The challenges of owning a trailer.

[ken56]

Wife and I were getting ready for the first outing of the season. Making the bed I noticed that the box frame had pulled off of the wall it is attached to. Our bed is in a slide with a storage compartment beneath the head of the bed with access from the outside. SO....turns out I had to take the whole box frame out and reinforce it all with more screws and raise up the rollers to level it out with the wall. Vacuumed all the construction debris that was left under the frame, bits of wire, staples, stuff I don't even know what it was used for, just an unacceptable general mess. An hour and a half later I get the bed box back in place and securely attached. The slide even works better now.

THEN...in the whole process walking back and forth in front of the trailer I keep getting the whiff of propane. Of course I had checked all the propane appliances to confirm they worked with no issues, great, everything checks out...but that whiff of propane is persistent. Get out the soapy water and check connections and sure enough, the changeover valve is leaking. 2 hours later after going to the local RV dealer for another changeover valve and then having to go to the local hardware store for machine screws to attach the mounting plate because the old screws were not the same thread I finally get all the hoses reattached and back connected to the tanks. Success. Back in business.

We are now at our destination and relaxing....and it's raining buckets. Forecast is for rain on and off the next few days. Oh well, such is camping. When mother nature gives you lemons make (Lynchburg) lemonade.

[BurbMan]

jdb7566 wrote:
The only thing that works on an RV is the owner.

We need bumper stickers and T-shirts!!! That is great!!

[BurbMan]

jdb7566 wrote:
The only thing that works on an RV is the owner.

We need bumper stickers and T-shirts!!! That is great!!

[jdb7566]

The only thing that works on an RV is the owner.

[ReneeG]

You're right about it being like a second home. Plus, if you're not handy or willing to get in there and fix things yourself, you'll be paying a lot and waiting! Hubby fixes most things on our FW. We've had it since 2010 and it's in great shape, but there is still maintenance stuff. On our last trip, on top of having a pack rat get in the basement and come home with us, hubby had to redo wiring that it chewed on, redo the plumbing shower drain because it cracked at the base of the drain and we had to remove the underbelly to check for that packrat's "stuff". Between the two of us, we fixed it all including the underbelly - on our backs with black goo on us (the adhesive that seals it after you've screwed it up.) But, we still love RV'ing.

[valhalla360]

monkey44 wrote:
It often like taking care of a second home - but it's portable.

It's like taking care of a second home....that goes thru hurricanes and earthquakes every time you use it.

[Lantley]

I feel for you Burbman. I almost did the same thing but then I remembered at the last minute to turn on space heater.
Nothing froze, but I had to call off my first trip of the season due to snow.

[monkey44]

It often like taking care of a second home - but it's portable.

[BurbMan]

RVers that have the worst ownership experiences are the guys that take it back to the dealer to have a loose cabinet knob tightened. I have always said, if you're not handy, owning an RV will frustrate the heck out of you.

Don't feel bad though....I filled up the water system the week before last to get everything working and to address a few minor leaks. I didn't realize how cold it was going to be last Saturday, we had a single-digit arctic blast, I didn't leave the heat on and it froze the plumbing. I lost the kitchen faucet (that I just put all new O-rings in because it leaked), and the pump strainer let go and flooded the basement soaking the folding chairs....fortunately the mess was contained and a shopvac took care of the water.

It's always something!

[NamMedevac_70]

I enjoyed it including some full time in PNW but I don't miss it either. Never any serious issues with my R-Vision Trail Cruiser but all the little things grew tiresome after many years such as checking tire pressures, battery maintenance, positioning at difficult campsites and RV pads at parks, proper cleaning and maintenance, replacing burned out bulbs, hooking and unhooking, different height adjustments for two different trucks, lifting and handling heavy objects, brake adjustments, wheel bearing maintenance greasing, awning maintenance in very hot sun conditions, Always remembering I had a 28ft TT behind me on the highways and positioning in parking lots for shopping, food breaks, pit stops, repairing minor maintenance issues from heavy constant use.

Camping was loads of fun but after 15 years enough. Not a nomadic person not interested in always full timing. See you at the rodeo.

[LittleBill]

it rained so hard on my one trip for 3 days out of 4, that i got out of the rv at one point to make sure the jacks weren't going to wash out. It was a literal river under the rv.

Still had great memories of the trip.