First outing in 2720SL

My wife and I picked up a 2007 TM 2720SL on Saturday and were on the road on Sunday. We thought we were going to be dry camping so I did fill the 20 gal freshwater tank. Pulled the TM with our Jeep Liberty 3.7 and was happy with how well the set up towed. Perfectly adequate power in varied road conditions including maintaining 60 mph going up the Conjeo grade (at 4200 rpm though). We do have an eaz WDH but no sway control. Prodigy brake controller (worked fine - no issues at all).
The dry camping area we went to was full (no reservations allowed so we just took our chances) so we resorted to Plan B which was a full hook up trailer park in Buellton, CA. Very nice.
Setting up the TM (first time) was pretty easy. No surprises. Flipped on the air (105 degrees outside) and it didn't work. I was plugged into shore power but it took me ten minutes to realize I had to flip the breaker switch on the park power to make the juice run (hey, I'm new to this!). Air worked really well after that. Tweaked the a/c vents a little and they pushed air both to the rear and to the front of the TM very effectively.
Started the fridge on propane and it took probably an hour to even confirm that it was getting cold and hours after that before the fridge was useable for its intended purpose. In the future, I'll cool it down before a trip and run on battery (with the refer fan on) on the way to our destination.
Starting the water heater was a bit of a mystery. I did light the burners on the stove before I attempted to use propane for anything including the fridge and the water heater. I did run the faucets, shower, and outside shower before I tried the water heater as I understood that all air was to be expelled from the pipes first to insure that there was water in the heater itself. We did have a water hook up so I was not using the 20 gal internal water tank, nor the water pump. I expected to be lighting a pilot light at the water heater outside but it turned out that just flipping the switch below the sink to the on position was all it took. Hot water was available (propane heated) in fairly short order. The red light to the right of that switch remains a mystery as I am not sure what it is trying to tell me at any given time.
Using the toilet and shower was easy. The chem smell from the toilet is "there" but not bad even in the heat we were camping in. At the end of the trip, I dumped the black water first, then the grey, then filled the toilet again with just water from the shower to the charge mark, flushed to recirculate, and then filled all the way to full, flushed some more, and dumped the toilet again through the sewer hose. Left the toilet empty for the return trip.
Tried to dump the 20 gallon fresh water tank before the return trip so that I would not have to carry that weight. To do this, I opened the petcocks and some water did flow out. But it did not keep flowing. Eventually, I tried starting the water pump and that shoved the water out of the low drain points so I guess that it the way one does it. I then shut off the water pump and continued the drive home.
By the way, at night it was cool enough not to need the air conditioner at all. We opened the windows at the front and back of the TM and ran the fantastic fan (pulling air out of the TM). This worked very well in pulling outside air through the open windows for a cool breeze inside the unit all night.
Stove is stainless steel and has a build in piezio (sp?) electric starter. This work great. Couldn't get the outside patio lights on no matter how many times I flipped the little black switches below them. Next day I discovered the rather clearly marked "patio lights" switch inside the TM next to the door. Voila -- patio lights worked just fine.
We are very pleased with our TM and found that setting up and taking down was easy (ok, we did do a couple of things out of order but very quickly realized our errors and up and down really was easy). All systems that we tried worked as advertised and we are looking forward to our next trip.

A bit of help for draining your tank,

You do not need to use the pump (although if you are winterizing do cycle the pump once you think you have drained everything to remove the water in the pump housing)

It sounds like you were drawing a vacumm on your system. For all but the FW tank you need to open up an inside faucet to allow air in. For winterizing, open all of the faucets (including the outside shower) to prevent any runs of piping from not draining - ALWAYS ENSURE YOU HAVE TURNED OFF THE HOT WATER HEATER FIRST.

The FW tank is on the depressurized side of the piping system and should have drained freely with air coming in through the vent that is part of the external filling connection. If I remember correctly (and if it didn't change for the 07 year model) the tank in the 2720 is under the sink. See if you can trace the line from the tank to the connection in the sidewall and ensure that the vent line is not crimped or pinced somewhere impeeding the flow of air into the tank. Air should flow freely into the tank (to replace water as you use your on board tank) otherwise you would end up drawing a vaccum on your tank which could lead to damage to your pump.

So congradulations on overcoming your first trip obstacles. While you overcame the draining problem this time I believe you still have the basic problem and it has the potential to cause you related problems in the future, so check out your vent line.

Bill

One problem we have in our area is small mud dauber bees that like to fill openings with mud. Several times I have had to remove drain valves on the TM and other trailers we've owned and get the mud (and baby bee) out of the valve before it would drain. We had trouble with that also when I worked with trucks. The air tanks wouldn't drain (even with 120PSI air pressure) so we would turn a drill bit - by hand - up the drain valve. (If you use the bit in a drill, it can ruin the valve)

I did find that switch to turn on the "elegant" lights (okay, I'll be honest -- my wife found it...)
Comments above about the 20 gal fresh water tank not being properly vented made sense. I'll look into that.
Thanks for the comments about the red light next to the water heater switch. I just could hardly believe that it would be so simple to turn on the water heater. Flip the switch and you're done. Thought there had to be more to it than that.

This was not our first time out, but first time to camp in hot weather, and without full hook ups. There were a few challenges. We camped at Cove Palisades, in Eastern Oregon, it gets very hot there and we did not have sewer hook up. We used the toilet as little as possible since we were there 5-1/2 days with 4 people, and is still seemed to get a little strong. Maybe it was the chemicals in the heat?? Our air conditioner worked great, even though it was a little loud. One time it went out and we panicked thinking it was broken, or frozen up. But it turned out that the whole park lost power. This was in the afternoon and we didn't get our power back until the next morning. That turned out to be the hottest night there, but we survived. We turned our frig. on propane and it kept on keeping things cold. We did find out that the outlets don't work while on battery, didn't know that before. The park actually lost power three times, very unusal for there. We never did find out why except for once which was due to a lightning storm. We had a good time, and it was a blessing to have our TM and not have to sleep in a tent.

Congratulations! Sounds like you really got an education. I'm just curious Neil, why didn't you use electric for your water heater and fridge and save your propane? We always use the electric for the water heater and fridge when available. Where we stayed they charge an extra $1.50 a day for air conditioning, so we take advantage of the extras that use electric.

Midwest Dave
Where the Mississippi River runs east
and west

Midwest Dave: I really should have used electric. Next time I'm camping with shore power I will do so. I guess I was just focused on trying/learning the propane side of things so that I would be prepared to dry camp in the future. Also, that little cotter pin on the heater switch intimidated me I think!

I know we all make mistakes and are some what intimidated at first. On our second time out I removed the cotter pin for the heater and when we closed up forgot to turn off the switch. Next time out I turned on the electric power and then conected the water. I realized that the power was on for 5 minutes before I got around to hook up the water. Well there must have been some water left in the heater tank from last time because I didn't burn it up!
Also have had to re-open shell because I forgot to do something like pull the lever on the toilet. It is definitely a learning experience and alot to remember.
We are waiting for the HOT weather to pass so we can resume our camping season. It has been in the 93 to 98 degree range for the last week and a half.
Cooler weather is projected soon.Good luck and happy camping folks!

Midwest Dave
Quad Cities USA

LOL...We have left the steps down more than once, and discovered it after everything was closed up. Glad to know that we aren't the only ones Leon.

I forgot to mention that the whole park had to not use water for two hours while they worked on the power, and we did not have our fresh water tank filled up. Another thing happened while camping. Wayne walked into the trailer and that pesky latch that so many have trouble with locked him in. If I had not been outside he would have had a big problem.

Good advice... Thanks.