New owner

[roned2]

We will pick up our TM on Monday at Mentor in Ohio. Hoping to stay one night at a campground near the dealership in Painesville in case there are any problems. According to the forecast the weather will be cool-about 32 during the night. Hopefully the heater will work well. Will let you know how our maiden voyage and the tow back to Toronto Ontario goes.

[Bill]

You're gonna love it! Be sure to have a pencil and paper handy, to makes lists (Things I Wish I Had, Things I Don't Need, How Does This Work?, and so forth), but just relax, enjoy the experience, and indulge your curiosity. Try out everything, even if you don't really need it at the time. Get familiar, in other words. And one of your lists should be "Questions to Ask on the TMO Board". We will love hearing from you, and you'll be a pro in no time.

Your decision to spend a night near the dealer is a great one, and cool but not cold is a wonderful checkout for the major systems.

Bill

The rear bed is subject to cold drafts. Get a pair of swimming pool noodles about 4 feet long and cut to length with a steak knife. When the TM is open, if you look underneath the bed from outside there is a space just wide enough along both sides to wedge the noodle into. This will block a lot of the draft.

I also had a problem with a draft coming in between the rear upper shell and the lower shell behind the closet. I solved this problem by drilling a new hole in the latch that holds the upper shell in place. I had to flip the square aluminum latch over 180 degrees so not conflict with the existing hole. I no longer have any significant draft.

I set my thermostat on the lowest possible setting, which is about 55 degrees when we go to bed. The furnace fan makes a lot on noise and who wants to listen to that more than then need to.

We always set up the percolator the night before. First one up in the morning turns on the coffee and cranks up the furnace. By the time the coffee is perking the TM is nice an warm, though the floor is still pretty cold.

Some people prefer to use portable catalytic heaters. Personally I don't trust them. I would rather listen to the furnace. It is vented to the outside. At least I have a good chance of waking up in the morning. These catalytic heaters require that you leave a window open to allow air in. To me that just seems to defeat the purpose.

Enjoy your new TM! We picked up our TM on 3/28 and camped in our driveway that night to test out the systems. I can tell you for certain that the temp that night got down to at least 32 ... not that you could tell inside the TM.

I've already started keeping a notepad and pen in the "magazine rack" on the door. Just like Bill's post, we note things we need to buy or add to the TM both short-term and long-term. Haven't yet started a list of "things we don't need" but I'm sure that will come as we've only spent 3 nights in the TM so far.

Anne

I have winter camped at Punderson State Park many times in Newbury, OH. The temperature one time was sub-zero and I was still warm. I have an electric heater I keep on the counter near the stove when it is real cold that I set at 70-75 and I keep the TM heater between 65-70. The TM heater rarely comes on during temps 30 or above while using the electric heater and of course that saves on propane as well.

[countrygirl]

Congratulations Ron and Heather! We are really happy for you. The heater may need to burn off the newness when you first fire it up. Sometimes this causes an alarm to go off. So I suggest you turn in on in the daylight hours for just a bit in case this happens.

Congratulations also. 3/28 must of been a popular date to pickup new TMs. We also picked up our new 3124kb that afternoon. Took it out to the Texas Motor speedway last weekend and it worked great! It survived nickel size hail with no damage. Also got to try out the furnance and it wasn't any louder than what we had in our old pop-up. We are heading out again this weekend to Ray Roberts Lake here in North Texas.

Congratulations!! Have a great time with your new rig!

We pick up our 2009 2720 tomorrow after waiting what seems like a very long time (six weeks ince we made up our minds). We plan to camp out in the driveway tomorrow night. The only problem is that the rain storm that has been crossing the country is due here tonight so we may have to pick it up and learn the ropes in the rain. But we're going anyway with raincoats, boots and umbrellas.

I have been using all the posted manuals on this site to prepare a list of all the things we need, want, etc. It has been very helpful to have the suggestions to pick up things as we see them so we will be ready for our first real trip in 2 weeks. I have edited the list and printed our version. It's cool how many suggestions for improvements have been incorporated into the current design. And I am glad that we ordered the hanging cabinets now that the oak won't be available anymore.

Originally Posted by dbnoll

I have winter camped at Punderson State Park many times in Newbury, OH

I was gonna mention Punderson - it's not too far from Mentor RV (can't remember how many miles). From Mentor RV, you go down Hwy 44 through Chardon. We bought ours at Mentor and spent that week at Punderson as a "shake-down" period. Punderson is a very nice park.

Congrats!

Bob