Wild two First days out

[Montana_2627]

Just gave our new rig(and us)it's first shakedown run. Of course we had to pick the worst weather days so far this year in central Al. If you learn form mistakes then we have learned a ton. Here's the quick list
1. How to set up in the pouring rain.
2. Dealers don't tell you they shut the water heater bypass on and forget to put the clip back on the switch.
3. A universal water heater element costs around $10 - the special wrench costs $5 (and its not long enough to use without some re-engineering!!!)
4. Don't have your awning up when a cold front is coming in at 12:30am. Also remember it it takes two to release the pressure on the "winder" and release the latch at the same time so the awning will reurn to the "stored" position.
5. You can still move around in a 315RLS when 12 of your friends stop by at once.
6. It gets awful cold inside your unit when it is 20F outside at 3 am and you run out of propane. Walmart sells propane 24-7
7. 10 ft of sewer hose won't make a 15ft stretch and the camp store may have an additional 10ft section but not the splice adapter, but they will have a 20 ft hose.
8. 2 days is not enough time to enjoy your new rig!!!

Hey! At least now I know!

[stiles watson]

Welcome to the "learning curve." I wish I could tell you that you have used up all the possible mistakes on you maiden voyage, but.....I'll just bet you can make lemonade out of lemons. Happy RVing.

[DHenry]

But just think of the memories you will always have. Enjoy.

[trukdoc]

I had a little laugh out loud reading of your first adventures. I know we all thought we had it planned out, and get out the first time and realize there is a lot we missed. We swapped from a 27' Class C Motorhome to a 34'11" 5er. I swapped sewer and water hoses to the new rig. The dealer gave us a starter kit that included a sewer hose and various other items.
All was uneventfull till we got to the RV park on Thanksgiving day, only to find out they had a problem with the water and our site had no water. Had to hunt for a place to get water filled up the tank, good to go.
We get backed in somewhat lever, as I am being rushed by the navigator who is standing there with a Turkey in her hands waiting for me to stop long enough for her to jump in. She is yelling to me that the oven would not light. So I stop set up to get oven lit. It took a long time for some reason to get air out of line. I had the stove lit. Figured it shoud have took right off. I was about to the point we had our first warranty claim when it finally lit. So I am back to set up.
Get all 3 slides out and we are hanging into our neighbors site. But I cannot move over due to my neighbor has the same problem. Older RV sites were not made with slides in mind. I had told them of the slides when we made our reservations, I guess they figured I would make due, I did. My neighbors who had a small tagalong were pretty cool about it.
Grab my 20' sewer hose from the MH. It was way too long for the MH but was way too short for the 5er. But I have the handy second hose from the dealer. It was a nice jesture but was about 5 ft long. Still needed 5 more feet. Walmart along with everything is closed at this point.
So with reservations we still ended up "Boondocking it"
We had a great trip. Cannot wait to get out again.
We now have lots of sewer hose, about 50' with couplers to spare. I figured several short ones were better than one long one. Got plenty of electrical cord. 100' of water hose. They can move the connections where they want I can still reach them.

Merry Christmas and Happy holidays to all in RV land.
Rick

[Bill and Ann]

Sweeper Dr : You will learn everything the hard way. You will find that pretty soon you will be able to put the awning up yourself at 3am because you won't have any help from the spouse at that hour. Believe me.

[sreigle]

Ah, yes, I think much of what I have learned has been from mistakes! Thanks for the stories. I'm glad you had a good time despite the "problems".

I'm surprised you ran out of propane in two days, though. Your dealer should have supplied two FULL tanks. I keep both tanks open and watch for the red flag to tell me the one the handle points to is empty so I can switch the handle to the other one, close the first one and get it refilled before the second runs out. Actually, I added a remote changeover indicator to flash a light in the rig when the red flag goes up so I don't have to keep checking it.

You'll learn to do the awning yourself. When I release the pressure on the tube and flip the handle I also have the awning strap and awning rod in one hand and an arm holding the tube of the awning down. After flipping the handle I "walk" the awning strap to near the center of the tube while holding down the tube with the other arm. Then let the tube go up aways, hook rod to strap and let it go the rest of the way. You'll learn the technique!

Thanks for letting us know how it went.

[Random Line]

At some point you will quit calling yourself a newbie. But that is just a matter of longevity because you will find out something new about everytime you launch on another voyage. Some of the new things are minor inconveniences, some are major problems, some are intesting and others embarassing. Just say, "Thats RVing" and remember the good times and learn from the others.

Somebody said, "Experience is what you get when you were expecting something else."

[BillyRay]

just think of all the fun and laughs you'll have sitting at a campfire 5 yrs. from now telling that story!

[joe2speed]

Don't feel bad, we have all been there making the same mistakes in the beginning. You will learn a little more each time out. Don't be afraid to ask questions. There will always be someone to help you, campgrounds are full of friendly and helpfull people.

[rames14]

I am reminded of one of my favorite sayings - "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger". Fortunately, all of the stories I read were humorous with no "deadly" consequences. As Steve said, most of what we learn is from mistakes. Enjoy your new home on wheels.

[Little Rascal]

We've had our share of "laughs" during our first few set ups and I'm sure that there'll be more...it seems that each campsite presents it's own unique challenges. What I found somewhat funny is that each CG has it's share of "experienced campers" around that will either come out and offer assistance OR stand at your campsite and observe your personalized set-up techniques. They always seem to come out of their rigs at the most stressful time of our set-up--when we're backing in to the site. I'm sooooo thankful for those walkie talkies...atleast now, they don't hear me hollering at my husband...with these handy little things, I can "talk" to him rather than "yell" to be heard.

[Parrothead]

Everyone has stories of those "first" adventures and other incidents. Once we were parked on the North Calif. coast, Ed had gone to our stick home in So. Calif., our awning was up, a storm also came up and in 80 mph winds I decided the awning need to be rolled up at 3 am. I litteraly laid on the awning spread eagle to keep it down while i tried to roll it up. No damage but a fun story.

[Montana_2296]

We just got back from our first trip out in this trailer. It sure tows better than our old one. When we got to the CG, 1000 Trails Soledad Canyon, We could not find a spot in our usual area. So we went across the way and boy were we lucky! It didn't have full hookups, but at least the road out was still there when we left! We traded from another trailer so we had everything in order. Almost. We had to go back to the house to pick up our waste water tote as we quickly filled our gray water (love the new shower!). We had lost an awning on the old rig due to high winds so we are a little skittish about that still. We did find out what everyone is saying about the water pump, it can wake the dead!

Happy camping from us and "The Boys"

Jeff and Elaine

[sreigle]

I must have missed something. Did the road in the other area get flooded out with all that rain or something?