Troubles on short weekend trip

[DOUBLETROUBLE]

We set out Friday afternoon to meet some friends at a KOA about 40 minutes from our house for the weekend. Checked everything before departing, everything worked last season for us so I didn't expect any issues.
Now the fun part, half way there had a blowout on the TT. Luckily we were in traffic and going slow so no damage to the TT at all. I did have the common sense to bring a jack, breaker bar and correct size sockets just for this. Had tire changed in 15 minutes and back in the road.
Get set up, went to light the pilot for the hot water tank and no dice. Pilot won't stay lit, possibly the thermocouple. No hot water. Only a 2 night stay so we'll deal with it for now.
Ran out and bought a new tire, had it mounted, I won't run without a spare now!
And finally, I believe my battery or batteries are getting weak in the TT. A voltage reading only showed 10.75v just before I hooked up to the TV to depart.
I guess I have so things to address. Had a great time camping, just little things that annoy a person. Just wanted to share my experience this weekend and stress to anyone that may read this how important it is to be prepared for a flat no matter the condition of your tires. I'm glad I was.
Thanks for reading

[DOUBLETROUBLE]

Just thought I'd share a pic as well.

[JFlightRisk]

Originally Posted by DOUBLETROUBLE

Just thought I'd share a pic as well.

That looks like a really nice site. Thanks for the pic.

[oldmanAZ]

Glad you were prepared and the flat did not damage the TT.

Lots of lights on in the photo. Did your site have power or were you using just your TT battery(s)?

[DOUBLETROUBLE]

It is a full hook up site. Deluxe patio site I think it is called. Very nice concrete patio, nice furniture and large brick fire pit to.

[BxB62]

DT,
Remember, it could always be worse.
Enjoy your weekend !

[DOUBLETROUBLE]

It could always be worse. Like I said, just annoying little things. I looked through the paper work and found that the hot water heater is both gas and electric. Neither of which are working at the moment. I'll be overhauling the hot water heater. New thermocouple, new electric thermostat and element and a new anode rod since I'll be in there anyway. I'd like to have both sides working now that I know it is equipped to run on both.

[Vasquez Kid]

Well it sounds like you made the best of the situation. That's awesome - as we say here in Southern California

I bet the next trip out will be even less stress!

Cheers.

[namusmc65]

Need to be using that rig more often, then these problems would not gang up on you.

[norty1]

WH could be a board or spider webs in the gas tube. Sitting a lot adds problems as others have stated. Batteries, tires are items that do not last long.

Sounds like it didn't throw a wet blanket on the weekend.

[DonaandDon]

Don't forget to greased those bearings..

[GL243]

Just curious, how old are the tires?

[Badamache]

Always good to be prepared for a flat. Nicely done. I have a bit of a concern about your batteries. With a full hookup site you should be charging to 12.5-14VDC all the while you were hooked up. May want to check with a voltmeter to make sure you're charging. If you had disconnected before the 10.75 VDC reading it could still be the battery but I would verify the charge voltage before replacing it.

[DOUBLETROUBLE]

GL243, the tires were only about a year old when we bought it so now they would be about 4 years old.
I did check the charging voltage when I check the battery water, it was at 13.6v. one if the batteries is maintenance free so was unable to check it. The other one was very low in one cell so I'm thinking that one may be the problem child. I will have them both tested though.

[cekkk]

My apologies if I missed it, but are you using it for the shore power to heat your water heater

[DOUBLETROUBLE]

I was originally going to light the gas side of the hot water tank but the thermocouple was bad. I then tried the electric side of the HWT and it did not work either. The element is bad so, I will be fixing them both so I have the option of one or the other.

[spark of insanity]

When we went out west everything was fun until we did the road trip home. Had a blow out in North Dakota, got the tire fixed no problem. Then our second road trip 5 years later had another blow out. Got that fixed no problem. O on our first road trip out? The pop up refused to go up. In a rain storm of all things. Got that fixed. Ended up selling that pop up a year later. It was the second pop up that if it wasn't the tire it was the electric unit to pop up the unit with. Ended up selling that one. Did a 3 week trip out west a month ago. Everything was fine until we got into our one RV spot. The refrigerator door fell off. We still don't get it. Will be taking that thing in to get it fixed. So I totally get your problems. Totally frustrating. Glad to hear things went better after. This was a travel trailer. Never had a door fall off. So we are going to have someone do a refrigerator maintenance thing on it next April. Plus another tire check.

[DOUBLETROUBLE]

Not to question your pre trip routine but did you inspect the tires very closely? How fast were you towing? Just curious. My blowout was almost expected. I noticed a sketchy spot last minute before we left. Made sure I had the floor jack and tools I needed to change it out. Didn't have time for a new tire before we left unfortunately. I will however be changing the tires out. I would like to change one more this year then the 2 on the other axle next year to try and space out the expense in the future if that makes any sense.

[spark of insanity]

Originally Posted by DOUBLETROUBLE

Not to question your pre trip routine but did you inspect the tires very closely? How fast were you towing? Just curious. My blowout was almost expected. I noticed a sketchy spot last minute before we left. Made sure I had the floor jack and tools I needed to change it out. Didn't have time for a new tire before we left unfortunately. I will however be changing the tires out. I would like to change one more this year then the 2 on the other axle next year to try and space out the expense in the future if that makes any sense.

I don't care what anyone says but we went thru Camping World and had the tires and brakes inspected and what ever else they do to tires and brakes. I knew this TT would be hitting the mountains. We had a clean trip. Now we need to figure out why the refrigerator door fell off. They inspected it in Denver and jerry rigged it so we could finish the trip and get home. I have a list for CW next April. BTW I drive a school bus and pre tripping is what I do and it is ingrained to inspect everything. Even if it is not your own vehicle.

[thenne1713]

re: WHeater: 1) Did you close WH bypass and open the inlet valve and turn LPG Tank Valve on fully?; 2) re: Battery, maybe gone, or may take slow charge over 48-72 hrs if water level OK and just experience a shorter life?