THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED ON THE WAY

Here we will post some things we have learned on our travels and have done to our unit.

BUGS;

Spray for ants when you set up. Spray around your tires and any thing that hits the ground. Re-spray after a hard rain as the water will wash the spray away. We us Hot Shot from Home Depot. It seem to work good.



ELECTRICAL:

First thing is Surge Protection. There are lots of ways to do this but I decided to go with a hard wired Surge Guard. 50 Amp. model that I hard wired in. One it is a bit cheaper but once installed you never have to mess with it and on my trailer it was real easy to do. Ok you are asking why. Well for years I have just hoped that the parks plugin was right and there would be no problem  And I have been lucky and all were in good shape. But now that I have been out more and seen lots of different parks and seen there hookup I am amazed I have been so lucky. It only takes one that shorts out or surges your trailer to cost you all your appliances and computers or even burn down your trailer to make up your mind. a surge protector is a cheep investment.

The next thing that would be nice and I have not gone there yet would be an autoformer set up. These will set you back some real money but at times would be a big advantage. Again you ask why. Well I have seen first hand how parks voltage can differ. Some have great power while some are a bit low or real low. Then when there is high demand for power it will drop to a dangerous level . The Autoformer will keep your voltage more stable and also bring up the voltage to a safer level. This is something we will do some day soon.

A good thing to have is a Volt Meter. You can get a cheep one at the hardware store for around $20.

Get a plug in Volt meter and find a plug inside your unit that you can keep an eye on. If the voltage gets below 108 you are either in a bad spot  or are running too many things at one time. Either way it would be a bad thing for your system.


SUSPENSION:


WATER:

First you need a pressure reducer for your hose. Most parks water pressure is way too high for an RV. I know most of you know this but some don't  The easiest way is a small one picked up at your favorite RV store. But what most don't know is you should get the HIGH FLOW type. Yes there is one out there and I have found them at Camping World. and they only cost  a droller or so more. they will make your shower work like they should.

Make sure when you are hooking up your water hose that you turn on the water at the spigot and let it run a bit. This will get the rust and stuff out. Some times they have not been on for some time. Another thing is to carry a spray bottle of Bleach and Water mix. Before you hook up your hose spray the faucet connector with the bleach. Why well you never know if the last guy used the faucet to flush out his sewer hose. You don't want them germs on your hose.

Next thing is a Water filter. Some parks have bad water and lots of things coming through the lines. You can pick up a cheep one at the camp store or you can build your own from parts from a hardware store.

Another thing is when you roll up your hose when moving try not to drag the ends in the dirt. You never know what may have been spilled on the ground. Also once you have drained the hose and rolled it up hook the ends together. Helps keep left over water from getting in your storage area and keep things from getting in there too.

TIRES:

Check your tire pressure often. Under our over inflated can cause tires to fail. Also check for cracking. As most times we don't wear out our tires before this starts to happen. Cracking can lead to a blow out on the road and lots of damage to your rig. Another thing for trailer owners is don't drove over 65 as most tires are not rated to go over that speed. Another good idea is purchase a tire monitor. It will let you know if a tire is getting low or too hot. Another thing is to cover your tires. Some will do this when not being used for a long time. I like to cover mine all the time as sun will dry tires out and start the cracking process sooner.