RV Camping; Tips, tricks & repairs

[Tik-Tok]

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Trailer tongue wait relates to payload though.

Only if you want to put stuff in your box. But no one does that.

[dirtsniffer]

my guess is >50% of people towing RV's with a half ton or less are over their gvwr.

[ExtraSlow]

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my guess is >50% of people towing RV's with a half ton or less are over their gvwr.

Completely agree.

[Brent.ff]

It’s a 19’ hybrid. 4300 GVWR, 251 tongue weight. I’ll be ok

[ExtraSlow]

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It’s a 19’ hybrid. 4300 GVWR, 251 tongue weight. I’ll be ok

I'm not chirping you with this if you were wondering. I'd guess Taco owners are more realistic about their towing weights than most half-ton truck owners. I have slowly started being a bit more zen about this kind of thing, although I still get riled up from time-to-time.

[Brent.ff]

It took me a while to even want this over my little 8 foot tent trailer due to the size. Folks old trailer is only reason we’re upgrading. Not sure why people would want to tow over GVWR considering the gas mileage implications anyway..

[dirtsniffer]

I'm not going to say you're overweight and maybe you've already been to the scale to verify.

Speaking from my own personal experience, my payload sticker was 1661 lbs but once I weighed my truck it was actually only 1289 lbs (running boards, tonneau, my fat ass)..

I also have a 19' hybrid with a gvwr of 4500 lbs. My actual tongue weight with batteries and propane was 500 lbs. Once my truck and trailer were loaded it was likely closer to 600.

[spike98]

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I'm not going to say you're overweight and maybe you've already been to the scale to verify.

Speaking from my own personal experience, my payload sticker was 1600 lbs but once I weighed my truck it was actually only 1289 lbs (running boards, tonneau, my fat ass)..

I also have a 19' hybrid with a gvwr of 4500 lbs. My actual tongue weight with batteries and propane was 500 lbs. Once my truck and trailer were loaded it was likely closer to 600.

I was going to say, its very unlikely that a trailers TW is only 6% of its GVWR. Bumper pulls when loaded are usually between 10-15%. You are likely more like 450lbs TW i bet. And if you aren't, you should be, because light tongues cause accidents.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Any tips on buying a cheapish (~$6000) popup trailer? We're doing a three-week camping trip through the States in May and while we are normally tent folks, it would be nice to have something with a heater and a fridge and a bit of extra storage space so the Jeep won't be crammed full the whole time. We considered renting one, but it would end up being ~$1500 and I figure I can buy one, use it, and sell it afterwards without losing that much.

Obviously the usual thing like checking the canvas, tires, water damage etc, just wondering if there were any other things I should look out for.

[ExtraSlow]

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Any tips on buying a cheapish (~$6000) popup trailer? We're doing a three-week camping trip through the States in May and while we are normally tent folks, it would be nice to have something with a heater and a fridge and a bit of extra storage space so the Jeep won't be crammed full the whole time. We considered renting one, but it would end up being ~$1500 and I figure I can buy one, use it, and sell it afterwards without losing that much.

Not a bad plan, there's lots of "fine" tent trailers under $5k. You should bank on inspecting/repacking the bearings and brakes, but otherwise, pretty trouble-free.
Are you camping places with electricity?

EDIT: Some of those tent trailers have a just a "cooler" type icebox, some have an electric-nly fridge, and a few have 3-way fridges. Think hard about your useage and what hookups you will have.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

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Not a bad plan, there's lots of "fine" tent trailers under $5k. You should bank on inspecting/repacking the bearings and brakes, but otherwise, pretty trouble-free.
Are you camping places with electricity?

Glad it's not a totally stupid idea. I'd be repacking the axle bearings for sure. We'll probably be doing both powered and unpowered sites during the trip.

[ExtraSlow]

So when unpowered, if you don't have a "3-way" fridge, your fridge will be just a cooler. It doesn't run on 12V, and even if it did, you r batteries wouldn't last a day.

You CAN live with an unpowered fridge. I run the outdoor fridge on my big trailer like that when I'm boondocking, as long as you cool it down all the way before you leave, and are careful with the ice.

[Brent.ff]

Honestly, the fridges are so small in popups, they're like 1.7 cu. feet.. we gave up on using ours and just got a huge long-lasting (cabelas) cooler. Easier then having them cool down and then driving again. Fridge is also pretty much inaccessible except when all the way up. I'd also not buy one that has been cooked or had water boiled inside. Canvas and moisture arent friends

(we'll have Jayco Qwest 8u 2003 for sale come spring.. prob half then what youre trying to spend)

[BerserkerCatSplat]

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So when unpowered, if you don't have a "3-way" fridge, your fridge will be just a cooler. It doesn't run on 12V, and even if it did, you r batteries wouldn't last a day.

You CAN live with an unpowered fridge. I run the outdoor fridge on my big trailer like that when I'm boondocking, as long as you cool it down all the way before you leave, and are careful with the ice.

Good tips, thanks! I'm looking for one that has a 3-way so I can run in 12V when driving and propane if camping off-power. Just have to make sure my 7-pin is sending aux power.

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Honestly, the fridges are so small in popups, they're like 1.7 cu. feet.. we gave up on using ours and just got a huge long-lasting (cabelas) cooler. Easier then having them cool down and then driving again. Fridge is also pretty much inaccessible except when all the way up. I'd also not buy one that has been cooked or had water boiled inside. Canvas and moisture arent friends

(we'll have Jayco Qwest 8u 2003 for sale come spring.. prob half then what youre trying to spend)

Yeah, I know the fridges are pretty tiny, we'd probably supplement with one of our camping coolers but I hate having to periodically restock with ice, haha. Probably do cooler for drinks and fridge for food. Appreciate the advice as well.

( Whenabouts were you looking to sell? Ever been cooked in or had water boiled inside? )

[Brent.ff]

Probably in Aprilish. Figure it'll just sit on kijiji if i post it now anyway..

We got rid of the stove first thing, seemed like a bit of a fire waiting to happen. Plus camping = cooking outside! I'm surprised that they even come with a hookup to connect a stove directly outside, considering my brother in law tried to melt a hole in the side of his when his stove got too hot.. We just cook on a coleman stove on a table nearby.

We took a cabelas cooler to the island last year and got ~12 days on one load of ice. But were diligent on having it as a meat/milk cooler while drinks kept seperate. Adding in luke warm beers to a cooler eats ice like nobody's business.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

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Probably in Aprilish. Figure it'll just sit on kijiji if i post it now anyway..

We got rid of the stove first thing, seemed like a bit of a fire waiting to happen. Plus camping = cooking outside! I'm surprised that they even come with a hookup to connect a stove directly outside, considering my brother in law tried to melt a hole in the side of his when his stove got too hot.. We just cook on a coleman stove on a table nearby.

We took a cabelas cooler to the island last year and got ~12 days on one load of ice. But were diligent on having it as a meat/milk cooler while drinks kept seperate. Adding in luke warm beers to a cooler eats ice like nobody's business.

Hah, we have a very similar camping philosophy - it would take one heck of a storm to consider doing much inside. Trailer is for sleeping and rainy board games.

We usually use frozen water bottles in the cooler, works for a long weekend but if we want it to last longer than that we need to really be careful about not opening the cooler a lot. Maybe our cooler isn't as well insulated as some.

Shoot me a PM when you put it up for sale, I may still be in the market.

[dirtsniffer]

How often do you plan on moving? If you're only spending a night or two in 1 spot it can be a little annoying to have to tear down the trailer and reset up. Probably only takes a half hour for either set up or tear down but mix in some travel days and it can be a bit of annoyance. Extra if you have any small kids.

A washroom or shower could be handy too depending on the facilities of where you're staying.

2007 Dutchman Zoom 18’, bumper pull, 6500 OBO,
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-travel-trail...nt=app_android

[BerserkerCatSplat]

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How often do you plan on moving? If you're only spending a night or two in 1 spot it can be a little annoying to have to tear down the trailer and reset up. Probably only takes a half hour for either set up or tear down but mix in some travel days and it can be a bit of annoyance. Extra if you have any small kids.

A washroom or shower could be handy too depending on the facilities of where you're staying.

2007 Dutchman Zoom 18’, bumper pull, 6500 OBO,
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-travel-trail...nt=app_android

We'll be in most places for 2-5 nights, I figure tent trailer setup won't be much worse than our regular tent setup with blowing up the air mattresses, etc. No kids, just the wife and I and maybe a cat, haha.

Agreed on the shower, we already have a self-contained propane shower setup we use when car-camping so not strictly necessary to have one in the trailer itself. Agreed a toilet would be nice to have, will have to give that some thought if it looks like we'll be somewhere sans-shitter.

I saw that Dutchman, considered it but I think it's bigger than what I want to tow with the ol' Jeep. Appreciate the suggestion though!

[D'z Nutz]

Damn, talk about bad timing. A couple months ago someone had a Boler on Kijiji for sale for $4k. It was fully functional, but I think it just needed new flooring and an interior paint job or something; it was a reno job he gave up on. You could have easily finished his work and flipped it for double or triple what you'd have put into it, given what they go for haha

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Man, I've been trying my best to avoid project trailers, haha! There's a T@G teardrop on kijiji that's got solid body damage I figured might be a fun project - but the guy is asking $4500 for a wrecked teardrop LOL. Maybe if it was $1000.