Every winter (including right now, early in 2023), I pull out my list of chores for annual trailer maintenance. Then I bring Towhee the Trailer to my home driveway (from her storage spot) for a long weekend to get those chores done. That might sound like “work” but I have plenty of time in the four days that she’s at my house to get all of those items addressed, and it means springtime camping is not far away, and that makes it fun.
Here she is in her storage spot in early 2023. Perfectly happy, but I’d bet she too is looking forward to getting out on the road to new adventures.
Below … parked in my driveway, leveled, and ready for a bit of cleaning and other work.
Ah, but later on that first evening … a dark, dark evening … the rains came. Still, Towhee the Trailer was A-OK out there in my driveway, plugged in and warm.
And then, the next morning, wow! Another day of warm, dry sunshine!
You might notice in the photo above that Little Towhee (that bird!) was already out of the house and sitting on the storage box at the front of the trailer, assessing the needs of the trailer, what projects I should be completing, etc. She loves “her” trailer!
So, Ann, have you applied lubricant to the rubber around every window so they open and close nicely? And have you lubed the support jacks under the trailer? Have you lubed the locks to the front storage cabinet? And all of the door locks and latches and hinges?
Did you wash the trailer? And then polish the trailer? WOW, I guess you did, there’s me looking at me! Did you check all of the exterior lights on the trailer? And check the turn signals and brake lights and all of that? How about the spare tire (that I’m sitting on in the photo below) did you check that?
And then, Ann, we need to do work inside too, yes? Clean everything, check the interior lights, change the batteries in the fire/smoke detectors and all flashlights and all clocks. Check the three tank levels and, if it’s now warm enough, empty the antifreeze and then refill the fresh water tank with fresh water.
And check the batteries, not only the fluid but also the state of charge while applying an electrical load to the batteries, and make sure all connections are tight and the battery box cover still seals properly.
Fire extinguishers, can’t forget them. I know you have THREE of them in big Towhee the Trailer when the law requires only ONE, but they all need to be checked annually. And, that reminds me, is the escape window still operating properly, in case of fire and we can’t get out the door?
Ah me, that towhee bird, Little Towhee, keeps me on my toes! She’s super!
Even before I start all of the things mentioned above (and there’s LOTS more I check or do in addition), I make sure the trailer is safe while she’s here at my home. Part of that is making sure the trailer is plugged in safely, that the power cord from the trailer is run safely into my garage and to an electrical outlet there … and that the power cord is WELL covered with tape so that I don’t trip on the power cord.
Almost at the end of this weekend, I had completed all of the annual winter/spring maintenance except for one more item (below). No problems had surfaced. Everything was lubed, filled, emptied, checked, cleaned, etc. Well, except for this one thing … I still needed to clean and polish and wax the aluminum wheels.
Oh! Hey! There’s Little Towhee! Already one step ahead of me. 🙂
She dove into those wheels like she was a pro, which she is. I sprayed water on the wheels when she asked for it. And I sprayed polish on each wheel when she asked for it. And then, since a toothbrush doesn’t apply wax very well, Little Towhee let me wax the wheels … but all with Little Towhee watching and critiquing.
In the end, those wheels looked brand new. Good job Little Towhee!! I sure love how we work together on all of these chores.
And so the big trailer (Towhee the Trailer) … and me (Ann) … and Little Towhee
Stay tuned!!! 🙂
Little Towhee, you keep Ann on track, go bird! 🙂
Tweet, tweet! 🙂
This is one of the reasons I wonder if I’d be able to have a trailer. I don’t know if I could do all those things, or even know what I should be doing. Maybe if I ever do get a trailer I’ll ask you for your list of winter maintenance! I know I can learn this stuff…but it sure seems intimidating. Plus I don’t have a Little Towhee to keep me in line!
Dawn, you can do all these things. It’s just a matter of gentle teaching and learning. I’d be more than happy to share my list with you. And I might even be coerced into hitching up my trailer and heading your way. My dad was born in Kalamazoo, I was there once with I was 11. I’d love to tour Michigan. And of course I’d bring Little Towhee with me and I’d bet she has contacts in Michigan! I’ve been reading your blog for several years now … you could do all of this in a heartbeat.
Hey, Ann,
I was reading an old copy of Elsie from 2021 and saw your blog. Good to see you’re having a good time with your truck and trailer and the state of Washington. I’ve also noticed that you are still laughing at your own jokes (see photo).
Yay!! I saw an email address come through from a new subscriber and it looked similar to an email address I used to have for you, Elaine, so I wondered if it was you. Yay it’s you! 🙂
Unfortunately, no photo was attached to your comment. BUT … who wouldn’t laugh at her own jokes, eh?
It’s so good to hear from you. Just excellent.
I would love to see the inside of your trailer.
Are you still in the Portland area? I may be heading down that way with the trailer for a weekend visit in May or June. Ok, I’m going to go email you with more details.
Everyone … Elaine and I were in diesel mechanic school together about a hundred years ago, the only two women in the program at that time, and we’ve been friends ever since.
I almost bought a travel trailer last month but decided it wasn’t quite perfect. I’m going to need to find a Little Towhee bird to help me! 🙂
Ha! Yes, Little Towhee sure is a big help. I hope you find just the perfect trailer for you Emily, and she pops into your life within the next few weeks so you can go camping with her this spring. It might be that your bird friend shows up after you start camping … after she sees you out there and knows that you really are camping and that you need her. Keep me posted! 🙂
Just in the items you list on this blog post, I picked out two things that we aren’t checking on our motorhome every year that we should be. Wish I had your entire checklist. I am the keeper of the checklist in our household … like Little Towhee keeps the list in yours. 🙂 That was fun.
We’ve looked at Escape trailers and they still are our favorites if/when we decide to switch from our motorhome to a travel trailer. We sure hope Escape/ETI are no longer telling anyone to keep 65psi tires at 35psi. We heard that from friends of ours here in BC that used to own an Escape trailer … they were told 35psi as well. They even showed us the documentation from ETI that said that. Dangerous!
Love your blog. Thank you. 🙂
Janey
Janey, if you and Jim need any encouragement to buy an Escape trailer, just let me know. I love mine! Sure there are a few things I would change but isn’t that true of pretty much everything in life? And I’d bet you folks know enough from having that motorhome for so many years that you can update whatever trailer you buy so that it’s perfect.
Yes, the written documentation that I received from ETI said 35psi for the tires. I sure hope they aren’t saying that anymore!
Best to both of you. 🙂
Your checklist must be spectacularly complete. We’ve been traveling in our motorhome for more than 30 years and yet we missed one of the things on your list in this blog post that we should have been checking all along. Now we are parked! Bah humbug. But we have wonderful memories! And we both love Little Towhee with her toothbrush under her wing. 🙂
Wow, if you missed just one thing then the two of you are darned good! Thanks Marge. 🙂 Little Towhee says hi.
Love the toothbrush! And the list of chores, seems just what a retired professional mechanic (you) would do. 🙂 I also like the red roll up things under the rear tire. I think you showed them to us before, but I’d forgotten about them. I just ordered some online.
Cool. Yes, I love those red roll-up things. They make leveling the trailer so much easier! Hope you like them too. Thanks for the comment, Susan. 🙂
That is an uncommonly intelligent and capable bird! Her “voice” on your blog is most enjoyable. 🙂
Oh Henry, I read your comment to this capable little bird and she loved what you had to say about her. She just cheeped on and on and on. 🙂 Thank you.
Great blog, GREAT maintenance list! Wish we’d had one like yours. We’ve been told that parking with tires on grass is not good for tires, so we always paid to park on blacktop or pavement. We had a home in Minnesota, kept our 36-foot Class C motorhome in covered storage on blacktop. Here in Arizona, we live in the motorhome (with several storage buildings alongside!) and the rig is parked on blacktop. What do you think?
Love Little Towhee. 🙂
Ah, tires on grass, yes indeed, it’s not good for tires to be parked on grass or on dirt or sitting in water. But options hereabouts aren’t plentiful. When I moved the trailer down to this storage lot near my new home, this was what was available so I took it. But I also got on the list for covered storage in that same yard so there would be less UV damage to the roof, and so the tires would be on dry gravel instead of wet grass. Recently, someone moved out and I was given their covered spot! I’ll be posting about that in a bit here.
In the past, when the only option was to park on grass, I placed concrete pavers on the grass and positioned the trailer so the tires were up on those flat pavers. Or, as in this storage yard, I dug away the grass from around my tires.
I think your rig on blacktop is A-OK!
Thanks from me and from Little Towhee, Wanda. 🙂
I bet you had a checklist and maintenance list like this for your boats too. 🙂 You had an old wood boat for a number of years, is there a website describing that boat and your travels on it? Get that bird Little Towhee working on a boating website and a website for your Scotland trips! 🙂
Mark, you’re an old boater too. 🙂 Yes indeed, I had a similar checklist for each of my boats. “Stuff” happens and I wanted to reduce the chances of those things happening while I was out cruising, so I did the maintenance. I bet you did too.
I used to have a website about the old wood boat I owned, all the trips, all the maintenance … tried to get the guy who bought the boat to take over that website but he didn’t want to. I got tired of paying for the website so I dropped it. But I still have it saved digitally on my computer’s harddrive, and I think about resurrecting it on a free web platform (like weebly.com). It would just take time to re-write it for a new platform. Ah, yes indeed, for the Scotland trip too.
Here’s the link to my YouTube videos for that old wood boat and for this blog … https://www.youtube.com/@annhaypnw/videos. Scroll down to the bottom for videos of the boat. Thanks for the encouragement, Mark. I’ll get that bird Little Towhee right on it! 🙂