Taking our new-to-us 5er out for the first time!

[draknor]

Super-excited! A few weeks ago we bought an '04 Hitchhiker, and we're finally getting it out to a local campground this week for a few days, before our first real "trip" for Memorial Weekend!!

I've done a bunch of reading & research, and just want to jot down our plans and see what others think about getting us and our new rig ready!

Last night we parked the RV out front of the house to do some prep work:
- Removed the giant tube TV 🙂
- Replaced the water heater anode rode
- Flushed the water heater tank with that wand thing
- Filled up the freshwater tank + water heater (which is off) & added a teaspoon of sodium dichlor to sanitize it.
- Ran all the faucets so the chlorine gets to all the pipes & fixtures
- Let the whole thing sit over night

Today, once we get it to the campground I'll dump the tank, refill & dump again to flush, then refill one final time for use (no water hookup at the camp site).

It's a bit cool this week in the midwest, so I'll get a chance to check out the furnace at night 🙂

Will experiment with packing supplies, figuring out all the different fixtures & switches -- we went through everything during the PDI but it's been a few weeks.

One thing I need to figure out - when I turn the water pump on, it runs continually (I left it running ~5 min last night). Talked to my dad - he said it should only run briefly & then turn off, so might have a pressure leak somewhere. Or some valve is open that shouldn't be. Didn't have time to investigate last night.

Not sure if I'll get to it this week, but I've got an EMS 30A hard-wired unit arriving tomorrow, so I want to get that installed and in the process, make our shore-power cord removable. I don't like how it's crammed into this little nook behind the circuit breakers - would rather coil it nicely & transport it in the basement.

Also need to replace a burned out drive light.

Another future project will be to reseal everything - I've got some Geocel ProFlex RV on order (local Camping World didn't have any).

And then will need to figure out what roof maintenance I need to do.

Lots to learn 🙂

[BubbaChris]

draknor wrote:

@BubbaChris - not that I plan to do this, but why shouldn't I hook up to city water after I'm done flushing? I certainly recognize I shouldn't *drink* any water until the flush is finished

*AFTER* you're done flushing you'd be golden on hooking up to city water. Before, if you hook up and pressurize it will bypass your onboard system.

On a related note, if you don't have a sewer hook-up at a campsite staying with your onboard system can help keep you from filling up your black and gray tanks and not knowing it (the pump noise reminds you of water running and you may run out of fresh before the tanks are full).

That said, I'll hook up to city water if I can just to avoid the pump noise. But we're extra careful with monitoring tank status (we only have 37 gallons of capacity in each tank)

[draknor]

Thanks @Allworth - yeah, I debated about it. I didn't know if adding some chlorine to the fresh water made it "not fresh" anymore, such that it had to be dumped appropriately. Good to know that it's okay to just dump on the ground!

Totally right about "getting to it" is going to be more work than "fixing it" - those little screws holding up the coroplast are pretty corroded. Got some PB Blaster and some replacement stainless screws & washers, so now I just need a couple of hours to get it done 🙂

[Allworth]

Sounds like a loose hose clamp. Getting to it will be more trouble than fixing it. Anytime you have to pull crop last it is a pain.

Note that you do not have to be at a dump station to drain fresh water. It is just fresh water, maybe with a little bleach added, but still drinking water. I flush and drain mine sitting in the driveway with a short garden hose to carry the water to a flowerbed. You can drain before leaving the campsite if you are on gravel and won't cause a mess.


"Coroplast". Spellcheck is not always your friend.

[draknor]

So, slight disaster yesterday...

Packed up the 5er & towed to the dump station. Dumped the fresh tank - started by just using the drain valve and letting it run down into the dump hole, but decided that was going to take too long & ended up opening the low point drains & eventually pulling the anode rod out of the water heater as well!

Filled it back up - no problem. Just as it fills back up to the top, I hear water falling under the trailer. Took a peak underneath & & sure enough, water's coming out of where I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be!



On the plus side - draining the tank the 2nd time went much more quickly 🙂

From what I can tell - seems like the drain hose just fell off the drain pipe fitting. Need to get more of the underbelly cover off to see exactly what I'm dealing with, but hopefully that's all - that's something I'm pretty sure I can deal with.

[draknor]

Well, we got pulled into the campsite and I'm setup for the night 🙂

DIdn't go quite according to plan - ended up working a bit later than I expected, so had to skip the tank flush & refill in order to get setup at the campground before running out of daylight. Which was probably good, because it took me an embarrassingly long time (& number of attempts) to get backed into what should be a really simple spot 😕 Definitely going to have to practice that a bit more! Thankfully, on a Tuesday night in spring in Wisconsin, not too many other campers around to gawk 🙂

Also - I need to remember to release the parking brake... I've gotten good at remembering to set the parking brake when I get out of the truck, but sometimes forget to release it when I get back in after checking my position. Oops!

Water pump was a non-issue -- turned it on again once we got set up, it ran for like 5 seconds then stopped. Kicks back on after the faucets are open, then shuts off quickly once the faucet is off. Probably was just air in the lines, or me being dumb & leaving the faucets open while checking things yesterday.

Furnace works great - which is good, since it's supposed to drop to 40 degF tonight!

Haven't tested the water heater yet - will wait until I've flushed the tank first.

Started up the fridge - if all goes well, I'll have some cold beers ready by the time my friends drop in tomorrow night!

Shore power cord was only ~25 ft - super-glad I was smart & bought a 25 ft extension cord, because I needed ~45 ft to reach the pedestal here!

Unfortunately, will have to uproot tomorrow to flush & refill - no water/sewer at the site. Guess I'll get more practice backing up again 😉

Definitely have some trailer sway. Rear stabilizers are pretty rusted and will need to be repaired / replaced. Might have to look into getting some of those X-chocks or similar, too. The project list is growing!

@BubbaChris - not that I plan to do this, but why shouldn't I hook up to city water after I'm done flushing? I certainly recognize I shouldn't *drink* any water until the flush is finishe

[BubbaChris]

I'm excited for you!

It sounds like you've probably done your homework and this will be repeated advise, but don't hook up to City Water until after you've finished your flushing of the fresh water system. (and you may need to bring extra fresh water hose to get from the bib at your site to your gravity fill location)

[Veebyes]

Have fun. You seem like a fairly handy kind of person so don't sweat the little stuff when it goes wrong. Most systems are quite simple.

[ScottG]

Could the pump have been filling the water heater? That takes quite a while.
The pump will also run continuously if it sucks up some type of debris.
You can take the head apart and rinse the rubber parts off under water. That has always fixed mine.

[azrving]

It may still have air in the lines. If after you have run enough water through it to get all the air out and you randomly hear the pump kick on for just a couple seconds, you may have a leak somewhere. If a fitting is just dripping a little it will bleed off the pressure and the pump will kick on and off. Don't ignore it.


Make a list as you camp of all the things that you want to change or add or things that need repair.

[draknor]

@korbe: No, water heater tank rinser "wand". Not black tank flusher 🙂

@donn0128: Already did the tires last week - got the BFGoodrich Commercial T/A 2 (LT). Previous tires were ~7 years old, and the spare looked original (!!). Had one loose wheel stud, which Discount Tire wouldn't touch, but found a local garage that replaced it.

[donn0128]

Depending on whether your HW heater is full or empty the water pump will run for a few minutes to fill the tank. Once the HW tank is full and air is purged out of the lines the pump should shut off. If not, start checking for leaks. Mo leaks? Then it is possible the check valve in the pump is bad.
How are the tires? More than 5 years old it is time to replace, 3 years if they are ST tires.

[korbe]

"- Flushed the water heater tank with that wand thing"
The same wand you would rinse the black tank with?