Category Archives: Travel Trailer

Heat and the Art of Trailer Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values

Travel Trailer

… with an apology to  Robert M. Pirsig

Yesterday was the first day of summer. The first day of summer is a good point in time to perform the annual trailer maintenance, which most importantly includes cleaning, inspecting, and re-packing the wheel bearings along with the periodic maintenance of the waste & fresh water tanks, and fresh water, and battery maintenance.

The first day of summer is of no consequence, it just was a point in time where I was home, it needed to be done, and the summer camping season is upon us. I knew it was going to be a hot day, hotter than normal for this time of year. Poor planning on my part found the job extending into the afternoon – not completion before noon as planned. Which found me outside in the sun working in this… it seemed hot so I checked the weather on my iPad…

How hot is hot?
How hot is hot?

In case you have embraced the Centigrade scale for temperature measurement, I was working in an ambient temperature environment of 50.6 C or 123 F for us mere mortals. But hey, the humidity was only 5%. Dry heat as we desert dwellers like to brag.

Even the ravens dislike the heat -- several took a break from the heat to gather around this puddle at the end of our street
Even the ravens dislike the heat — several took a break from the heat to gather around this puddle at the end of our street

But let’s get back to the maintenance. No matter what the temperature, one must take their time and do maintenance properly.

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ProPride 6,000 Mile Update

Camper Upgrades, Travel Trailer, , , ,

The more I use this, the more I like it! Hitching up the trailer takes seconds, not minutes. But a while back I ran into a small problem.

Propride upper caps dented
ProPride hitch removed from the packing box

When I unpacked the hitch, the upper dust caps were dented. The dents didn’t affect the functionality of the hitch, and was really just a cosmetic issue. However, they caps really should have fitted a little more snug.

Eventually one fell off, lost in the wind while traveling.

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Dometic Sunchaser Awning & Other Stuff

Camper Upgrades, Travel Trailer, , , ,

Dometic Sunchaser Awning

For us, a trailer awning is a critical piece of camping equipment. The awning extends your living space, or as it should, it limits the need to spend time inside the camper. When we are at camped, we spend most of our campsite time outside talking, cooking, working on a suntan (me), or just napping. If it is raining, you can sit under the awning staying dry and enjoying the percipitation, although the camping goal should be to spend most of the time hiking, biking, boating, or even fishing.

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How Much Trailer Can You Tow (Part 3)?

Travel Trailer,

2013-12-16 Clip Art Weight LifterIn Part 1, I discussed some general thoughts on matching a tow vehicle and a trailer, to include tongue weight and gross weight specifications.

In Part 2, I took a deeper dive into tongue weights and presented the idea that a tow vehicle’s maximum tongue weight specification is usually the limiting factor in how large a trailer you can tow.

The conclusion in both is that perhaps we bought a trailer that is too heavy for our Ford Expedition; although I shared that I understood all the weight implications before we purchased.

So here is the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say.

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