Introduction and our maiden voyage!

Greetings,
First, thank you all for (unknowingly) helping my wife and I decide on our new 2007 2720. I’ve been lurking for the last few months trying to decide between the TM and travel trailer. We’re upgrading from a popup, which we loved, but after one too many Florida rainstorms…we really wanted sold walls, not to mention needing more room, plus a toilet and shower. (We have 2 boys, a 6 year old and newborn (3 months)).

We saw the TM’s at an RV show and fell in love with the concept. So I started looking for all the info I could find- which led me here. We found a local dealer who sells Trail Manors, and bought a new 2007 2720 which was the biggest one that would fit in my garage- (It is a very TIGHT fit…but it does fit.) This is ultimately what swayed us in favor of the TM as we didn’t want to have to pay for storage, plus I like the fact that is stays covered and out of the elements most of the time.

Anyway, we finally took it out last weekend for our maiden voyage. The destination is one of our favorite campgrounds in Apoka FL, called Wekiwa Springs. After towing it 112 miles to the campground, I can honestly say that it handles like a dream. My current tow vehicle is a 1998 Honda Passport with a WDH, which admittedly is pushing it…, but it did great. It will be replaced in the next month or so with a new, bigger SUV with a higher tow rating. All and all though, it was a great first outing. We LOVE the extra space and the convenience that the TM offers compared to our old popup. There were of course, a couple of hiccups that I wanted to share.

Not sure if this is universal or not, but people seemed to be very interested in the TM when we arrived. 2 of our “camp” neighbors came over and immediately started to ask my wife and I questions about it and wanted to watch us set it up. That was fine and fun actually, although, I was a little nervous because this was our first time out of the driveway! After we set it up, and showed the neighbors the interior, which they all loved…I discovered my first problem. The piece that helps form the “door frame” on the bottom shell, (left-hand side), wouldn’t lock into the friction clamp. Even though the 4 pivoting locking pins were engaged at all 4 corners, it was like the top pieces weren’t completely open. I thought this might’ve been a “leveling” problem…but all the levels I had on board were showing that it was level. I suspect that the problem was that we were on a pretty good incline, and I had to really crank up the rear jacks to help level and consequently ‘torqued the frame’ a bit so the back top piece wasn’t completely open. I will invest in some real leveling blocks to help prevent this in the future. Incidentally when I got it home last night and set it up/washed it in the driveway, the door frame piece popped in perfectly, so I’m convinced that the campsite was the problem.

Second and third issues have to deal with the Wingard TV amplified antenna. I was very disappointed that the new flat screen LCD TV we bought didn’t work at all with the antenna. Even with the “amplifier” on…there was only one station that came in…and it was very “snowny”. Fortunately, we don’t normally watch TV in our camper, but with the boys, DVD’s are a must. To test out the new TV, I used a set of “old school” rabbit ears antennas that we used on the TV in our old camper, and those provided much better results than the batwing antenna. My question is…do you think it is wired wrong, or is this thing just not all that great? It is a minor thing, but I was just curious if anyone else had better results. This may just be an issue with the remote location we were in, or the TV isn’t really suited to a non-cable input. I’m going to test in my driveway this weekend and see.

Ok, the serious problem, again with TV antenna. As it often does in Florida, we were hit with a major rain storm on the morning we were going to pack up. After we removed the bedding on the “front” bunk, we noticed a pretty big water stain. After determining the cause *wasn’t* my 6 year old..(ha-ha), we noticed a pretty good leak coming from the antenna. Other than put a bowl underneath it, there wasn’t anything I could do at the time.

When I got home, I checked the caulking around the antenna base, and it looked OK so I’m not sure where it was coming from. I’m going to try to have the dealer fix it when we take it back to get our ‘hanging cabinets’ installed. Just curious if anyone else had trouble with leaks around their antenna.

Other than that, the TM was awesome, it weathered the rain storm, (no pun intended), like a dream, and truly was a home away from home! We were also pleased to see another family out there with their 2619! We chatted with them about their TM, (which they’ve had for a year), and they really enjoy it too.

Ok…one last funny story, this one involving the toilet. My wife and son were thrilled that we now had a toilet, and couldn’t wait to try it out. After reading the very detailed posting I found on this website, I felt I had this thing figured out didn’t foresee any issues. When we got to the campsite, I went to charge it. I noticed that the gauge was about ½ full. This was odd as we’d never used it. I read and reread the directions, and decided to continue to fill it up for the *initial* charge. As I continued to fill up the toilet, the needle went to “Full” instead of the opposite direction to Charge. Oops…something is wrong here. Near as I can figure, the dealer had already “charged” the toilet to test it before we took it home…so the water I was adding was just filling up the tank! So…I had everyone on potty rationing for the rest of the weekend. Fortunately, I remembered to pull the lever to dump it before we closed it up…I won’t make that mistake again! I will also make sure that we bring the waste tote so we can dump at the site if need be.

Thanks again for the wealth of knowledge you’ve provided, as well as all your insight. It was and still is greatly appreciated. I only hope that I can contribute something worthwhile in the future.

Steve