At some point the truck and trailer will cease being the focus here - but getting these two together, figuring out the hook and unhook procedure, learning about trailer brakes, and learning how to back up and park a 5th wheeel trailer—these are the items dominating our attention lately so the content here reflects that.
Today we spent a few hours at the local state park which is on Lake Michigan. It’s about 6 miles from our house and one of our favorite places in the world. While that all sounds blue-sky and toes in the sand, the initial reason for the excursion was noticing that the in-trailer gauge that indicates levels in the various tanks and battery was reading 2/3 full for the black water tank.
In case you’re not familiar with RVs - that’s the one connected to the toilet. Nothing unusual - what goes in must come out. Except - and this is a big except - we haven’t yet used the toilet.
I’ll let that sink in (sorry…) a moment…...
....with me now?
So - we were faced with two possibilities. Either the gauge was wrong, or the gauge was right. I honestly couldn’t decide which I wanted to be true. The former would be initially a relief (sorry..), while the latter would be more handy as we live in this thing for a year.
How did it come out in the end? (Sorry..)
After pulling the trailer to the state park’s dumping station (and making 2 loops through the crowded campground because I guessed the outputs to be on the wrong side of the rig) and going through the rubber-globe and sewer hose routine, we found the worst possible case to be true. The tank was “pre-stocked” - and the gauge remained at 2/3 after emptying.
Nothing to do except be grossed out, get over it, shake our heads, and head to the beach where we walked, had stone-skipping contests, had lunch, read books, and finally pulled out when it was apparent that the sun-crazed crowds were going to insist on squeezing their cars into any spot possible—including the space we needed to be able to pull out again.
Here’s a beauty shot with Lake MI in the background:
Marcus Neto writes:
eeewwwwwwwwww…. ;)
Steven Grant writes:
Yuck - but the picture looks good.
Ben Carlson writes:
Oh wow, that’s disgusting! Think you’ll be able to fix the gauge? And at least you guys were able to have some fun despite the crappy experience (hah, I had to).
Have you guys ever been to Grand Mere or Warren Dunes state parks? Those are the ones that I grew up going to, great dunes and camping!
Boyink writes:
Not sure about a fix - I assume it’s some kind of an internal float and I don’t want to get into that.
I don’t think we’ve been to either of those two parks - usually we head for Ludington as it just seems to have it all.
Eric Wiley writes:
Poo or no poo, that rig looks hot in the photo.
salguod writes:
That stinks (Sorry ...) :-D
When parking with the trailer attached I’ve learned to park in such a way that it’s impossible, or at least very unlikely, that someone would be able to block me in. Doesn’t always work though.
BTW - We had a (mostly) nice vacation in your state last week. It’s a beautiful place.
Boyink writes:
I was parked as shown in the photo - I should have taken a pic when we left a few hours later. Someone wedged in behind me - maybe 12” between my trailer bumper and their door. Left a nice note..;)
In front I asked a couple of cars who pulled right in on my nose to move over a space - two did then a 3rd guy in a minivan just pulled up far enough that I could swing out. It gets crazy out there on nice summer days - the photo is at roughly 10AM and by 1:45 when we left there was a line waiting to get in - and largely cars filled with teens.
Sean writes:
Well that really blows - hope it gets fixed easily and like everyone else said, great photo.
Boyink writes:
I’m happy to report the gauge reads empty now - maybe it just needed to be bounced around a bit going down the road.