First RV adventure

[MauleSkinner]

My wife and I bought an RV last summer, and while we took a few short stays at a local lake last year, we just finished our first big trip down to Texas. The RV turned 18 on the 10th according to the sticker, and we left on the 11th. Parked in some friends’ driveway near San Antonio for Sunday and Monday nights, then headed back up to Fredericksburg for a couple of nights. We were planning to go straight from the friends’ place to Fairfield Lake State Park, but we connected with some other old friends at church in Fredericksburg, so we went back to visit with them for a couple of nights.

We spent Wednesday at the Pacific War Museum in Fredericksburg, which was quite interesting. One building is dedicated to Nimitz (he’s from there), and the other building was the progression of the Pacific war. The Nimitz part was largely new to me, but even though I was largely familiar with the content of the other part, it was still overwhelming. It really needs 2-3 days.

From there, we went to Fairfield Lake State Park. We were planning on doing some bicycling and paddle boarding, but only got a little bicycling in. Besides the fact that we got there two days later than we originally planned, we had a couple of RV issues. We discovered a leak in a fitting coming from the water heater…the people who serviced the RV last fall had to change out the bypass valves, and got one cross-threaded. Fortunately it was a brass fitting to a schedule 80 nipple, and I was able to fix the threads on the PVC to make it useable. I managed to get it put together so it didn’t leak, but I still need to replace the nipple (and use plumber’s tape properly.) The second issue was a bit uglier…the toilet clogged. Long story short, the tube going from the toilet to the black tank takes a couple of bends, and the joints have plenty of places to snag toilet paper. We changed to a different RV TP and the issue went away, but I need to figure out how to smooth those joints out.

On Saturday we drove to Lake Bob Sandlin, where we spent a week. A couple of nice days for paddle boarding (just don’t fall in). Then a couple of cold days, where we got some projects done, and then some nice warm days again. There were some pretty good storms, and we discovered a couple of leaks (covered storage has paid for itself, apparently!) A little caulking will take care of one, and I suspect a plugged drain hole in the window frame for the other.

In the process of disconnecting to go to the dump station, I managed to bugger up the male end of our water hose. No problem, we carry the older one that came with the RV as a spare. It burst. No problem, a little duct tape to hold it together long enough to fill the fresh water tank, and we’re back in business. But being the first time we’d parked on a concrete pad, we never noticed the water dripping under the RV when the water pump was running. It’d obviously been doing that for a long time, as I discovered the only spot of rust on the whole rig where the water came out the bottom. I think the leak will be relatively easy to find and fix, but I’m going to have to replace some subfloor at some point.

But, it’ll get us home, so we headed out after church on Sunday, found a nice campground in Oklahoma (where we watched somebody leave dragging his shore power cord), and finished the trip home today.

1770 miles, 65 hours on the generator (mostly while driving to keep the fridge/freezer cold), a couple of nights camping with just the coach battery for power, all at about 8 mpg.

We found some leaks and squeaks, I’ve got a ratchet strap under one of the water tanks, and I’ve got a pretty good squawk list to work off, mostly minor stuff. Overall a great trip, and we’re happy with the RV.

AND MY WIFE IS STILL TALKING TO ME!

 

[brcase]

(where we watched somebody leave dragging his shore power cord), and finished the trip home today.

Yeah, RV's require checklist more so than many of the planes we fly, albeit the Airplane checklists are usually more critical but both can cost a lot of money if not followed.
An RV Walk Arounds before moving are a thing to.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
2003 Itasca Suncruiser 33v

 

[Albany Tom]

When I was a teenager, I was the official 'maintenance guy' for our 27' or so Shasta trailer. Mostly because my dad didn't now what a wrench even was. From my memory, the toilet to black tank was a straight shot, which is a good thing, in that it gives you a visual way to estimate how full that tank was, and there was nothing to clog. To me a big advantage, because those things don't use much water to flush.

I put together a pretty good repair kit for that thing. I became a big fan of things like GE silicone and epoxy putty. Silicone is how I put the PVC grey water drain pipes back together, because the trailer body/frame would flex, but the PVC wouldn't, the joints, if you were lucky, would crack. Re-assembling with silicone gave them enough flex to not break when the teenage driver went a bit fast on the country rods.

 

[Gary Ward]

When I was in my early 20s I became the maintenance man for my Dads, old RV. I replaced holding tanks, rebuilt the motor, installed exhaust headers to help with performance and much more. Wound up taking it on my honeymoon after I got married. Enjoyed it after my parents took many trips with it.

Sorry for the hi jack MauleSkinner. Tell us more about your rig and wish you many more enjoyable trips in the future!

Fast forward about 20 years, I bought a custom "toterhome" designed to pull a gooseneck race trailer. I am second owner of it. It was built heavy duty with 505 hp Cat C12 motor, double overdrive full auto trans, dual stage jacbrake and lot's more. It get's better fuel mileage than my dually pickup truck and we get to bring everything including the kitchen sink!

We used it racing for 9 years. Then retired from racing and sold the 49' trailer but kept the toterhome.
We have had it all over the US for vacations and racing. It is self contained just like a RV. Has 8K diesel genset, inverter power, LP gas for the fridge and heat, large holding tanks. The works. We still have it, 20 years old with 95K miles on it just getting broke in. It has never broke down on the road. I have replaced lot's on it in 20 years to keep it up. Been to Oshkosh, Sun N Fun with it in the last few years. Been to some cool places with it, many national parks.

The coolest trips we have taken recently was to a turf airport 1.5 hours from home. There is one full hook up for a RV at LeeBottom and Rich and Ginger allow us to camp there for a couple weeks at a time. Wife and dog stay there and I fly back and forth to work. Not often I get to have all my favorite things/people all in one place. I am such a lucky guy. This was last summer.

We love traveling across country and have no idea where we are going to sleep that night. We are self contained and have stayed at some cool rest stops out west. We usually pull a classic car on a trailer for a driver when we do setup at a campground. We have traveled from Cincinnati to Sacramento California to visit family and my wife did not get out of the RV for 2.5 days. No public restrooms for us. She helps drive it sometimes.

Bonnevile, drove my car 12 miles out on the salt. Truck pulls that little trailer like it is not even there.

With it's oversized water tank I have enough water to wash the car.

 

[Ted]

Sounds like a great first trip! You may have mentioned elsewhere, but what kind of RV is it? Ours is now 22 years old (although I suppose I don't know exactly when in 2000 it was made).

On our first trip the toilet clogged as well. It delayed us about an hour while we stopped at Ace so I could get a snake and unclog it. Then it clogged again. And again. RV toilet paper helps, but it will happen again. The solution is to put a garbage can next to the toilet, and you put the toilet paper in there. Zero clogs since, and with a family of 5, the toilet gets a lot of use. It seems odd at first, but you get used to it. Other benefit is that you don't have to think about RV-specific toilet paper and can just buy whatever you normally like/use.

I'm not sure how your RV is wired, but it should be able to charge the house batteries (and you should have an inverter) such that you can run the refrigerator while driving. For the first year we basically always ran the generator while driving for AC or heat. I've improved the heat such that we no longer need the generator going in cold weather and we ran the generator while driving zero over the winter trips, except for the portion where it finally got hot enough to run the AC. The AC I doubt I'll ever be able to get around as the generator is required for running the rooftop units and we'll need those going even once I get the forward AC working. However, for just your fridge, it should be doable. What kind of fridge do you have? Assuming you're running a Norcold or Dometic propane/electric fridge?

 

[Gary Ward]

Our porcelain toilet sit's right on top of the holding tank, straight shot into it. It came with a plastic toilet and I installed a porcelain toilet when the plastic one broke.

Our fridge runs on LP gas most of the summer even when sitting at home in the driveway. It uses very little LP gas. I am on my 3rd fridge though in 20 years.

We have 4 battery's, 3 to start the engine that lights, water pump run off of. Then the 4th battery runs the inverter that runs the TVs, satelite box on 120 v AC. If it goes dead we still have power to start to RV engine. If they get too low to start the RV engine there is usually enough to start the genset that recharges all battery's.
All battery's charge while going down the road, or when genset is running or when we plug in to ground power.

If we run the AC then either we have to be plugged into at least a 30 amp plug or have the genset running. We have run the genset for many 3-4 days in a row at the races and for 10 days at a time at Oshkosh for the AC to keep the dog safe inside during the hot weather.
Key West.

 

[Dana]

That's quite a rig!

My wife and I chose the other extreme. She had her heart set on a Tiger, which is a tiny popup motorhome based on a Chevy Astrovan. Bought it sight unseen on ebay, flew to San Francisco to pick it up, and drove it back home to CT over two weeks following backroads wherever possible, had a great time. Its small but still has stove, sink, fridge, toilet, and shower... and we can park it anywhere.

 

[OneCharlieTango]

That's quite a rig!

My wife and I chose the other extreme. She had her heart set on a Tiger, which is a tiny popup motorhome based on a Chevy Astrovan. Bought it sight unseen on ebay, flew to San Francisco to pick it up, and drove it back home to CT over two weeks following backroads wherever possible, had a great time. Its small but still has stove, sink, fridge, toilet, and shower... and we can park it anywhere.
View attachment 105784

View attachment 105785

Alright, where can I get me one of those???

 

[steingar]

Sounds like a great first trip! You may have mentioned elsewhere, but what kind of RV is it? Ours is now 22 years old (although I suppose I don't know exactly when in 2000 it was made).

On our first trip the toilet clogged as well. It delayed us about an hour while we stopped at Ace so I could get a snake and unclog it. Then it clogged again. And again. RV toilet paper helps, but it will happen again. The solution is to put a garbage can next to the toilet, and you put the toilet paper in there. Zero clogs since, and with a family of 5, the toilet gets a lot of use. It seems odd at first, but you get used to it. Other benefit is that you don't have to think about RV-specific toilet paper and can just buy whatever you normally like/use.

If it makes you feel any better, this is how folks do it in Guatemala. Them's that got toilets, that is.

 

[Ted]

That's quite a rig!

My wife and I chose the other extreme. She had her heart set on a Tiger, which is a tiny popup motorhome based on a Chevy Astrovan. Bought it sight unseen on ebay, flew to San Francisco to pick it up, and drove it back home to CT over two weeks following backroads wherever possible, had a great time. Its small but still has stove, sink, fridge, toilet, and shower... and we can park it anywhere.
View attachment 105784

View attachment 105785

When I see things like that, I absolutely get the appeal and the benefit of them. The bigger your rig is, the less flexibility you have all around. For us, the 40' Class A is a good way to go, but no doubt it has its negatives.

 

[Dana]

Alright, where can I get me one of those???

They didn't make very many, and most seem to be on the west coast (why we went to SF for ours). They're still making them today, same size cabin but now based on a 4x4 truck, but they're a LOT more expensive... the older Astro based ones are much more reasonable.

 

[GaryM]

If it makes you feel any better, this is how folks do it in Guatemala. Them's that got toilets, that is.

Greece, too, at least that was the case 20 years ago. Toilet paper trash cans were nearly universal in bathrooms. The country had been plumbed with small diameter waste lines.

 

[Gary Ward]

Greece, too, at least that was the case 20 years ago. Toilet paper trash cans were nearly universal in bathrooms. The country had been plumbed with small diameter waste lines.

When we used to rent house boats on Lake Cumberland they had grinders that discharged into the water. So we did not put paper in the toilets. I hear they have holding tanks now.

 

[Gary Ward]

When I see things like that, I absolutely get the appeal and the benefit of them. The bigger your rig is, the less flexibility you have all around. For us, the 40' Class A is a good way to go, but no doubt it has its negatives.

It was a big relief to not be pulling a 49' trailer with our rig. You absolutely had to plan out your trip and not make any wrong turns, pretty stressful.
Another thing was we would constantly being asked on the CB radio what was in our enclosed trailer. When I started pulling the open trailer it was so much less stressful and now folks just give us a thumbs up as they go by on the highway.

 

[Zeldman]

The solution is to put a garbage can next to the toilet, and you put the toilet paper in there. Zero clogs since, and with a family of 5, the toilet gets a lot of use. It seems odd at first, but you get used to it. Other benefit is that you don't have to think about RV-specific toilet paper and can just buy whatever you normally like/use.

This is what I did with my 2 Rvs.

Since home is on a septic system I do the same in the house.

 

[MauleSkinner]

what kind of RV is it?

its a Fleetwood Terra, 31’ Class A.

The solution is to put a garbage can next to the toilet, and you put the toilet paper in there.

yeah, we’ve talked about that, too…we’ll see how things go.

I'm not sure how your RV is wired, but it should be able to charge the house batteries (and you should have an inverter) such that you can run the refrigerator while driving….Assuming you're running a Norcold or Dometic propane/electric fridge?

I think it’s the Dometic…I’ll have to look. Are you talking about running it on propane or just electric?

 

[MauleSkinner]

 

[SkyDog58]

……
AND MY WIFE IS STILL TALKING TO ME!

So, the plan didn’t work?

 

[Gary Ward]

View attachment 105794View attachment 105794

Looks nice!


Our fridge is 3 way powered. It will discharge 3 large batteries in less than a day when on 12 volts DC.

I thought all RV refrigerators can run on LP gas?

 

[Gary Ward]

That's quite a rig!

My wife and I chose the other extreme. She had her heart set on a Tiger, which is a tiny popup motorhome based on a Chevy Astrovan. Bought it sight unseen on ebay, flew to San Francisco to pick it up, and drove it back home to CT over two weeks following backroads wherever possible, had a great time. Its small but still has stove, sink, fridge, toilet, and shower... and we can park it anywhere.
View attachment 105784

View attachment 105785

Sweet setup! Have fun with it!

 

[SoonerAviator]

When we used to rent house boats on Lake Cumberland they had grinders that discharged into the water. So we did not put paper in the toilets. I hear they have holding tanks now.

They're referred to as "macerators", but good lord you aren't supposed to dump raw sewage into the water. Larger marinas typically have pump out stations available. I think the lake patrol/USCG would have something to say about dumping the blackwater out in the lake. It's probably against the regs to do it within so many miles (probably until you reach international waters) of the US coastline as well.

Edit: yes, I do know where the fish poop, lol.

 

[Ted]

I think it’s the Dometic…I’ll have to look. Are you talking about running it on propane or just electric?

I'm talking about running it on electric. I'd assume that your alternator can charge the house batteries while running. Depending on whether it runs on 120VAC or 12VDC for electric (or if it can do either), you should have enough power available to run it while driving.

When I had a Norcold, running on LP it took a very small current (something like 200mA) of 12V to just run the electrics and keep the solenoid for the propane valve open.

I thought all RV refrigerators can run on LP gas?

We converted ours to a residential fridge which is common. A lot of people also convert their standard RV fridges to a freon-style residential setup (same refrigerator body, just a freon compressor guts instead of the propane burning method on ammonia coils). My understanding is a lot of RVs these days are going to pure electric fridges, as things are more electrified anyway these days and a lot of people didn't like the propane fridges. For us, the residential conversion made a ton of sense. We did have to search for quite a while to find one that fit the correct dimensions we wanted. However we have much more capacity, it works better, etc.

 

[Gary Ward]

I'm talking about running it on electric. I'd assume that your alternator can charge the house batteries while running. Depending on whether it runs on 120VAC or 12VDC for electric (or if it can do either), you should have enough power available to run it while driving.

When I had a Norcold, running on LP it took a very small current (something like 200mA) of 12V to just run the electrics and keep the solenoid for the propane valve open.



We converted ours to a residential fridge which is common. A lot of people also convert their standard RV fridges to a freon-style residential setup (same refrigerator body, just a freon compressor guts instead of the propane burning method on ammonia coils). My understanding is a lot of RVs these days are going to pure electric fridges, as things are more electrified anyway these days and a lot of people didn't like the propane fridges. For us, the residential conversion made a ton of sense. We did have to search for quite a while to find one that fit the correct dimensions we wanted. However we have much more capacity, it works better, etc.

Makes sense, sounds like you are more up on the latest RV equipment than I.
Even my Mother who is in the hospital said to me recently, Why don't buy a newer RV, out of nowhere from her hospital bed! lol
Yea the reason I was replacing fridges is because the LP part quit working if I remember right? Yes it does require a little electric. Like I said we run it all summer on LP and don't have worry about power so I like that about LP gas.

Yes sure if the RV engine is running the 12 volt battery's will keep up. But if you shut down the engine it pulls a fair bit of amps and will run my 3 battery's down in about day. So have never run it on 12 volts dc.

 

[Gary Ward]

They're referred to as "macerators", but good lord you aren't supposed to dump raw sewage into the water. Larger marinas typically have pump out stations available. I think the lake patrol/USCG would have something to say about dumping the blackwater out in the lake. It's probably against the regs to do it within so many miles (probably until you reach international waters) of the US coastline as well.

Edit: yes, I do know where the fish poop, lol.

This in 1986-90. Every time someone would flush white foam would show up in the water on one side of the boat. We always swam on the other side. If someone flushed paper we would know it because you would see it in the water.

 

[Dana]

Yes sure if the RV engine is running the 12 volt battery's will keep up. But if you shut down the engine it pulls a fair bit of amps and will run my 3 battery's down in about day. So have never run it on 12 volts dc.

Ours is wired so it can only run on 12V when the engine is running. Shut the engine off and the fridge is off until you switch to propane or AC.

 

[MauleSkinner]

Looks nice!


Our fridge is 3 way powered. It will discharge 3 large batteries in less than a day when on 12 volts DC.

I thought all RV refrigerators can run on LP gas?

I’ve gotten mixed info on running LP while driving…have to figure that out.

I’ll try the fridge on just 12v. The alternator does charge the coach battery when the engine is running. The previous owner said it only ran on 115v or propane, but her systems knowledge wasn’t that good.

 

[Albany Tom]

We tried to run our LP/electric fridge on LP while driving, and it didn't work. Suspect that was because back then it was pilot light ignition, and that just didn't work with the weird airflow from driving. On 12v, again old technology, the thing really ate into battery capacity. To the point that if we were going somewhere without power for a while we'd just take a big cooler half filled with ice.

 

[MauleSkinner]

I'm talking about running it on electric. I'd assume that your alternator can charge the house batteries while running. Depending on whether it runs on 120VAC or 12VDC for electric (or if it can do either), you should have enough power available to run it while driving.

I brought the manuals home…the installation/operating instructions say it’s not designed to cool on 12v DC. There’s no inverter from the 12v coach battery, but it might be worth adding one if the alternator could keep up…is there a way to determine the AC load? There’s a 5-amp fuse for the heater, but I’m lousy at reading electrical schematics.

edit: I’ve got a power monitor for shore power…I guess I could turn the fridge on and off to see the change.

 

[Albany Tom]

They used be really expensive, but there are now some inexpensive clamp on meters that measure DC amps. If I had an RV these days, or did much auto electrical work, and didn't already have one, I'd buy one. You can put one around the battery ground, cycle the appliance on and off, and get the amperage used without breaking any connections. Yeah, you can do something similar by pulling the right fuse and using an inline meter, but that can be a PITA, and I usually end up blowing meter fuses like that.

 

[Gary Ward]

This discussion reminds me that with Mom and Dads old RV it was important to turn off the pilot light in the fridge before refueling with either propane or gasoline.
Our RV is burning diesel and we don't turn it off when refueling, maybe we should?

There is a converter in my RV when it was built new meaning when plugged in to ground power or if the genset is ruining it would charge the battery's.

I added the inverter years later so we could run the TVs and satellite box on 120 v AC without the genset running.

The fridge uses so much power that if you tried to run it on the inverter that the battery for the inverter would not last. So we run it on LP full time. Like said ours is electronic ignition and keeps it lit? Or lights it when the fridge needs to cool?

I think our old(1973) RV was a manual light deal and sometimes it would blow out driving down the road? Not sure? It was 40 years ago.

 

[Dana]

Some people run the fridge on propane when driving, but I don't like the idea of an open flame while driving. And I know of a couple of RVs that blew up while refueling because the pilot light was lit.

@MauleSkinner, if the 120VAC heater draws 5A, it would draw 50A on 12V, your batteries won't last long at that rate.

 

[Ted]

I've run both the fridge and the furnace (before removing both of them) on propane while driving and it was never a problem. The catch is that the specifics of your airflow on your RV may be an issue.

@MauleSkinner what is your house battery setup like? If you don't have any inverter, then you'd not be able to run any kind of 120VAC without being hooked up to outlets.

 

[MauleSkinner]

@MauleSkinner, if the 120VAC heater draws 5A, it would draw 50A on 12V, your batteries won't last long at that rate.

Yeah, that’s the math I was doing, too. Depending o the alternator output, 25 or 30 might keep up, but 50 would be too much.

@MauleSkinner what is your house battery setup like? If you don't have any inverter, then you'd not be able to run any kind of 120VAC without being hooked up to outlets.

Yup…only 12v lights and utilities without hookup or generator. Right now, one house battery, I think about 80 A-hr.

 

[Ted]

Yup…only 12v lights and utilities without hookup or generator. Right now, one house battery, I think about 80 A-hr.

Gotcha. House power setups are one of those things that it's really easy to go completely overboard on. My setup has 4x GC2 (6V golf cart) batteries, basically run in two pairs. Gets me a total of about 460aH @ 12V, and connected to a Magnum 2000W inverter. It's a bit undersized for us (mostly on the aH capacity, less so on the inverter), but what's nice is that it lets me brew my coffee in the morning and keep the refrigerator running overnight on battery power without the generator going. When these batteries die I'm going to go for something that gets me more aHs. I may go lithium, although the weight savings doesn't matter a ton to me (maybe matters more to you) and the cost does matter. But it's probably cheaper to just run the generator while driving if it doesn't bother you. For me, running the generator while driving puts a small, annoying-sounding engine right by my feet running and that annoys my OCD engine brain.

 

[Albany Tom]

In the Shasta we had, the twin propane tanks were outside, so filling wasn't a big issue. Now, if your tanks are inside the vehicle and have a floor under them, then I'd use quite a bit of caution on the whole process Propane vapor pools in low spots. I used to leak check around all the tank connections after each fill, and after every bumpy drive to the campground with soapy water. Not so much for fear of explosion, it was all exposed, but to keep from having the propane drain out.

The heater we had ran on propane and 12v. A very efficient setup for the 12v side, it would run all weekend on a single 102AH battery if I remember correctly. When we had shore power it just ran off the 12v supply/charger.

 

[Ted]

In the Shasta we had, the twin propane tanks were outside, so filling wasn't a big issue. Now, if your tanks are inside the vehicle and have a floor under them, then I'd use quite a bit of caution on the whole process Propane vapor pools in low spots. I used to leak check around all the tank connections after each fill, and after every bumpy drive to the campground with soapy water. Not so much for fear of explosion, it was all exposed, but to keep from having the propane drain out.

We had that issue during the first year of ownership of our RV. I'd catch a whiff of propane smell every now and then, and one of the connections somewhere (I forget where exactly) had a slight leak. It was after the solenoid valve, but in the end we had an RV shop find and repair it. Leak-free now and it's been over a year since I last refilled the tank. It's about 80 gallons and only runs the water heater (that runs on propane, electric, or engine coolant) and the cooktop, since we eliminated the propane furnace. I'm going to plumb it into the griddle.

The heater we had ran on propane and 12v. A very efficient setup for the 12v side, it would run all weekend on a single 102AH battery if I remember correctly. When we had shore power it just ran off the 12v supply/charger.

I seem to recall that our propane heater took about 10A @12VDC while running. Most of that power was running the combustion fan and the blower motor, and then you had the propane solenoid which was a few mA. So really, how long you could run the propane heater on batteries would depend entirely on how well-insulated your rig was, how cold it was outside, and how warm you wanted to be inside.

Our propane heater was stupidly loud and there was no way to leave the fan on (unlike the rooftop heat pumps, which you can set the fan to stay on), so it would cycle on and off and made sleeping essentially impossible. I'm sure a new heater would've made it quieter, but when we decided that we also wanted to put in a residential fridge and eliminating it was going to give us more options, that just seemed to be the better way to go.

Another thing with propane heaters and refrigerators is that they create a lot of moisture with the propane burning. Theoretically most of this should be exhausted, but the reality is that some of it stays inside. There was a ton of mold and mildew growing around the furnace and refrigerator when we pulled it all apart. So while there are very good reasons why you'd want a propane heater and/or fridge in your RV, we're happy with them gone and it hasn't proven problematic for us even on sub-zero nights.

 

[judypilot]

Sounds a little like the first trip in our RV, which was manufactured in 2000. The worst problems were an issue with the transmission, which the dealer said they'd pay to have fixed, and the refrigerator, which the dealer said worked (it takes a long time to cool down, so we really couldn't test it ourselves at the dealer). The transmission wasn't cheap to fix because the part needed turned out to be something not made any more, and it took some doing for the repair shop to find one. The refrigerator had had a fire! (Memo to all: look behind everything before you buy). Fortunately, the dealer paid for a new refrigerator and for the transmission fix. We figure they lost a lot of money on it, unless they bought it as a trade-in really, really cheap. They also fired the salesman who sold it to us. Everything else worked, although we had intermittent problem with the generator and the chassis A/C (the house A/C works fine, but isn't enough to keep the driver cool when underway, since the driver is practically sitting on top of the engine). Since we paid practically nothing for the thing, we've been pretty happy with it. It even did reasonably well as a hunting cabin, although we did have a couple of issues with frozen lines, but nothing serious. No leaks so far. Since my husband stopped hunting, I've used it for geology field work. The biggest problem was my 4Runner couldn't be flat-towed behind it. I relied on my colleagues for rides in the field, but that's become more difficult because sometimes I want to be out doing field work when they can't and vice versa. We have a car hauler, but the idea of trying to hitch a car hauler to a 31' RV by myself has always seemed way too daunting, so I finally sold the 4Runner (a story in itself) and bought a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I got a tow bar installed on the Jeep, and we're picking it up today. Can't wait to head into the field with it in tow.