Winter is the time for new Toyz

[Tim5055]

Well, I have a couple of new toyz.

I love my Detachable Power Cord but always hated putting it in the truck or pop up when wet or muddy.  Lookie what I found, a custom designed bag for the Marinco power cords.

Next, I have been using a so so at best auto charger to charge my batteries.  So now I have a true 3 stage charger.  Check it out near the bottom of my Adding a Battery Page.

Robert, I'm catching up :J

[2manytoyz]

You've got a LONG way to go my friend!  My coworker plays "keeping up with Robert".  I caused him to buy a Roomba over the Christmas holidays.   :J    He got me back though, my Garmin iQue 3600 GPS/PDA arrives tomorrow.  He gave me a demo and I was sold.  Got him before that, I made him buy an Etrex Legend GPS.  Oh, I made 4 other coworkers buy one too!  We've been playing this game for the past 10 years.  He's about ready for retirement, and he's been looking at Popups for years.  In fact, he was at the mall during an RV show back in 95.  He walked up to look at one and saw us signing the paper on the one we still own.  Since they are planning on fulltiming it for a while, he decided not to play fair this time.  He's looking at a 32' Class A.    :eek:   I told him he wins for now.  In the meantime, I'll looking to buy a Lincoln Mig welder early next month.  He wants one too and has been digging through all the literature I've collected.  I'm already planning on welding up a shelf on the front of my camper's frame...

Neat goodies.     I'd love to get one of those self retracting power cords used on the motorhomes, but they are just too expensive.  The nice thing about your power cord is not having it jam up when trying to stow it.  I've had things shift in the cabinet after closing up the camper, which prevented the cable from being pushed back into the camper.  Took some finesse, and luckily didn't have to open the camper.

Food for thought... If you put a power jack on both sides of your camper, you'll never run into one of those campsites where the power post is on the wrong side.     You'd probably need to put in a switch to select which side you will be using to prevent making the prongs on the unused jack "hot".
 
Thou shalt not try to keep up with Robert's toyz.  Else he shall show you his tool collection (my real weakness).  Arh! Arh! Arh!   :eek:    

[B-flat]

Next time I go down the road and see a tool trailer being towed behind a popup, I will know it is 2manytoyz.:J   I guess no one every has enough stuff to work with and to think that my kitchen is over equipped!  When anyone need a tool at the campground, they ask me and I usually have just what they need, though.:cool:

[2manytoyz]

True Story...

We went on a 7500 mile camping trip from FL to Yellowstone -n- back.  While in Colorado, a fellow camper walks up and says "you look like you know something about electronics".  Now was he telling me I looked like a geek or what?

Anyway, I do.  So he tells me he has a new fifth wheel trailer, and the power converter is dead.  The house lights are 12V, and though he's plugged into shore power, the batteries aren't charging.  I get out my DVM, and climb into the underbelly of his trailer.  Yep, dead converter.  Fuses fine, getting shore power, no go.  Dead unit, covered under warranty.  What to do?

Among the many other things I had with me, I brought a 10A battery charger.  I hooked it up, he had house lights, and more importantly, his batteries were now charging.  Turns out he was going to be there another 3 days, so were we, so I told him to keep it until we were ready to roll.  He was amazed I'd loan out the charger to a stranger.  I told him if he could afford that rig, he wasn't likely to steal a $70 charger!

Turns out he worked as a campground evaluator for Trailer Life.  He insited I take a new TL Campground Directory.  He had a stack in his camper.  

I take tools galore when I go.  Tire plug kit, compressor, soldering iron, meter, etc., etc.  Always glad to help anyone out.

Most difficult thing I've replaced on a previous TV at campground to date: a fuel pump.  Also have changed oil (recycled it of course), and changed spark plugs.  I've taken a spare fuel pump, hoses, belts, and spare trailer bearings...

Be prepared - I'm an ex boyscout, does it show?   :W

[Venatic]

Be prepared - I'm an ex boyscout, does it show?

It sounds like you have more schtuff with you than what DW carries in her purse!

[B-flat]

OK, I'm was a Girl Scout, became a leader, helped my brother in Boy Scouts (he went on to be an Eagle & did the Europe camping trip) and also I was a Cub leader when my DS got into it.  Yes, I am prepared for most emergencies.  It's good insurance that the Murphy's law of camping doesn't kick in.

[labontefan]

I discovered this board when I bought my popup in October 2002. I was a complete rookie and found tons of helpful info here (still do). Someone--wish I could remember who--posted a list of things you should always carry in your PU. Included were a battery charger and a 1/2 ton scissors jack. So I went to Wal-Mart and bought 'em and put 'em in the front storage trunk. Haven't had to use the battery charger yet, but I like knowing I have it.

The scissors jack has a nice hard plastic carrying case. It's not large, but it's pretty heavy for its size. On about the 3rd or 4th trip in the PU, Debbie, the friend I usually go camping & to the races with, asked (after moving the jack out of the way for about the 10th time), "Why do we have this thing?" I said, "Because someone at PopUpTimes said it was a good idea." She kinda rolled her eyes, but left it at that.

Then last spring when we camped at Martinsville, we found ourselves on a bit of a downhill grade. I got the PU leveled side to side, but even with the tongue jack cranked all the way up, I couldn't get it leveled front to back. (And I really didn't like having the tongue jack cranked all the way up--didn't seem real stable.) We were trying to figure out what to do. I have a set of Lynx Levelers, and remarked that if we could get a couple of the Lynx Levelers under the wheel of the tongue jack, that should do it. But how to get the wheel up on the levelers??? The PU was already unhitched. And then I remembered the scissors jack!  Cranked the tongue jack back down, got the scissors jack out and positioned it under the tongue. We cranked it up (ended up having to put IT on a couple of levelers to get enough height), and were able to get about four of the levelers under the wheel of the tongue jack. I was then able to level the PU front to back, and without having to crank the tongue jack all the way up.

That one incident made the scissors jack worth what I paid for it (which wasn't much), and none of us complain about having to move it out of the way to get to other stuff anymore!


Speaking of new toys...I bought a Dremel tool today. Does that count?  

[B-flat]

Ann, it's great to know that women here also have their tools just like the guys and that we know how to use them when it becomes necessary. In fact, I get questions about why I do certain things like leveling from front to back and side to side from the guys in the adjoining sites from time to time. Some of them don't do things seriously like I do. Of course all of us here have graduated from PUT university and know exactly how to set up a popup. That includes the proper procedure for the stabilizers to be lowered.:eek:

[labontefan]

Debbie and I started camping at the race tracks back in 1997--with a borrowed tent and a bunch of borrowed gear the first time. We had such a blast I bought a 4-room cabin tent, a screen house, and a ton of other stuff before the next trip. After setting up camp several times, we sort of developed a routine on who did what and when...and we pretty well knew what we were doing (after lots of trial and error, of course). We arrived at Martinsville for one of the spring races and found a space between a couple of guys (40ish mostly) in a pop-up and another couple of guys (20ish) with a pickup camper (the kind that fits in the bed of the truck). The younger guys were sitting in a screen house behind the truck when we got there. We started unloading all our gear (and we had a LOT) and setting up camp, and they started talking to us, making "cute" little remarks about, "You girls let us know if you need any help." "Now don't wait till the tent falls on you," and so on. We just politely said "No, thank you."

The tent was a bit complicated to put up (took two people for sure), but we pretty much had it down to a system. After watching us NOT make any mistakes, and get things set up pretty efficiently (without their assistance), they kinda quieted down. Finally they went back into the camper. Guess we weren't as much entertainment as they thought we'd be! LOL!!

Another time at Bristol, it was calling for rain, so I took this 35-foot tarp that I had and stretched it over the tent and the screen house. On one side, I used tent stakes and bungee cords to anchor it. On the other side, I bungeed it to my Jeep (to the wheel hubs).

It did rain and it got pretty windy, but when we got back from the track, the tarp was still there, and our stuff was dry. Several other folks had put tarps over their tents, but most had blown down or blown away. One guy walked up to us and said, "You girls did a good job! Yours is the only tarp that didn't blow away."

I was a whiz with tarps and bungee cords! I used to say if you gave me enough of each, I could build a house!  :J

I think we tend to attract some attention at the tracks, because folks aren't used to seeing a bunch of women camping by themselves. There are three of us that travel together regularly now, and another one or two that join us pretty frequently.

Now if I could just learn to back the PU, I'd show 'em all!! (Maybe I should post that on the thread about "what do you want to learn this year"--I want to learn to back the PU. I'm hoping between now and the Bristol race next month, I can grab a chance to take the PU to a big deserted parking lot somewhere and practice, practice, practice!)

Getting longwinded here--but since we're talking about tools and toys...I spent Christmas with some family in Knoxville, TN. I was staying at my cousin's house. She's the same age as me, and has a 23-year old DD. DD and DD's BF were at my cousin's house Christmas night and we were opening packages. I opened one from my brother and it was one of the lights on a strap that you can wear on your head. I was really tickled (can't remember the times I've tried to hold a Maglite in my teeth because I ran out of hands). I was talking about how much I needed it, when I noticed the BF looking at me oddly. You could see he was thinking, "That's a guy thing! Why is she so excited?" So I said, "I go camping a lot." He nodded, and said, "Oh, OK." The next package I opened, also from my brother and SIL, was a nice pair of binoculars. Again, I was exclaiming over them, and again I saw this weird look from him. So I said, "I go to the races a lot." He said, "Oh, OK" again. But, when I opened the handy little Brookstone toolkit in a nice carrying case and exclaimed, "Oh, this is one of the things I wanted!!", I think he just gave up on me then! LOL!!

[Tim5055]

Now if I could just learn to back the PU, I'd show 'em all!! (Maybe I should post that on the thread about "what do you want to learn this year"--I want to learn to back the PU. I'm hoping between now and the Bristol race next month, I can grab a chance to take the PU to a big deserted parking lot somewhere and practice, practice, practice!)

You have the right idea, a high school parking lot on a Sunday afternoon!

The best advice I can give you about backing is get in the habit of holding the wheel with one hand at the bottom (6 o'clock position) when backing.  Holding the wheel there just move your hand in the direction you want the trailer to move. Then, practice, practice, practice!

[labontefan]

I read somewhere...maybe a PUT article about backing--about sort of visualizing the hands of a clock. If you're standing in front of the TV looking at the PU and you want the PU to turn to 2 o'clock, then when you turn the steering wheel, you turn it so the TV is at 2 o'clock.

That seemed to work for me. When I tried to back into a campsite back in October, I tried that. I got the PU at exactly the angle I wanted and headed into the campsite perfectly. However, then I ran into problems because the PU just needed to go straight back, and the TV was at a severe angle to the PU (the site was right on a curve in the road to complicate matters). I wasn't sure how to keep the PU going straight when the TV was at an angle to it. And I had the road blocked and two vehicles were waiting to get by so that was added pressure. After a few minutes, the guy in one of the waiting vehicles got out and offered to back it in for me. I let him!  Figured I couldn't get too much more embarassed!   (BTW, this was my first attempt at backing into a campsite.)

[2manytoyz]

A confession:

Okay, I admit, I LOVE watching others back their campers into the campsite!  Sick fascination I know, but enjoyable nonetheless.   :p

We put out our chairs and face them towards an empty campsite if possible.  Then wait and watch.

Some of you are proficient, and lack any entertainment value.  Others, well, more fun that anything on TV!  Especially if it takes several tries, poor communication with the spotter, and short fuses.  The yelling ensues.  Ah, fun.

For those who haven't mastered the backing skills, you have a weekend assignment.  Grab a few cardboard boxes, and find an empty parking lot on Sunday (school?).  Preferably one without light poles nearby.  Set up 3 boxes.  One on each side, one in back.  Take walkie talkies (FRS radios are excellent) so the spotter can talk to the driver.  This is a TEAM function.  Can't stress that enough!

Approach from different angles until you get the hang of how the trailer moves in relation to the tow vehicle.  Important detail for your spotter to learn too.  You will both learn about turning too sharp and not turning soon enough.

I've said this before, but I'll do so again... my wife and I are a great team.  I usually stop at the edge of the campsite and we both assess the layout.  Look at trees for low branches that might hit the camper once the roof is raised, obstacles I could hit, where the fire ring is, and the location of water/electric hookups.  Within a minute, we've decided the best spot, and I mark where I want the left trailer tire to rest.  Keep your spotter on the left side so you can see them.  I usually get the trailer exactly where we planned on the first attempt.  Not lucky, just lots of practice, and I trust my spotter.  There are a few times that the trees force a slight jog before we can get the right angle.

On a recent camping trip, we watched a couple with a big Class A back right into a tree.  Spotter was worthless, driver didn't get out and look at the dangers, they had no method of communication except for yelling, and he even had a video camera on the back of the rig, but didn't use it.  The spotter stood next to the side of the rig, and couldn't see what was behind the rig.  Oooh, nice crease in the rear bumper and spare tire cover.  The good news is the tree was unharmed.   :eek:    

Easy skill to learn, now go do your homework!

[B-flat]

Ah, Robert, the classic story of watching others mess up their backing into the campsites.  Well, I'm a woman who grew up on a farm and at an early age I was driving tractors with trailers, big farm trucks, combines, corn pickers and other stuff around the farm.  Backing up perfectly was one of the skills I learned very early.    I admit, though, that some of the folks coming to the campgrounds are all nerves by the time they get there and no matter what there's going to be a big fight.  Meanwhile the rest are all sitting around with their cold ones in hand to watch the show.   It only takes a little practice to get it perfect.

[campingcop]

I can only add this on backing up, take it slow and easy, both on the gas peddle and the stearing wheel.