Lessons learned on our first time out
We camped for our first time out at Pueblo Reservoir in Pueblo Colorado with our TM3124KB. Actually, we wanted to take the camper out before the kids got back from their vacation with Grandma and Grandpa in Florida so we would know how everything worked...it's easier to do that with just the two of us. When we first got there, we looked around at everyone elses campers and realized that there were a lot of pop-ups, a few travel trailers and a HiLo but no other trailmanors that we could find. When setup time came, a few people came out to watch...I'm assuming...because they've never seen a trailmanor before and they've never ever seen a camper that size being pulled by a Honda Pilot. I think they were quite impressed too when our entire camper was up and running in less than 10 minutes...and they saw the before and after size so I had set it up in our driveway a time or two, but I was impressed that i could actually do it as easily at a campground. Now comes the fun part.
Leveling doesn't need to be that hard. Our Dewalt drill wasn't powerful enough to extend the jacks so there I was, trying to hand crank them down to level the camper...but wait!!! I have an electric tongue jack. Ah Ha...I used it to get the camper level front to back...then I extended the scissor jacks with the Dewalt drill so easily. No cranking required. It worked for side to side as well. Good Job!
Now, it had not had water put in it since I bought it until this trip, so I had a Campco filter that I bought at Walmart (something I had read on another post) that I installed between the water source and the hose. The water tasted great coming out of the hose so off I go to fill up the camper. I was so proud of myself that I did it all on my own (stay tuned at the end of the post to find out why )...so I went inside and turned on the pumps and WHALA I heard the water start filling the pipes...and filling the pipes....and filling the pipes...but the pump didn't turn off. Uh Oh. I checked the sinks, there wasn't any water coming out. Oh No, what is wrong. Well, after listening closely I heard water running outside. Oh No...I forgot to turn off the low point valves so all that water I'd just put in the tank ran right out. After turning off the valves, I filled up once again and this time everything worked...sinks and all. I filled up a 5 gallon bucket, heaved it inside the camper and poured it in the toilet...then I realized that I could have used the shower head just as easily. Another duh on my part. That sucker really does take a lot of water to fill it. So now, I have the water running, the toilet full and everything is as it should be. I must say I was quite impressed that I could actually cook, take a shower, hang out and watch a movie and sleep great (after buying a 3 inch memory foam) because until now, I've done nothing but camp in a tent. What an awesome experience. I definitely learned a lot about how the camper works and i wouldn't trade it for another one ever. Even dumping it was a breeze although I must say, they ought to make a spot for the sewer hose that is more easily accessible while the camper is closed. All in all though, it was a very successfull trip and I can't wait to take it out again.
(oh yea, for the part about setting it up by myself...my husband who was pulling the boat decided to keep driving even after the transom mount for the motor fell off. So needless to say, when we arrived at the campground, the 800lb motor was hanging half off the boat and the transom was ripped half off as well. He must have seen the look in my eyes because he went zooming out of there really fast to get stuff to hopefully fix the boat before something terrible happened to him...and there I was, left to set the camper up by myself which I didn't really mind. He did end up fixing the boat which I was quite impressed by, and we spent a great evening out on the lake which was like glass)
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