Star Dreamer

We were turned down over the phone at an RV park in Brownsburg TX. This has been the only one in over 10 years of using the HDT. We did have one park in Indiana that asked us to move the truck to their overflow area as there seasonal guests complained they didn't like the look of it! 

We have found many State Parks we can fit into and we are 73' long. We will be at one in a couple weeks in Florida. There may only be a few sites that can fit us, so early booking is best!

Our dead bolt on our doors appears to be pretty secure and we use the keypad locks. Since you door opens outward like most RVs, you should be able to fabricate a latch that can go thru the screen door hatch to get to the door handle and fasten to a latch  inside. The only issue I have with this is if there is a fire and you need to get out quickly, having another latch to unhook could add to the escape time. In our case we have 4 RV style doors on our 5th wheel so I would have to come up with a security system for each. Like others, there are other ways like personal protection or dogs that may be better if you are worried.  

Another solution might be to check with the other half and see how much wash is actually done with warm water. We actually always use cold water for all our clothes washing. Makes me wonder why I even hooked up warm water to the washing machine! 

We installed the See Level II tank monitors on our tanks, but somewhat lucky in that they were exposed from underneath but we did have to coat the sensors, once installed with undercoating per the instructions. We were able to use our existing wiring that went to our original monitor system. Our water pump switch was on our old system so when I used the See Level panel with a switch for the water pump, I had to use a relay as their switch could not handle the amps our pump needed. This is also covered in their instructions. 

Can you get to the side of the tanks thru any of your storage bays? If so you only need access to the side of the tanks to install the sensors. 

You could try the adhesive automotive sound deadening material or the adhesive duct insulation but most are not very thick and don't really give you an idea on their R value. A lot depends on what you are trying to accomplish. With spray insulation you have to watch that you don't get it on the part that overlaps the other side panels, or on the hinges and latches. With foam board, if you get the right adhesive, you would be able to layer it over the latch area to get good coverage there. 

We like our Maxair vent. So far only one issue and it corrected itself. Support said it had something to do with our voltage being too high but it is working correctly now and I didn't change anything. We haven't noticed any water leaking in but we don't leave it open alot. The variable speed is nice and helps keep it quieter on the lower speeds compared to a single speed exhaust fan.

I believe the Trailer Saver hitches are similar to our first hitch, where they do not have a leveling valve but you add air as needed to put the hitch at a predetermined level location once the trailer is hitched up. When trailer is unhooked, the hitch has a stop at the top of it's travel. 

What I did was put a mark on our hitch where that upper limit was at and then I raised the trailer up to that point gradually letting the truck suspension catch up. At that point, I would unhook and pull forward knowing the hitch could not spring up since it was already at it's stop. I was careful to not raise it higher so that the truck was not hanging on the hitch, this is where the small gap comes into play that others had mentioned. 

We have now changed to an ET hitch which has a different unhitching procedure. 

Also check with the RV Surplus stores in White Pigeon MI near Elkhart Indiana 

When we winter camped for a weekend, we just kept a jug of RV antifreeze next to the toilet to use that to flush with when necessary. We didn't take showers because it was only a weekend, but I would just bring wipes now and use those if we had to. Do watch that your drain valves don't freeze up. You may need to use a hair dryer to defrost them. 

You may want to pick up some Bonine motion sickness pills. We have some from when we went on cruises but so far have never needed them in the RV.

Our camping costs have varied from a low of $9 per night to a high of around $90 per night depending on where we are at.  Our average is around the $45-50 dollar range. State parks and COE parks are typically around the cheapest. We are at a County Fairgrounds campground and is $35 / night for full hook ups. We cancelled a KOA stay up the road that was $70/night but that was because the fairgrounds park we are at is first come first serve and when I was making our reservations months ago, I wasn't sure how busy the area would be.

Brigham County Park, 3160 County Highway F, Blue Mounds, WI 53517

This is Dane County Park West of Madison WI that shows they are open all year round. Won't have water but some sites do have 50amp electric.

Our ramps do double (actually multiple) duty so we did the 16', 5000# per axle ramps from Discount Ramps. They are (4) 8' long sections and have a center support that is adjustable in height.  

We can load the smart car sideways and load a vehicle long ways if it is too long to go sideways. We have also loaded a large Zero turn mower and a Dingo (mini bobcat) on the truck bed. 

Takes a little longer to set up but I like the extra length for loading and the multiple uses. 

Very nice. That looks to be singled short which is what ours is. 

Enjoy and have fun!

I ordered 8 panels from Renogy and one came in damaged. They shipped me out a new one right away after I sent them pictures of the damaged panel still in the box. That one arrived ok.

I believe they are referring to the height of the frame rails, what size frame rails do you have, 10.5" or 11.75"?

It is all about weight and balance. Our pin is 62" behind the center of our single short rear axle. We have a pretty heavy pin weight around 6000# when the Toyhauler is fully  loaded with a heavy vehicle in the garage and 100 gallons of water in fresh water tanks. We carry a smart car sideways on our bed and we have a pretty heavy bed. We off load about 1500# from our front axle but still have a lot of weight on the front axle that we have not noticed any handling issues but we don't drive it in snow or on ice. 

With our weights noted above we do get slightly over our 20k rear axle capacity at 20500#. I did reduce that some buy changing out some our bed plates to aluminum from steel. 

So a lot depends on your pin weights, truck bed weights and weight of the car you want to carry. There is some spread sheets floating around that you can use to do some planning but it also needs some accurate weights and dimensions of what you are starting out with. 

One drawback we have found is with our long overhang, the rear bumper on the truck will sometimes drag so I am always cautious not to get the truck hung up on the rear bumper where the rear tires have no traction.

On 9/29/2022 at 6:31 AM, JimK said:

The $15 refill is not something that is recent.  It has been going on for as long as I can remember.  Somehow no one seems to mind.  If you went to the gas station to get 20 gallons and only got 15, there would be some complaining.

 Propane tanks are never filled to capacity, they are only filled to 80% of their capacity to allow for expansion when the temperature is warmer. The best time to fill your propane tanks is typically when it is cold out if they are not actually measuring the amount of gallons put in. 

2 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

My question was about states or other jurisdictions having adopted the RVIA standards? 

Can't help you on if any states have (I actually doubt it except for maybe being able to sell a new unit in their state) because I see no way to enforce it. The RVIA label doesn't indicate what version of the standards the unit is in compliance to. How would an inspector know which version (or year) to follow as codes change regularly and how many states have inspectors to verify that the dealer is selling units that comply. Even RVIA doesn't have enough to inspect the units and just does random checks to see if members are complying. They are trying to cover too many different standards to be able to be knowledgeable in all of them. Most states or cities have a different inspector for each of the following electrical, plumbing and fire. 

Yes, there are manufacturers that are not part of RVIA.  

Start looking at bumper pull trailers with a GVWR around 10-11k# and see if you can live with the size and amenities. Don't look at empty weights or hitch weights on brochures as they are rarely accurate. Before you buy, insist on getting it weighed for both total weight and hitch weight and think about what your stuff will weigh to put in it including water and propane. Figure at least 10% of the GVWR weight will be where you want the hitch weight at for a bumper pull trailer and verify your truck can handle that. Be sure to look at your trucks GVWR, GCWR and GAWR weights and get some actual weights as loaded for camping to see how much extra you actually have for the trailer. You can't just go by the trailering weight as you have to look at the fine print that was with that number!

I don't think the rear stabilizer jacks will reach the ground! 

I wonder if those are China bombs and/or if they still have a 65mph max speed limit like ST tires

We have found that for cold weather (same for real hot weather) that it is best to be at a place that has electrical hookups and not trying to boondock it. While we have used our propane furnace when boondocking, it does suck both propane and 12v electric power for the fan which then takes a long time for our AGM batteries to recharge the next day and if conditions are not perfect for the solar panels, we are now having to run the generator (which sucks even more propane) to top of the batteries for the next night.  

If we have shore power hookup, we just run an electric radiator heater that will keep our trailer comfortable in cooler temps. We do have to run the furnace to heat the basement if we are in real cold weather along with running our 12v tank heaters and the hot water tank to keep stuff from freezing but we try to avoid those situations as much as possible but they do happen and being on shore power helps (unless you are in Texas and they get a freak winter storm that shuts down their electrical grid, that was not a happy time! We went thru a lot of propane that time and even it was getting hard to get due to the power outage.).

13 hours ago, oldjohnt said:

RIGHT (Volt Amps x Power Factor = Watts) so easy so simple 

So is simple layman's terms, where do we find the Power Factor so we can calculate the watts correctly?

When I installed my Tornado tank flush on my black tank, I put on one my grey tank too so I flush the grey tank whenever I am doing the black tank if I am at a full hook up site unless I am running short of time or I am doing it at a public dump station and have others behind me. It does not need to be done very often but it can't hurt it either. 

9 hours ago, XMAN said:

Star Dreamer, thanks but I see you drive one of those SUPER rigs, mine's just a 24ft travel trailer.

I found a couple of shops that do semis but 14in. wheels are just too small for them.

Still, I'm in Florida and if you have info on such I'd very much appreciate it.

I believe part of the problem is axle alignment, the 2 are not exactly parallel to each other and maybe not even perpendicular to the frame. 

Big or small doesn't hurt to try. In FL this is the list that they had:

Horton Truck Service in Jacksonville

Power Brake and Suspension in FT Lauderdale

Tampa Spring Co in Ocala and in Tampa

Josam in Orlando. 

I would probably lean towards the Tampa Spring Company places.