Mark,
Thank you for the welcome and for the information you provided. I have looked at the numbers and things should be fine. Our goal is to keep things as light as possible...and still have everything we need.
Agree about a trip to the scales. We have a 40' Allegro Bus...so I am familiar with using the scales at various truckstops.
Friday, I towed the trailer about 165 miles. I only had about a 1.5" drop after adding the trailer. I pumped up the rear overload bags a bit to raise the rear about 1". That left me with basically a 1/2" droop. Since the WDH that came with the trailer was WAY out of adjustment for me, I didn't bother using the WDH. But, I did connect both sway bars. The 165 mile ride was completely uneventful (well...almost). No bad behaviors. It remained rock stead all the way to 80 MPH. No induced sway and very little up-down travel over bouncy areas of the road. It appears if I stay around 60-62 my MPG is going to hit around 10.2 - 10.5. I typically tow our other camper and my tractor around those speeds anyway...so I don't mind the slower pace.
The "well....almost..." part! I had aired up all the tires to 50 PSI. Everything looked good, no visible tire problems. I had previously pulled the specs on the tires and took a tread measurement. Over all, just a little over 1/32" wear. Basically new. They were the original 2013 tires (based on the DOT date stamp on the tires). My plan was to replace them after we had it home. About 35 miles into the trip, we heard a loud thud...followed by a mild vibration. We stopped immediately. The right rear on the trailer had blown apart in the tread area! I swapped out to the spare and we continued onward. Yep...I will be replacing all the tires before our next trip. So that search starts today.
So, we made it to our local campground on our way home and quickly got things set up. We took our time to go through systems, storage and starting developing our weight distribution plan for our stuff. It was a nice evening! It started raining Saturday morning and never stopped until late Saturday night. We do have a confirmed water leak on the slide. I honestly could not tell where it was originating. But I found the track it was following to where it was dripping to the floor. I tucked some paper towel in that area and put the tails of the towel in a glass to collect the water. Better there than soaking into the floor/wall area!
I have a couple of areas I will be looking at and also reading about where most folks are finding leaks. I believe it is coming from the lower half of the slide.
My worst fears were confirmed as I tried to shower in the micro-shower...although I was away of this going in... Too tiny and trying to keep water confined is a complete joke. I know I will be adding wings, a better shower curtain and the curtain will be weighted at the bottom to help keep it inside the micro-shower.
The mattress has got to be at least 1/2 of the total trailer weight...Dang! It also fits so tight that it can't be made unless you physically lift the mattress and pull it out and onto the counter top. This allowed enough room for Kathy to secure things against the front wall side. Even lifting the mattress and the storage deck(with its lift assist cylinders) is crazy difficult. I will be ordering a new, and lighter mattress, that will be of the foam variant. That will allow me to cut a few inches off of width and length to make making the bed much easier.
HVAC thermostat... This is a combined unit that leaves a lot to be desired (it is also possible that I still don't understand the directions or I am expecting more than it can deliver). There is no way to operate the gas heat and run the fan on the ducted roof air at the same time. Also, the fan setting has a Hi, Lo and Auto setting. Still no idea what the Auto part does. My assumption was it would activate either heat or cooling depending on ambient temp and temperature settings. None of this proved to be correct. I will read and search some more.
Beyond those few annoyances...we are very pleased with the SC-189. It seem to be a good fit for us. OK...time for lunch and then the search for the info and explanations I need!
As always...guidance and support is always appreciated! Thanks!
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