a conventional travel trailer with the "feel" of the outdoors like a popup. Lots of mods you can do to make it better. My biggies are the bladder tank on the water system, the fridge condenser fans, and exploitation of unutilized storage areas.

[Jagiven]

Nice looking trailer. We really enjoy our 23B. Is that a 2013 model? Your decals on the outside are very different than ours.

[glsimms]

Originally Posted by chuckworkb

Very nice rig! Great pics! Congratulations.
When you pull the rig with your Explorer, are you running in overdrive, or in a lower gear?

Yes, we were able to run it in overdrive.

Originally Posted by mcfarmall

Enjoy! We love our 23B....all the comforts of a conventional travel trailer with the "feel" of the outdoors like a popup. Lots of mods you can do to make it better. My biggies are the bladder tank on the water system, the fridge condenser fans, and exploitation of unutilized storage areas.

You will have to provide me with some info on the bladder tank and the other mods.

Originally Posted by Jagiven

Nice looking trailer. We really enjoy our 23B. Is that a 2013 model? Your decals on the outside are very different than ours.

Yes it is a 2013 model. The front and back of the trailer is a light gray with the black trim and looks nice with the black color of the Explorer. The sides are white. We also went with the Amarreto color combo for the interior.

[popjim52]

Congratulations on the trailer but most of all on that Grandson....

[glsimms]

Originally Posted by popjim52

Congratulations on the trailer but most of all on that Grandson....

Thanks, they are both really special!

I don't want to wish my new grandsons' life away, but...... I can't wait 'til he gets older so I can play with him, LOL!!! And the 5 year old is goin' on 15!!

Funny story..... The 5 year olds favorite movie is, are you ready for this???

RV!!

So after we took everything down, he wants to help Papaw clean the poop tank! He starts humming the part where Robin Williams gets the poop shower! I thought I was goin' to cry I was laughing so hard! Here is a pic of us getting read to clean it!

[Crabman]

Great pics and memories. The grandkids look happy!

[glsimms]

Hey Gang..... I just got the fridge fan from e-bay and want to do the mod, (this will be my first one, woohoo!). I will need to do the snake the wire down or next to the drain tube thing.

What gauge wire do you suggest, or does it make any difference?

Thanks, Gerard

[Campin' Muds]

From everything I have read about the PUGS - they seem great. I am just getting accessoried-out with camping and our new TT. $ add up fast - even after the purchase and the additional tools, and equipment needed. Plus, the bed ends are already a concern with leaking, closing properly, etc. - I just don't want another add-on right now. I want to experience the TT as is to see how it feels. The 100 degree heat wasn't an issue with the air on this summer. The Fall might be different with the cold.

Originally Posted by tlhdoc

Congratulations on the grandson and the trailer. The PUGS are a very good product.

Campin' Muds what are your concerns about attaching the PUGS to the bunkends? Using reflextix or PUG's bunkend liners (you can use them on the outside of the bunkeds too) will help reduce heat on the sides of the trailer. The Solar Covers do much more to keep the bunkends cooler. Most of the heat enters through the "roof" of the bunkend, not the sides. I have used the Solar Bunkend covers for many years and have not had any damage to my campers (1999 Coleman/Fleetwood Nevada and my 2010 Jayco 17Z). I close the bunkend with the covers on and only remove the covers to clean them.

[glsimms]

Originally Posted by Campin' Muds

$ add up fast - even after the purchase and the additional tools, and equipment needed. :

This statement is so true as I'm finding out fast!!

It was in the triple digits when we were on our first camping trip and we found that keeping the bunk end curtains closed, helped quite a bit. Then when the sun went down and started to cool down the A/C did a good job!

[RedHorse1]

Way to go G'paw! Teh pic of your 5 yo supervising your "doin the nasty" is priceless.
We love our X23B. Planning our 2nd trip to a local Jellystone w/ our 5 yo G'son later this month.
In the heat we find keeping the drapes closed helps the A/C keep up a little better. We pull our 23 with our '03 Expedition. Just bought a '13 Explorer and looked into getting the tow option but I thought it was a little too close to the weight limit so I gave it a miss. The PUG's will be a great purchase as others have already noted.
We initially went shopping for a PUP and I took a look at a similar hybrid and thought "hey if I buy one of these I can spend more $$$". Best of both worlds.
The additional $$ for all the stuff you need is too true. I found that the TT took the first 90% of the budget and the "stuff" you need to equip it takes the other 90% of the budgtet. :hihi:

[glsimms]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

Way to go G'paw! Teh pic of your 5 yo supervising your "doin the nasty" is priceless.
We love our X23B. Planning our 2nd trip to a local Jellystone w/ our 5 yo G'son later this month.
In the heat we find keeping the drapes closed helps the A/C keep up a little better. We pull our 23 with our '03 Expedition. Just bought a '13 Explorer and looked into getting the tow option but I thought it was a little too close to the weight limit so I gave it a miss. The PUG's will be a great purchase as others have already noted.
We initially went shopping for a PUP and I took a look at a similar hybrid and thought "hey if I buy one of these I can spend more $$$". Best of both worlds.
The additional $$ for all the stuff you need is too true. I found that the TT took the first 90% of the budget and the "stuff" you need to equip it takes the other 90% of the budgtet. :hihi:

Hey thanks Red!! Would you believe he actually volunteered to help? His daddy has a travel trailer and he has helped his dad before. So he thought he could show me how to do it!

I like the idea of the PUGS, but without trying to offend anyone, I can't get over the "dorky" look of them! I think they take away from the looks of the TT, but that's just my 2 pennies.

I thought the Explorer did a pretty good job of towing it back home. I had a full loasd of passengers, luggage, ran the A/C at full blast and drove in over-drive. All the while the temp gauge did not budge and the rpm's were around 3,000 to 3200. I'm not planning any cross country trips, just stayin' pretty close to home.

[2edgesword]

Congrats grandpa on the new addition! I hope you have many opportunites to build wonderful memories camping with the grandkids.

[glsimms]

Originally Posted by 2edgesword

Congrats grandpa on the new addition! I hope you have many opportunites to build wonderful memories camping with the grandkids.

Thanks!

I can't wait for this oppressive heat to cool so we can get out again!

[2edgesword]

Originally Posted by glsimms

Thanks!

I can't wait for this oppressive heat to cool so we can get out again!

My wife would sympathize with you. She is in Oklahoma visit some of the grandkids and when I called her today she said was over 110!

[RedHorse1]

Originally Posted by glsimms

I like the idea of the PUGS, but without trying to offend anyone, I can't get over the "dorky" look of them! I think they take away from the looks of the TT, but that's just my 2 pennies.

Yeah, you're right about that but I think the bene's outweigh the "dorkyness". They will not only keep the bunks a little cooler in the hot weather but a little warmer in the cool weather (if we ever gat any again). You're also protecting the tent-ends from the sun, tree sap and bird "sap". I plan to cut some reflectix panels for the bunk windows for the insulation and light filtering. I've already cut reflectix covers for the glass windows for storage (they're held up with velcro). Dorky? Definitely, but I like being uncomfortable even less.
I'm also a huge fan of the Maxx Air vent cover as are many of the other posters here. We leave the bath vent open at all times.

Originally Posted by glsimms

Would you believe he actually volunteered to help?.

To be sure! Our G'son is also 5 and I can't imagine even attempting that without his supervision.