Our first camping trip in our new 233S Roo!

[Wprather]

Well we picked Memorial Day weekend for our first EVER camping trip with a trailer, our new 2018 233s Roo. This is our first Trailer. Decided to stay pretty close to home, just in case about an hour away. Planned on 3 nights, but the Friday before was raining so we waiting until Saturday morning to leave. Had a great trip, no issues with the Roo. Had a funny story though. The site was much more sloped back to front that I guess I would have expected. I backed the trailer in no problem (leveled it side to side), put in the x-chocks, REALLY TIGHT, got all unhooked, etc. THEN, when I went to level front to back, hmmm, the front jack didn't have enough travel to get it level, not even close! I had used all of my leveling blocks to get level side-to-side SO, as I stared at this sloping trailer, what to do? I first found a HUGE ROCK and put it under the jack, after re-connecting to truck!. That worked but the wife wasn't happy with that, afraid the trailer would slip off the rock! Ok, Ok, so I went and found two railroad ties (probably 12x8) and used them under the jack. That worked. Ok great, the trailer is now LEVEL! Then I went to put down the stabilizer jacks. Hmmm. Back ones no problem. Front ones, NOPE, not a chance! LOL. Back to the drawing board. I went searching AGAIN, found two BIG LOGS! Take a look at the picture. Hilarious. Oh well, I now own a new Anderson leveling solution and extra leveling blocks as well. Other than the "interesting" experience of the sloping site we had a great time.

[Miweber929]

Nice, another great Roo story!!! We did our maiden voyage the weekend after Memorial Day and our new 24ws worked great with no issues as well.

Glad to hear the the lack of troubles with the new ones, maybe they are improving their build quality a bit. Here’s hoping!!!!

[Wobbles]

Going old school is an option...

I have those andersen levelers that my new 5er will require me to chop them due to the shorter space between the axles. Being a cheap cuss, I am going to sell them.

It is handy to have a truck with a full size bed so this was an option for me. I went back to boards for leveling. I have a few 10ft 2x10 in the garage, so I cut one in half, lopped off a foot from one piece, 45 degree cut the ends on both pieces, clamped them together so I could drill all the way thru them and made dowels to keep them together when I need both. The dowels are cut shorter than the height of both boards together to account for the rocks that may want to make them poke out above the boards.

Still thinking about using a small hole saw to lighten them. I realize that may make them split but I still have two more boards to learn with. I used them just this past week and used my legos for the rear stabs

[Wprather]

I too had to chop the Anderson levelers short a bit, but I have played with them and they seem to work fairly well. I've heard good reviews and some that didn't like them. But I think I'm going to use them for a while and see how that goes. I don't really have a good storage solution for long 2x10s. I use a Suburban TV and my Roo doesn't have a good storage location for them. I also installed (after our first trip) an RV Level 4 blue tooth leveling helper. I'm an engineer and my wife says I like the toys as much or more than they camping!! That could be true I have only played with the RV Level 4 in the driveway but it worked pretty good.

[Wobbles]

I'm a gadget guy too. I had to learn to use my "levelmate pro" with the phone app. I found that I should put the rig where I want it, get out, set my leveling gear near where it would be used and pull forward. Get out again, place the tools where they go with the measurements provided by the gadget and then put it back. That has been working for me. Good luck with your learning.

I cut one board in half and and shortened the other half. Max length is under 5 foot. Just saying you could reduce the board lengths...

[Oaklevel]

Welcome from SW Virginia !!!

sometimes we have to make do with what is available......... makes life more interesting

[Wprather]

Thanks for the tip on using the Levelmate!

[Oops]

Thanks for posting! Brought home our new 233S last night and leveling in the drive I noticed the height of the stabilizers and assumed an additional set of the leveling blocks was coming soon....

[joeuncool]

I use the Anderson levelers on our 233. I also have a big plastic storage bin I carry that is full of cut pieces of wood that I can put under the tongue jack and stabs. You know you are too dedicated to your camper when every piece of lumber you see laying around you think "Hmm, I could cut that into 4 pieces and that would give me more options for the stabilizers."

[Wprather]

Thanks, I'm learning fast!

[kevin79]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I didn't think you should use the x chocks until you are also leveled front to back. I thought if they were right and then you raise/lower the front, you risk bending the axles.

[Shamrockthecasbah]

Originally Posted by kevin79

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I didn't think you should use the x chocks until you are also leveled front to back. I thought if they were right and then you raise/lower the front, you risk bending the axles.

I really don't see how that would happen. After levelling side to side I use use my x-chocks and/or regular chocks to secure movement of the trailer before levelling front to back. I know people have bent STABILIZERS by putting them down before levelling (or using them to level).

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by kevin79

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I didn't think you should use the x chocks until you are also leveled front to back. I thought if they were right and then you raise/lower the front, you risk bending the axles.

Nope.

Level side to side first.
Put in x-chocks next.
Then level front to back.
Finally put stabs down.

[Reverse_snowbird]

We did side to side
Front to back
then stabilizers
then xchocks.

Didn't seem to matter the order of stabilizers or xchocks.
However, putting the stabilizers down after leveling was key and putting the stabilizers up before hooking up was also critical

Sounds like you had a great camping experience. It does get easier.

[Finster]

Originally Posted by Wprather

Well we picked Memorial Day weekend for our first EVER camping trip with a trailer, our new 2018 233s Roo. This is our first Trailer. Decided to stay pretty close to home, just in case about an hour away. Planned on 3 nights, but the Friday before was raining so we waiting until Saturday morning to leave. Had a great trip, no issues with the Roo. Had a funny story though. The site was much more sloped back to front that I guess I would have expected. I backed the trailer in no problem (leveled it side to side), put in the x-chocks, REALLY TIGHT, got all unhooked, etc. THEN, when I went to level front to back, hmmm, the front jack didn't have enough travel to get it level, not even close! I had used all of my leveling blocks to get level side-to-side SO, as I stared at this sloping trailer, what to do? I first found a HUGE ROCK and put it under the jack, after re-connecting to truck!. That worked but the wife wasn't happy with that, afraid the trailer would slip off the rock! Ok, Ok, so I went and found two railroad ties (probably 12x8) and used them under the jack. That worked. Ok great, the trailer is now LEVEL! Then I went to put down the stabilizer jacks. Hmmm. Back ones no problem. Front ones, NOPE, not a chance! LOL. Back to the drawing board. I went searching AGAIN, found two BIG LOGS! Take a look at the picture. Hilarious. Oh well, I now own a new Anderson leveling solution and extra leveling blocks as well. Other than the "interesting" experience of the sloping site we had a great time.

We had a similar experience the first night out with our 2017. We were going to a wedding in North Dakota, about 11 hrs away. We powered through the drive in 1 day with only a few short stops. It was midnight by the time we got there. The site I reserved online was supposedly 40 ft. so I should have been able to fit our Shamrock easily. What they didn't say online was that there was a rock embankment a little over half way back with about a 3' rise in grade. I backed the trailer up all the way to the rocks and the tongue was barley out of the road. If this had been a busy area with lots of traffic, I would have probably insisted that we move. But it was early May, about 100 yards from the Canadian boarder. We were the only ones there. Our site was also sloped severely toward the road. I put every piece of cribbing I brought under the tongue jack and could not get it up high enough to level. It was late, pitch black, so we said f* it and went to bed. We spent the first night in our new camper trying not to roll out the canvas at the end of the bunk.
The next day I drove into town and found a Menards. I picked up a 6' long rough sawn 6x6 landscaping timber and a cement block. Both items were around $18 total. I cut the timber into 1 foot chunks and used 1 under the tongue along with the cement block and 1 each under the stab jacks. I finally got it level that way. Now when we go out, I still take the 6x6 timbers for the tongue and stab jacks. They come in very handy, and pretty much stay in the box of my truck all the time unless the camper is set up. They also keep the stab jacks from running all the way down which will make the trailer more stable.
I also have a set of Anderson levelers. Ive used them dozens of times and love them, but they have let me down on 2 occasions. Both times, I was setting up on grass, in the rain. The levelers just sunk into the mud and would not raise the camper up high enough to level. For those occasions, I now carry a few chunks of 2x6 in the toolbox on my truck. Their primary purpose is to keep my floor jack from damaging the bottom of the aluminum box but they will still be used for leveling if the need arises.

[kevin79]

Originally Posted by Shamrockthecasbah

I really don't see how that would happen. After levelling side to side I use use my x-chocks and/or regular chocks to secure movement of the trailer before levelling front to back. I know people have bent STABILIZERS by putting them down before levelling (or using them to level).

Good to know. I wonder where I got that thinking from.

[joeuncool]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Nope.

Level side to side first.
Put in x-chocks next.
Then level front to back.
Finally put stabs down.

bikendan,

What is the advantage of putting in the x-chocks before front to back level?

[Wprather]

The benefit for me is after inserting the x-chocks the trailer is secure! It's locked into position, and I can disconnect my tow vehicle. I can not level front to back without disconnecting the tow vehicle from the hitch! And I must be secure before disconnecting.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by joeuncool

bikendan,

What is the advantage of putting in the x-chocks before front to back level?

x2 to what wprather said.
And when doing side to side leveling, I'm already at the tires, so I might as well put the chocks in.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Unless you have regular chocks. We used them to keep the trailer from moving before we put on the xchocks. More work, but we didn't always need the xchocks if we were only staying the night.