RV Camping; Tips, tricks & repairs

[sxtasy]

Good to know, I have a schwintek slide as well and haven't done anything with it yet, except for a slide topper. I should probably do these things too, any link to videos that you found most helpful?

[ExtraSlow]

EDIT: Here are two. I couldn't "peel back" the seal, so I did my best from jamming the little spray tube into the appropriate places, and it seemed to work. The guy mentioned a "CRC power lube with PTFE", but I couldn't find it, so I bought the closest thing I could at the triangle store which was some kind of teflon "dry lube" and I think it's fine. Although, nine leaves white flecks/streaks on the seals where it splashed. That's not ideal but I'm living with it.

[nzwasp]

So after six years of owning our boler my wife has decided we should upgrade to something between 18-22 feet, less than 3500lbs dry, must have a bathroom and bunks, slide out would be nice and a bed that’s not a convertible dinette unless people use them and think they are ok?

I don’t know if I should be avoiding those corrugated ones either? She wants something newer than 2012 and aiming around 15k or less. Unsure if there’s anything else I should be thinking about?

[Brent.ff]

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So after six years of owning our boler my wife has decided we should upgrade to something between 18-22 feet, less than 3500lbs dry, must have a bathroom and bunks, slide out would be nice and a bed that’s not a convertible dinette unless people use them and think they are ok?

I don’t know if I should be avoiding those corrugated ones either? She wants something newer than 2012 and aiming around 15k or less. Unsure if there’s anything else I should be thinking about?

... not helping you decide, but let me know if you're selling your boler for a non-inflated-boler price haha

[nzwasp]

Prob sell between 8 and 9k but it comes with some extras, 2 x 12v Deep Cycle AGM batteries (210 amp total), Solar Panels, Add a Room, new trailer frame, renovated inside. If you are looking for a original one this isnt it. I'll take some photos later.

[Tik-Tok]

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So after six years of owning our boler my wife has decided we should upgrade to something between 18-22 feet, less than 3500lbs dry, must have a bathroom and bunks, slide out would be nice and a bed that’s not a convertible dinette unless people use them and think they are ok?

I don’t know if I should be avoiding those corrugated ones either? She wants something newer than 2012 and aiming around 15k or less. Unsure if there’s anything else I should be thinking about?

That's a high list of demands. This one fits the bill though.



https://www.kijiji.ca/v-travel-trail...00/1447249659?

[nzwasp]

Actually we have found a few that work,

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-travel-trail...utm_source=sms

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-travel-trail...ationFlag=true

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-travel-trail...ationFlag=true

One of those doesn’t have a slide but that’s more of a nice to have.

There’s some rv show and sale this weekend that we are going to go look at too but I find the dealers really inflate the price of used trailers.

[dirtsniffer]

Is it just me or do all those trailers seem large for a single axle?

[sxtasy]

yeah, doesn't leave much for payload on the trailer. That KZ Escape 580lbs payload. Fill it up with water and there's not much left...

[nzwasp]

I think we wouldnt bother filling up until we get to the camp ground, atleast thats what our friends do. And also driving around a trailer with a load of water sloshing around doesnt seem ideal to me.

Although now that im looking at tandem axles and reading about them I would like a more stable ride. One problem I have with towing the boler (and this may have to do with it being so light) is that it bounces around on all the little bumps.

[mzdspd]

It is definitely possible to get tandem axles and under 3500 lbs. A friend just picked up a 2003 19' camper with tandem axles for 5000$ over the weekend. It was under 3k dry.

[sxtasy]

Some of the bunkhouse Winnebago Micro Minnie's are tandem axle, right around 3500 lbs dry weight and 7k GVW, so never have to worry about the payload on it. I like tandem axles so if you ever have a tire blowout you're not totally screwed.

[ThePenIsMightier]

What's the best way to keep mice out?
My friend has a tandem axle (still small enough that a half ton can pull it) and it's got the glorified, corrugated cardboard all along the bottom of it. He's had multiple mice issues. He's tired to fill the gaps with foam & caulk but if there's a better trick, I'd love to hear it.

[dirtsniffer]

Park on gravel?

[ExtraSlow]

Yeah, if you park in a farmers field where there are a lot of mice, you will ALWAYS have mouse issues. Park on gravel away from mouse habitat. Things like dryer sheets might help a little, but they aren't magic and mice are amazing.

[Tik-Tok]

Traps, traps, and more traps. Plus bounce sheets everywhere, like I use an entire costco box of them. Trailer smells nice and fresh in the spring, lol. Also don't leave one bit of food. My wife forgot a bag of pistachios once. There were mice everywhere within a week.

[blubs]

Offtopic, but for those of you with NOCO Chargers, I reccomend that you always use the Cold/AGM Mode when charging. It just cranks the voltage up to 14.8, which is where most of these batteries should be charging at anyways. I contacted interstate and got a charging list from them a while ago, (this is who makes Costco 6V's) that proves this. Just helps keep their lifespan.

[nzwasp]

My batteries might be indeed hooped - hopefully I can find the canadian tire receipt. I charged them up with the nautilus charger and the first one would only go to 90% and then stopped wanting to charge at 15amps, even setting is on 2 amps charges at only 0.7 amps, voltage reads 12.71 after I took the charger off. Trying the 2nd battery now, more than likely winter killed them not the older charger. Although unsure these are the right batteries to really use for an RV either. These are the ones I have https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/m...3190p.html#srp I thought that I bought this last year but it was 2 years ago so I might be replacing them anyway. Thinking I'll go for the less expensive ones though. $300 a battery is a bit much.

Edit: Maybe I just didnt wait long enough because I put the 2nd battery on overnight and it must just trickle charge the last 90% because that battery was full at 6am, so I put the other one at 90% on for a couple of hours and its full now too - both are reading 12.65V, so now I will rest them for a couple of days and measure again.

Anyway aside from that what is the highest weight I could tow without a brake controller in alberta?, my wife wants to rent a bigger trailer for a weekend and see how we go however I do not have a brake controller because my current trailer has no brakes.

[SOAB]

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My batteries might be indeed hooped - hopefully I can find the canadian tire receipt. I charged them up with the nautilus charger and the first one would only go to 90% and then stopped wanting to charge at 15amps, even setting is on 2 amps charges at only 0.7 amps, voltage reads 12.71 after I took the charger off. Trying the 2nd battery now, more than likely winter killed them not the older charger. Although unsure these are the right batteries to really use for an RV either. These are the ones I have https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/m...3190p.html#srp I thought that I bought this last year but it was 2 years ago so I might be replacing them anyway. Thinking I'll go for the less expensive ones though. $300 a battery is a bit much.

Anyway aside from that what is the highest weight I could tow without a brake controller in alberta?, my wife wants to rent a bigger trailer for a weekend and see how we go however I do not have a brake controller because my current trailer has no brakes.

pretty sure the limit to tow without a brake controller is 2000lbs or 2500lbs. something like that.

[FraserB]

Brakes are needed if the laden weight is more than 910kg or the trailer weights 50% or more of the tow vehicle