[p]Greetings,[/p][p]
[/p][p]Houston, TX owner here.[/p][p]
[/p][p]We recently purchased a new 2014 QS8.1 from a dealer, after looking for a while. This was the perfect trailer for us as we are primarily tent campers and I wanted something 'ready to go' vs all that loading and packing of the SUV.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Got the trailer home last night and all seems well, but did have a question regarding the poles and tent cover. Neither the instruction manual or online videos seems to talk about these elastic straps and Velcro wraps on the poles. Are all of those removed when folding the tent? I had to remove just about all of them in order to get the tent to lay down. Watching the video, all they do is remove the cross beam. Am I doing something wrong? Keeping any of those connected to the poles doesn't seem to work.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Another stupid question here is regarding the battery and electric. Looking at my unit, I appear to have a cigarette lighter 12v and the 12v fan cones. The livin lite documentation talks about "additional 12v and 110 outlets (1) USB" and the cone outlets. Did they recently add a USB and more 12v outlets? Can't seem to find a USB outlet anywhere.[/p][p]
[/p][p]What are some of you using the battery for? Looking at my setup, and assuming I'm off grid, that seems like a massive battery just to keep two lights and fans going.[/p][p]
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[/p][p]Questions aside, we are very pleased with this camper and looking forward to our maiden voyage this weekend. We have 2 RVs and one full travel trailer in the immediate family, but I can tell this is going to be much more our style of trailer.[/p][p]
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Congrats on the purchase. The 8.1 is a nice setup.
I ended up with the 10.0 which is bigger than I need, but it should easily handle a growing family. As for folding it down the concept should be the same across all the QS line. You should not have to remove the cover/canvas from the support polls to lower it. Depending on how careful you are when folding it up it can be packed down nice and tight, or if you pay no attention it can become a huge pile. My personal method has worked out like this:
1. Remove nearly all the snaps except for two on each end, and remove the center top bar.
2. remove the final snaps on one end and move towards the middle of the rig. While both pulling the side(s) out and the bars down it should be possible to bring in the first end with minimal bunching of the canvas between the bars. If you are doing this alone it can get tricky but just work your way around and pull the fabric out from between the bars. Now the first end should be laying somewhat flat, with the extra canvas hanging out the sides.
3. Flip the extra canvas in towards the middle so it lays flat(ish).
4. Repeat above steps with the second end.
When all is done it should lay flat enough that the bunks can close without bulging.
I've learned you cant be afraid to give it a little shove from time to time. Just dont force it to the point where you might bend or rip something.
As for the electric, I know LL was starting to add more options like the USB connection. However I dont know if its a standard option yet or not. We just have a single 12v cigarett lighter plug, the two 12v cone plugs. and two 120v outlets. 1 of which is dedicated to the AC unit.
My 2015 6.0 has a single 12 volt, cigarette lighter style socket with 2 USB ports right above it. Next to that is a normal duplex 120 volt outlet. These are under the sofa, next to the converter. A second 120 outlet is located on the opposite wall.
I'm disappointed that there isn't at least one on the outside. I'm thinking I'll add that and a small light between the door and the stove shelf.
Here's the method I use to fold mine
https://xa.yimg.com/df/livinlite/QS8.1+Take+down+and+fold+tent+to+prevent+rub+holes.pdf?token=lgcX2HpmRc1FN9Mbb1l5brkANuaOMBUBW8aOWCxAoe-ZYjsJNsLTvpKxqRVJwHY94O4Kx2mcy-xk50cBSoLWCZbhalsU4ZJvFUIwEd340YoDCXZfZdZAjVNJtx94od2ZpDBTDhP4a4xv1zhmzzLZw9IK7gisSP7RhWPqEXRFfNxC86zKS-Vj&type=download
vmcmn: 404 file.
[p]FYI - vmcmn I get a 404 as well[/p][p]
[/p][p]Thanks all for the great responses. We took her out this weekend and had a blast. Spent some extra time trying multiple methods (including recommended here) for tear down and found out for us the best method that yielded the most compact results were:[/p][p]1. folding over queen side first [/p][p]2. fold over small side[/p][p]3. fold over excess[/p][p]Of course, we paid extra attention to ensuring tent wasn't between the poles and I think that was the problem I had before. I was able to keep the suspension straps on this time. [/p][p]
[/p][p]The only issue we had on the trip was our dinette bed setup. We tried it out for our son, and both nights it collapse slightly. I have the seats flush against the walls, and the table fits fine, but when we put any pressure on it (like me or a kid), one of the corners always seems to fall. The table is still suspended but it looks like the 'bottom' half of the table separates from the larger plastic table cover. Our table seems to be made in two parts, with the top being slightly larger (but very thin) plastic over a more rigid base. When we put pressure on it, the top separates from the bottom allowing the bottom to fall down slightly. As this bottom section appears to be slightly narrower than the channel on the seats, it becomes unsupported. If I were to put my weight on that unsupported section the top would surely crack.[/p][p]Have any of you experienced the above dinette issue? Do we have a broken table or am I doing something wrong again?[/p][p]Thanks,[/p][p]Kevin[/p]