Lessons learned on the fly

[austinado16]

I'm still learning this one, thankfully, each time "class" has been held, it's been in the driveway:  

Make sure to check all the dome lights and map lights to make sure none have been left on.  There's nothing like the sound of the ignition switch clicking into start mode, followed by silence. :banghead:

[austinado16]

Just thought of another one.

Consider how much of the rear bumper you're going to tear off when you go down a driveway ramp and out into the street.  

I've actually put fixed mounted (non-swiveling) castors under my camper to prevent bumper damage because it was always scraping and the previous owner had torn one side almost completely off.

[jeezy]

We only got the new to us last year PUP out three times, but hit on many of these.  This thread has me rolling.  We still don't remember to plug in the external AC before popping up.  I've had that moment of panic when the roof wouldn't come down, only to slap my head as I realized the door was still in.  Don't get me started on the awning.  We did, indeed, put on a good show.  I'm still not sure we do it right, but it's up, so that's what matters, right?

Thanks for the laughs and for making me feel better now that I know I'm not the only one.  

[tverbryke]

Opening your awning when PUP is half way up allows the shorter wife (me) to reach and help.  Also gives a much needed break for winded crank-er (husband).

[rockhoundcamper]

Greetings All!
    I was on my way back from southwest Arkansas to the St. Louis area. As I neared the AR/MO border on I-55 I noticed black chunks flipping up in back of the trailer. "Heeeey. Wait a minute!" I thought to meself. "I don't remember there being tire chunks on the road to avoid, and I didn't feel the bumpbump of running over tire chunks. Maybe I should pull over and check the tires." The tire on the traffic side was fine. The spare was fine (luckily). But the "passenger side" tire had 98% of the tread GONE!!  :eyecrazy:  I was proud of myself that I thought of putting down the rear stabilizers after using the car jack to raise the trailer! Drove slowly to the next exit with services and re-checked all tire pressures, then back on the road. So now I'm checking all the threads about buying trailer tires!

[cyclone]

If you keep a container of any kind to hold the "small stuff" - ALWAYS check it before taking down the pop.  We have one of those small Rubbermaid drawer things that rides on the floor of the pup when it's down.  Of course, it's behind a bunch of other stuff which rides in the aisle.  SO - one trip we had completed the whole process of taking down the camper and discovered that the keys to the camper (and padlock) were still in the drawer-thingie.  Oops.  This time that drawer thing is holding my watch for safe-keeping.  (yes, since the last trip we took in September).  I decided that it wasn't my "good" watch and it could wait a few weeks until the next trip.  Umm...that was a good plan until I got sick and wasn't able to do that next trip.  One of these days (soon) I'll get that watch back out of there.  ANd, from now on I'm checking to make sure all important stuff is removed from that container.

[4Campers]

This is a good and funny thread. Yes, I'm guilty of almost all these things. After all these years though, my goof is always to forget to pull open the awning before popping up. Seems like the first time out each season this happens.
My best (years ago as a newbie) was trying to hitch up the pup with the stabilizer jacks still down. Had the entire front end up in the air and couldn't figure out why the hitch wasn't moving to meet the ball any better. The pup looked funny balanced on the two rear stabilizer jacks and the one front wheel, kind of like a tricycle!

[Bicycle Campers]

Great thread! So far all we are guilty of is leaving stuff on the roof and cranking it out of sight. Thanks for learning all these lessons for us. I never even thought about popping a wheelie! :yikes: I'm making many mental notes. Hope I can remember all of them :rolleyes:  bikerHen

[az951]

make sure the ends of your bunk end supports aren't cracked,  a nice surprise at 3am when it decided to give out,  not fun.

[WV Hillbilly]

When you check tire air pressure be sure to check the spare...   If you do need the spare you'll want it at the correct air pressure or you'll end up with another flat! :eyecrazy:  :eyecrazy:

[Haroki]

Contrary to what the Starcraft literature says, the "light plug" WILL NOT keep the battery charged when you have the fridge on DC while driving to your destination.

Sucks when you drive all day, only to have your lights so dim you can barely see....

[austinado16]

Contrary to what the Starcraft literature says, the "light plug" WILL NOT keep the battery charged when you have the fridge on DC while driving to your destination.

Sucks when you drive all day, only to have your lights so dim you can barely see....

I wonder if you're not getting full voltage from your Chevy's alternator back at the camper?  Your hundred-and-whatever amp alternator should have plenty of power to run the 8watt heater in the fridge, be charging the camper battery, and still keep up with the a/c and other loads in your truck.

Maybe do an amperage test back at the camper plug and see how much is actually making it back there.  You might need to either run 2 supply wires for that circuit, or 1 much larger gauge wire.

[Haroki]

I wonder if you're not getting full voltage from your Chevy's alternator back at the camper?  Your hundred-and-whatever amp alternator should have plenty of power to run the 8watt heater in the fridge, be charging the camper battery, and still keep up with the a/c and other loads in your truck.

Maybe do an amperage test back at the camper plug and see how much is actually making it back there.  You might need to either run 2 supply wires for that circuit, or 1 much larger gauge wire.

Oh, that was the first thing I did when I got back from my first trip. The fridge heater isn't 8 watts, it's 80 or 100 watts.

The truck wiring was ok, it was 12 ga for the battery charge wire, so I put an ammeter from it directly to the camper battery and turned on the dc for the fridge, and was getting 12 amps (x13.5V = 163W). But through the plug/camper wiring i was only getting 5 amps.

I ended up putting in a relay off the battery with a separate ground to the frame, used 8 ga wire, and ran it through a 50 amp quick connect jumper cable plug and everything is fine now. I put a battery load tester on the battery with set up - basically an electric heating element that draws 1000W - and get 30+ amps from the truck now. A bit of overkill there, LOL...

[BirdMan]

There are some things you can do without while pup camping.  BUT, while setting up in the dark and you hear DW saying (OK, yelling) "Where's the rest of the food?" you should NEVER answer "it's all in the coolers".

At 9am the next morning I was making a two hour trip (each way) to the nearest store for groceries!

Don't forget to get all the food out of the spare refrigerator when packing.  I got the freezer stuff, but did not get anything out of the extra refrigerator.

[kjrjr]

Brand new one learned just this morning. Don't let your animal loving daughter feed the stray cat that wanders into the camp site. Before this trip I had one cat I didn't really want, now I have two. I am a complete pushover.

The clincher was when the ranger said the cat had been in the campground for about two weeks and no one had come back for him. He didn't want to take him to the pound because they would just euthanize him. So my signature is not quite correct anymore, add 2 @#*&% cats.