RV Newb! Please help

[jesus_man]

With a 1yr old son, my wife was really pushing to store the tent for a while and get a camper. Reluctantly I caved. Ok, I'm pretty excited too, but wasn't ready to spend the money. We did, however. Bought a used 2005 Rockwood Premier 2518G.

I am new to campers of any sort. Stayed in a few, helped family and friends hook up, but I know nothing of preparation and maintenance.

The condition of the trailer is descent. Never as good as one hopes, but the issues we saw and the ones disclosed by the previous owner is something we can fix. However, the PO wasn't knowledgeable in the least about the trailer. And the owners manual I bought at the dealer is "generic" to put it politely.

The primary purpose of this trailer will be a comfy place to stay the night while camping in primitive spots. Not a big fan of campgrounds and one of the reasons I wanted to stay with a tent! We have plans to try it out this weekend. :Wow1:

That being said, the known issues are the PO left winterizing stuff in the sink and it sloshed out all the way home. That is cleaned up for the most part, but have yet to see what's going on in the sink. I can't expand the trailer completely in the garage, but we will likely get to that end tonight.

The battery is toast. Won't even take a charge. Batteries plus has a matching size marine for $69.99. Plan to look at Wal-Mart as well.

Manufacturer says the towing vehicle will charge the trailer battery if the vehicle has a charge line. What is that? I have a 2002 F-350 diesel with 7-pin round plug. Only tow flatbeds with it, so never was concerned with a charge line. How do I find out? And if I do, what happens if I leave the truck hooked to the trailer, will the trailer try to drain truck batteries while not running?

What do I need to do to get this thing ready for the weekend? (in order of importance as time is a premium right now)

Any other advice for a newbie would be greatly appreciated!

J.D.

 

[suntinez]

Camping World or any RV service place will be a good resource for your travel trailer.

The pop up portal is a good place for new pop up owners, also RV.net/travel trailer section.

If it were me, I would immediately replace the battery - you're right Walmart also carries marine batteries for this purpose in multiple sizes. AGM batteries are nice for many reasons, but considerably more spendy.

Once the battery is replaced, I would fill the freshwater tank with clean water, run the water pump with the grey/black tanks open and draining and flush all the winterizing stuff out of the system.

I'm not sure what the battery isolation features are on your particular trailer but unless the truck is presenting voltage on the 7-pin plug when turned off, it shouldn't drain your battery.

Good luck.

 

[bob91yj]

Not sure how Ford's are wired, but on GM's the 12v hot lead on the 7-pin is hot with ignition off, and a trailer can drain the truck batteries...especially if you leave the 'fridge on the 12v setting running for a few hours. Ask me how I know this.

 

[jesus_man]

Thanks for the replies. I don't have my settings correct so I get notified of replies. I have ran across the pop-up portal, but registered here because I think you guys will be able to help me better in the long run. IE, I like to primitive camp, and I am sure you guys know all about running lean and mean. Is that correct?

Anyway, put a new battery in from Wal-Mart. Figured I'd go cheap this time. I have a short in the 12V system as it blows fuses for the battery panel at the converter. When I stuck my head behind that panel, I found the same orange wire and by the time I fished it out of a rats nest of other wires, it wasn't connected to anything. So I am really hoping that it was simply not connected to anything before and grounding out against the casing of the converter or something. Hard part is, I have no idea where it's supposed to go. I am trying to get a wiring schematic from the manufacturer.

I found the adapter I need to 15a 110v in a drawer, so we tried that out last night and the items we tired functioned well. The lights, the fan, the plug-in lights etc. We did not try the furnace (shame on me!) and I didn't have the AC plugged in so I couldn't try that either. The water pump hums, but I don't have any water in the system. I will see if I can try sanitizing/flushing that today!

bob91yj - I will test my plug today based on this picture from etrailer.

Ideally the hot would turn off when the truck is off, but you say it may not...

J.D.

 

[jesus_man]

Well, we tried it out. Here's my setup from the weekend:

7.5 miles above Cottonwood lake. Nice setup, but was getting worried at 10pm when we couldn't find a camping spot. Turned out great, would have been perfect had we been allowed to have a campfire. The trailer pulled just fine even when the road got rough. We have a plasticware drawer that keeps popping out while traveling. Might install a child safety latch on it to see if that helps. Any other ideas?

It worked great. Got all the electrical sorted out and it really made our stay comfortable and enjoyable.

I do need to see if the AC works and I also need to fixed the cracked plastic lid on the storage box.

J.D.