Well the first really nice (no wind) 50+ degree day and I thought now was a good time to go "try out" all the new toys I have collected for the winter. We are preparing for our 4,250 miles from from New Hampshire to New Mexico in under a month. We are very excited (and nervous) as this is the longest trip I have ever taken. I have flown to Miss. but that was in a plane and required no thought or planning.
Ourdealer, Traffords RV of Conway, NHput our trailer up for the season on their large storage lot above the sales lot. They returned it to it's spot after changing the axles out this past week (looks great, no more odd angles to the tires!!!)
I brought along some of my new toys:
Champion 4K Genny
Porter Cable pancake 6 gal air compressor
Two BAL chock locks
60" alum. bunk ladder with docking station
Multi-tip interchangable drive set
Garmin 255W GPS
The camper was sitting proud ontop of the lot in a row of Carriages (talk about $$$$) and I re-installed the deep cycle battery. I fired up the genny (2nd pull after sitting for a month) and connected the camper. I put out the slides and all was well. From inside the Champion is a mere hummmmmmmm and it ran everything well.
I tried installing the bunk ladder but the dealerships supplier sent the wrong one, instead of the docking station it was the plain-Jane "hook" and it didn't work. No harm no foul, the dealership re-ordered the correct one for us.
The BAL locks fit nicely and the included racheting drive is nice. I really think these work great- as I snooped around the camper the kids used the bunk room to give them a good try out!!!!!! They jumped around and all seemed secure and stable. I would like to install a front jack stab. system eventually to take care of the side to side rocking that occurs.
I didn't get to try the new drive as it was going to be used to install previously mentioned bunk ladder!!!!!
I found nothing out of the ordinary in the camper, although the wild swings in temp's have put some condensation on the roof vent covers, so I partially opened the roof vents to help the camper "breathe" a bit more. No sign of Mickey (or Minney) mouse which is always good news. No obvious leaks, cracks, damage or otherwise unwanted winter issues we can have up here. (knocking heavily on wood!!!!!)
Any advice any of you fine folks can offer for us prior to our trip would be graciously accepted as we "think" we have everything. The Garmin got us to the dealership and I loved the accuracy and "spoken" street names and directions.