A122 Delivered - at last!

[ExTenter]

It has been a fairly long wait since the February RV show, but yesterday we finally picked up our A122 at the dealer. The wait was long enough that it came as a 2014 model! And I thought the car makers jumped the gun.

The A122 came with an options bundle that included the Dometic screen room and a power front jack. As part of the 'show special', they threw in a couple of small nice to haves - camping chairs, propane fire bowl & camping mat. We had a very good delivery and inspection experience - no rush and a good run through of the trailer with an experienced & knowledgeable tech.

Some time spent practising at a mall on the drive home made the back-up into the driveway and garage more comfortable and helped keep the number of straightening adjustments in the single digits. There was only one WHAT??? moment when the power jack failed to operate. Not an auspicious start but it turned out to be just a blown fuse. Odd, so I phoned it in to the dealer to get it on record.

So after almost three months of RVing vicariously through this great forum, we have the real thing to hands-on familiarize ourselves with at home before we set out in a couple of days for our inaugural trip. Also lots more reading and registrations to sort through.

The forecast for southwestern BC and northwest Washington is nothing but sunny & warm for over a week, with cool nights. That should give us a chance to shake down all the 'utilities' in their various modes of power.

Now will it be ocean, forest, mountains, or all of the above? Decisions, decisions. Maybe some pictures and likely some questions to follow.

[handbuilder]

Congratulations, Graeme & Thea!

Sounds like the wait was worth it!! You and I are fortunate to live so close to so many choice of variety of camping spots!

We're experiencing similar weather here, east of the Cascades. Had reservations at the lake this weekend but cncelled when we found out it wasfree fishing for kids day today...meaning for 6 hours the lake is netted off and taken over by about 1000 kids....I'll cross my fingers for weather to hold in the coming weeks...aching to put a line in the water.

Well, you know we love pictures! Enjoy!!

[Wiscampsin]

Congrats on the delivery/pickup of your A122. Even though your wait was long at least it came in as a 2014. Here's a tip for backing up. Get the TV and camper straight. Put your hand at the bottom of the steering wheel. Move your hand/steering wheel in the direction you want the back end of the camper to go.

[thehamguy1]

What a nice thing to come home from Hawaii to! Congrats on a superb ending to a long wait. The coolest thing is you don't have to choose between mountains, oceans, forests, etc.--you can do all of them! Get Thea to drive the tow vehicle and you can follow on the motorcycle. Can't have too many toys along!

[Jsusluvsyou]

We just took delivery of 122BH. ANd love it! The A/C didn't,t work but they are working on it. I too am having a bit of trouble backing it up. Was wondering if it is harder to back up with sway bars. Also... The sway assembly weighs 50-100 lbs. wonder if it adds weight to tongue. Does everyone use sway bars to tow?

[backpacker3]

Congrats on the new camper.

[rkuffler]

Originally Posted by Jsusluvsyou

We just took delivery of 122BH. ANd love it! The A/C didn't,t work but they are working on it. I too am having a bit of trouble backing it up. Was wondering if it is harder to back up with sway bars. Also... The sway assembly weighs 50-100 lbs. wonder if it adds weight to tongue. Does everyone use sway bars to tow?

Yes it does add to the weight of the tongue. I thought about it and in the end after driving it around 4 or 5 times decided not too. I find it is pretty stable back there.

[Pooneil]

Originally Posted by Jsusluvsyou

The sway assembly weighs 50-100 lbs. wonder if it adds weight to tongue. Does everyone use sway bars to tow?

What sway assembly are you referring to? A typical sway bar weighs about 10 pounds, plus the two small balls it attaches to. Perhaps you mean your weight distributing hitch? Can you give us the brand and model of the part you are referring to.

If it is a typical weight distributing hitch, it has a very heavy steel part ~50 lbs that fits into the hitch receiver on your TV. That weight is more than offset for towing when the spring bar is used to transfer trailer tongue weight to the front axle. Hitch components are added to the tongue weight for the purpose of vehicle hitch weight ratings.

If you are concerned about being over weight on the rear axle, your vehicle may have a hitch weight rating specifically for a weight distributing hitch. Or you could go to a scale and get the axle weighed.

I have used a sway bar when towing for "insurance." It makes me feel more comfortable when passing an 18 wheeler. But it is no substitute for a properly balanced trailer. The hitch parts that attach to your TV are not added to the tongue weight when checking balance.

The only drawback I have found is that sway bars can be damaged, or cause damage, if you make a very sharp backing maneuver that jams the bar all the way in. Since our short AFrames can jackknife so easily, it is best to remove the sway bar when backing. At least until you get a significant amount of experience and know the limit of turn the bar will allow.

[loganmartin]

Good stuff...Congrats!!

LM

[Jsusluvsyou]

Pooneil

Thanks for the education. You explained it well and are correct. It is not the sway bar but attaches to hitch and the sway bars attach to it. Will have to look at bran. Do they have a rating for what type of trailer they fit. The mechanic seemed to hint to me that most people do not use them with the lighter rockwood ( A122BH ). I am a newbie at backing and noted it was harder to back up. I will remove away bar next time.

[tclcyl]

I got my new camper in February(25RS Shamrock). I was told to remove my sway bar before backing up. The weight distribution bars are fine just remove the sway bar.

[Pooneil]

Jsusluvsyou,

It sounds like you may be referring to a spring bar on your WDH rather than a sway bar. Or maybe you have a WD/sway combination hitch. Put up a photo of the setup when you get a chance so we can be clear about your concerns. It would also be helpful if you could put your TV info and trailer model number in your board signature, so others can be more informed about the specifics.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...=editsignature

[Jsusluvsyou]

I will put a pic as soon as I can. I have tried to add signature as you suggest but can't find where to do it. Thanks for the education, now think I have a combination hitch/ sway bar.

[Pooneil]

Originally Posted by Jsusluvsyou

I will put a pic as soon as I can. I have tried to add signature as you suggest but can't find where to do it. Thanks for the education, now think I have a combination hitch/ sway bar.

Try this.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...=editsignature

[Yukon Don]

Graeme, I'm glad to hear she FINALLY arrived. That was quite the wait.
I'm sure you guys will have a great time in it -and you're sure in a great place to be trying it out in!
Be sure and send pics.
Maybe we'll bump into each other out your way this August.

[thehamguy1]

It's been five days since Graeme posted that he and Thea got their new camper, and nothing more has been heard from them. I hope that means they're out somewhere off the grid, or at least having too much fun in the real world to bother with us here in the virtual world. When you can, Mr. ExTenter, we want pictures!

[ExTenter]

OK, I admit it has taken me more time to get around to posting this than the trip lasted! Although a short trip - had to get back to take care of the grandkids - it did allow sufficient time to get to know our A122. However, I expect there will be some re-learning next trip.

We were pleasantly surprised that everything worked as intended. Set-up and leveling went well, although admittedly it was not a challenging site. The power jack made quick work of front-to-back and the BAL leveler made it a snap to do the side-to-side. Raising the roof & sides went smoothly although we didn't use the awning & screen room. We'll save that for a longer trip. As for pulling things out of storage from the truck & trailer, lessons were learned about what would store more easily where and the order of access. Tips from other members came to mind quickly too!

All the 'utilities' worked fine, so fingers crossed, nothing yet to go back to the dealer about.

We now have a pretty good idea of what sized bins are needed and where to keep them. For example, the under-bed compartment seems best suited for items taken out once at the beginning & put back once at the end. We think the storage will be adequate for us as-is when you throw in the screen room for the more frequently used items and the truck bed for the less frequently used. We are light packers and ex-tenters so for us it's a step up in convenience.

As others have noted, we had more than a few pointing and waving incidents and a couple of 'tours', including the nice folks from the Itasca beast next door. You guessed it, they're thinking about down-sizing. Maybe not to our kind of right-size but these units do seem get people thinking!

Heading out. One of our main requirements was something that
could go in the garage and leave on a moments notice.
Note motorcycle still under wraps, but not for much longer!


Thea setting up inside.


Birch Bay State park, Washington. Great park, close to home.


Looking up through the bubble. What a nice view to wake up to.


One-match Thea strikes again. Literally.


Packing up to come home. Must get out again soon!

[thehamguy1]

So cool that your new camper came with the actual window in the door. Did you find the mattress to be to your liking? There's been a lot of comment on sleeping comfort.

[ExTenter]

Originally Posted by thehamguy1

So cool that your new camper came with the actual window in the door. Did you find the mattress to be to your liking? There's been a lot of comment on sleeping comfort.

Cool was the operative word as even with the shade it was a very warm couple of days. Between the three opening window options and the roof exhaust fan, it did keep things cool & fresh. The door window is the one to keep open at night for fresh air with no draft in the sleeping area. No moisture problem either boiling water inside for morning coffee. Isn't camping coffee the best?

The mattress turned out to be quite comfortable for us, even without a topper of any kind. It's a very personal preference of course; we like our beds medium-soft with firm under-support and it seems to fit the bill. We're thinking that at most a good mattress pad might be enough for us. Still, probably need a longer trip for the final verdict on the topper. If I am relegated to the dinette side to sleep for whatever reason (), that likely will need more cushioning. And this reminds me, we didn't try the heat feature of the mattress!

[ThunderRoad]

As an FYI - underneath the bed, towards the front we keep three milk-crate containers, which fit perfectly!

One has table cloths, garbage bags, plastic wrap/aluminum foil, wet wipes, a few other misc things. Also a few small rubbermaid food containers with screw-top lids for leftovers. Into the other two crates we put non-perishable foods that we can keep in the camper all summer. Also two collapsing trash cans that we set up in our camps - one for trash and one for recyclables.

Towards the back of that storage area, accessible from the outside door, we have two folding chairs, a couple campfire pie cookers, a small 2-man tent we can set up to put things into if need be (we had it lying around and it's tiny, so tossed it in - probably will never use it), and other misc stuff.