First weekend in our KZ 16rbt.
Worked great. When I am back in civilization I'll post a pic.
**UPDATE**
(Can't the pic to post - I was linking to it on imgur.com. the link is http://imgur.com/MuLmCEb)
OK - we're back now. Only had one bar in the north country - not enough to post a pic and I wasn't even sure this post would go thru. Nice to see that there are people who have already responded!
We got this camper a couple of weeks ago. We did one night of driveway camping to test it out - invited the neighbors over for a cocktail party outside. But this weekend was our first overnight real camping experience.
It was me, my wife, our three dogs, (and our 19 year old daughter for one night).
The trailer worked great! Two nights. We tested every system - our site had water and electric, but no sewer. The toilet, shower, sink, fridge, microwave, stove, heater and A/C all worked well. It was 34 degrees at 5AM - so the heater was great to take off the chill while we were waking up and making coffee.
Best things:
* got a teakettle for the two burner stove to make coffee. Starbucks istant is great. We also brought a Bodum press pot, but instant is so much easier and also easier to clean up after. The starbuck's instant mocha latte is great - no additional cream and sugar are needed.
* the fridge worked, but it takes about 2 hours to start cooling off even when plugged in to shore power. We brought the food in a cooler bag and loaded the fridge when we got there. next time I might try getting the fridge cool on propane before packing and leaving, or plug into the house, but this was easy enough.
* the tanks are small, but apparently large enough for the weekend trip. No level indicators, so NO idea how much we filled them up. Having a toilet makes having a camper 100% better than tent camping if you have to get up in the middle of the night. My wife says this changed her life. Using the dump station was very easy. Have to remember to pack rubber gloves though (someone gave me a pair at the campsite - very nice people there). I put the caps on the hose after rinsing it and put it in a garbage bag, then back in the box before putting in the basement hatch. I need to get a better way to store this (PVC pipe over the bumper maybe).
* the awning was great and easy to use.
* the hybrid beds are great. We have a "queen" and a "full". The full size site is a bit tight for two grown ups, but great for two kids, or even three little kids (or our golden retriever). The queen side is great - and I am 6'2" tall and about 300 lbs. - but the mattress is a bit thin. We got a queen foam mattress topper and it travels rolled up in the shower until we make up the beds.
* the camper store gave us a large outdoor mat/rug - what a great thing to have! the bigger the better. We still tracked in a lot of dirt, so we ended up buying a broom and dustpan that live in the camper now, and we need to get a doormat for the outside and one for the inside of the door. A rug on the floor in the middle of the benches would be a good addition also. A 6' runner would be a great fit.
* for storage, we put up 3M command strip hooks all over to hang the broom, dog leashes, sweatshirts, etc. We packed in duffle bags which go on the setees at night and on the bunks in the daytime. I still need to build bins to fit the cupboards, as right now all the "stays in the camper" stuff is kind of stuffed in there higgledy piggledy. Installed a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit.
* we put in a 19" LED TV as the trailer came equipped with an antenna, but there was NO reception in the white mountains of NH...the nearest broadcast antenna was over 60 miles away, and we were on a heavily wooded site. The radio worked fine.
* Having water and electric is the bomb. Nice to be able to use the lights, and plug in iphone chargers, etc. Camping is not really roughing it anymore, but that is OK. We did get a pressure regulating valve which I had read about a lot, but not sure we needed it at this particular site. If you fill the white tank, the pressure with the onboard pump is better than the line pressure from the hook up...but even so the shower worked fine. The 6 gallon hot water tank is great for a short shower, and it's nice to have hot water to wash hands and dishes. Our trailer is so small that there is no sink in the bathroom, but that is OK. (Some friends of ours got a 36' fifth wheel trailer, and I think they actually have 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths...)
* I will add a toaster for our next trip. Being able to make a bagel without having to start a campfire might have been a good thing. We mostly cooked hot dogs over a campfire for this trip, so we did not really exercise the kitchen much. The teakettle got a lot of use, though, so I am glad we remembered to get one!
* Towing...the 6 cyl. Tacoma towed the trailer fine in "4" - stayed out of overdrive ("D") as that can be hard on the transmission I am told. I liked the sway bar and weight distributing hitch - trailer rode very smoothly both ways. Gas mileage was about 8 to 12 MPG on the way up the mountain, but much better on the way back down the mountain. We probably averaged about 11-12 mpg while towing. I will know for sure the next time I fill up. We kept it at 60mph on the highway, which is about 2500 RPMs on the tacoma in "4". I think the Tacoma is a great tow vehicle for these lightweight trailers. We did not get weighed while loaded up, but I am guessing about 2800 to 2900 lbs and about 300 lb tongue weight (if it were more than that, I don't think I could muscle the trailer around - but I can if just barely...)
* we did a better job on day 2 of setting the chocks on the wheels, which made a difference. Back the trailer up a bit onto the rear chocks, then set the fronts and let it settle between them. If they are loose they don't do much to keep the trailer from wiggling when you move around. You can do this by pushing against the front while the helper sets the chocks if the vehicle is unhooked. Also, after a while you should check the corner leveling jacks in case they have settled a bit. I had some scrap 2X4 for the pads, but am going to make a set of pressure treated 2X6 pieces about 18" long for the four corners and the tongue.
* the table. Our trailer came with a table that also fits between the setees to make up a third double bed if needed. We don't need the bed, and the table is too large for the space when being used as a table. It will now live in the garage to be stored for a future owner, and I will make a much smaller table to replace it.
OK - we love our little trailer. My wife is a teacher, and we have reserved 5 nights at Chocoura in Ossipee NH for the weekend after school lets out for the summer. We're hoping that we can convince our neighbors to come up and stay with us. Any questions? Anything I left out? I'd love to hear from you if so!
