Went on our first trip in our new Wolf Pup 14CC to Punderson State Park in Ohio. Been there many times in our old popup, and met with some friends we often camp with. First surprise was the pad had a bit of a slope toward the front, so my friend texted me that I might need a couple extra leveling blocks. Threw in the wood blocks I had under the tongue jack from my driveway and we were on our way.
First surprise was I hadn't filled the water tank all the way, and didn't know what to expect. Kept waiting to hear the water gurgling up the filler pipe as it did on my popup. Nope, it started overflowing down below. Uh oh! Got underneath and saw it was not leaking, that's the thing that tells you it's full. OK, got it!
Got it parked, and as I'm trying to raise the front, realize that I need more leveling blocks. Tried 3 times, each time I would reach the limit of the jack, and still not quite there yet. Finally got 4 blocks of wood under it, and got it level. Whew, thought this would require less cranking than the popup!
By the following morning, discovered that the tank indicators are a joke. The 23 gallon gray tank is showing 2/3 full, and the 26 gallon fresh tank is showing empty! What?? We were being sparing, and the 11 gallon fresh tank on the popup would easily last 2 days with plenty left over. Crawled underneath, and I see the fresh tank is still quite full.
Wife and I got to try out our new shower, and other than somebody forgetting to pull the curtain over (who could that be
), it was nice not having to run to the shower house.
Getting ready to leave, it was time to use dump for the first time.
Yes, there was a line. Surprisingly uneventful though, had the hose ready, dumped both tanks, and no mess, no fuss.
Got home, determined to figure out this gray tank indicator. First, figure out how many blocks I need to get the thing completely level in my sloping driveway. Found a length of treated 2x10 in my garage, since the hunks I had been using for years were rotting. Get 5 blocks under it, crank it up, reach the end of the jack, still not level. What to do.... Found some 2x6 and figured if I cut a length to prop up the tongue, then I can raise the jack, add more boards under it, and raise it up. In the end, it took 8 hunks of 2x10 to get it level!
Got out a bucket, and found out it only takes 4 gallons in this 23 gallon tank to register 2/3 full. Added 10 more gallons, still says 2/3. Well, at least we weren't in any danger of overflowing.
Only other snafu we ran into was turning on the furnace, and finding out the copious amounts of sawdust I found covering the furnace had in fact fallen inside through the openings and was burning off. It did start to smell a little funny, and then the smoke detector went off. Great...
Used the electric heater for the rest of the trip. Ended up snaking some tubing stuck in my shop vac to pull the wood scraps and sawdust out of it. Honestly, you have to wonder what kind of people are putting these things together. Good thing it's not my first one, and I kind of expected to find some poor assembly, but that's appalling. Think I've got it fixed though, ran it for a good half hour and it's not making any funny smells or setting off the smoke detector.
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