Maiden voyage advice...

rollscanardly · 06-12-2018, 02:02 PM

DW and I are camping virgins.

After over a year of restoring our (bought used) camper, we will be going on our first camping trip in July, with our neighbors. They are using a tent.

Our neighbors made the reservations a while ago at this campground...

https://www.nhstateparks.org/visit/s...tate-park.aspx

We will be on Horse Island.

Thing is, there's no hookups. So, what should we bring, or not bring??

Here's what we have for a camper...

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...vy-125403.html

Any and all advice is welcome!

Rich & Gail

tdiller · 06-12-2018, 02:39 PM

Bring an atlas that has all the Walmart locations

With no hookups your fridge will have to run on propane if you have that sort of setup. You will not have A/C so hopefully it's not too hot. As for heating if it's too cool your furnace should work on propane and battery. Make sure your battery is fully charged. If you don't want to schlepp water fill your fresh water tank when you get to the park. If you have hot water it too will have to use propane to heat it. Lights should be leds or they will drain the battery in short order.

rollscanardly · 06-12-2018, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdiller

Bring an atlas that has all the Walmart locations

With no hookups your fridge will have to run on propane if you have that sort of setup. You will not have A/C so hopefully it's not too hot. As for heating if it's too cool your furnace should work on propane and battery. Make sure your battery is fully charged. If you don't want to schlepp water fill your fresh water tank when you get to the park. If you have hot water it too will have to use propane to heat it. Lights should be leds or they will drain the battery in short order.

Thank you.

All valid points. Yes, the fridge runs on propane, so we're good there.

Just replaced all the double interior lights with LED's, so good there.

I also have a 3500w inverter generator. I'll find out for sure if they're allowed there. If so, I can bring that, too. Probably just can't operate it during
"quiet hours" of 10pm - 7am.

I may just bring bottled drinking water, and use their facilities for bathing, etc.

I think that I'll actually enjoy "roughing it"...

...

Rich

mawilson · 06-12-2018, 08:26 PM

Glad to hear your rig is ready to travel. RV Park Reviews (site sponsor, see right side of the screen) are generally pretty good for finding out about a campground. Looks like maneuvering could be a challenge. Also looks like bringing some leveling and stabilizer blocks would be a good idea. Enjoy your inaugural trip and the fruits of your labor.

Judemaster · 06-12-2018, 09:47 PM

Jerico’s best site is 10. It connects to miles of OTV trails. There are places in Berlin to rent side by sides that you can drive up to your site. Have fun!

ramit315 · 06-12-2018, 09:57 PM

Glad to see your ready to roll. I followed your thread on the rebuild and have to say you did a great job. Enjoy your new camper!

rollscanardly · 06-13-2018, 03:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mawilson

Glad to hear your rig is ready to travel. RV Park Reviews (site sponsor, see right side of the screen) are generally pretty good for finding out about a campground. Looks like maneuvering could be a challenge. Also looks like bringing some leveling and stabilizer blocks would be a good idea. Enjoy your inaugural trip and the fruits of your labor.

Thanks for pointing out the RV Park Reviews. I've always just overlooked it. I will bring the necessary leveling hardware.

I still have to do some practice maneuvering at home...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judemaster

Jerico’s best site is 10. It connects to miles of OTV trails. There are places in Berlin to rent side by sides that you can drive up to your site. Have fun!

Thank you. This is a whole new adventure for us. I'm glad that we're going with another "seasoned" couple.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramit315

Glad to see your ready to roll. I followed your thread on the rebuild and have to say you did a great job. Enjoy your new camper!

We're not completely done yet, but we'll be ready by then, providing that there are no surprises when we fire up the remaining the utilities in the camper for the first time.

I'll be honest, I'm excited, but nervous at the same time!

"we fear what we don't know"....

Rich

tdiller · 06-13-2018, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rollscanardly

Thank you.

All valid points. Yes, the fridge runs on propane, so we're good there.

Just replaced all the double interior lights with LED's, so good there.

I also have a 3500w inverter generator. I'll find out for sure if they're allowed there. If so, I can bring that, too. Probably just can't operate it during
"quiet hours" of 10pm - 7am.

I may just bring bottled drinking water, and use their facilities for bathing, etc.

I think that I'll actually enjoy "roughing it"...

...

Rich

For a maiden voyage go someplace near home. Close enough so that if you forgot something you can run home or as I said earlier have the atlas with walmart locations. We've been using a popup for 20 years and this year moved to a travel trailer. We are finding things a bit different with the TT so have made a few walmart trips after getting to our campsites. We have made one weekend trip to a place not far from home and just completed a week long trip to the east coast. We were pretty well set up and only needed a store for food and things we wanted in the trailer but didn't really need like a roku stick in case we found a campground with wifi. We usually get to where we are going then shop for food rather than carry it with us. Also we don;t carry much water in the freshwater tank and top it off at the campground.

Also I highly recommend getting an observation camera for the back of the trailer. I bought a unit from tadi brothers and am very happy with it. It is great for seeing what is behind the trailer when making lane changes or backing up.

Cowracer · 06-13-2018, 08:46 AM

Spend the first night in it in your driveway at home. Put a notepad by the front door. Every time you have to run in to the house to get something you don't have, like a can-opener to open your can of beans, write it down on the pad, and then go buy one.

Sounds goofy, but it works like a champ.

Tim

Muletrain · 06-13-2018, 09:06 AM

Great rebuild. I did not get all the way thru the rebuild post (busy morning) but I recommend the following.
New Fire extinguishers.
Smoke/Carbon monoxide detector.
Looks like the frame has some corrosion. Hopefully, you had a chance to look at and fix as necessary around key areas like hitch, axles, holding tanks, etc.
I liked the recommendation to do a short trip close to home first. Better to find problems now before your big trip with neighbors.
Have Fun.
Great Job on rebuild.

Mule

JohnD10 · 06-13-2018, 09:10 AM

As others have suggested, before you go on this excursion with your friends it would be a good idea to take it to a local campground with hookups a couple of times to make sure stuff works!

I can’t tell you how many hundreds (if not thousands) of times I’ve read on these chat boards about people buying their new RV, then leaving right away on their cross country 8000 mile journey...

Only to have multiple vacation-busting issues that ruins the whole trip...or puts an end to it altogether!

Better to give it a couple of test runs before you make the big one!

rollscanardly · 06-13-2018, 02:30 PM

...for the great suggestions. I don't know for sure if we'll be able to stay at a local campground before we go to Pawtuckaway, but we will certainly "camp" in our yard.

We have replaced all the detectors, as well as the breakaway switch.

I also just ordered a water pressure regulator, a new hose, and a few other things, today.

As soon as they come in, I'll check out all the plumbing.

We've got just about a month left before we camp, so it's becoming "crunch time"!

Keep the suggestions coming!

Thank you, all.

Rich

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