Hooked and ready. Arvy has left the building!
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What is that strap underneath the passenger side mirror?
I would say tow mirrors
Yes. Removable tow mirrors. They work great.
And this is why Arvy had to leave the building. None of these sags in the gelcoat where there when we left. It probably had less than 100 miles left before it came apart completelyā¦
Arvy Too has arrived in the back yard. Itā so short I could turn it around in our small cul-de-sac in one arc! It towed like a dream, but I need to re-learn backing. Either it is slow to react to steering input or there is so much less behind the axel itās hard to notice slight angles.
Home at lastā¦
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Delamination, the curse of RVās a few generations back. The Gelcoat separatesā from the underlayment causing the wrinkles, sags or bubbles. This was/is a major nightmare for the RV industry.
We bought a new 2013 Cougar and we noticed the small delamination bubbles in the front and rear caps before we signed the papers and took it off the lot. The dealer installed new factory end caps, only delayed our pickup day by a couple of weeks.
Oh, by the way Jon that is a dam nice travel trailer, congratulations on your new adventure-mobile and have fun outfitting it.
That one actually did really well. That de-lamination was cause by water intrusion. I had two or three major leaks over the years, most noticeably one in that rear corner from the skylight that continued unchecked for several seasons.
Any tips on backing. I never had any problems with the 31 footer or my 25ā boat trailer.
Jon, I am no expert on backing a trailer by any ones standards no matter how low 
It is mostly about the distance between the axel and the ball/hitch, the shorter the distance the quicker the trailer reacts to steering changes.
I am sure you are aware of the old rule about hands at the bottom of the steering wheel and turn the wheel in the direction you want the ābackā of the trailer to go. Works pretty well for me but I always get fouled up when I canāt see down along the drivers side of the trailer.
Take it to a big empty parking lot and practice, thatās what i have done in the past, now I just wing it
The Oliver offers all those upgrades that you talk about, now you went from a $72,000 trailer to a $80,000 trailer. Both the Casita and the Oliver were designed by fiberglass boat engineers, thus giving them their look and style. Both these trailers are in demand and waiting 6-12 months for one is not unusual. Until you check one out, itās pretty hard not to see the quality and companies values in their trailer and where customers are number one and they treat you that way. Both Oliver and Casita have no dealers and both are sold from there manufacturing plant in Texas and Tennessee.
Iām pretty good at backing. Never had much problem with the 31 footer or our trailer for the 25 foot boat (around 30ā total). Both of those had dual axles. My driveway is a real challenge. Itās bordered by stone walls on both sides, has a curve and is on a good slope. There is backup camera wiring and mount included. Thatās on my someday list.
Marilyn is pretty good at spotting and we have good 2-way radios so no one needs to shout. I just need to train her better on calling out direction to turn. Left or Right is no good. Driver or Passenger is better, or if I would have ever really learned my nautical terms, Port and Starboard.
Trial by Fire will be Wednesday, when in front of a campground full of folks, Iāll be backing it into itās first campsite! We have a lot to do before then.
Auto Zone sells a wireless backup camera, I had it on my Tacoma now itās used to see how the horses are doing in the trailer. You just need 12 volts for the camera and the monitor plugs into the cig lighter.
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Just practice , try in a isolated lot with parking spaces
Itās always fun watching the ones that only use a trailer once or twice a year trying to back one up.
Sigh,
And here we thought you were a RAILROADER !
If you are using your mirrors why couldnāt you see her āHand Signalsā ?
OR better yet give her 3 flags. Red, Two Whiteās and Green. The double white is using both hands while backing in that āSpecialāā¦When you get Arvy close just radio here and have her switch to the red and green flags then think nautical or just stop and GO
Just thinking out loud ?
If I could see her hand signals would work. The driveway is a curving grade and she needs to keep changing her location to be sure I donāt hit a wall with either the camper, or the car.
Weāve been doing this for 17 years, so we are good at it. For several seasons we backed down our street too, about 750 feet between parked cars with her walking behind. Then our new neighbor moved in across the street and offered to move his cars so we could use his driveway. Now we can just swing it around the small cul-de-sac in one move.
Jon, the one thing I see a lot of people do is over correct, smaller more frequent course corrections, slow speed and smaller steering inputs. Plus donāt wait for the trailer to do niche before you follow it. The shorter the trailer the faster it reacts. Hope those help. BTW ,I was a trucker for 48 years, retired 2 yrs now so I would need a refresher courseā¦ nah!
That is exactly the advice I needed. Iām giving it way too much input waiting to see the reaction, then having to correct with almost as much input. Iāll keep ābaby turnsā in mind!
We finished loading the interior today, made the bed and took some pictures. We put back less than half of what we took out. I still need to sort through my campsite setup supplies and pack the bare minimum for a known campsite. Interior mods / additions except for the Wilderness mattress, will wait until after TrainOps.
Here are a bunch of interior pics. Iām really loving the decor and the layoutā¦
Iām starting to think about how to best utilize the solar. Are there any Solar Controller experts on here? I have a 30A controller that supports most battery types. My 19SSLE came with 400W Solar and a Sealed Lead Acid battery. I have a nearly new Flooded Lead Acid battery and am trying to come up with a low budget plan to increase capacity. Iām assuming it would not be great to just parallel wire the two different types. I also have two SPST battery switches. If it would not be bad to parallel one pole and switch the other I could A/B between the types, then change the charge profile on the controller to match whichever is connected. I could also switch both batteries to be on-line together if desired.
PS: Iām only running DC loads, the biggest being refrigeration. All lighting is 12V LED. TV, AC, Vac and microwave are shore power only for now. A big inverter and a big LiFePo will wait until I hit the lottery, or sell this Albatross of a house.
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Very nice looking unit Jon !
So in the mean time you will just have to deal with the lights going dim when you flush the toilet!