Aluminum Camper Forum

These sure look like Camplites:

https://www.vidacampers.com/travel-trailers/#

Vida Campers

Quote from: TeamMcZajic on July 31, 2025, 02:14:42 PMThe trailer is a 2014 and the sticker lists a 13" original tire size. One of the two previous owners probably changed the wheel size to 14.

Discount Tire is recommending going to a 205/75/14 which is what I think we're going to do. That way we can get the Goodyear Endurance. But wow...that sticker price is something. I feel like this is a 'go big or go home' moment though.

The sticker on my 2013 21BHS shows 13" tires but it came new with 14".

You won't regret getting the Endurance tires.  They really are worth it.

Goodyear still makes the Endurance in the USA (Alabama and North Carolina). We've been really happy with the Endurance tires on our 21BHS.  We had Carlisle Radial Trail HDs (made in China) on the trailer before and they were good but we found the endurance better.  Most trailer tires are made in China though.

I use the reviews that are part of the RV Trip Wizard site I use for planning.  I read many of the reviews to try to eliminate the "optimistic" reviews as well as the overly critical reviews.  I also check out the photos in the reviews.  The RV Life Campgrounds page you can open for any campground has all the reviews and photos.  So far its worked very well for us; very few surprises.

In May 2024 we took a trip from our home in Central Florida out to California, up the west coast to Seattle then east to Montana, through Idaho and Utah to Colorado and then home.  It was an amazing trip running from May 3rd to June 29th.  We still hit snow in some locations but nothing that really hindered us.  The strangest was towing the camper through an accumulating snowstorm in Idaho on June 17th.  The biggest issue we faced was some heavy rains in Texas on our way west and very strong headwinds heading west.

Our stops were Williams, AZ for the Grand Canyon as well as Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monuments.  The Grand Canyon is a favorite of ours and we really enjoyed the National Monuments.

From there we went to California, stopping at Joshua Tree National Park where we met up with our daughter and son in law.  We enjoyed that.  From there we hit Pinnacles National Park, which was nice, then Lassen Volcanic National Park which still had a lot of snow and was absolutely amazing.  The snow drifts were much taller than us.  The main road was closed in the middle but you could walk it when you hit the point of closure.  From there we went to Redwoods National Park and enjoyed hiking there. 

After California we headed north to Seattle to visit our niece and her family.  We really enjoyed Olympic National Park (took the ferry to get there) as well as North Cascades National Park. 

From Seattle we headed to Glacier National Park in Montana, staying at the West Glacier RV Park.  That was a REALLY nice campground and the National Park was AMAZING; Easily one of my favorites.  The Going to the Sun Road was open up to Avalanche Creek so be sure to make reservations to get on the road from the western side.  Lake MacDonald Lodge was really nice to see and the scenery all around the western side was beautiful.  Since we couldn't drive the entire Going to the Sun Road, we drove around the southern end of the park to visit the Many Glacier area of the park.  That place was incredible.  We saw a lot of wildlife, the highlights being a female grizzly and her two cubs on the hiking trail as well as a large male grizzly that came out of the woods and entered the trail we were walking towards about 30 feet in front of us.  We also saw a moose and her calf swimming across the lake near the Many Glacier Lodge.  I highly recommend this National Park.  We were threre 8 days and I'm ready to go back.

After Glacier we headed to the Craters of the Moon National Monument.  We were really surprised how much we enjoyed that stop; very surreal environment and great hiking.

We then headed to Torrey, Utah to visit Capitol Reef National Park; the last only Utah National Park we've never been to.  That park was very scenic, easy to plan, had great hiking, and you could see most of it in 3 or 4 days. 

We then drove into Colorado and visited the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Montrose, CO.  We stayed at the Riverbend RV Park and really liked it.  The park is beautiful and while we only styed on the west side, there was planty to see. 

From there we headed home.  It was a long two month trip but we are still talking about it today; a trip of a lifetime.  The camper was great (21BHS), and while the truck certainly was revving high on some really steep inclines in the mountains, it did a great job towing.

Hope this helps! I know not everything is on your proposed route but I wanted to put it all out there just in case.  If you're taking I-90, consider Glacier but if you're up there in early May the snow may be an issue.  We didn't arrive until June 9th and aprt from the Going to the Sun Road being closed we had no issues in terms of weather.

Quote from: Merlin on July 23, 2024, 02:34:50 PMI just got the lube and did only the track. However, I wondered about the big rollers on the bottom

When I was working on my camper after our recent coast to coast trip I also lubed the rollers as well.  Figured it wouldn't hurt.

Quote from: RV Squirrel on July 12, 2024, 03:19:46 PMThanks for the link!  It provides a good amount of detail.  "Darren" in the video points out that Schwintek does not recommend lubrication (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7dyXFg9GbU).  Schwintek apparently did recommend lubrication back in 2015 for particular situations to "reduce noise while in transit" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0my90W3AKM), but has since removed the link from their website. 

That is true, but in the Schwintek video stating not to lubricate, they mention how the system has been redesigned and several metallic components were changed to composite.  I don't believe those changes were early enough to make it into any Camplites.  Also, the deleted video described the lubrication procedure as maintenance; not noise reduction.  I remember that video well as it was the one I used to learn how to lubricate the slide in my 2013 21BHS.  I use the CRC teflon spray shown in the video (and also in the deleted Lippert video) and my slide has worked great for 11 years now.

About the only thing to do is lubrication.  Here's a decent video that explains that as well as the synchronization issue.

https://youtu.be/p9Jx2xLZu-8?si=hJEoJGpLgRpnhy8G

Charlie,

Thanks for this info.  I was just thinking of this the other day.  I'm still on the 2" original hitch with the added side bolts that Don sent me.  After 11 years now, just want to be ready in case I need to make a change and this is a big help.

Doug

Still here and breathing!  Hope all had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!

After our first night with the new A/C I can confirm everything Merlin said about the RecPro systems.  The difference over our Dometic Penguin II is amazing.  My wife said she had her best night's sleep ever in the camper and so did I.  It is quiet, cools really well and the remote is an added bonus!

Taking a sound measurement about 2 feet below the unit; the Dometic was 74dB on low fan and the RecPro is 62dB from the same location.  HUGE difference.

I would highly recommend this unit if you are tired of a noisy A/C.

Yesterday, I replaced the Dometic Penguin 2 A/C on my 21BHS with the RECPro AC3800, the higher profile 15KBTU A/C and heat pump.  All I can say is that thing is AMAZING.  We can't believe how quiet it is compared to the Dometic.  We can hold a normal conversation inside without a problem and it cools and heats great. We went with the higher profile model instead of the low profile simply because of the plenum design.  The high profile unit only directs the air to the front and back, nothing to the sides.  My wife HATES sitting at the table or standing at the kitchen counter and having the air from the A/C hitting her.  It is amazing how evenly the A/C cools the camper down.

Install was not bad at all.  Getting the unit on the roof was my biggest question.  My younger neighbor came over to help.  He lifted the box to see how heavy it was and said, "Do you mind if I just take it up myself?"  I looked at him like he was nuts but told him to have at it.  He threw that box on his shoulder and climbed right up the ladder.  Told my wife, "Well, that was easy."  Very humbling! 

Merlin, thanks for the feedback on your purchase.  It was what clinched our decision to make the purchase and we are very happy with it.

Doug

That's great. Thank you! We're pretty much sold in it. We've been camping since Labor Day and the Penguin II has been freezing up a bit and has leaked condensate due to a small crack in a housing cover that I was able to repair. Between that and the constant noise; we're ready for something quieter. Thanks again!

Thanks!

One more question; I hope you don't mind. Given that the A/C is turned on using the remote vice a physical switch that maintains its position,what happens to the A/C if the power goes out and then comes back on? In other words, if I leave the camper on a hot day with the A/C on and while I am gone the power goes out and is restored, will the A/C turn back on or will it remain off until I turn jt back on with the remote? Id hate to come back to a hot camper just because the power momentarily went out.

Thanks!