Maiden Voyage this weekend!

[Bondad]

I bought an RV about a month ago and between the kids soccer and other life events we haven't been able to go anywhere yet. So we're off on a short maiden voyage this weekend. We live in Denver and will go to Chatfield State Park and try to dry camp for the weekend. They have hookups but we plan to boondock quite a bit so I want to see how the batteries hold up and how full the tanks get after a weekend.

This is gonna be FUN (and probably a huge learning experience) which is why we're staying close to home...just in case we have a major issue of some sort.

[Afubar]

May you have as great a maiden voyage as I did with my 96 Newmar. May all things work flawlessly.

[RickO]

Have a great trip and post your results when you return.

It's smart to stick close to home for the maiden voyage and you're brave to jump right in to boon docking!

Best of luck

Rick

[Stumblefoot]

Have a great time Bondad! We're in the Denver area too and would love to hear your thoughts on the camping at Chatfield as we've never done it. Good luck!

[Bondad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bondad I bought an RV about a month ago and between the kids soccer and other life events we haven't been able to go anywhere yet. So we're off on a short maiden voyage this weekend. We live in Denver and will go to Chatfield State Park and try to dry camp for the weekend. They have hookups but we plan to boondock quite a bit so I want to see how the batteries hold up and how full the tanks get after a weekend. This is gonna be FUN (and probably a huge learning experience) which is why we're staying close to home...just in case we have a major issue of some sort.

Well, the Maiden Voyage is over. Here's a quick trip report.

- Arrived at Chatfield State Park around 5:30 pm mst Saturday.

- Paid for full hookups with the intent of using them only is necessary. We has a full tank of water, propane and gasoline.

- Put frozen lasagna in the over and started setting up camp. Five minutes later the smoke detector went off. Ran into RV to discover a small amount of smoke from old food in oven. No fire thank goodness!

- With camp all setup we decided to try the TV with the new 400W portable inverter. I hooked it straight to the 12v battery it lit right up. Turned on the TV and there was a picture for maybe 10 seconds, then the inverter alarm went off indicating the battery was low. I turned on two 12v lights and sure enough, they were very dim. So my concern that the battery was about dead were correct. We have now budgeted $200 for two new 6v golf cart batteries to be purchased in the spring. Plugged in to the campsite power supply (Generators are not allowed when power is available.)

- The rest of the evening went great. We had a campfire, roasted some marshmellows, and all went to bed aroung 11:00.

- The heat worked well druing the night. It got down to around 42 degrees but we were warm in the RV.

- In the morning my 17 yo son decided to test the shower out. It worked fine but he said the hot water ran out after a few minutes as anticipated.

- As we were packing up, I noticed a wet spot at the back driver side of the RV. It turns out the shower has a leak someplace! I pulled an access panel from inside the bathroom but could not determine the source of the leak. This is going to be the "big problem" I was hoping to avoid. We're expecting some really cold (into the teens) weather so this fix will have to wait.

- I'm going to winterize tonight after work. The tanks are all empty so I just need to run the pink stuff through the system and disconnect the battery. I'll probably bring the battery home for the winter and store it in the garage on a naintainer - even though I'm pretty sure it's shot.

All in all, we had a great time and look forward to many more trips. Now if I could just find that leak...

[Poptop]

When you run out of hot water real fast or it doesn't seem to get as hot as you think it should, check the outside shower faucets in the water/sewer compartment. They may both be on and the shower sprayer is off so it looks ok. The problem is the cold water will cross through the faucet making it feel like the heater isn't working. Make sure both hot and cold faucets are off.