The Age Old Question, How Many Pounds Of Air Shall I Put In My Tires?
July 21, 2008 by Brad Sears · 13 Comments
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our E-mail Digest. We will then send you the stories that are posted each day in an e-mail digest. We use a service called Feedburner for delivery of these emails. You will receive an e-mail from Feedburner after you subscribe and you must click on that email to activate your subscription. Thanks for visiting and enjoy all the information!
RV.Net Blog Admin
Well sir, I have never been accused of being terribly smart and politicaly astue, so here I go jumping from the frying pan into the fire on a subject that some have said in the forums is a dead horse and beaten to death. But there is more to the tire pressure story than just when will it fail or blow up. Or how much pressure to ad and when.
We all know that a tire that is under inflated will use more power to make it roll than a properly inflated tire. That is because of these factors:
Sway Control
June 8, 2008 by David Kurtz · 5 Comments
When I bought my first new Travel trailer, I asked the dealer to give me everything I needed. As part of my tow package, they included a Friction Sway bar. I was very careful about hooking the trailer to the tow vehicle as I was instructed but I experienced really bad sway. I eventually tightened the sway bar down as tight as it would go which helped, but I still experienced sway. This was a problem because I was very stressed driving and really didn’t enjoy the drive.
I did everything I could to rectify this problem by moving things around inside the trailer to make sure it was well balanced, but I still had sway. I started researching all the methods of sway control. I decided that I wanted to drop the friction bar and do something else. I was a bit overwhelmed about all the options. There are quite a few schools of thought and different approaches to the same solutions. Read more
Have Motorcycle, Will Camp
June 1, 2008 by David Kurtz · 2 Comments
I personally do not own a motorcycle, but I have friends that do. One of my best friends is taking a trip in a few weeks that I will be envious of. He and another friend will be riding to Alaska and back. Their trip will rack up more than 8,000 miles over a four week period.
When he first started talking about taking this trip, I suggested that he take my small dome tent just in case. I think he was interested but ultimately, he really wants a camping trailer for motorcycles. He asked me to help do some research and so I Googled and sent him some links to companies that offer these specialized units.
It really is amazing what the biker community has been able to do with regards to camping. of course, all one has to do is visit the Black Hills of South Dakota and it won’t be long to bump into someone that has one of these units. There were two in the campground we were staying at last year just outside Keystone.
Most of the units for motorcycles are pop-ups which makes sense, because they really need to be lightweight. My friend found a unique one on Ebay where someone built a small Teardrop trailer to pull behind a motorcycle. That was really cool and I wouldn’t blame him for pursuing that one because he will be traveling in ‘Bear’ country and soft sided campers and tents might be vulnerable to a curious bear. Of course, having a hard sided trailer doesn’t guarantee that a bear will not target that unit either, but it is a small measure of security.
Some of the companies that make these units are Roadman Campers, B&G Enterprises, Scooter Schooner, and there are many others. I am impressed with what these companies have done by basically fitting a really nice tent onto a trailer that a motorcycle can pull and also offer some storage.
When I was looking at these small trailers, it occurred to me that this is also a great alternative to entry level camping or for a unit that can be pulled behind any car. Even my wifes hybrid which has a towing capacity of 1,000 pounds could easily pull one and honestly, it makes me think that it might not be bad to own one in addition to my 33′ travel trailer for those quick weekend trips where we just want to get away.
I do think that an innovative person could easily build something as well…as long as they keep it under 300 pounds. When we first got our tent years ago and we wanted to camp out in it; instead of pitching the tent in the back yard, we pitched it on the deck just outside our bedroom. This was because my son was very young and a bit scared but staying close to the house was one way for us to do this with him. Well, if I take the concept of camping on a deck and taking a tent and building a portable platform to pitch the tent on….you have a motorcycle or small car camping trailer with the advantages of being off the ground and being able to move easily.
So…how about it my Biker friends…..are you riding and camping? Share with us your experiences with this style of camping.
Happy Camping and see you next Sunday!
Vinyl Sided Tent Trailer Maintenance
April 22, 2008 by Mike Steffen · Leave a Comment
Howdy !!
Tent trailers are not that much different from their hard sided brethren. They both have refrigerators, liquid propane (LP) gas ranges, water heaters, forced air furnace, power converter; and in some cases, even an air conditioner ! The largest difference is that tent trailers are built with an eye for light weight construction and materials including the appliances, accessories and running gear. One result of this effort to achieve such a light weight trailer is the increased amount of preventive maintenance for the basic trailer and the care and repair of the vinyl walls and bed roofs
Let’s review the basic checks common to any RV. The LP gas system must be tested once a year for leaks, rubber hose abrasion and that the system has the correct gas pressure of about eleven inches water column. The electrical system includes the 12Volt Direct Current (VDC) and 110Volt Alternating Current (VAC). The 12VDC side of things operate the 12VDC lights, the control electronics in the appliances and, in combination with the towing vehicle, the tail, brake and clearance lights.
Self Contained RV Lifestyle - Water
March 17, 2008 by Mike Steffen · 6 Comments
Wanta Drink ?
Howdy
Water. . It’s one of the most important parts of the self-contained RV lifestyle and something a buddy of mine has a problem with. His “fresh” water tank was pouring out green stuff and stank like - well, it was bad !!
For the most part, there are few problems and so we tend to ignore the workings of the RV water system until something goes wrong.
There are two basic types of fresh water supply systems for RV’s. The older method is the pressure system where an air pump is used to pressurize a metal tank containing water while on the road and the city water connection provides the pressure to the tank when parked with hook-ups. Because of inherent problems with this system it’s not used any longer by manufacturers, although you will still see it on older RV’s.
Boondocking - Part 2
February 18, 2008 by Mike Steffen · 7 Comments
Howdy !
We left off from part one of some boondocking thoughts by suggesting that to get the maximum out of our RV’s self contained operating abilities we might need to do some modifications not only to our lifestyle but also to our rigs.
How well our RV’s work without hook-ups is more up to us and how we utilize the built-in systems of the vehicle, plus how well we can conserve it’s resources within the basic capability or the RV. There is not much we can do to expand our storage tanks. We could carry large water bottles to supplement our fresh water tank, but that same water has to go out the gray tank. Blue boy portable waste water tanks will empty the gray and black tank but then we have the hassle of dumping the tanks into them, carrying the critters to a dump site and then dumping them. The best way to control the fresh and old water is conservation. For example, the water you would normally run in the shower waiting for it to get hot. Collect that water and use it to cook with. After cooking you might want to toss the dirty water down the toilet instead of the gray tank sink. Why? The gray tank will normally fill faster than the black tank so if you put some of the waste cooking water in the black you extend the use of your gray tank. Some of the cooking and dish washing water can also be used to flush the toilet instead of water from the fresh tank so you save two ways. You can even make it a game on the best ways to extend your water and tanks.
How about propane usage? When camping off the plug most of use propane to power the furnace, the refrigerator and the water heater. Let’s look at these systems one by one. The furnace uses a 12VDC motor to run the fan and LP as a heat source. Atwood and Suburban supply most of the forced air furnaces for the RV market. Any forced air unit will consume quite a bit of LP and 12VDC. An effective alternative is the Olympian catalytic LP heater from Camco which uses a special pad to radiate heat so the propane usage is very low and there is no 12VDC usage at all. About the only other way to save here is wear a sweater in the house and conserve your LP and battery’s or better yet hitch up and move someplace warmer!
Gray and Black water tank cleaning.
February 6, 2008 by William Gotthelf · 14 Comments
You mean I have to clean them? Well yes you actually do. Gray water tanks accumulate soap scum on the sides of the tanks because most of the time people leave the valve open when camping so the tank mearly has water pass through it. Old soap scum along with food particles eventually will combine to make some nasty odors. If you have been camping for any length of time you will hear many different ways to freshen the gray water tank and in turn improve the accuracy of your holding tank gauge.
Before your next camping trip go to a pool supply store and buy a 32 ounce bottle of de-foamer solution. This is used in spa’s to eliminate the foam caused by detergent residue in peoples swimming suits. Stop and pick up 2 lbs of baking soda. Now after your next camping trip and before you head home fill the gray water tank about a third of the way. Add 6 ounces of the de-foaming agent down the kitchen sink and let the faucet run for a few minutes. Okay now drive home. The sloshing of the tank will neutralize soap scum and wash the tank walls clean. Leave this solution in the tank until you head out for your next camping trip or next campground. Before you head out add the 2 lbs of baking soda through the kitchen sink running water again for a few minutes. When you get to the campground dump the tank and you have cleaned out the gray water tank. Black water tanks are cleaned a little differently but moving the camper sloshing the mix around helps it get cleaned out also. So you could do both on the same trip. First, one of the biggest mistakes campers make is keeping the black water valve open when camping.
Wantta Get Hitched ?
January 27, 2008 by Mike Steffen · 4 Comments
The forgotten link may be right behind you as you tow your trailer down the road. That tow hitch is every bit as important as the tow vehicle and the trailer, however it is often given the least amount the thought. No process seems more involved and protracted than the selection of a towing vehicle and the perfect trailer. We spend literately hundreds of hours researching, reading, looking, discussing and even worrying about the decision of which vehicle and trailer we want. However, we all too often go through this selection process and then when we pick-up the trailer we tell the RV dealer to “put a hitch on’er” for the tow vehicle without really considering what that means.Hitches come in three general types. The tow-bar hitch, the 5th wheel and the stock hitch. The sub-classes of each general type would take a rather large book to describe fully, but there are several basic things that fall into the “Must Know” category.
Towbar hitches come in two major types. The simple ball or weight-carrying hitch where the entire hitch weight load is placed on the ball at the rear of the towing vehicle. These are generally used for lightweight towing vehicles pulling trailers of 3,000 to 3,500 pounds GTW. Larger towing vehicles can pull higher weights but care must be taken not to exceed the vehicle manufacturers recommendations. Weight-distributing hitches come with torsion or spring bars that distribute the load from the ball forward to the frame of the towing vehicle. These hitch systems are capable of pulling up to 15,000 pounds in a class-5 receiver hitch and 1,200 pounds of tongue weight. I’ll do more on conventional hitches in a latter article, but for now let’s concentrate on 5th wheel hitches.
