First Time Toy Hauler (RV of any sort) Owner - Help!

[rockandride6]

Howdy all!

I've wanted a toy hauler since I started riding 20 years ago, and I finally made it happen! A few weeks ago I purchased a 2006 Weekend Warrior FS2300. (Yes, I knew about the Weekend Warrior problems ahead of time). The trailer was a great deal, has been stored under a carport it's whole life, and was owned by a couple who used it twice a year (New Years and 4th of July) for family reunions...needless to say it was cleaner than most of the bajillion I looked at. I've gone through the WW and cleaned/prepped/done maintenance to everything I could think of, but I still have a few questions that I am fully aware are stupid...never having been around RVs or Toy Haulers, I just legitimately have no idea:

1. Can you run the refrigerator when you are towing? Specifically, if I head out for a weekend should I pack my food and drink in a cooler and transfer it over when we get to our destination, or is it okay to put in the refrigerator before we head out?

2. If we have 2 people using the toilet and shower for 2 nights, should I empty the black and grey-water tanks immediately? Or if we plan to head out again within a few weeks, is it okay to leave it until we have a few more days of use?

3. Does the generator charge the batteries as well as powering the trailer? When do people usually run the generator?

4. In general, is there anything I should know about toy haulers/travel trailers?

5. Specific to the WW frame issue, what can I do to mitigate the problem? I checked the frame and while it has a VERY slight (few degree) upturn, the frame is, for all intents and purposes, straight. I haven't seen photos of the frame repair so I can't confirm, but I don't believe it's been done on this trailer.

[Dirtclods]

Just a suggestion to add when parked don't get it too leveled out leave the front a tad off the bubble or raised a bit for your crapper it well cut down on smells. Also note: there is a little void area from the toilet to the tank so if you happen to use adult wipes the can get trapped there. Just make sure your bowl is full of water when flushed or flush once for the paper products then another for your adult wipes. You my want to carry a long PVC pole or a grappler in case this happens .


Grappler https://www.grapplersinc.com/

[nayther]

dedmiston wrote:



If you're more out of level than that, do everything the same, except in addition to using the legos or Anderson levelers, use a shovel to dig holes in front of the uphill tires. As you pull forward, your uphill side will fall into the holes and the downhill side will rise up onto the blocks.

Make sure you fill your holes in when you leave camp.

One thing I might add is to avoid raising the passenger side too much so you don't need another step to get in/out the door. If its that far off turn 180 so the door is "down".

[dedmiston]

rockandride6 wrote:
9. Leveling best practices

Have you figured this out yet?

Sometime (not camping), level up the rig using a carpenters' level and then install something like this on the front nose of the trailer so you can see it from the cab of your truck. Then install a smaller bubble on the front frame so you can see it as raise/lower the tongue jack. Then you'll be ready for business.

To level once you get to camp (assuming you're boondocking on public lands), pull up and find the most level spot where you want to be, and then stop about a foot behind where you want to be. If you're just a few inches out of level, then put down some stacking leveler blocks (legos) or some Anderson Levelers if they're in your budget. Pull forward onto the blocks or levelers and watch the ball & bubble on the nose of your trailer. Stop about an inch or so past "perfect" level, because it will settle backwards when you put the truck in park and put on the brake. Once you're parked, look at your bubble again and verify that you're as level as you want to be (side-to-side).

Then chock your wheels real well with something like Bal X-Chocks and then unhitch. Once you're unhitched and you pull your truck forward, use your tongue jack to raise or lower the nose to level from front-to-back.

That's the easy way, "if" you only need to level a few inches from side-to-side (which kind of never happens).

If you're more out of level than that, do everything the same, except in addition to using the legos or Anderson levelers, use a shovel to dig holes in front of the uphill tires. As you pull forward, your uphill side will fall into the holes and the downhill side will rise up onto the blocks.

Make sure you fill your holes in when you leave camp.

[rockandride6]

Well, take my list with a grain of salt since I'm a newby myself, but here is what I did find out and found valuable and/or wish I had found out.
1. Generator operation, including switching between power sources
2. Heater operation
3. AC operation
4. Fridge operation (including various modes
5. Stove/Oven/Microwave operation
6. Water and water heater operation
7. Black and Grey water tank use/draining
8. I'm not familiar with the Inferno, but any "conversion" component operation, i.e. drop down bed, slide, etc.
9. Leveling best practices
10. Any other best practices he's found for the toy hauler

[DenverDan]

dedmiston wrote:
...Keep this up until you master the basics, and then you can tackle the nice-to-haves, like lighted camp markers, killer outdoor sound system & theater, solar powered ice maker, etc. The sky's the limit.

I like the solar powered ice maker idea! Does it require metric solar panels or can I use SAE sizes?

In all seriousness, thanks to the OP for these questions. I am picking my new to me Inferno 3410T this weekend and I, too will have a lot of questions.

The seller has committed to going through many of the specifics of the unit, but I know I don't even know everything I need to ask about. Does anyone have a list of the various items I should have the seller show me so I can shorten my learning curve a bit? I am a better learner when shown than having to read, and I want to have a checklist to go through when I pick up the unit.

[rockandride6]

Thanks for the input, all, makes total sense. I may just end up driving the 10 minutes to the nearest dump station and pay the $10. 🙂

[Y-Guy]

R&R do you happen to have a clean out for your house sewer? If you do and you can get the RV near that can be an effective way to dump at home.

Before discharging grey water you need to laws in your City or County, being your in California I'd be cautious about doing it. I agree with Dave too, you can end up with some pretty bad smells from it. We camped in dispersed camping area in the desert, the Ranger encouraged watering the bushes with the grey water but recommended using a old garden hose with a sprinkler that would act as a filter for any solids. I'm not sure I'd be inclined to do it at home though.

[LowRyter]

I'd much rather use the bathroom in my trailer than a public restroom.

[dedmiston]

Sounds like a successful shakedown trip. Most of us had a lot more grief than that on our first trip in the new rig. I popped a tire (my fault) and learned that new RVs don't come with lug wrenches. It was a long drive to find one. While I was gone, my sister in-law used the microwave to heat something up and didn't notice that the carousel was still taped down, which burned the motor out on our very first trip. We also had power issues and ended up just leaving and not even staying the night.

To answer your questions:

1a: If nobody used the toilet, then there shouldn't be anything in the black tank.

1b: Give it a shot and see what you think. The hygiene of the gray tank really depends on how lazy everyone was before you did dishes. If they scraped the plates real well, then the gray water shouldn't be too gross. Usually though, gray water has enough chunks of pasta salad, greens, marinara sauce, etc. to build up a funk. I don't know where you plan to dump it or how warm it will be, but you can end up with a nasty swarm of flies if you dump a puddle of food goo on the ground. I've pulled up to camp sites where the previous camper had dumped his gray tank and the site was so disgusting that we had to move along to another camp.

2: The batteries that came with your used rig are almost certainly shot, especially since the little old lady used it so seldom. You'll need a couple of new ones. Go cheap on your first set, because as a new owner you'll probably be pretty rough on them until you get your camping legs under you.

This is really good stuff. It sounds like you're off to a great start. Keep this up until you master the basics, and then you can tackle the nice-to-haves, like lighted camp markers, killer outdoor sound system & theater, solar powered ice maker, etc. The sky's the limit.

[rockandride6]

Once again, thank you all for your insights!

I got to spend 2 nights in the trailer with my wife, her best friend, and on one of the nights two of my friends (plus 3 dogs). A few observations:
1. Don't cook so much onion and garlic haha
2. Instruct your friends on what to do/not to do BEFORE they start drinking
3. Give yourself 20 minutes with the hot water on before you try to take a shower
4. Blocks/ramps for the wheels are a MUST

A few questions as well:
1. We ended up being near toilets (kudos to Hollister Hills SVRA to keeping them clean) so we didn't use the trailer toilet. Am I correct in my assessment that we would then only need to dump the grey water tank? And would I be correct in assuming that I can do so on my property as it would just be mostly soapy water? (I am on 3 acres in the country)
2. I got low battery warnings out of my smoke/gas detectors when some of the exterior lights were on and the generator was not (see #2 in observations). I also showed empty batteries when I checked the monitor. When I turned off the lights this stopped and the monitor showed "good" batteries. Would this be indicative of old/bad batteries?

[Dirtclods]

LowRyter wrote:
Mine has a spare tire but no jack. Of course the spare only held 10lb when I needed it.

Gotcha I always check my spares as well. If you have some wood you can stack it to roll one wheel up it. Or get a bottle jack a Harbor fright

https://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?AttribSel=Jack+Type%3D%27Bottle+Jacks%27&C...

[tinner12002]

The way my previous RV was setup, it had a cord hard wired as it looks like yours is and I used that to plug in for shore power, when I wanted to run the gen I had to plug my cord into the receptacle shown in your pic in order to get the RV powered off the gen and it also charged batteries too. As for the Frig, I always run with frig on even when in stations. Your tank capacity and your shower technique will determine how often you need to dump but I like others have mentioned always dump on the way home before I put RV up.

[Y-Guy]

Dave gave some great info. A couple more thoughts... you can usually find the operation manual for all appliances in your RV online. The manuals that most manufacturers hand out are just a bag of those. In your fridge you should find the model number with that you should be able to get the manual. The other thing to know about the fridge is even on propane it will draw 12volt power, I’ve read that the draw can be up to 20amp hours. So it’s something to be aware of but not a deal breaker, unless your batteries are bad.

I’m not sure on the switch, Dave could be spot on about it as he knows WW better. On my RV I have an Onan 5500 generator with a plug in receptacle like you have. Inside I have a switch that says Generator and Power Cord. On generator mode I put the plug in the receptacle and that will give me 50amp power, when I plug in at a campground and in Power Code position I have 30amp, which is really just fine for my needs. Based on the apparent size of the wires on switch (1) I would agree with Dave though, battery shut off makes sense. But you can experiment with it easily to verify that.

[dedmiston]

Hey R&R - I scaled down your photo so it won't blow up people's screens. Try to keep the width at 800 or less.

So questions...

Good questions. Keep them coming.

The Gas setting for the fridge runs it on Propane 100% of the time. "Auto" will detect whether you have a shore power connection (or generator) and run it off electric. You can listen when it's on Auto and you shut off the generator or unplug the shore power cable: a few seconds after the you cut the power, you'll hear "snick, snick, snick, whoom" as the pilot lights your fridge.

In the power box...

The guy was wrong about the plunger switch (1). That's your battery disconnect. Always use that switch when you aren't using your trailer. It will isolate your batteries and prevent phantom draws like the alarms/detectors from draining your power. Those phantom draws will kill your batteries in less than a week. Your tongue jack will still work, regardless of the position of the switch.

That 30A female receptacle (2) is the output of the generator. You can fire up your gen and run it till for hours, but your batteries won't charge and your 110 outlets won't work unless you plug the shore power cord into that outlet.

You can see your bus bar and row of fuses there too. It's pretty easy to add more accessories there, like power for a lighted beacon on a flag pole or strips of LEDs.

That big silver box is your converter/charger. I shouldn't call it "junk", but it's not good. One of your first upgrades should be investing in a smart charger/inverter. Whether you do it yourself or have someone else install it, you want the inverter closer to your batteries (in the front storage compartment). After you do that, you can remove that stock charger to make more room to coil your shore power cord.