March, 2022
Yes, I know I’m almost a year behind, sigh. I get so carried away with things! This year, I will not post so many blog posts in between camping trips, and then I’ll get close to caught up. Online folks tell me never to get caught up, never to post about a camping trip while I’m on the trip … while I’m away from my home … or nefarious folk can do dastardly things to my home while I’m away. But I’m a year behind on these blog posts and that’s going to change! 🙂
So let’s go back to the beginning of 2022 and I’ll show you my year.
Oh, my it was cold this past 2021-2022 winter!! But I needed to be thinking about spring and camping.
So I picked a couple of nice sunny days very late in March, 2022, and brought the trailer to the house from the storage lot so I could clean the trailer, do some maintenance, and get her all spiffed up for spring camping.
It was a bit grey and cool on the day I hitched up Towhee the Trailer in the storage lot. But I trusted the weather forecast for the next few days and so I brought her to my home, trusting and hoping.
After I got her home, and the next day dawned, what a gorgeous day!
With such good weather, I happily started with exterior maintenance. The work began.
Jack up the wheels (each axle separately, off the ground, blocking the other axle so the trailer would not roll forward or backward), add grease to wheel bearings, check brake adjustment, check everything underneath the trailer to make sure everything is secure … all tanks, wiring, dump valves, and the axles, etc.
Then with the trailer back on the ground … check wheel lug nut torque, clean/polish/wax the metal wheels, check tire pressure (including the spare tire on the back). Then lube the corner jacks and the tongue jack, check propane tank levels, and check all propane line fittings for leaks, check all four exterior lights, check the water heater zinc, check/clean exterior fridge access, check/clean exterior furnace access and the sail switch, lube all the window hinges and seals as well as the door hinges and lock. Drain the winter’s anti-freeze fluid from the fresh water tank. Put 1/4 cup bleach and three gallons of water into the fresh water tank, pump that through all the pipes and faucets, let it sit for three hours, then drain the remaining gallon or so from fresh water tank. Then pour 1 gallon of vinegar into the fresh water tank and then completely fill the tank with fresh water (mixing the water and the vinegar), pump that through the pipes and faucets, let that sit overnight, then drain the fresh water tank completely (all of it can legally go down through the street drains), and then finally fill the fresh water tank with fresh water, pump that through the pipes and faucets, then empty the grey water tank (it too can go down the city sewer drains), and that’s done for the year!
This year, the smaller of the two locks on the tongue was getting pretty rusty, so I swapped that one out for a new one. And the two padlocks on the front storage unit were getting rusty and difficult to open, so I replaced them as well.
Wash the whole trailer! Clean the solar panels on the roof. Then, after the trailer dries, wax the whole trailer. I apply two coats of wax to the front of the trailer since it gets most of the air and rain and debris as I’m driving.
Little Towhee wasn’t too sure about my wash/wax job on the outside of the trailer. Until, that is, she saw her own reflection! Then she was happy. 🙂
Other things were inspected, cleaned, adjusted, lubed, etc, on the exterior of the trailer, but that list above hits the highlights.
Then Little Towhee met me on the step to the door of the trailer and said, “Ok, Ann, let’s get to work on the inside!” She is such a stickler for tidiness, that bird. 🙂
Inside chores: Check the fluid level of the house batteries, lube the table leg (it raises/lowers the table for an extra bed or just for proper height for eating vs. computer work, etc), lube the wooden bed frame (it squeaks when I walk past if I don’t lube it), lube the inner toilet seal and add the additive to the tank (through the toilet), defrost/clean freezer/fridge, shake fire extinquisher and check the date, check/charge my three portable solid state batteries (150amp, 1000amp, 1000amp), check the black tank outlet for leaks (it’s inside the trailer, not underneath the trailer), clean water pump filter, replace small batteries in all things (clocks, flashlights, electronics, wrist watch, smoke detectors), clean cupboards and drawers, clean the floor, etc.
Then I loaded everything back into the trailer that I’d taken out last fall, except for the bedding. I’ll add the bedding just before my first camping trip. Of course, I’ve had “Dri-Z-Air” buckets inside the trailer all winter and I empty the fluid and add more crystals regularly, but still I take everything out of the trailer in the fall, store all of it in the house, and then put everything back in the spring.
Whew! That’s a lot of work! But I enjoy the work. The trailer looks good. I know first-hand that all systems are good to go and that the trailer is clean. I can relax for the coming camping season. Can stuff still go wrong? Sure. But I’ve minimized that possibility. And I continue to familiarize myself with the trailer so much that I could fix most anything that did go wrong … or at least I could intelligently explain something to an RV technician.
Maintenance work on the big white truck was also completed by me this weekend, but that’s another whole long list. By the end of the day on Sunday, I was done with all my chores.
Little Towhee double-checked all of my work and gave it the green light.
First thing Monday morning, I hitched up the trailer to the truck and took Towhee the Trailer back to the storage yard. We’ll be heading out in just a few weeks for our first camping trip. Hooray!
I’m glad you have such an easy-to-work for supervisor in Little Towhee.
Such peace of mind to have everything ship-shape. Or should I say, “trailer-shape”?
Your trailer is a gem, and also so well maintained. Well done!
Little Towhee is indeed the best supervisor and traveling companion. She doesn’t eat much, she sleeps quietly, loves to go for a walk or a hike any time, and yes she also keeps me on my toes with maintenance. Thanks Robin. 🙂
Wish you owned an RV maintenance shop, we’d be down there in a heartbeat! It’s difficult to find a shop that we know is trustworthy. We use one for awhile then find a problem, then find another shop, etc.
I’m surprised your house batteries are inside the trailer. What do you think of having them there, with off-gassing and all?
Jim
I have trouble finding a shop down here too Jim. The very best RV technicians/mechanics are at Wescraft RV in Fife, WA … but they take an inordinate amount of time between your scheduled “appointment” time and when they actually do the work. I took the trailer to them for an “appointment” on 11/8/22 but they didn’t get around to working on it until 1/5/23, two months later. And yet, the work they do is perfect.
House batteries … yes most house batteries (large 12v or large 6v) are installed outside the rig, but ETI put them inside the trailer. There is a 1.5″ diameter vent tube from the top side of the battery box out to the outside of the back of the trailer, specifically to vent the off-gassing. But still, it bothered me, so I added rubberized seals around the inside of the top of the battery box to prevent off-gassing into the trailer itself. I’ve not had a problem. Most trailers have them up forward on the tongue, or on the back bumper, outside the trailer, but that means many, many feet of expensive copper wire to connect the batteries to the charger and to the lights, etc. So likely ETI was trying to reduce cost. I’ve been thinking about adding a second battery bank, to double the amount of electricity. If I do, those batteries will likely be on the rear bumper.
This is wonderfully intimidating. I don’t know what a large part of this list actually IS. I don’t know how I’d keep up on maintenance if I moved up from a tent. And on a different note…late March we’re still very likely to have freezing weather and/or snow. Or both. So I’d be afraid to empty the antifreeze until maybe the end of April. But you definitely gave us a good list of stuff that should be done!
Dawn, if you ever do get a rig of whatever sort, you know I’ll help! It would give me a great excuse to jump in the truck and hitch up the trailer and head to Michigan.
When I owned a boat, the saltwater hereabouts never froze (still doesn’t) so I never had to worry about that. Now, with a trailer on land, I have to pay attention. And yet what a wonderful thing to have to worry about … when to deal with the tanks, and then to go camping! Sometimes I envy you the ease of camping with a tent … it’s all good, yes? 🙂
What a great list of things to check and do. I’ve added things to my list from yours, things I never thought about. I do most of my own maintenance but I worry that I may not know that I’m not doing something or checking something that I don’t even know I don’t know. I’d love it if you shared the ENTIRE list of stuff you do/check. Course then we’d just bug you to tell us how to do those things. 🙂 And of course, each rig is different. What’s a sail switch?
Ah, a sail switch. Many propane heating systems in RV rigs have a sail switch. It’s a safety thing. It’s literally a blade (or sail) of metal that, when the propane heater fan comes on, that blade is blown forward so that it completes an electrical circuit and then allows the furnace to come on. BUT, if the heater fan doesn’t come on, such that the exhaust gases would not be blown outside the trailer, then that sail/blade is NOT blown forward, does not complete the electrical circuit, and the furnace automatically shuts off, rather than have propane gasses vented INTO the trailer and kill people. So the sail switch should be checked and cleaned of debris every year so it moves as it should. They hardly ever fail, but keeping them clean helps.
Ah, the whole ENTIRE list. I may just email that to you rather than post it here. 🙂
It sure pays to have the kind of education and experience you have. I don’t have it, and we had to pay for that kind of maintenance of our motorhome. Good for you! And good for Little Towhee to keep you on the straight and narrow. 🙂
What brand of portable batteries do you have?
Jackery. The Jackery batteries are super. I first bought a GoalZero, but it does not hold a charge when sitting on the shelf. After just two weeks in storage, inside my heated home, the GoalZero was dead. But the Jackery batteries have held their charge 100% for six months in same storage.
Little Towhee is a taskmaster for sure! 🙂
Knowing how to take care of things you depend on really feels good. Like you say, things still go wrong, but you sure feel better knowing how the electrical system operates for instance and what your options are if it isn’t working. Those are great backup power sources, you could charge the trailer batteries off of either one of those 1000 amp batteries!
Yes, you got it, Ben. That’s why I bought 1000 amp remote portable batteries, so I can run anything I want, and so I can charge the trailer batteries if needed. I like options. 🙂
What you know is intimidating! Or maybe really excellent. Impressive to say the least.
I really liked the photo of your little bird. 🙂
Thanks, Ben. Nice words. 🙂
Me too, if I had an RV, I’d be headed your way for a class on how things work!
And I’d be ready to teach/share! Thanks, Babe. 🙂
The things you share with us are terrific. I learn so much. I try to keep my mind open! And that usually works. ha! Even work on your trailer. But the best is Little Towhee. I know she is part of you, part of your mind and your heart. Keep her close.
Yep, she’s a part of me, that’s for sure. Thanks, Judy. 🙂
The black tank is INSIDE the trailer? You mean above the floor? So if it leaked, it would leak its contents on top of the floor inside the trailer? Neither of us have ever heard of that. No wonder you check it so often. It’s SO nice that you can do all of this yourself, good for you.
Yes, Wanda, that BLACK tank with the contents from the toilet is INSIDE the trailer. How dumb is that? The head/bathroom is right next to the bed, so part of the black tank is directly under the toilet, and the rest of that black tank is under the bed … inside the trailer, above the floor, and it’s right under the mattress. It’s the one thing that made me double-triple think about buying this trailer. It’s a bad plan. So far, so good tho, no leaks. And yes I check it often.
I don’t care if you are behind in your blog posts. Please don’t leave out a word of anything, I love your words and your photos. Thank you! 🙂
🙂 Thanks, Pat.