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dubob · 05-11-2013, 10:28 AM

Okay – the first real camping trip is now history. A friend and I drove 688 miles round trip to Bullfrog, UT to partake in some fishing in Lake Powell which is part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We hauled his 4,300 lb Ranger boat package behind my rig. I did visit a CAT scale in Salt Lake City with the camper full of water (45 gals) and food for 2 guys for 4 days and right after filling up the fuel tank (34 gals). As expected, the front axle weight decreased and the rear axle weight increased. The GVW increased as well.
We had a minor hiccup with the truck on the trip down that was unexpected. With less than 500 miles logged since my last oil change 2 weeks ago, the oil life monitor went to zero and put the truck in limp mode on I-70. We stopped, turned the engine off, reset the oil life indicator back to 100%, and continued on our way. By the time I got back home with another 350 miles logged on the truck, the oil life monitor was back down to about 50%. I was expecting a slight decreased in oil life, but certainly NOT a 90% plus reduction. I’ll be discussing this with my local Chevy Service Department and posting about it on silveradosierra.com as well.
I took the TC off the truck to make launching the boat each day much easier. Coming off the truck was very easy; putting it back on the truck – not so easy. J I’m sure most of you already know this. Maybe after I’ve done this a hundred times it will be almost as easy as taking it off; at least I hope it becomes so. Here we are set up at the GCNRA Campground at Bullfrog.

I had an issue with the water pump not wanting to shut off all the time after turning a faucet on and off our using the toilet. It seems the cause was I had some air pockets still in the lines. The water stream would sputter a lot when the faucet was on. Running the water longer (wasting precious fluids) would fix the problem most of the time but it would be right back the next time a faucet was turned on and off. When I got back home, I drained everything and started all over and let everything run until ALL the sputtering stopped for at least a minute. I’ll test the system later today by turning on all the faucets (one at a time) to see if the problem is fixed.
I have 2 Group 24 batteries installed and the monitor panel showed the charge at ‘Good’ from Sunday evening until Wednesday morning when it dropped down to ‘Fair’. We only used some lights for a couple of hours in the morning and evening combined each day with no TV or radio use. Some folks around us were using generators every afternoon but I didn’t have to run mine even once. I’m thinking that’s a good thing.
The mileage for the trip was 8.7 mpg with a low of 8.1 mpg and a high of 10.5 mpg. Most of the decrease came from the 30 mph headwinds on the trip down. It’s too early to tell what my long tern average is going to be, but I’m hoping it will be much closer to the 10 mark than it was on this trip.
Well that’s my maiden voyage in my brand new Lance 992. All in all a good adventure with some bass and walleye put in the freezer as a bonus. I’m hoping to get out next week pulling my own boat and staying in a State Park with hook-ups for some walleye and trout fishing. Stay tuned.

jlfbatonrg · 05-11-2013, 08:06 PM

Glad you had a good trip. That's what this is about.

KSCRUDE · 05-11-2013, 08:19 PM

Nice rig. Looks like you guys had fun. What is the specs on the truck. Gas, diesel and gear rations and stuff?

dubob · 05-12-2013, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSCRUDE

What is the specs on the truck. Gas, diesel and gear rations and stuff?

2008 3500HD, DRW, Duramax/Allison 6-speed, 3.73 rear axle, AirLift air bags, Edge Evolution CS programmer set to Level 3, and 235/80R17E tires.

Paoli · 05-13-2013, 03:49 PM

Glad to hear your first trip went fine!
This is how we ended our first trip with brand new Dodge and Lance 992:

On our way to Alaska the truck would not start one morning.
This happened near Dease Lake on the Cassiar Highway.
A tow truck was send from Smithers BC (800km away from us).
He pulled us to Smithers. A $ 2800,00 towing bill for Dodge. (Under warranty)

The problem was fixed in 5 minutes: a new computer!!!

That camper never moved one inch behind the tow truck.
Took over 8 hours to get to the dealer.
The back tires took a beating! Had to replace them the year after.
Not many miles on them.

This happened a few years ago. We now own a Triple E Motorhome.