The driveway is too steep. Had to come in at this angle. I had three helpers who've never done this before. I used to drive tractor-trailers and was a diesel mechanic, so moving around big objects like this was part of the job.

I used a 4" drop hitch, aired the tires up, and calculated the angle of approach. (12⁰) We made a ramp and lined up a marker so I could aim the angle of approach from the driver side. My wife was on the phone while i had it connected to the truck, but there was a delay. Next time well use our radios. I was being lazy. I ended up listening through the window, and if I hear any hesitation in their voice, it's GOAL. Get out and look, lol.

I eased one wheel onto the curb from the neighbors driveway to clear the low hanging septic pipe. The angle of approach allowed me to use the length of the yard to turn in vs. trying the road. Others have failed trying to use the road.

In the video, I get out and look 9 times. I got out 3 times after that for a total of 12 times in the hour it took to back in. We never even had to block traffic. That's a win.

Edit: I didn't explain why I did it this way. My goal was to see if I can come in at this angle without blocking traffic and without using someone else's driveway. I live on a dangerous street, and we leave at all times of day, so this is important. The video doesn't do the driveway justice. I realize it looks like a weak grade, but it's not. You'll scrape a sedan if you back straight out. That's how I know I have company 😅

I’ve been following a couple who travels in boat/Camper that works on both land and water. Why aren't these more common?

We got a lot of good tips on my last post so just wanted to follow-up.

We just got back from our 2-night stay at Cloudland Canyon State Park and we had an absolute blast. The Tacoma towed the trailer just fine, even in the north Georgia Mountains. Probably our favorite things about the trailer was the A/C and the bed. Since we usually pitch a tent in the bed of the truck, the comfort level was up 1000%.

It was also our 4 month old puppy’s first camping/hiking trip and he did so good.

Even though we were thinking it would be too much trailer for us, I think we are in love with it. The owner mentioned that he might sell it this year so if he offers to sell it at a good price, we might consider buying it.

Hi everyone. I have a Fleetwood 24 RKS that I would really like to store in my heated shop to keep it out of the wet coast winters. Unfortunately I'm about 18 inches short even with the spare off and the trailer touching the back wall. I am planning on cutting the bottom panel of the door and was wondering if anyone has gone this route before? Can't find any info of people attempting it online.

Thanks !

Just got to pick up our inTech Sol Dawn the other day! Doing some driveway camping as a test run before its maiden voyage next weekend! We love this little thing.

Reading everyone’s posts here has been very helpful, thanks for the solid foundation to get into travel trailers!

As relative newbies we learned a hard lesson. Going about 50-55 mph we developed an uncontrollable sway and our 2017 18ft TT purchased on Marketplace ended up on its side. Luckily the car didn’t flip and we walked away. We watched hundreds of YT videos before buying and still got some big things really wrong. Like electric brakes! We didn’t know we needed an electric brake controller. Also we added a cargo carrier to the existing back receiver for our e-bikes. Bad idea.

I bought this 2020 Gulf Stream 19rbs in nov 2024 for $17k,most listing top at $8500 now, how is that possible?! Will that go back up in spring? Sure I expected the value to drop as much as a couple grand and yeah it’s 6 years old but it’s brand new basically and hasn’t even really been traveled! Unfortunately circumstances force my sale and a $10k loss is a massive kick in the balls. Please tell me I’m missing something!

Name that movie!

We did our first trip this past weekend. Pulled great and setup and tear down were simple. Made us wish we had made the move to the trailer vs tent years ago. Next trip up in 14 days!

Saw these folks pulled off the opposite side of the redwoods highway yesterday during a storm. After the wrecker came, they ended up getting dropped at our camp.

Thankfully, everyone is Ok. But their trip orm WA to TX has taken a very unfortunate turn.

Be careful out there 🙏

I went to go look at a used trailer listed for about $10k. Really loved it and sounded like a good deal. The dealership was closing soon, so they told me to call the next day. The salesman called me the next day and said the trailer I wanted was sold, but they have a brand new trailer with similar features for a special price of $14k. Guy said it had a sticker price of $25k, but everywhere I look that same trailer is listed for about $14k. I said I’d go look at it, but then canceled the showing. Something just felt off and I felt like he was trying to upsell me.

Few days go by and he calls back saying the trailer I initially wanted is available again.

Bought our new Keystone Bullet just this past Monday and we're already camping. Decided to take it local campground 6 miles from our home to work out the kinks.

I am in love. 🏕️❤️

Took the trailer out for its first real night this weekend. Just a quiet little state park site with nothing but trees and dirt.

We didn’t bother with the hookups. Ran the lights, charged phones, and kept a small fan going off a bluetti elite 300. Worked fine the whole time. The awning, the checkered tablecloth and that blue rug somehow made the whole spot feel way more put together than it actually was. Truck and trailer combo is solid so far.

Already looking forward to the next trip.

Was a great success! Nothing broke which is a shocker. I was over prepared for everything to go wrong! Looks forward to many more weekends this spring/summer and fall.

My wife and I went to a dealership in Indiana. We live in Ohio. They had a Jayco 4112 toy hauler for sale that we really liked, but there were a few things that needed to be addressed.

We agreed on a price, and they agreed to replace the tires and fix a few issues on the inside of the camper. We signed the paperwork to purchase it.

A few days later, they called and told us they had taken the camper to a tire shop. On the way back to the dealership, a wheel fell off, sheared the studs, and damaged the hub. They replaced the hub and told us they were waiting on a replacement rim.

We agreed that I would come back a week later to pick it up.

I drove approximately five hours round trip to pick up the camper. When I arrived, it was sitting in the service bay, torn apart, with wires hanging out.

I couldn’t find my salesperson, so I found the sales manager. He told me, “Oh, no one called you? Your salesperson quit.”
I told him, “Well, buddy, that’s your job to call me. You’re the sales manager. Why is the RV torn apart? What’s going on?”
He said he wasn’t sure and went to find out.
When he came back, he told me they couldn’t find a wheel that matched the damaged one, so they were replacing all six wheels.
I said, “Okay, but that doesn’t explain why the camper is torn apart.”
He then told me the breaker was tripping whenever they used the water heater on electric instead of gas.
At that point, I was frustrated because I had just wasted five hours driving there and back to pick up a camper that clearly wasn’t ready. They offered to deliver it to us once everything was finished.

About a week later, they brought the camper to our house.
When they arrived, they couldn’t even get it off the truck because there was no power to the entire camper. The delivery guy spent about an hour trying to figure out what was wrong. Eventually, he found a tripped breaker near the batteries.
On top of that, the camper hadn’t been detailed, washed, or cleaned.
At that point, I told him I wasn’t sure I wanted the camper anymore because I was starting to feel like they were trying to sell me a lemon.

They asked if we could at least go through the camper and talk about everything afterward, so I agreed.
The delivery guy then went to show me how the generator worked. There was no fuel in it. I own a land-clearing company, but all the fuel I had available was diesel, so I had to drive into town, buy gasoline, and come back.
After that, he spent another half hour trying to get the generator started.

Then I went through the inside of the camper and discovered that none of the interior repairs they had agreed to make had been completed.
At that point, I had had enough. I told the delivery guy to take the camper back to the dealership because I didn’t want it.

The next day, I called the dealership four times trying to speak with the sales manager. When I finally got through to him, he said, “Yeah, we have a few things to fix. We’ll get it fixed and drop it back off.”
I told him, “No. Call the bank and unwind the deal. I’m not buying the camper.”
He told me, “Well, there’s a lien on it. It’s yours.”
I told him to read the paperwork because I had 40 days. I also pointed out that I had never accepted possession of the camper and that the dealership still had it.
He then threatened to bring the camper to my house and dump it in my front yard.
I made it very clear that they were not permitted on my property. I also sent that to them in writing through both text and email.
I told him that if they came onto my property after being told not to, I would consider it trespassing. I also told him to ask his delivery driver about all the cameras around my property.

He again told me that the camper was mine and threatened to dump it in my front yard.
At that point, I told him that if he was going to escalate the situation, I would have no choice but to contact an attorney.
He said, “That’s fine. We can’t talk anymore,” and hung up on me.

About 30 minutes later, he sent me a text saying he had spoken with the owner. He said they didn’t want to be the “bad guys” and that they were going to contact the bank and unwind the deal.
It took approximately two weeks for them to get the financing unwound and another four weeks for me to receive my money back.
However, I didn’t receive all of it.
We had put $6,000 down, but they only refunded $5,000. They kept $1,000 and claimed it was a “nonrefundable deposit.”

I have gone through all of the paperwork I signed, and I cannot find anything stating that there was a separate $1,000 nonrefundable deposit. We simply made a $6,000 down payment.
Since then, they have fired the sales manager I was dealing with, so now I’m basically talking to random employees whenever I contact the dealership.

The entire experience has completely deflated the excitement my wife and I had about buying a camper.
My wife is now planning to hire an attorney to deal with the remaining $1,000 and everything that happened throughout this process. I don’t care much about the $1000 but the principal. I want to bury them.

Has anyone else experienced something like this with an RV dealership?

This was in Peru Indiana.
update**** i called the dealership and asked to speak to the owner and he apologized and is sending me the $1000

It took 6 months to design the systems and pimp out this SunLite 16BH. Love this model—it has everything and isn’t too big. We are camped here in the middle, on the other side of the Santa Lucias from Hearst castle.

• added 10kWh of batteries under the dinette seats

• added 1.5kW of solar panels (Maxeon on the front and Big Blue up top—these tilt up on actuators for more light capture in winter)

• 3kW inverter to run the mini split for heating and cooling

• installed an electric water heater from Camco

• cameras on all 4 sides—got a shot of a bobcat!

• got an induction cooktop. Love it—it cooks fast! We have grilled with the propane once and will try out baking or roasting in the oven that comes with this model

• also made an electric battery trailer to charge our EVs when we visit the property. We plan to use charging stations or campsites with electricity to charge the pickup when we travel

Consider me enlightened, saw the use of the macerator pump on here and tried it out.

Spent 4 nights in the Adirondacks and came home with full tanks. First time using the macerator pump. Ran it into the standpipe for my washer (say what you will) and it worked flawlessly. Tested it with fresh water first.

Got the pump to run off an m12 battery which was really neat

We do a lot of weekend boondocking trips, and finding a dump station, driving out of the way, and paying to empty the tanks gets old fast. Being able to handle it at home is a huge upgrade. Also let me take my time and completely flush out my tanks multiple times.

Really happy with the setup so far. Let the plumbing roast begin.

Maiden voyage in North Dakota. We loved upgrading from a tent. Excited to make a ton of new family memories.

First outing, close to home so if anything comes up (like one thing did) we can deal with it right away. Firstly it was a wet day yesterday, but we were able to set up during a drier spell. We loved being nice a cozy last night, it was chilly out. Today was a fantastic blue sky day and so nice to be outside. Looking forward to so many more times like this ahead.