2013 Camping Thread

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by Isbrant

We are going camping in a week and it will be the first time we will be bringing a dog. We will be in a tent but others in the group will have trailers. Are there any tips from people out there that are used to camping with a dog?

big dog or small dog?

Have a long leash or rope - I made my own at home depot using plastic covered wire it worked well.

Hopefully your dog is kennel trained and you can keep in it. If your tent is big enough I would have it in with you so you can monitor it but if it isn't putting the dog in the car overnight works. Just make sure you take them out early in the morning.

Lots of chew toys and bones to keep them occupied while lounging in the campsite so it doesn't get distracted by neighboring kids and dogs

If there are other dogs let them play as much as possible during that day so that your dog is really tired in the evening. Makes for a better campfire when dogs are passed out and not trying to eat everyone's fire snacks

[Isbrant]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

big dog or small dog?

A 3 month old doberman.

[fundmark19]

Ok question number one. I just found that my hose hookup isn't connected to the water line. Good thing I found this out before I tried to hook it up. My question is how is that water line supposed to hook up. Does it matter where or just t into the line that goes right beside it. Also all the waterlines are plastic hose with hose clamps. Is this sufficient or should I be switching it out for pex?

I just realized the hose is probably 1/4 inch and the 1/2 pex would probably be over kill

Edit 2 from looking at schematics on google I want it to t into the line after the water pump but before any of the faucets

[Ace]

The trick is you put your hand at the bottom of the steering wheel, then you move it in the direction you want the back of the trailer to go.

I'm a little particular on side to side leveling and often move my trailer forward and back a few times to find the best spot, and everyone is always staring at me, even though I backed it in just fine the first time. I guess out camping you always need something to entertain you.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by Ace

The trick is you put your hand at the bottom of the steering wheel, then you move it in the direction you want the back of the trailer to go.

I'm a little particular on side to side leveling and often move my trailer forward and back a few times to find the best spot, and everyone is always staring at me, even though I backed it in just fine the first time. I guess out camping you always need something to entertain you.

Thanks I will try this.

So I was looking around and I see an extension type cord looking thing coming from under the fridge. I don't see it going under the trailer to where the batteries are so I assume this is my trailer power cord? There is no end on it so should I just wire a 30 amp plug on? Are the cords supposed to be just loosely run or should I be wiring it into the side of the trailer like a water inlet so you can just plug in on the outside and go?

[ken0042]

My 1972 tent trailer had a proper plug in; like you would see on modern trailers. However it's hard to say with 40 years of history what may have failed and what somebody might have done as a workaround.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by ken0042

My 1972 tent trailer had a proper plug in; like you would see on modern trailers. However it's hard to say with 40 years of history what may have failed and what somebody might have done as a workaround.

Ya who knows. The electrical is a mess by the looks of it. I am charging the batteries that came with it right now to see if they work and some stuff powers on. There are no breakers or anything so if the battery has power I assume the lights should just work when I flick them on as long as they aren't burnt out?

I also found that at one time the trailer has/had trailer brakes as the electrical is still there and just pushed up under the trailer. It would be nice if they still work but I don't have a brake controller to try it out.

[comrade]

I'm looking to head to the Peter Loughheed Park this weekend and saw a potential road closure on highway 40 between the winter gates. As I've never been there, where are the winter gates? Does it restrict access to the park?

[ken0042]

Going from the Trans Canada the winter gates are a few hundred metres after the turn off to Boulton Creek.

[Violator]

Originally Posted by comrade

I'm looking to head to the Peter Loughheed Park this weekend and saw a potential road closure on highway 40 between the winter gates. As I've never been there, where are the winter gates? Does it restrict access to the park?

When i went camping about a month ago, the turn off to go to kanaskis lakes trail was as far as you could go on hwy 40.

[Violator]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

Well I just picked up my first trailer! I wanted something no bigger then 14 ft and wife wanted something with a bathroom. You don't see many out there but we found this old gal. A 72 sportsmen we named her Bessy.

-A couple of problems I need to fix is replacing one broken window and a broken roof vent from hail.
-I also noticed the protective stripping on the edges has broken off in most places leaving the hex screws rusting. Should I replace all of these with new screws and seal them in with Plastidip or something like that?
-The water pump doesn't work so I need a new one
-There is no faucet in the bathroom I wonder how hard that would be to put in

Here she is she isn't pretty but she doesn't leak and will keep us off the ground. For $1200 including a hitch & Sway bars I couldn't go wrong

I will buy that from you if you ever sell it, That thing looks awesome.

[fundmark19]

Does anyone know how to light this kind of fridge? Guy told me to hold down the metal lever looking thing but when I do that I can't smell propane. I turned gas to on and tried the whole dial.

I also found its plug in cord. I can't just plug that into my home outlets I need to convert to 30 amp correct?

[ken0042]

Have you tried lighting the stove and running it for a minute before trying the fridge? Often there isn't enough propane in the line, and running the stove allows it to free flow out.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Have you tried lighting the stove and running it for a minute before trying the fridge? Often there isn't enough propane in the line, and running the stove allows it to free flow out.

I had stove running about an hour earlier should I try it at the same time?

I believe the fridge is only 2 way so I plugged the electrical cord into my house power hopefully tomorrow morning my 6 pack of beer is nicely chilled

Turns out that mystery extension cord without an end is just that an extension cord with no end. The other end is behind the fridge not doing anything. I have absolutely no idea where the trailer electrical is so I don't know how to get the lights working

[ken0042]

The stove being on before should have done the trick, but maybe try again tomorrow.

Originally Posted by fundmark19

I also found its plug in cord. I can't just plug that into my home outlets I need to convert to 30 amp correct?

You'll need something like this adapter to be able to plug in at home. Just watch how much power you are using as you will only have 15 amps available. Your fridge likely only draws 1-5 amps.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by ken0042

The stove being on before should have done the trick, but maybe try again tomorrow.



You'll need something like this adapter to be able to plug in at home. Just watch how much power you are using as you will only have 15 amps available. Your fridge likely only draws 1-5 amps.

Well if I can find the power I will get an adapter so far only thing electrical I can find is the fridge cord which is regular cord not 30 amp

Fridge rating from its plate says 117v 60cy 140w 1.2 a. Hopefully I'm just blind and I can find the end point to my electricity it has to be somewhere

[Ace]

I might be wrong, but your FRIDGE power does not need to be converted. It works off standard outlets...

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by Ace

I might be wrong, but your FRIDGE power does not need to be converted. It works off standard outlets...

I will let you know in the morning if it works then you def don't need it. If not either fridge is broken or you need converter

[ken0042]

Just to clarify your line of thinking- it isn't a converter. All it does is allow your trailer to plug into a standard household plug. Both put power through at 120 volts. However amps are cumulative. So if your fridge takes 1.2, let's add a water heater at 8 amps, microwave at 10 amps, air conditioner at 12 amps, and lights at 5 amps.

So if you were hooked up to 30 amp power, you could have most of those running at the same time. If you had to have the microwave and A/C on, you couldn't also be using the electric water heater.

However at home you only have 15 amps, so you can really only use your low draw systems like the fridge, lights, etc. If you wanted to run the A/C you couldn't have anything else on.

Another way to look at it is that your house likely has 100 amps of power going to it. If Enmax said they were cutting everybody back to 50 amps, you would have to watch that you didn't run the stove, fridge and clothes dryer at the same time.

[Stillman16]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

Does anyone know how to light this kind of fridge? Guy told me to hold down the metal lever looking thing but when I do that I can't smell propane. I turned gas to on and tried the whole dial.

I also found its plug in cord. I can't just plug that into my home outlets I need to convert to 30 amp correct?

You are probably doing this, but make sure the right hand knob is turned to gas on, hold the ignition switch over for a good while (10-20 sec), then light with match/lighter.