Maiden voyage trip

So we set out this past weekend for our first short, close to home, camping trip. All in all it was a success with the added learning experience. We have our first list of items we want to remedy and are on our way to remedying those. AS always im open to hearing any suggestions or criticism. I like input from others.

Some of the lessons learned were:

1. Forgot to explain to the missus that she needs NOT run the water the whole time while taking a shower. Got to learn how to use the complimentary "honey wagon" that the camp ground provided to empty the grey tank after the first night when the shower wouldnt drain.

2. AC started to freeze up on night 2. Quick google search advised how to defrost quickly and adjust fan speed to help prevent. Worked fine the rest of the time. Guess ill always run with fan on high instead of low if thats what i need to do.

3. Wife decided we needed to reposition the camper for a better outside layout and didnt wait for me to get there from work and forgot to take out the scissor jacks i was using for fine tuning the leveling. Now they are both bent but no harm to the camper.  More on that below.

4. Found out the awning wont extend. Wont even try or make any noise. It DID work when i inspected it prior to money changing hands at the sale but havent tried it since. Will have to investigate that to see if blown fuse, wiring issue, Ect.  I did replace the power converter that was bad and had the entire battery tray out so i could have missed something there but didnt have a multimeter with me to look further at the site.

5. Discovered we have a few door latches that arent up to snuff on the cabinets. Some are the black RV style plastic hook type and some are the generic roller pinch style. Have some of both ordered already. I much prefer the solid feel of the black ones over the pinch rollers and may convert them all over after fixing the worn out/damaged ones.


Upgrade while at the site:

1. Since this was the first time truly leveling the rig properly i had purchased the BeechLane RV leveling device that attaches to a wall and bluetooth to your phone. We leveled traditionally with leveling blocks and using a bubble level. I then added 2 scissor jacks that we had for leveling a small camper to just add a little in select spots to fine tune. Did the fine tuning with the slide out. This was suggested before calibrating the Beech Lane. To calibrate the unit you then run your slide back in, set your level reference, and then your slide back out. That way when you are parking and setting up the Beech lane reference you shoot for on the app is correcting for the wee little bit of sag you get the slide is out. This worked great after we got back home as i wanted to level it at home. Leveled with the app when i got home and before running the slide out checked with bubble and was very close to being perfect. Extended the slide and then bubble was right on. Yes it cost $100 but was well worth the time and effort it saves running back and forth to check a bubble. I picked that brand over the levelmate pro for 2 reasons. Levelmate you have to turn on with switch every time you want to use it and requires a screwdriver and 4 screw removal to change battery. Beechlane has tool less battery replacement and the app turns it on and off with negligible battery draw when its "asleep"

Side to side diagonal  is harder to level than front to rear or side to side. Get out and survey the site first for dips and bumps. Then I use my Levelmate Pro and watch the phone app graphic display  while slowly pulling forward or backing  up until all 4 corners are close, preferably none off by more than 1.75” . Then put down  blocks where needed to get all 4 corners within 1”  worst case with minimal  fussing around. Check it with a bullseye bubble level , and If you struggle to get that dead center use  the bathroom door to tell if the shower will drain towards the passenger side. I don’t fuss with re-leveling after extending the slide. On a PC it’s shallow.
I use the Camco FasTen 17”X8.5”X1”  Lego style blocks. North-south for the fronts and east-west for the rears is easier to center.

Good job LRUCH and Cal explaining much.

About the gray tank filling up, resulting in a backed-up shower pan.  This happens to us often with our 2007 2350 which has a smaller 23 gallon gray tank and a big 35 gallon black tank.  The solution is extremely simple for the person who is NOT in the shower.  With the waste system cap on and sealed tight as it should always be when boondocking, open the gray tank valve and let the gray soapy kitchen & shower water flood the drain pipe to that cap.  Then open the black tank valve and let the gray water flood into the black tank.  Gravity will level-out out the two tanks.  Once the sloshing sounds stops, close both valves.  The process drains roughly half of the gray water into the black tank which is good practice anyway because the soapy kitchen and bath water helps clean out the black tank when it comes time to dump.

The flooding of waste water from gray to black tank was explained to me by Phoenix, the day we picked up our rig at the factory.  The process works really well.

Now about the electric awning that we do NOT have.  I wonder if there has to be certain things set before the awning will function.  For example, the parking brake might have to be set, or possibly something else must first be switched on or off.  Like the electric step, maybe the awning has safety features to assure it rolls up before the vehicle starts to move..... and it won't open until things are safely set.

About leveling.  I mounted bubble levels (Hoppy Levels) on each exterior side and in back of our PC, and I also placed two inside, up front by the driver.    Parking pads often have peaks and valleys that I utilize, maneuvering the rig a little this way or that way while watching the levels, I often get the rig level or at least close enough.  Keep in-mind that we don't have a slide-out to consider.

Thanks for all the tips and info. I will check into that freeze sensor as i suspect that may be a problem. I had already ordered some of the black latches and swapped out the broken things with them. I learned that indeed it originally had those all over and a PO replaced with the little roller style in places. All are back to original except the kitchen drawers still have the roller style as i ran out of parts.

The awning issue was vibration related. Checked fuse and it was good. Pulled out switch and saw one of the wires had come off the spade lug. Fished out of the hole and reattached and awning works fine now. The female spade lug wasnt very tight so snugged it up a bit with pliers.

The grey tank to black tank balance method makes sense. Now if the wife remembers to not fill the tank in the first day will be a bigger hurdle to overcome.

The Beechlane leveler i really like so i can just move around with the phone and not keep having to go back and check the bubble levels. The added benefit of having it on while im still pulling into a site to find the best possible starting point is very helpful. Its near identical to the levelmate pro in features and price. I just went with the beechlane based on ease of battery changes and the on/off switch difference.

The grey tank to black tank balance method makes sense. Now if the wife remembers to not fill the tank in the first day will be a bigger hurdle to overcome.

Yes indeed.  It took some time for my wife to get with the program of being a miser with water, not for the sake of waste water storage, but for the available fresh water.  When flooding the black tank with gray water to free up space in the gray tank (A rare few times, I have done it twice before dumping), you will run out of fresh water before you run out of capacity in the waste tanks.

Some campground rules allow the dumping of gray water onto the soil at your campsite.  Just ask.  If you do it, be inconspicuous as not to draw attention from other campers who don't realize that it is fine.  I simply lay the end of the macerator hose into the woods and let it seep out naturally without making a sound and allowing the water to be absorbed into the ground, avoiding a stream of water flow that may find its way out from the woods.  The dumping of gray water at your site is handy if you are close enough to a fresh water spicket to refill your fresh water tank at your site.  Then you are only limited to the capacity and usage of the black tank which takes a whole lot of flushes before it fills up.

There are many such procedures from fresh and waste water, battery maintenance, etc. that will become natural over time.  I have learned to handle it all myself, one person handling these things.  I let my wife know what I am doing, but both of us handling such matters gets confusing, redundant, and mistakes can be made.

Battery maintenance is a focus for me without solar.  I stay on top of it diligently for if the batteries drain down to a point, everything stops working.  The fridge on propane, requires 12V to operate, be it very little.  The big power hogs are the propane furnace blower, and the main TV up front.  Unless just overnight, when we boondock, we watch movies off the little TV/DVD combo in the bedroom because it uses so much less inverted power.  I converted all my florescent light fixtures to LED which also made a big improvement in battery reserves, the improved quality of light being a byproduct.  When boondocking for many days at a time in one campsite, my routine is to run the generator for 1 to 1.5 hours every morning, utilizing a stronger charger than the on-board Tripp-Lite.  It also has a nice read-out, providing the charging status in a way that I easily comprehend.

You will learn the do's and don'ts, making errors along the way.  It is all part of the RV experience.  Just pay special attention to matters of safety, most especially maintaining proper tire pressure.  Always check in the morning before heading out, not soon after making a stop because the heat increases the pressure reading immensely, giving you false readings.  When checking, use a well trusted tire gauge.  CLICK HERE to read through my experience with tire gauges.