What are your "must haves" and "nice to haves" for new small trailer?

[Raine]

Tent or Popup Heater

Are you dry camping or will you have electric? The furnace is going to suck alot of battery power, drain you quickly at 20 degrees.

Could you use a Tent/Popup Heater? Maybe you have it already! That is what we used in those days, just a bit at night and a bit in the morning to keep us warm when moving around. We turned them off after it warmed up to avoid Carbon Monoxide issues, but you might be small enough for them to work!

But be careful, not as much airflow in this I would imagine!

2016 Jay Flight SLX 212QBW

 

[SylviaW]

LynnAllen02, uh-oh. I didn't know the furnace was a battery killer. This puts a small generator back into the picture. Also will study up on tent/popup heaters. I do have a CO sensor in the trailer.

 

[Raine]

Battery hog

Sylvia,

Look in your manual under the electric system, our's gives amperage hours for the furnace, mine said 12 amp hours for the furnace. Divide 75 by 12 = 6.25, the battery will be drained by 6.25 hours of use. In my manual it added a 3 amp hour item to make 15 amp hours and the battery was drained in 5 hours.

We never used the furnace in our Pop-up, it drained it pretty fast! We used a Mister Buddy heater, BUT there was plenty of ventilation...

In this venue, I think it's back to the tent heater we used in Tent camping, we had a small Coleman heater...

Both the Tent, the Popup and the TearDrop I currently have are very small spaces with lessening degrees of airflow. In the TearDrop we stayed with the Mr. Buddy in our side tent, again plenty of airflow, but even then we had sore throats in the am if we left it on all night. So warm up before bedtime and upon wakening was the key!

I am watching the electric supply closely as our use was very minimal before and I am worried how much the battery can take before it goes on me now with my newest upgrade!

Lynn

 

[Raine]

Generator hours?

Also double check the generator hours where you are going! In New York DEC campgrounds, you can run only 9-11 am and 4-7 pm.

Not exactly warm up before bed or when you wake....so using the furnace then might not hold until bedtime!

Lynn

 

[Kim Gass]

I have a small Coleman catalytic heater that runs on propane. It should emit no more CO than your stove.

We got it to use tenting to warm up the tent before bed in the evening and in the morning on arising to take the chill off.

I would not sleep with it on but a good down sleeping bag is well worth it in the cold when it gets near freezing. If that works camping in a tent, it should in a trailer too.

Yellowstone generators are 8 am to 8 pm. So if your bedtime is later or rising earlier you need a plan B.

 

[Raine]

Generator Hours

Those generator hours are generous! That's good, now if the dogs would let us sleep until 8 that would be great!

 

[Jim Law]

For our dog (a 20# Westie) we have the travel crate, which is wire, and the bed crate, which is soft (cloth and screen). We leave the bed crate in the trailer, but the travel crate comes out of the truck and goes outside when we're at camp. That's about the first thing we do after we get into the space, so the dog isn't in the car and isn't in the way while we set up.

 

[SylviaW]

Thanks, all, great ideas.

Have purchased 1,000-watt Honda inverter generator. Will it charge the battery? How long will it take? Can anyone recommend a link with general battery care info?

 

[Homersimpson-FRF]

Yellowstone opened to wheeled traffic on April 15, but some things will not be ready until May. Check ahead with the YNP web site for availability. It is true that only one campsite has full hookups, and generator use is limited to daylight hours.
We spent our Anniversary there on opening weekend; it was beautiful. But DW said no to camping in the cold, so our SLX 145RB stayed home.

 

[Kim Gass]

We're off to WalMart. Ugh.

To get:
an extra sink strainer. We somehow threw ours out
a little crescent wrench. Cable tv hookup has an annoyingly placed threaded attachment.

A can of compressed air. Our water heater would not ignite after a day of driving on gravel and dirt roads . We found an air compressor and blew out the grit. Just a little grit can foul it up the pilot light.

Stick on lights for places in your TT that are not well enough lit. For us its the several wardrobes and cabinet interiors.

 

[DesertRVers]

Desert RVers, what were your problems with hitching and unhitching, and what suggestions do you have for me? Thanks!

Sorry for the long delay SylviaW, I'm still figuring out this forum stuff. Didn't see your question until now.
For us it just seemed real difficult to un-hitch. Hitching not as bad, but at times a pain. We put some spray-on lithium grease on the ball and the hitch latch (not sure what to call it, the part that pops up to hook up and un-hook). We some times have to rock the TV or move it a bit forward or back to get unhitched. Other times, just jumping on the TV bumper will help. On our long trip last summer it seemed to get better with usage. We'll see how it is in a few days as we head out again for the Pacific Northwest.

 

[Denise55129]

A few thoughts

Get a winterizing by-pass valve. Have one installed or install yourself. I have no idea why they aren't always standard. On our first trailer (a 19.6 foot KZ), it was not standard, and my husband installed it.

Paper plates. Forget the environment a little while you're camping (ironic, I know). I stocked our trailer with plastic plates and glasses, etc. and we mostly use paper to not have to deal with water (especially without full hookups). I really like the Pop-A-Plate for storing bowls under the cabinet.

Invest right away in the air-tight connections for the sewer and get an extension to the one you get. In the midwest, I find that nobody cares really, but as I travel around the country, some places insist on a screwed connection. And sometimes the connections are ridiculously far away! Same goes for the water. We have 2 bins for water hoses. One for the regular one and one that can be added when the connection is far away.


Invest also in a 30 to 15 amp adaptor for the times you will only have 15 amp service (like at home in your driveway).

Get a bin you can easily store dirty laundry in in the shower and easily remove to shower. It's a PITA otherwise! We actually use our tv cabinet opening in our 2008 26bhs for a laundry bin because we don't have a tv (and don't want one), but in our little trailer the laundry only fit in the shower so we had to move it often.

Get a large rug/mat for outside the door. It's amazing how much dirt it keeps out.

Get a small broom to store somewhere (in the bathroom like ours?).

Get a pack of Wet Ones and store them where you have your hookup stuff. Great to use after emptying the sewer and not having a place to wash your hands.

Have fun and congrats on the new trailer!!!!!!!!

 

[Homersimpson-FRF]

Winterizing bypass

My 145rb came with the winterizing bypass standard, but then it gets cold here in winter. Not sure about where you are, but you probably have one, too.