Alice

LOL When my son was young his teacher was so amused when he had to use "right" in a sentence. He wrote, "Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do." We've dropped Corelle on carpet fine, on linoleum fine, but tile...explosion city.

We actually decided to go with just some of our Corelle from home this past summer. Got some of that thick, grippy shelf liner and cut small pieces to go between plates and bowls. Also, got some fabric boxes from the dollar store and our more breakable items go in there. Altogether, they are working well.

Guess I missed that.

Only if the people hearing it have some actual knowledge of how small these RV's are with the slide in. Most folks hear, "functions just fine" and they don't understand what a big deal it is. If it wasn't new, that just shifts the liability. Someone still (knowingly in that case) sold them a piece of poo coach. That said, we bought our TT used and we spent probably 2-3 hours making the tech go through everything. We made him put the slide in and out, the awning in and out, light the oven, turn on the water, show us where the fuses were...I had a 4 page checklist. So far, all we've found wrong is we can't get the antenna to turn. The dealer found the radio didn't work and had a brand new one shipped to us, having shown us how to install it. We haven't bothered yet. Our 3-month dealer warranty ends October 27. When we come back from our next trip on October 7, we'll let them know if there's anything else they need to fix. So they bear some of the blame, but it still needs to be made right.

Thank you Zulu! I was going to post this one: https://www.caoc.org/?pg=facts That poor lady admitted her actions contributed, suffered 3rd degree burns requiring skin grafts to her inner thighs and genitals, asked only for medical bills to be paid, and sued when they only offered $800. McDonald's coffee was shown to be kept at temperatures much higher than industry standard. The millions were reduced to a more reasonable amount by the Court and it was never appealed - they settled to avoid the time and litigation expense. It was about as UN-frivolous as a lawsuit gets. Sorry, as a lawyer, this one always ticks me off. As for the RV case, well, if it was new, and given all these people went through - if it was me I'd likely sue too. It's not the suit, it's the jury verdict that's shockingly large. But, then again, what is a year of your life worth to you? You plan to tour the country and end up sitting in RV dealerships over and over and over? Maybe not the usual "pain and suffering" one thinks about, but there's value there. If this thing was as bad as described...

You've used the phrase "wetting the valve" a couple times. I'm not sure what you mean by that. Not to worry. We expected a learning curve. Right now we're more worried about learning to back the darned thing up! I hadn't thought of leaving the valve closed for any time at all. I may try that, for a VERY short time. LOL!!! Thank you all. I had no idea we should be leaving a bit of water in the black tank between uses and never have. We dump, rinse, close. I'll remember that.

I understand everyone. We have only a 45 gallon fresh tank and 30 gallon grey and black tanks. Obviously, we're not full-time. We're planning on maybe a week at a time - 9 days tops, and a lot of weekends. So, that's a huge difference from folks with 80-100 gallon tanks. Pretty sure we'll figure it out.

Well, there will be little chance of that, since we have yet to have a place with full hookups! We keep having to take electric only sites, which is apparently not unusual in state parks.

Okay. I give up. What of the dreaded "poop mountain" that supposedly happens if you don't start out with water in your black tank. I mean, I've literally now been told I need to start with anywhere from 5 gallons to ZERO water in the black tank.

I do have a thing about toothbrushing. What you describe is how we brush when tent camping. I hate it. I'm okay to turn water off when doing the actual brushing, but I HAVE to rinse that toothbrush pretty good, in running water. I'll work on it, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to waste a little there. All 3 of these are quoted to show the difference in opinions I keep getting! Now, the 1/3 to 1/2 full black tank before dumping I get. But the amount of water to use keeps varying. Sandsys says to start with 1 bowl full. Barbaraok says 3 gallons or so. Other places I've been told 5 gallons to start with. If we're dumping after a weekend...there's not going to be much time to dissolve anything, including paper. When we dumped this weekend, there was certainly undissolved paper we saw in the clear elbow. When we used the black tank flush (we have the kind built into the trailer, not the kind built into the hose) - there was a LOT more undissolved paper than in just the dump. Just as a point of interest - it's my understanding that you leave the black tank valve OPEN when you are running the black tank flush, yes? You run it for several minutes and it's supposed to kind of spray down the inside of the tank, like a sprinkler head, and knock down and out what's left over? Do I have that right? Now here's a better question. Say we buy the portable dump tank...we can't use the flush on the black tank on the trailer until the final dump at the end of the stay...is that a bad thing?

I don't really think so. It was very dry that Saturday and I walked around the trailer to make sure nothing was leaking from the gray/black tanks - LONG story that involves our utter lack of skill backing up. There was not and the ground was dry. I think we're just water hogs. This is a good idea. I do think I waste a lot of water both washing hands and brushing teeth. This would be standard for washing dishes when camping the way we normally do without a camper. So yes, in fact, we may skip right to the bleach rinse if it's not too sudsy. Dish washing is not where the water is going. I definitely see us buying paper products. Isn't that what a Navy shower is? That's what we did. Now, I like HOT showers so I did let the cold run to warm up and that may take more than I should let go. I'll get a bucket to catch it next time. Husband actually likes cold showers, sick little monkey, so he's not the cause of any waste there. I do think we're probably using too much flush water - but darn it you folks keep telling me the secret is lots of water. You can't have it both ways! :p LOL

You were 100% correct! Thanks for the info!

At this point we have two trips under our belts. I believe I posted about our maiden voyage on here. Both campgrounds have had electric. Neither had sewer hook ups. The last one didn't have water that we could remain hooked up to; we had to fill then use the water tank - a good thing since that's our next situation too. First time, we used the dump at out storage facility when we got home. The campground didn't have a central dump. Then we filled the black tank with water from our hose at home, went back and dumped again. We used chemicals bought at the dealer - supposedly environmentally safe. This past weekend, we totally forgot the treatment until we were about to go dump! So didn't bother. This park had a nice central dump site with water to use our black tank flush with. That is an awesome addition to a trailer! We were rather amazed at how much MORE came out of that black tank. I think I'm a bit of a paper hog. Got to work on that. We did buy septic safe Scott's, but not the special RV stuff. I draw the line at single ply. The biggest problem I see coming up is that in a Friday to Sunday trip, when we were out of the park most of Saturday, we managed to empty the 45 gallon fresh tank! We actually were trying to be conservative; navy showers, turn water off when brushing, doing dishes with a small amount of water...and still we ran out. We have a FIVE DAY trip coming with electric only hookups. I guess we'll be packing some type of water jugs and a portable dump tank.

I figured I could take the cardboard out and just squash the quilted side down to get out a dish. The pegs are neat, but I'd think they'd work better in a drawer. We're going to have to put our dishes in the cabinet above the sink/stove area. Being part-timers, we won't have a ton of stuff up there and I'm just afraid they'll slide/jump all over. Missouri roads are, shall we say, less than smooth. LOL But I suppose I could be over-thinking it. That cup-holder looks like it would be good for those bourbon glasses someone was so worried about though.

I know this is kind of an old thread, but has anyone thought of using these sort of storage containers (not necessarily these exact ones) to keep things in place in the cupboards? We were thinking of using Corelle in our travel trailer (and yes, it certainly breaks on tile, but I've had even the newer stuff survive carpet and linoleum - but it isn't invincible). I was actually thinking I could put Velcro on the bottom of the container and the cupboard so they wouldn't shift. China storage Thoughts?

Yeah....this guy is an idiot. He's ignoring entirely the fact that the "paraphernalia" is not to be stored in vehicles IF SAID VEHICLE IS BEING USED A TEMPORARY LIVING QUARTERS. All this law does is keep people from camping - that is to say temporarily living - or storing camping equipment, on public property like parks and streets and publicly owned parking lots. Private lots and driveways, etc., are fine as are RV parks. Oh, and driving down the street to get to one. Perhaps he doesn't know what "habitation" means?

What business is it of theirs if YOU are paying for the inspection? I didn't have my used TT inspected, but I also bought from a reputable, family owned dealership, who gave us a 90 day warranty - and they already gave us a new radio, which was the only thing they said they found that didn't work. They also spent the better part of 2 hours giving us a thorough walk-through, testing every system in front of us. No way would I buy from a private seller who didn't agree to an inspection.

We'll check next trip. Thanks.

Eh, maybe, maybe not on the lights. All I know is until I had hubby turn them all the way on, we had no camera. He might have skipped over that setting. It's safer to run with headlights, even in daylight, so it's all good. As for the battery/jack - I'm glad to see I thought of everything LOL because we tried that! But, no, didn't work. Not even a little and yes, the truck was running. We killed that battery good and dead and nothing was going to work until it started charging apparently. The truck did nothing. All the way there we got an annoying little chime and a message that the "Trailer Battery Is Not Charging". It took hooking it up to shore power to get anything to work and thankfully, to charge the battery. Once it had a charge, on the way home, we didn't get that notification, so I guess the little charge from the truck was going into the battery then.

Tried. Have too be fully on, not just on auto. I assume you can't use the heated mattress with a topper. And this sucker has to have a topper.

Our trailer is in a storage facility, so we can't plug in to run the fridge. It definitely did help to cool it down though. I thought about trying to do it on propane but didn't like the idea of leaving it on. As I understand it, the battery still needs to work for propane to run the fridge, and we killed it, so it wouldn't have worked. I did hook the pressure regulator, then filter, then hose. I just assumed it was the hose but i bet it was the filter now that you mention it.

Thanks. Ours runs off the lights at the top of the trailer and those don't come on unless we turn the headlights on. I meant when parking it for weeks. All the little things like the microwave lights and other little energy sucks killed it. (I edited) The mattress is a heated mattress...and hard as a rock. It will have to be replaced or at least topped, with memory foam.

Turn off the battery when you park her for weeks, or it dies. How to bypass an electric tongue jack and hand crank it. Buy any necessities before the day you are supposed to leave. There’s always a Wal-Mart within a half hour’s drive. Other drivers suck. When buying used, flush all the water lines – thoroughly. Pre-cooling a fridge and freezer with jugs of frozen water really helps – and also gives you good drinking water when you buy a used trailer, do not flush all the water lines thoroughly, and your water smells like sulfur. Turn on the campground water for a few minutes before you attach your drinking water hose and filter. Run lots of water through that hose – even brand new – before you hook it to the trailer! (Thankfully, I did this as black nasty gunk came through.) Even ducted AC is loud. Camping is fun. Camping with air conditioning is more fun. No matter how many times you say you're not going to watch TV and post on Facebook when you're camping - you will watch TV and post on Facebook. A heated mattress may sound nice for fall and winter – but memory foam sounds way better! Even on the best, heavy stoneware pan, turn the biscuits half-way through cooking or eat black-bottomed biscuits. If you don't run the exhaust fan when cooking, you will set off the smoke alarm. Tank sensors are just totally guessing and they aren't very good at it. Get a good checklist for set-up and break-down that says things like... Raise the tongue jack before you start driving! Furrion backup/observation cameras only work if you turn your headlights on. 20. Sanidumps LIES! Verify before you leave. 21. Dumping your tank isn't nearly as bad as I expected. 22. Those sewer hoses do NOT fit in the bumper. - Alice

If there's one thing my husband is adamant about it's that the awning comes in at night or if we're not there using it. After all, what purpose is there to leaving it out when it takes minutes to run in? That's one I'm not worried about. He won't let that happen. That and locks. We're ordering combination locks for the storage doors. Working for Dept. of Corrections for 27 years has made him super security minded. He's been known to lock the car and take the keys with me sitting in it!

This is a really good idea. We usually keep notes on my phone. Going to have to find a good "set-up/tear down" checklist. Our trailer came with an outside propane grill and table that hangs on the side. Looks like the only piece of equipment the prior owner ever used besides the soap dish in the bathroom. But it's been all cleaned up and tested...so I think we'll use that and not have to worry about the charcoal. Our home grill is propane, so we're used to it. We have most of that already, including a 9x12 rug we actually bought for the floor of our medieval wall tent. Long story. But now it can be used for it's intended purpose. I have a small tool kit on the list already. We have so many tools laying around, I'm sure we can find spares. LOL Nice List! We have most of those, the dog-bone, 15 amp plug adapter, 25 foot extension, the slinky, the pressure reducer, water filter and there's also a filter in the RV. I only have 1 water hose, but the camp host said that will be enough on this site. We still need to get a regular hose for the black tank flush and I think we have a circuit tester, I'll have to ask the husband. With all the talk of blue dawn...is that in addition to the tank chemical for the black tank? Or do you just do that instead? I'm confused on that point. Gosh you guys are handy! I'm excited! Time to shop!