Archive - Aluminium Camper Forum

Karen and I often take backroads when headed south towards Atlanta. Instead of the 4-lane (GA515) we usually take Boardtown road when headed that way.

Yesterday we spotted this by the road on the stretch between Blue Ridge and Ellijay:






It was parked near the road, as if for sale, but no sign apparent nor anyone around.

I think its the first CampLite we've stumped upon "in the wild". Not sure if it's an 11 or a 16, but sure was cute and wonder if anyone knows the story.

We bought some property adjacent to a runway in E TN near Lenoir City - more on this forthcoming in another post.

It's hard to always get our solar panel in direct sun, so last trip we dragged along our Honda 2000i generator to top off the batteries when they got low.



[img style="max-width:100%;" src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/6/5600/30770651051_4686e08765.jpg"]



[img style="max-width:100%;" src="https://c8.staticflickr.com/6/5614/30770651391_d240248f37.jpg"]


Thanks in advance!

Karen and I are boondocking tonight in our 21BHS and a friend loaned us a Honda EU2000i generator, solely to run our air conditioning. I left ours at home since we'll have hookups for the next 2 nights and I didn't feel like shlepping it along for just one night. It's 95° right now, BTW.

It had not been started in a couple years, and would only initially run with the choke on. I sprayed some cleaner down the carb throat and now it seems to run normally.

But the first time I turned on the A/C the generator bogged down and eventually went into overload mode.  I had put the refrigerator on gas only.


Question: should that generator be strong enough to run the A/C with nothing else on? I was under the impression that it was. 

You guys may recall I had the refrigerator on our 21BHS fail to run on propane due to wasps sealing off the igniter tube.

In that thread, Merlin recommended these screens:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-42149-Flying-Insect-Screen/dp/B0024E6UE0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1471021475&sr=8-3&keywords=camco+insect+screen

I ordered some and installed them yesterday:






Simple enough in concept that one could easily make them oneself, but at $16 probably worthwhile to just get the custom fit.

I had also found wasp nests in my water heater compartment, so I went ahead and took care of that as well:






That mesh on the right is just held on with construction adhesive. The existing screen on the left might allow smaller bugs in, but we'll have to see.

Finally, I only just now noticed there was another louvered panel above the one for the refrigerator - Something with the A/C? Probably not a bad idea to do that one as well

Wednesday afternoon, Karen and I headed out to "boondock" near Lenoir City, TN for just one night.

When I unplugged from shore power, I heard the refrigerator (Dometic) ignitor click a few more times than usual, but eventually heard the satisfying "whoomp!" as the burner lit.

But when we arrived a couple hours later for camping, the fridge was flashing 60/LP and clearly not working. We recycled it on and off repeatedly to no avail. Definitely had plenty of propane.

I looked at the manual and found the instructions for cleaning the flue as part of troubleshooting unclear, in that there are parts mentioned in the steps that are not identified in the diagram. But I did manage to bring up a YouTube video that made it look pretty straightforward.

In any event, last night after returning home I took a look. After pulling off the covers, it did not look promising:



[img style="max-width:100%;" src="https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8506/28921123175_8a88e09fc4_z.jpg"]

That's looking at the intake end of the tube leading to the flue, which is supposed to be completely unobstructed. but now completely blocked off with dirt/mud/debris, likely due to this guy:



[img style="max-width:100%;" src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8758/28921123835_a3c43830d2_z.jpg"]

Slathered on some "liquid electrical tape" and slit some shrink-wrap to protect the wire:


In conclusion, probably not a bad idea to inspect the burner tube, perhaps annually or even right before a long trip.

...but its what our 21BHS wants to do when not on shore water.

Once shore water pressure is present, then disconnected, water pumped from the fresh water tank works fine.

But after driving for a while, both the faucet and the shower will just spit water and air alternatively, with both hot and cold water or both selected, and sometimes the pump just runs for an extended time without building the pressure to shut it off.

And all of this was with a nearly full fresh water tank.

How common is this, and is there standard cure or a place to begin troubleshooting?

Some may recall I had an electrical issue with our 21BHS as delivered - it would pop GFCI outlets because the neutral and ground circuits were "bonded" somewhere.

Southland RV traced it to one side of the 110v wiring going to the air conditioner somehow shorting to ground.

After our last trip to FL, the problem recurred, and there's a dead short between ground and neutral at the shore power receptacle. I think the first place to look would be the AC wiring again, and Matt at Southland RV concurs. He suggested pulling the interior cover first to see if the problem is obvious.

Question: How does that cover come off? I don't see any obvious screws. Here are a couple photos:











Thanks in advance!

Karen and I have never in two years camped more than one night without access to power.

We are planning a trip to Lakeland for the Sun 'n' Fun event, and going from there to a winery for a night also with no power available.

We are still on our original 12v battery, which may be showing its age.

A few questions:

1) If we were buying a replacement battery as a preventive measure, would it make sense to just buy the new one, charge it up and carry it in the trailer so as to swap it out if and when the original battery runs out of juice?
If so, what's a decent replacement battery that might be had at Walmart, Advanced, O'Reilly's or somewhere similar?

2) How long does it typically take for a TV to fully charge a depleted battery? Does it ever make sense to just start the TV and let it charge for a while? Would a couple hours from Lakeland to the east coast do it?

3) Just got a Harbor Freight mailer. They're offering a "45 Watt Solar Panel 10 Piece Kit", marked down to about $140:

[a href="http://www.harborfreight.com/45-watt-solar-panel-kit-10-pc-kit-68751.html"]http://www.harborfreight.com/45-watt-solar-panel-kit-10-pc-kit-68751.html[/a]


[img style="max-width:100%;" src="http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_24009.jpg"]

Any thoughts on this? It includes the disclaimer: "Requires 12 volt storage battery and 300 watt power inverter (sold separately)." What's up with that? There is a manual online I may download and check out.

4) As a final option, we have a Honda 2kw generator we could carry as a last resort. Not crazy about carrying a fueled generator in the trailer, though.

Just looking to start a discussion on the best way to go.

Thanks in advance! Hope this prompts a discussion that might be informative to others as well.

Karen and I are at Bear Cove Village Resort in Pigeon Forge, TN for a car show. 

There's a sewage hookup at the site. We have not hooked up yet and may just wait until tomorrow to hook up and dump before we leave. 

But how is an extended stay normally handled? Hook up and open the black water valve and just leave that open? And then open the grey water valve periodically or at the end to help flush the black water from the hose? That seems the logical course of action, but wondering what SOP is.

Thanks!

Just found the bedding in our 21BHS wet by just to the right of the door. Moderate rain today after a long dry spell.

I haven't tracked it down yet, but assume I have to get on the roof and take a look.

I know there's a preferred sealant - is it or an equivalent available at Home Depot?

Thanks.

Most of you know we made a nice little platform for our 21BHS down by our creek and frog pond - you know, the one that got washed out and made larger recently. Next thing we're budgeting for is to have it paved.

In any case, we had power down there supplied by three 50' extension cords from our hot tub. That sufficed for everything but the air conditioning - we were warned that voltage drop over that length and running from a 15A outlet could harm the air conditioner compressor.

Anyway, a few weeks ago we needed some driveway/slab repair anyway, and had about 220' of conduit laid down from the house to the platform. Friday I got some help and we bought 240' of 3 conductor plus ground 2ga aluminum wire and pulled it through the conduit. Ran it from an existing breakout box at the house already serving an irrigation pump and our hot tub. 

In any case, this is what we cobbled together from a trip to Home Depot:



In any case, we now have room for another trailer if anyone needs to overnight in our area - just give us a head's up if you're on the way.

Karen and I just made reservations here:

http://www.bearcovevillage.com/request.aspx?content=rvsandcamping2

(only a few spots left, one mile from Dollywood)

There's a Classic Car Show that weekend we wanted to attend:

//www.shadesofthepast.com 

Anyway, just thought it might be a destination!

Apologies if some of this has been covered elsewhere - I suspect it has.

On a handful of occasions we've unplugged from shore power with the fridge on "Automatic" and the LP valve to one tank open and the fridge at temps in the mid 30's. We have then arrived at our destination with the fridge temp up  to 50º or more. Have tried the drill of making sure the stove was getting LP (it was) and turning the fridge on and off 4 or 5 times as the manual suggests. None of this seemed to work to get the fridge cooling again, in case there was air in the lines or the pilot had blown out enroute.

Main questions involve determining if the LP circuit for the fridge is functioning:

1) There's an exhaust labeled "CAUTION - HOT!" or words to that effect by the fridge access panel. Should hot air be exiting from there when the fridge is cooling on LP?

2) Is there a way to visually check to see if the pilot light is on? Looking with the panel off I did not see any obvious flame.

The fridge works fine on shore power, which we usually try to arrange, but need it working on LP for those nights boondocking at Walmart or elsewhere.

Thanks in advance

Let me remind everyone what our situation was.

A flash flood had washed out a portion of the gravel platform on which our CampLite - "Campy" - sits:






And there's a missed hint in that photo that courted disaster!

We were moving Campy to the airport to have work done on the platform. We backed our Flex - "Flexie" - up to within about a foot of the trailer to judge how high we had to lift the nose of the trailer.

First step was to retract the stabilizers.

Right front - up.

Left front...

As I was taking the load off the stabilizer the entire trailer started to roll forward and drop 6"!!! I got clear of it, and Karen, who was standing between Flexie and Campy, just missed getting hit by it.

Whew!

Regrouping, it became clear what had happened. Look at this:






With the gravel washed away, even though the Anderson Stabilizers were still in place and chocked, the chocks on the other side had been eroded under putting a lot of forward pressure on the tongue jack. Retracting the second front stabilizer put all the weight on the 6x6 we use under the jack and it rolled forward off of it. YIKES!

In any case, we waited for the adrenaline spikes to go back down and reassessed the situation. The whole weight of the front of the trailer - about 625 lbs, had come down on the left front stabilizer, leaving it like this:






(I think its repairable - nothing seems bent and I think the "gears" just jumped a couple of "teeth" - will try to look at it later today.)

In any case, we just had room to wedge a board under the tongue jack, and got it high enough to hook up to Flexie.






Wedged a board and some rocks and some rubber matting under the worst part of the erosion and Viola! And Karen got a video!

https://youtu.be/MG4ocjhvpVk

Anyway, no loss of blood or limbs! But a good reminder of how unforgiving these things can be in a moment of carelessness.

But mission accomplished!

Now up on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/wMNeD9BGSTQ

Hope that helps!

Note: I know it looks convoluted, but that was made in real time and you can see that even with explanations took just 2 minutes.

The single step on our 21BHS seems less than ideal.

Has anyone converted to a two-step model?

I'm thinking something like this might work...

https://www.americanrvcompany.com/assets/images/StrombergCarlson/SM-24-20.pdf

Any thoughts?

In another thread on Breakaway Batteries, I brought up the fact that I had noticed 12VAC between the frame and earth ground on my 21BHS hooked up to shore power at a friend's house - it was enough voltage to give my chin a tiny "tingle".

As prologue, my trailer has had issues bofore, chronicled elsewhere, when as delivered it would trip GFI circuits. That was traced to "bonded" hot and common circuits in the air conditioner and allegedly fixed.

Will insert photos in a minute - I'm posting all this via cellular on my iPhone 6+.

Photo #1: 13.2 VAC between frame and earth ground:



Question: I have jumper cables with me. Would running one from the frame to something driven into the ground be a worthwhile safety measure for the time being?

Karen and I are spending a couple nights at a friend's property in Friendsville, TN, on Lake Loudon:





Only issue: even with the Anderson Levelers we're still not quite level:


[img style="max-width:100%;" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5463/16829890674_fa6b92b9af_z.jpg"]

Barely noticeable inside.

Is this really a concern? We're on a long extension cord, so not running the air conditioner. Everything else, including the refrigerator seem to be working OK.

Is being about 6º off anything to worry about?

When Karen and I arrived in Lake Placid to pick up our 21BHS, one of the first things I did was turn on the propane, turn on the water pump and get the water heater going.

Normally I would be detecting come warmth in about 10 or 15 minutes, but when I turned on the hot water tap, it was just weakly spitting some spray and a lot of air.

I went to look at the water heater and - YIKES! - the anode was out! And I had the water heater on bypass.

I could have sworn that I had left it in - the whole idea of relocating to FL was to avoid rewinterizing.

Anyway, I sheepishly turned off the propane and the water heater.

There was enough air in the lines that I could not get the water pump to "prime" the system, and just ran and ran with lots of air still coming out of the faucets.

Went ahead and hooked up to "shore water" and that had water flowing through all the faucets and shower in short order. Once filled, the pump now senses the pressure and does not run continuously.

Finally, with the hot water tank filled and a good flow from the hot water tap, I turned the propane and heater switch on - and nothing! Went back to the heater and noticed a "RESET" button. Hit that, the pilot light lit and everything seems back to normal.

Sorry for being longwinded, but thought this might serve as a head's up to be 100% SURE there's water in that there tank before turning the water heater on!

Drove down to Lake Placid, FL yesterday to bring Campy home. 

Just now she got her very first bath!


Probably should do it more than annually, but seems none the worse for wear!