Picking a trailer is like picking a wife! Mistakes are never forgotten!

[HeloSNA24]

Its more of an issue the farther you go down the national seashore and away from police near the piers. Definitely be packing.

[DES-1]

Thanks, sounds like there is safety in numbers. Would love to try the beaches some day.

[horn4life]

Definitely aware of the way salt eats away at everything. One of the reasons I did not want an outdoor kitchen!

I was already inventing a PVC contraption with two sprinklers that I could attach to city water and slide up beneath the undercarriage to wash off the sand and salt. Have pressure washer, extended soft brush scrubber, and ladder ready for cleaning EVERY time I return. I can't stop the corrosion, but cleaning thoroughly and spraying exposed metal surfaces with WD-40 is about all you can do. As well as paint every spot you see immediately.I was going to take a good look underneath and see what extra efforts I might make at sealing and
weatherproofing, once I made the final decision. I assume after crawling underneath I am going to find some areas that could use repainting to cover exposed metal somewhere. I want to be very proactive on the underside of whatever rig I buy. As an ounce of prevention beneath is easily a pound of cure from a rust perspective in areas that are not visible easily.

But you guys are right, in that ultimately salt wins.

As for the danger, in Corpus/ the Padre Island National Seashore- that was a weird deal where the poor folks befriended the wrong people and moved from the RV park down to the National Seashore agreeably and together. It was a tragedy, and none of the folks were locals. That being said I wouldn't boondock anywhere remotely without being armed. I was down in Port A right after the Hurricane and the beaches all were spooky and remote seeming. Without anyone for miles on the National Seashore I always plan on having a gun handy especially at night.

If you ever want to know what is going on on the coast you can take a look at Islandmoon to see pics of the water, beaches and they have a crime report every week. Mostly very boring indeed beyond thefts of opportunity. Here is beach cam link to Malaquite beach which is near the RV park in the National Park. It's got salt spray on it a lot of the time, but it shows the conditions and I like to look at it and dream of my new camper putting me there. https://www.nps.gov/media/webcam/vie...91DCA0B089397B

[horn4life]

IF you guys are interested in a free way to get some knowledge of the Port Aransas- North Padre Island area look this newspaper covers just the island. Sort of a mix of tourism and local goings on. I live vicariously in Austin via the fishing and nature pics they usually have.Home

As for crime the murders down the national seashore, that was a weird deal where two couples befriended each other at the RV park them moved down south to the park supposedly agreeably and willingly. Some good folks befriended the wrong damn people, who were basically on the run from the cops and the guy was going back to prison whenever he finally got caught. I think that's basically the story. None were locals.

Salt eats everything, and the one thing you always see the smart locals do is at the minimum drive thought a rinse down at the car wash every time they leave the beach. Unless their car is already a rusty heap. I was already designing my PVC hillbilly under spray system to rinse off the under carriage of both truck and camper. Power washer, ladder, soft brush with hose attachment and a few hours after each trip is about all I can do. Knowing eventually the salt will win. Clean the crap out of everything and spray exposed areas before and after trips with WD-40 is the best I can probably do. Eventually the salt wins.

One thing I thought I would also do is crawl around underneath to look for gaps in paint, or fit and finish. Maybe do some additional weatherproofing/ painting before ever heading to the coast.

[horn4life]

Thanks for the replies guys, and sorry for the duplicate posts. They got black holed as they system thought I was a spammer.

FYI there are a LOT of folks that winter on the Texas beaches and have been regulars coming for years and years. IF you like to fish and have time available in the fall, fishing the Texas coast from mid September until late October you can catch tons of fish in the Surf. The redfish in particular come out of the bays and cruise the beaches. The water is still warm enough to swim and enjoy, and the Summer yahoos are gone.

thx again

[lswartz]

Originally Posted by horn4life

Thanks for the replies guys, and sorry for the duplicate posts. They got black holed as they system thought I was a spammer.

FYI there are a LOT of folks that winter on the Texas beaches and have been regulars coming for years and years. IF you like to fish and have time available in the fall, fishing the Texas coast from mid September until late October you can catch tons of fish in the Surf. The redfish in particular come out of the bays and cruise the beaches. The water is still warm enough to swim and enjoy, and the Summer yahoos are gone.

thx again

You devil you, now I am hungry for fish.

[horn4life]

Well... pulled the trigger today. I came close to pulling the trigger on a new Sonic but this was the trailer for us. The 2017 Coachmen Freedom Express 246RKS is the right "woman."

Over two weeks ago, before I ever posted here I said "this is the one" to my wife. But the owner never replied to my email. I thought I would shoot another email to them and I got a quick call back. The trailer was available! IT was immaculate other than cracking decal on the front. Never used the microwave, used the outdoor cooktop maybe once, and a temperpedic style mattress! Super OCD owners and she wanted it to go to a good home. Got the weight distributing hitch, all the goodies. There was a slight scrape along the bottom edge of the slide out where they had brushed against something, but other than that... perfect!

My next purchase is a new truck and I really did not want to take out a note on a trailer as well. Which would have been the case had I bought new. At around $10K less that I was gonna spend on a new rig, a $15K sale price was just what the doctor ordered. She wanted $16,700, and I think she was actually happy to sell it to me for the lower price. Her partner had passed away and that's why she was selling it. It was just too big for her to handle alone.

So the search is over! Now I gotta go find a truck. I think since I didn't take a note out on the trailer we may get a long bed Chevy 2500 HD. The ultimate dream is street legal golf cart to chase fish along the beach, and as a second vehicle for dinner or errands. I think I can just fit a lifted golf cart in the long bed, and the 2500 towing capacity will make the load effortless.