KillerIsMe
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Re: Lessons learned with RV-ing to date (2017)
ctilsie242 wrote: Get a token hitch lock, so a would-be thief sees that the rig is secured. Then, secure the wheels with a wheel boot or a simple chain through the pair. After getting permission from the owner where I store my trailer, I sunk an anchor into the ground under my trailer, and have the trailer wheels chained to that. A thief might cause damage, but it would be less damage than if the thing was stolen and it was turned into a "kitchen." Again, I hear you brother. I bought an old anchor from a WWI dreadnaught, and my brother, who works for Chesapeake, came out with some of his co-workers and put up one of those gas well towers. They drilled down about a mile and sank the anchor and we chained the Jay Feather to it, but **** if somebody didn't turn my Feather into a kitchen after all. Can't trust these Pennsylvania yahoos.342Views0likes0CommentsRe: Lessons learned with RV-ing to date (2017)
ctilsie242 wrote: Don't even think of a half-ton. Buy a one ton. This mistake I regret constantly since I bought my truck a few years back. I hear you brother. I bought myself an old Penn Central locomotive back in Altoona, where I'm from. Fitted it with tires - LT, not them stinking passenger tires - and inflate them to the max. PAST the max actually. Have a Jay Feather and the old GP38 pulls her well - little sway when the big rigs pass, but nothing white knuckle. Never go back to a 1/2 ton.342Views0likes0CommentsRe: Why assume I like your music
Wow. Lots of salty folks on this thread. Loud kids, loud music, loud cars, loud generators...problem is those drug-addled boomers, no the problem is parents who don't spank their kids, no the problem is rap music, no the problem is people who don't clean up after their pets, and on and on. Guess the best thing to do is get to the campground, stake out my lawn, and keep everyone the hell off it.298Views0likes0CommentsRe: Every regret your small TT?
lantanatx wrote: I have a 23 ft with one slide and bunks for the kids. Double axles were a must. The single width bunks may be too narrow when the boys reach full size, but by then I doubt we will be going on long trips together often. Mine also has two doors which helps a lot with the traffic flow with two pre-teen boys. I wanted a less than 20 ft trailer originally but could not find a double axle that small in my market. We go out for about 4-5 weeks each summer and a while I very occasionally wish for a smaller one, just 1-2 rainy days trapped in a trailer with two 13-year-old boys makes me glad I went for the extra space. Rarely when spending several days in one place I want a little more room, but when I pull it I'm glad I did not over stretch my tow vehicle capacity. We have that same trailer on order. We have just one daughter - 11 now - and also will be pulling with an f150, although ours is a 5.0. Can you share your experience so far as far as towing, fit and finish, trailer size, and anything else that comes to mind? How is the Murphy bed, and did you add/replace the factory mattress? Just interested is all. The floor plan looks right for us and my wife loves it (happy wife...) so feedback would be helpful. Thanks lantanatx.404Views0likes0CommentsWhat if I can't buy locally?
The wife and I have narrowed it down to two trailers: a Rockwood Mini Lite 2504S, and the Jay Feather 23BHM. Both are small and lightweight and the floor plans are both good for us. We climbed around in the Rockwood yesterday and it's a nice little trailer we could easily live with. But the Jayco has a couple features we prefer, and the problem is there isn't one local to us, the closest being 3 hours away in New Jersey. I really want to stay with our local dealership but they don't have that model, don't have it on order, and they say ordering from Jayco through them we should expect to wait at least 20 weeks. So my question is, are we better off buying what is our second choice at a dealer closer to us, or do you all think it's perfectly acceptable to buy from the dealer far away and take it to our local guy for service, warranty work, etc.? I mean, I don't want these guys to spit on my shoes or anything because I didn't buy from them.4KViews0likes21CommentsSt. Patrick's day good time for a Murphy question
Looking at all these trailers like we have been doing (not the past few days though - 37 inches of snow kept us inside in the same sort of way it kept the Donners inside) was pretty exciting at first, but now it's getting closer to go time and we're narrowing things down. There's just four of us Killers counting the family dog - and who doesn't count the dog? - and we know we want a small trailer, but a small trailer with a few specifics. My daughter wants bunks, wife wants a slide, for me it's keeping the loaded weight under 6400 lbs. We all agree on two things however: nobody wants a dinette and everyone wants a sofa. So my wife has convinced me to take a look at Murphy bed models, and I have, and I have to say I'm not totally averse to one. I worked the Murphy on a Jay Feather 23BHM last week and it was pretty much effortless. I see I'll lose the pass-through storage but it really opens up the small trailer's floor and makes it look much roomier. Is that a trade-off that's livable (I'm a rookie)? Do any of you friends out there in rv.net-land have experiences good or bad? And not to hijack my own thread, but does anyone have any ideas about taking the dinette out of the slide and putting in a sofa, or recliners, or a table and chairs, or something? I could easily live with two sofas (just like home!) but I hate that Seinfeld dinette thing.1.7KViews0likes4CommentsRe: I may have made a BIG mistake today...
BPRescue wrote: Hah, reading through your post and you have answered all of your own questions as long as you got that payload from the door sticker. Clearly you did the research and you are well within your specs as long as the tongue weight does not slaughter 1050. Like you said, get a good WD hitch and you are all set; (though add that weight too). BTW, I saw a Ford commercial where they showed an option for automatically backing up a trailer? What is that all about? Made me think of my wife and the assistance it would provide in launching the boat, hah... There are times she does the impossible in getting that thing out of whack... It has helped once I had her to put it in neutral and let the trailer "pull" the truck, but sheesh it can get funny. Welp, I see that auto back-up thing. It's a dial that works with the rear camera in some way. I haven't used it but supposedly you turn the dial the way you want to make the trailer go and it just...does it? I'll post something when I actually use it374Views0likes0CommentsRe: Need help finding specific floor plain travel trailer
Do this my Friend: look at the yellow sticker inside your Escalade driver's side door jamb and it will say "don't go around loading any more weight than this in this here vehicle", or something to that effect. There might just be another sticker that tells you to reduce that weight even further. That's close enough to the payload of the Cadillac. Take a look at the dry hitch weight of the travel trailer of your dreams and add in a weight distribution hitch (maybe 70 - 100 lbs.) and a battery and propane tank (guess in the 100 lb. range) and add those two weights (170 - 200 lbs.) to the dry hitch weight. You know from that brief foray into math you'll have to deduct at least that much from your payload, added to the human weight in the car and anything else you decide to carry along with you. You're estimating here, but if you're around or over the payload limit you might just want to think about rethinking the trailer. Reason I'm such a know-it-all is because I just went through this same thing with a Nissan Frontier. I had a payload of only 1213 lbs., and when I conservatively estimated the weight I would carry in the truck at 600 lbs. I went to the calculator and realized a dry hitch weight of 413 lbs. would stretch me to the truck's absolute capacity (600 lbs. for us and our personal goods added to that pesky 170 - 200 lbs. propane/battery/WDH, and then that total subtracted from the 1213 lb. payload). And that's without anything in the trailer transferring more weight to the hitch. That may leave you with some tight parameters depending on what the yellow sticker says. My own personal experience was to look for trailers I could semi-confidently handle (Venture Sonic Lite) but they weren't all that appealing (a bit cramped) so I bit down hard on the bullet and went all in for an f150 - 2067 lb. payload, 9000 lb. towing capacity. I kicked and screamed, but what I ultimately gave in to was the fact that a small, light trailer would set us back almost as much cash as the next size up, and that next size up is the sweet spot for us. The trailer you're looking for is the trailer I'm looking for and I found my Holy Grail in the FunFinder/MPG/Radiance line. We want one of those 7500 lb. gross weight trailers - not too big, not too small - and the shopping possibilities opened up by the Ford changed my perspective on this whole trailer thing. We haven't bought yet but looking at trailers is kind of fun now that I'm not weight-shy. I can look that Minnie right in the eye, spit on the shoes of a 900 lb. hitch weight - I ain't scared anymore. It was really hard to go down to the Ford dealer and trade my perfect-for-me Frontier on a too-big-for-me f150, but I figured if I was going to plunk down $20-25,000 on a trailer I didn't want the tail wagging the dog. Anyways, that's my ten cents.431Views0likes0CommentsAre you gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?
I've been all up and down this highway for a few weeks now. I read everything you folks have written, I've condensed your advice, and it's about time for me to start up with these RV wranglers for real. So my question of the day is - what automatically comes along with the trailer and what should I expect to purchase separately? Do I get a black/gray hose and fresh water hose? Power cord? If so, what length? I know I'll have to buy a surge protector and a water pressure regulator, leveling blocks and wheel chocks, water filter, I'll have to cut up a 2 X 10 to go under the tongue and stabilizers - these things I expect. But when wheelin' and dealin' time comes I don't want the power cord being used as a bargaining chip if it isn't. Now I realize I can call up any dealer and ask the same question, and I will, but first I wanted to get your opinions because I think you folks might just be a little more "forthcoming". Thanks.5.6KViews0likes28Comments
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