I looked around to see if there was a better place to post a trip report but nothing jumped out at me. Since I started this thread I figured it made some sense to keep it going for a while longer.
Arrived at Laguna Seca Raceway for the Sea Otter Classic mountain bike race Wednesday 4/13 and returned home Sunday 4/24. This was a relatively short trip. About an hour and a half each way.
Our son placed 19th out of 78 riders in the pro class. This is his first year pro. Some of the time the TM will be used as a race support station. He also did well in two other events. For anyone interested in race results check out their web site at
www.seaotterclassic.com
We have a lot of friends at the races that we have met over the years. Everyone that stopped by thought that the TM had some very clever engineering.
One stranger stopped by. He used to own a TM 2720 but traded it for a regular trailer. His wife could not tolerate the lack of air conditioning when camping in Spokane in the summer. It also was annoying to set up and take down in the heat he said. He also lives on 5 acres so storing it is not a problem.
In an earlier posting I had been inquiring about bucking like a bronco. I think this may have been caused by too low tire inflation. Apparently my local mechanic keeps my tires around 50 psi. This is great for driving around town empty. Apparently this wasn't very good for towing the TM home from the dealer. Factory recommendation on the sticker is 50 psi front and 80 psi rear. Tires are rated for 80 psi. My mechanic suggested 60 psi front and 70 psi rear when towing. He isn't fond of running tires at maximum pressure unless there is a good reason to. I liked the handling at 60 and 70 psi.
I don't like the McKesh mirrors. They vibrate. Based on comments from others I was expecting the vibration to be zero. This is what the factory mirrors deliver. At the race I checked out a similar truck that had the factory extendable mirrors. They are worthless. Extended out to the maximum setting they were still 3 inches too far in when compared to the distance I had selected for my McKesh mirrors. At least with the McKesh mirrors I could see behind me. It was just annoying that they jiggled so much. Also, the installation instructions don't warn you to loosen the three screws at the bottom of the mirror. The first time I attempted to adjust the mirror it cracked the glass. After loosening the mirror I could adjust it. However, it is difficult to find a screw tightness that is loose enough to allow adjusting the mirror and tight enough that it doesn't vibrate out of the adjusted position. This will become very annoying when we go on longer trips and alternate drivers. Every time we change drivers we will need to readjust the mirrors, which will require the use of an angled screw driver. I also don't think the bolt that attaches the mirror to the extension bracket should have arrived rusted. They should be bolts that can tolerate rain etc. Perhaps they should be stainless steel or galvanized. Not just cheap junk bolts with black paint on them. These bolts also wiggle loose. Maybe some locktite will help. The split ring washer was inadequate to hold one mirror in place. Driving home solo at freeway speed in heavy traffic I suddenly found that the passenger side mirror had swiveled so far out that I could not even see the glass mirror at all.
Batteries don't last long. I have two group 24 batteries. For Wednesday and Thursday nights we ran only one florescent light fixture each evening, except for brief intervals when looking for something. The furnace was used for half an hour Wednesday night and a little more Thursday night. The stereo was on 4 to 6 hours each day. By Friday morning it was showing Fair instead of Good. It wasn't clear to me that when I should charge the batteries, so I charged them Friday. Using the meter built into the TM how can you determine when you have reached the maximum recommended discharge level and know that it is NECESSARY to start the generator to charge them? I don't want to damage the battery from too much discharge and I also don't want to start the generator unnecessarily. Gotta figure that one out somehow.
I learned that the fridge can freeze tomatoes. It looks like if the daytime high is around 80 and the overnight low is below freezing then there is no single setting for the fridge that will work. So until I figure out a better way I will need to crank it up in the morning to a very cold setting and then set it back to a warmer setting when I go to bed. I want cold beer at high noon and I also don't want anything to freeze overnight.
My wife thinks the mattress is too hard while I think it is perfect. At home she thinks the mattress is perfect and I think it is too hard. Go figure.
The TM had plenty of storage for the trip, but it is not very convenient when in camp. For the first time in my life I have experienced the importance of "a place for everything and everything in its place". The straps that keep the curtains open are perfect for storing my reading glasses when not in use. The tops of the cabinet and closet are great for the TM binder (I had to look a lot of stuff up and it sure was nice having it handy) and other flat stuff. There was a tendency for clutter to accumulate on the counter top. No one want so put anything away after they take it out.
Not sure what to do about the toilet chemicals. The dealer recommended a quarter bottle. The documentation said to use the whole bottle. I decided it was easier to add some than to take some out, so I used a third of the bottle. After two days it didn't smell very nice so I added some. It still didn't smell very nice so I added the Potty Toddy tablet that I had forgotten about and the odor problem went away. Gotta fine tune that issue.
The brand new Farberware pots slide around on the stove very easily. Need to be careful about that before I end up with hot water in my lap.
The furnace worked well. Though it is a little noisy, at least it cranks out some pretty serious heat in a hurry. It can warm up the TM nicely in about 10 or 15 minutes.
Not knowing how much water we would use I took along 10 gallons of bottled water for coffee and cooking, plus the 40 gallons under the seat. The gauge shows a quarter tank remaining, but if I lift the seat to look at the side of the tank it is closer to half full. I plan on adding water to an empty tank, 5 gallons at a time, and calibrating it so I have a better idea of what the gauge actually means.
The holding tanks showed full earlier than I had expected. I don't know how full it actually was. I intend to calibrate that as well by adding water to the holding tank until the gauge shows full. Then add more water until it starts to back up in the shower. Then I'll know how much time I have left after the gauge shows full.
I’m going to look for some sort of round rod that will fit through the holes in the front and read rock shields when they are open. This will make a great place to dry towels in the sun.
Care must be exercised when setting up the bathroom walls. When swinging the side wall forward from the back wall it has a tendency to catch the lower wall at the bottom of the hinge. I have found that I need to lean against the rear bunk while performing this operation.
I’m glad we ordered vinyl floors instead of carpet. Camped in a paved parking lot we still had to sweep every other day. In the future I will be camped in dirt parking lots. Carpet would not hold up well for us. I am considering looking for remnant carpet, cut to fit, with edges hemmed. This would be nice to have in cold weather. We could take it out to clean when we get home. It should be cheap enough that I could replace it every five years or so.
Tear down went so well and quick that I left my wedding ring and watch inside. That wasn’t on any check list I saw!
My wife didn’t know she was supposed to remove the D cell batteries from the little fridge fan.
When I was swinging away the hitch in the garage I heard a fan running. I disconnected the batteries and the noise went away. I’ll have the TM open his weekend for a better cleaning and figure out what we left on.
I don’t remember turning off the water heater. Propane is off at the tanks and the battery is disconnected. I can’t image that any damage will occur. The check list without the reference to wedding rings and watches probably said to turn off the water heater, but us know it alls don’t look at check lists, even when we have them. Maybe next time.
Forgot to make sure the latches were clear before closing the top down. Had to lift it back up because one latch was jammed under the top. I don’t recall reading that in the check list. I’ll have to look that one up.
The bolts for one of the latches are loose. This is the latch that initially captures the top as you stand on the foot loop. It wiggles enough that it requires two people to close the TM. One to stand on the loop and another to close the spring loaded latch. I’ll try adjusting it, but it may need to go back to the dealer.
I plan on adding a tube for storing the sewer hose. This will free up some space in the bumper storage for other things that would be nice to have accessible while the TM is closed.
I had to wire the radio ignition lead to the battery. There was no time to install a switch as others have done. So I just pull the fuse when I close the TM so the radio has no power.
Forgot to turn the two outside lights off before going to bed. My son thought it was clever that there was a switch inside that would kill both lights without having to go outside. I wasn’t expecting to utilize that feature the first night.
That’s enough of my rambling for now. All in all the TM performed very well and we are quite pleased with it.
). I was once like that myself so I really do empathize.
Linear Mode
