Aluminum Camper Forum

Hello everyone,
I just got a new charge controller for my portable solar panel.  This charge controller allows me to adjust bulk/float charge voltage.  I was wondering if I should set the controller to bulk charge up to 14.4v then above that it would float charge or should I set the bulk charge to 13.7v then float charge?

Thanks!

Hello everyone,
Just wondering if this digital thermostat is suitable for RV use?  I would like to replace the mecanical Atwood with a digital thermostat.

Thanks!

Hello everyone,
I'm about to order a battery monitor for our CL.  I have a choice between a 50A or 100A shunt.  I'm wondering if 50A is enough or maybe I should go with the 100A?

Thanks again for your help!

Hello everyone,
We are back from a month of camping with the CL.  We had a great time!  We usually try to cook outside as much as possible when camping.  This year we bought a brand new two burner propane stove to replace our very old one.  The stove worked great for many days then a stange bubbling noise was coming from one of the burner.  The next I noticed there was some clear thick oil coming out of the burner when leaning the stove on its side.  There was quite a lot of it the burner.  I drained and cleaned the oil then lit the burner.  Everything worked fine again. Two days later same story.  Lots of oil in the burner again!  Where is that oil coming from??  I used a (new) 6' propane hose extension to feed the stove.  Everything else like the water heater, fridge and propane heater worked great for the entire trip.

Thanks

Hi everyone,
We'll leave for a two week holiday in a week from now.  Our campsite will have water but no electricity.  We will be relying on our solar panels and battery.  I heard about the desabling of the fridge frame heater to save on energy.  I did run a search but can't find the information on how to do it.  Can anyone direct me towards that thread please!  Is there an easy way to know if our fridge does have the fridge heater?  I'm not sure if this can help but there are no light inside our fridge.

Thanks again!.......Sylvain

Hello again everyone,
It's time to replace the battery in our CL.  We plan on doing some boondocking this year so we need a good battery bank.  Last week I went to the local battery store looking for a replacement lead acid battery.  The guy introduced me to calcium batteries (which I believe are considered lead acid batteries).  The price was pretty good for a group 27-105ah.  The guy said that they do not require water level maintenance and they do not self discharge as fast as standard lead acid batteries.  So the question is, is a calcium battery a good choice to replace our dead battery?

Thanks again!

Hello everyone,
Since the forum is fairly quiet nowadays I thought I would ask about this towing vehicule here.  We are thinking about trading our 2015 Silverado 5.3L for a Toyota Tacoma 4.0L.  I have always been a Toyota guy.  I must admit I really really like the comfort of our Silverado but I feel like it's just too large of a truck for what we need.   We first bought the Silverado thinking that we would later buy a truck camper but we ended up with our 13QBB which we intend to keep.  So here is my question, does anyone here tow it's CL with a Tacoma?  I was thinking about buying a 2015 since this was the last year of the 4.0L engine which I think is more appreciated than the new 3.5L for towing.  Please let me know what you think!

Hello everyone,
I was thinking about adding a portable 100w solar panel to our camping equipment.  Can the solar gurus of this forum tell me if this is a good choice! 

https://www.amazon.ca/Renogy-Monocrystalline-Foldable-Waterproof-Controller/dp/B079JVBVL3/ref=sr_1_8?crid=5QIVUVF3IGYY&keywords=foldable%2Bsolar%2Bpanel&qid=1589991755&sprefix=Foldable%2Bsol%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-8&th=1

Hello everyone,
We have been thinking about a trip to Newfounland for many years.  I think it's going to happen this summer!  We'll have a 4 week holiday for this trip.  That means a good 3 weeks on the island of Newfounland. This is a pretty big trip so I would like to have a well planned trip.  Since this is a pretty big Island I'm wondering if we should concentrate on one specific area of Newfounland and enter/exit the island from the same ferry or maybe cover more ground and land in Port-aux-Basques and then leave the island in Argentia.  Any idea what would be best?  Any suggestion on a great itinary?  What about the campgrounds, should we always have reservations?  We should be there from the second week of july until the first week of august.  Please do not hesitate to share any information you might think helpful.  Your help is very appreciated!

Thanks.......Sylvain

Hello everyone,
It's a shame but I noticed that the rear shocks on our 2015 Silverado are leaking!  Only 50000km (30000 miles)!  Anyway I was wondering if replacing the shocks with higher quality ones would reduce the little popoising we are experiencing towing our 13QBB?

Thanks........Sylvain

Hello everyone,
I was wondering how do you maintain all the exterior plastic trims on your trailer?  The wheel fenders and the entrance door window frame on ours are very faded and seems to be brittle.  I often use 303 to restore the black on the trims but it just don't last.  Most of the 303 will go away with the rain.  I would like something more permanent, if possible.

Thanks

Hello again everyone,
During our last trip with our LL I noticed some suddering/shaking while breaking withe trailer attached to the TV.  When the trailer is not attached to the TV everything is fine, no shaking.  I wonder what could cause that shaking?  I serviced the brakes and bearings before leaving for our trip.  Everything looked fine.  The brakes needed a good cleaning but the pads were good.  Does anyone experienced something similar?

Thanks

Hello everyone,
A few weeks after buying our 2013 13QBB last summer I had a look at the waterheater anode.  It was very corroded.  I believe the previous owner never replaced it.  There was also a lot of debris inside the WH.  I cleaned it carefully and replaced the anode.  While cleaning the inside of the tank, I noticed there was some blue ceramic debris which are probably from the inside coating of the tank.  Is this something I should be worried about?  I'm afraid the tank will rust much faster now that the ceramic coating seems to be damaged.  I'm not sure about the thickness of the steel they used.  Maybe it could last many more years, maybe not, who knows??

Thanks

Hello everyone,
We are just coming back from our first trip with our 13QBB.  We loved it!  We did put 2000km on it in a month of travel in the Maritimes Provinces and on the Gaspesie Peninsula.  I was wondering if the aluminium tongue of the 13QBB is strong enough to hold two 20lbs propane tanks?  Right now we have only one but having a spare one would be great.  Our TV could handle the additional weight no problem.

Thanks

Hello everyone,
I would like to purchase a spare wheel bearing kit to carry when on the road.  I know the outer bearing is a L44649 bearing but I don't know about the inner one.  Can anyone help me with this?  I'm not sure about the seal either.  The exterior diameter of the seal is 2.5".  Our break drum are 10".  I sent an email to Dexter Axle but they didn't replied after a week.

Thanks for your help..........Sylvain

We did have to put a lot of work on our 13QBB to bring it to 2019 standards!!  There still some work to do inside but we are almost done.  Here is the roof when we received the trailer with the solar panel installed on the roof with construction adhesive and the second photo shows what it looks now.

Hello everyone,
I have a bad connection from the battery to the converter on my 13QBB.  Last week I tried to turn on the lights and nothing happened.  The ceiling fans were not working either.  I took a voltage reading at the converter and was getting only 3.4v (about 13v at the battery).  Of course, all this testing was done without the trailer being connected to shore power.  I went outside and shaked the positive wire close to the battery and then everything went back to normal.  There is a 3 wire connection (photo) about 10" from the battery.  I'm not sure but this could be the problem.  What would be the best option to replace that connector?

Thanks

Good morning everyone,
I just replaced the tires on our 13QBB.  I had a really hard time removing them since the lug nuts were soooo tight, way too tight.  My air impact wrenche couldn't unscrew some of them!  So I checked for the proper lug nut torque for the 13" wheel in the Livin Lite owner's manual and they say 75 ft/lbs.  That seems a little low don't you think??  I was thinking somewhere around 90 ft/lbs should be perfect but maybe I should stick with what the manual says?  What is your experience on this matter?

Hello everyone,
This morning I removed the wheels from the trailer since I want to replace the tires.  I noticed an important crack in the aluminium angle to which the axle is bolted.  Have a look at the photos, they are self explanatory.  Not an easy fix.  What are your thoughts about such a problem?

Good morning everyone!

While working in the CL this morning I noticed that the rubber seal around one of the window frame has shrunk or was cut to short from the factory.  As you can see from the photos, there is a gap in the corner.  Anyone know where I could buy such a rubber trim?

Thanks........Sylvain