Mechanically challenged

[Ed & Pat]

My wife and I are looking at TM's for our first RV. While reviewing the forum it appears that most owners are comfortable and competent at maintaining their TT's. Being mechanically challenged I would appreciate hearing from owners equally challenged, about their experiences. How difficult is the learning curve?
Was it worth the effort.

[camp2canoe]

I know about mechanically challenged. Some of the projects that I see fellow owners taking on leave me shaking my head. The good news is, at least for us, we have needed essentially no maintenence in our 2 years of TM ownership. When we pull it out of storage this spring I need to replace one of the wardrobe's hinge screws with nuts and bolts but other than checking tire pressures, maintaining the battery and tightening the lug nuts, ours has been very durable. I suspect that in an emergency someone on this forum could walk me through a repair. I don't know whether our experience is typical or not, but if a TM works for you otherwise, I wouldn't anticipate maintenence diffuculties in excess of other TTs. Good luck. - camp2canoe

[Bill]

Ed & Pat -

You're gonna love it! As Camp2canoe says, there is very little that you will be REQUIRED to do.

Some of us thrive on projects - I'm one of them. Almost everything I do, though, does not HAVE to be done - for me (and others) it is fun. Our projects often have the nature of "upgrades" or "improvements". Truth be told, there is not a whole lot you can do to improve a TM - we just like to put our personal stamps on them.

Again, as Camp2canoe points out, if you really do have to do something, there are several board members who can walk you through almost anything. I am always willing to try, but better walks come from Denny_A, as well as Larry Loo, Mike Laupp, and a plethora of others. ("Plethora? What eez a plethora?" I just watched Steve Martin's Three Amigos.)

And of course the TM factory, and Ed Lytle in particular, are wonderful at helping owners with advice, pictures, directions, suggestions, parts, and anything else you could need unless you drive your TM off a cliff.

So jump right in, the water's fine.

Bill

[tucsoncarol]

There, does that help? I'm one of those who want to "personalize" my TM in all sorts of ways. My spouse has never read the manuals, can't call most of the systems anything other than "that thingie". We, either one, can prepare the TM for travel or do routine maintenance. It is no more or less complicated to care for than any trailer. The learning curve depends on the individual as well. We went over the systems with the dealership initially and felt able to handle long weekends in nearby RV parks right away. The first night on our three week, long distance, summer vacation we all panicked when things seemed to go wrong after setting up in the dark in a forest service area (read no hook-ups). I feared we had made a horrible mistake. Yeah, well, not so much in the daylight. Take stupid out of the equation and we didn't do too bad. Now we are old hands at TM travel, and, IF you take stupid out of the equation, we STILL don't do too bad.

[Ed & Pat]

Thanks for the timely and encouraging replies. We will be taking a good look at the TM at the Richmond, VA RV show in Feb.
Ed & Pat
Alexandria, VA