Archive - Aluminium Camper Forum

Charliem

Those are good questions that will need to be directed to Zamp.  

IMO the only reason that I can think of is that this is their way of boosting sales of their systems, and 

I Have to believe that Zamp went out and captured that particular segment of the portable solar panel / RV market before other panel manufacturers even thought about it.

Makes no sense to me either. 

We have a 100 watt Renogy portable suitcase system which cost considerably less than the Zamp portable system which makes a jump from 80 watts to 120 watts.  The Renogy does everything that the Zamp does at a lower cost.   

David, DJ -

Be very careful on the Zamp solar ports if you are using anything other than a Zamp solar panel system.  If you are using any other brand of solar panel than Zamp, the positive / negative wires will need to be reversed, i.e. The black negative wire will need to be connected to the positive pole of the battery and the red "hot" wire will need to be connected to the negative terminal on the battery, or you will need to purchase a connector that reverses polarity in the cabling.
That is the main reason that the Zamp sticker is applied to the trailer or battery box - if you try to hook up any other brand of solar system to the port you will smoke the plug and maybe damage the controller.

Check out the youtube video by RVFourSeasons.com on "What you need to know about Zamp solar plugs"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1V3OM-Z6Z8&sns=em

Steve

If you are speaking of the domed cap that sticks out of the wheel covering the hub, whe the wheel is removed the cap comes off with the wheel.  If you want to remove the cap from the wheel just push it from the outside of the wheel through the center and the cap will fall off.

We also stayed at Catalina State Park.  Had a great time watching the sun rise, riding bicycles, bird watching, hiking the area trails . . . And above all else - we enjoyed the visit to the In-N-Out Burger that is right across the street from the park.

Pictures will be moved to Trip Reports.  

Recalled

Recalled 

Dana and i have just returned from a 5 month, 11,000 plus mile trip from Georgia to the west coast and back.  We spent a couple of months in the northwest - Hood River Oregon, White Salmon Washington and the Olympic National Park.  We spent time visiting relatives in Oregon and California and then headed east once again.  Decided to stop at the Grand Canyon National Park, the Petrified Forest National Park and various COE campgrounds.  One issue that became apparent during our trip was the mounting bracket for the propane cylinder that was mounted on the tongue of the trailer.  We have an QS 8.1 off road version with the propane package.  We have yet to do any serious off reading with this trailer so abuse from off reading is not an issue.  My wife noticed a squeaking sound as we were getting ready to set up one evening and we narrowed it down to the propane cylinder.  I just figured that the mounting screws had become loose, but after removing the tank from the bracket, alas that was not the case.  The screws were tight, so tight that i had a hard time removing them so i could remove the bottom picee of the bracket from the trailer tongue.  As can be seen in the photos below you can see that the bracket broke at the attachment points where the screws attached the bracket to the tongue of the trailer.

I would STRONGLY SUGGEST that all owners of QS tent trailers that have a single propane tank mounted to the tongue of the trailer remove the tank and inspect the attachment points / screws on the mounting bracket.  I firmly believe that if this cylinder had decided to leave the trailer while in motion that both Dana and i would have gone out in a blaze of flaming glory.



[attachment id="1853" thumbnail="1"][attachment id="1854" thumbnail="1"]

[quote source="/post/24298/thread" author="@dannypeeps" timestamp="1472570347"]I wanted to grab a QS 8.0. I found one an hour away listed for $2000. Do you think that is a good price for the unit? They said there are no leaks and the only damage is a broken tip to sink faucet and minor dings on outside. pics below[img style="max-width:100%;" style="" src=""]


[img style="[IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/28lt82c.jpg[/IMG]" style="max-width:100%;" src=""][/quote]What   year is this trailer? From the picture posted the trailer looks very good - do you know what is inside, stove, heater, etc?  $2,000 is an excellent price.

[quote timestamp="1472279226" source="/post/24207/thread" author="@2ndwindcamper"]Chuck, thanks for your reply!  Yes, the Quicksilvers are bare bones, but I'm a minimalist at heart, so I would be really happy with that. My husband, well.... :-/    We are also considering the smallest Jayco pop up, Jayco Sport 8sd, but then we would have to get a new tow vehicle.  However, I do like that the Jayco has a real door.  I'm sick of zipping and unzipping our REI tent and our Colman screen tent.  

Wow, love your Flickr album.  Looks like you and your wife travel pretty light.  How do you transport your fresh food when you are camping?  If we get a QS, I think we would need an electric cooler of some sort.  Is that what most QS campers use?  Food storage and preparation  is important for us, as my husband has numerous serious food allergies.  That's our biggest problem with the QS--lack of refrigerator.

Can you put bicycles on your "back porch?"  We want to be able to bring our bikes along wherever we go.

We will be tenting the rest of the summer, but we have a snowbird trip to Fort De Soto in Florida planned for Jan-Feb, and I want to be up off the ground by then![/quote]There are multiple thoughts on using the rear deck on the QS for transporting bicycles.  You can use the search function that is on the site for bike racks or rear deck mods or you can look at the Quicksilver section of the forum for ideas.  You can find ideas in the subsection "10.0 rear deck", in the subsection "Quicksilver mods/upgrades" or in the subsection "Quicksilver popups".  Plenty of ideas for you to steal shamelessly.  Whatever you buy - enjoy the journey in camping.

Lloyd welcome to the group!  This forum is where you can find information on almost anything you want/need to know.  Enjoy your 8.0 and keep us posted as to your travels and experiences.

Thanks, I'm glad that you liked it.

The thick UHMW is actually a type of polyethylene plastic sheet that I got from work (excess scrap) and can be purchased from McMaster Carr as well as the aluminum plate.
1) I spent considerable time looking at different attachment methods, "wheel off" vs "wheel on" mounting of the bikes and the actual placement of the bikes. With "wheel off" mounting the handle bar of the inboard bike needed to be turned 90 degrees so as not to hit the top of the trailer.  The "wheel on" method made more sense to me - made it easier when opening the trailer to already have the wheel on the bikes plus I did not have to figure out where to store a wheel when traveling.
2) I cut the UHMW to size for the portion under each area of the steel rack that I needed to keep off the aluminum decking.  
3) I drilled the holes through the UHMW,
4) then cut 4 small plates from aluminum stock and drilled those to match the UHMW and the rack itself.
5) I drilled the holes in the rear deck to match the rack, UHMW and the aluminum plates.
 
One caution - the under side of the rear decking is ribbed so if you are not careful and precise in drilling you could be drilling through the center of a rib which could make a misalignment for the bolt.

6) I placed everything (rack and UHMW) onto the deck of the trailer over the hole drilled in the deck, inserted the SS bolts and then got under the trailer, placed the aluminum plate in place as a support, applied lock washers and nylock nuts.  I did add an eyebolt to the decking so as to be able to lock the bikes onto the trailer.

Steve  

Here is what Dana and I have done to transport our bikes on our Quicksilver 8.1 (posted by Subaruwx for us) - look for the pictures at the end of the posting.  Two bikes side by side.  On a 6.0 the rear deck is a little narrower - won't hurt to have the rack extend over the deck edge.  Went with this set up over the "front wheel off" idea because the handle bar on the inboard bike would hit the top of the trailer.  True, the handle bar could be turned 90 degrees to alleviate that issue - just decided that "front wheel on" would be easier in the long run.

http://livinlite-owners.com/thread/1535/10-rear-deck

Yes, the Jetta is rated to tow 3,300 lbs in Europe but there are other factors / conditions that play into using this vehicle as a TV. Primarily for me is that in searching the web I cannot find where the Jetta is approved for towing by the manufacture, in no place is a Jetta listed as being available with a "tow package" (larger radiator, high output alternator, larger brakes, etc.) and that the only hitch assembly that I could find for this particular vehicle is a class 1 hitch with a max gross trailer weight of 2,000 lbs and a tongue weight of 200 lbs - not exactly the  hitch I would use to tow an Airstream.  

Below is a quotation from UKtow.com (tow ratings and guidelines for towing in Great Britain):


"Loading your trailer or caravan is critical to safe driving check your towing weights and capacity for your vehicle. Getting this wrong can cost you dearly.

You can buy towing scales which measure the total weight of your towed load to make sure that it doesn't exceed the capacity of your vehicle but equally important is to make sure that your load is spread evenly.

The following was submitted to CLIC by Ian Willis in answer to an inquiry about the 85% beginners towing rule. It was generally thought within CLIC, that Ian's words helped to clarify the situation as regards to towing in Great Britain. 85% (or even 100%) rules are not "rules" but guidelines which have no substance in law. They are designed to ensure that the outfit will be stable (all other factors being equal). Exceeding this figure, whilst not illegal in itself, COULD lead to prosecution if the driver was stopped because of (say) instability or after an accident as there is a requirement on the driver to ensure the safety of his vehicle in the Construction and Use Regulations. Usually a manufacturer will quote a tow weight which is far greater than the mass of the vehicle. Generally this is based on the total train weight (car + caravan) which can be started on a 12% gradient. Where this weight (or any other e.g. nose weight) is given as lower by the manufacturer the user ignores it at his peril. Insurance could well be void after an accident - worse, the illegal combination could cause the accident if the vehicle is unable to handle it.

The big problem we have in the UK is the traffic density, especially on Motorways, which has caravans in close proximity to both cars and large goods vehicles at speed. The vortices encountered can cause trailers to wander if not loaded correctly and matched to the towing vehicle."