Tuesday, Pick up Camper,... Friday-Sunday, Go Camping! Are we nuts! Each night was crazy. Between Becky trying to get everything for the kids organized and packed, me working, and then figuring out how to pack things and organize them for the camper, it was some long nights. Thursday we went over to open up the camper ourselves for the first time and things went pretty well. We arrived and unlocked the latches and hit the "UP" button on the PowerLift, only to get no response. The battery didn't have a great charge on it when we picked it up, and apparently didn't have enough juice to give us a lift! Battery charger on the battery and in a few minutes we were up and beginning to go through the opening procedures. Storage bins installed with some of our stuff, and we then went through the close up procedures. Defninitely an order to do things that we have to develop to make things go smoother. Plugged the camper in to charge the battery, turned on the fridge, and went home for the night.
Got out of work, hustled home, loaded up the kids and went to hitch up the camper. Took my voltmeter and checked the battery,... pretty dead. Why didn't it charge? The camper has a converter to change the AC to DC and charge the deep cycle battery. Well, after a phone call, one thing to check would be the fuse panel, but that is on the inside,... and with it collapsed, I can't crawl thru there and get to it. Service verifies that I should gain charge when I connect the camper to the van, so I do, and I am reading a 13.4 V charge to the battery (van at idle). Ok, we'll see what happens, worse case is that I have to hand crank it up with the handle in this 95* heat and humidity. Off to the campsite we go!
Van towed the camper nicely even with the load of stuff we were bringing along. We arrived about 40 minutes later at Colonial Woods Campground. Looked at our site, picked a spot, and had Becky guide me back. PERFECT! She directed me right onto the spot we talked about on the first shot! Before I un-coupled the camper I disconnected the 7-pin and then checked the battery voltage. Although not long on the road, the voltage was 12.1V, still marginal, but should get us opened up. Chocked the wheel, and un-coupled us. The girls were a big help in getting everything setup and to other campers we at least looked like we knew what to do. Once inside, the LED light was on next to a fuse indicating that it was blown. Sure enough, it was the charge circuit to the battery, so that's why even when connected to the garage power I wasnt' getting charge to the battery.
 |
| Bella cranking down the Stabilizer jack |
 |
| Ta-Da! All Setup! |
All setup, we went out to explore Colonial Woods! The campground is really nice and they have a restroom house near our campsite. Down at the main entry and lodge, there is a playground for the kids, mini-golf, game room, and store. Further, we walk across a bridge pathway to the fishing lake and nearby pool.
 |
| Birth Order, although not planned that way,.. Bella-Ally-Madie |
 |
| Walking the bridge to the fishing lake |
Saturday was full of things to do. Becky made a great egg and pancake breakfast to get us started off right. The heat was kicking in already for the day, so we decided to go play some mini-golf before hitting the pool for the afternoon. The campground had a country picnic and games in the afternoon, which were also over bby the pool. So, after cooling off for a bit, Bella joined a lot of the other kids to do the egg race, Old McDonald hat race, balloon race, team wheelbarrow race, and then the peanut scramble! She was having a blast. Madie and Ally also did the peanut scramble, as they were a little tired and very hot.
 |
| Our Camp Sign, Stop on In! |
 |
| Madie Playing Mini-golf |
 |
| Bella in a Relay Race |
 |
| Ending the day with SMORES! |
Sunday came way to fast, and it was time to figure out how to pack things all back up again. We could have stayed a little longer till checkout, but we tried to beat the heat a little bit and pack up so we could have some time in the afternoon to relax at home. All went well again to close things up, and the battery voltage was fine after charging off the shore power for the weekend.
Things we learned:
- Sink doesn't drain well - discovered that we have a sink trap and that is the outlet to the grey water hookup. Since the sink rotates down for storage, there is no vent hookup after the trap. Added to my project list.
- Bring the DVD player for the kids, this will help allow Becky and I to setup/teardown the camper easier by keeping them entertained and all 3 of them in one known location.
- Need to build a platform landing, the one step is to tall for Madie and we had some close calls.
- Camping is a LOT OF FUN! with the popup! Colonial Woods is really nice, and we even booked our next trip there for in September.
No comments:
Post a Comment