Bumper pull campers (again)

Ok so scored a 2019 Legacy coachman Catalina

was a repo so I feel I got it pretty cheap.

so some really stupid questions before I look like an idiot.

what cord do I need for power? Is there one or different types? I have basic extension cords.

shitter stuff. I have lady and kids so bathroom needs to get used. How do I connect to dump? Do I need the plastic hose thing? It looks like quick turn type?

everything seems to work slides are kinda slow is that normal?

someone chipped battery wires off front. Does it take one or two batteries? Car size?

propane tanks also gone. Lines there and a bracket thing that has a large wing nut.

anything I should check on before it burns down or breaks?

forst actual camper so I didn’t wanna get top of the line and I know I’ll be working on stuff. Any certain tools and parts to keep loaded just in case?

 

I plan to fill tanks in driveway to test water. But do I keep water in it while driving? Or do I plan to fill up at or near campground?

 

Shit...you're nowhere near Jennings but if somehow you are I'll give ya 2 of the taller propane tanks (35lbs?) in fine condition.

 

I will keep it simple because I had to learn all this last year

what cord do I need for power? Are there one or different types? I have basic extension cords.

Get 2 25ft 30amp cables, and an adapter to connect them. Just in case you can't get close enough. Also a 50 amp to 30amp and a 30amp to 110 adapter for when you are at home and want to charge the batteries and so on

shitter stuff. I have ladies and kids so the bathroom needs to get used. How do I connect to the dump? Do I need the plastic hose thing? Does it look like a quick-turn type?

Get a hose caddy if you don't already have one. Always keep some water in the black water tank with a sanitizing pod you can get at any RV supply. This will help with the poop pyramid. You will need a hose. you can get pretty nice ones at Amazon

everything seems to work slides are kinda slow is that normal?

Depends on how slow. Mine is pretty slow and they run on 12 volt if you have no batteries it's just running off the inverter

someone chipped battery wires off the front. Does it take one or two batteries? Car size?

You can put as many batteries as you want really, but it's still a 12-volt system. You would want Rv deep-cycle batteries.

propane tanks are also gone. Lines there and a bracket thing that has a large wing nut.

most bumper pulls take 30lbs tanks, but if you get you're normal gas grill size, it's easier to swap out.

anything I should check on before it burns down or breaks?

Check all wiring connections and hoses that you can get to. Fill the tanks and check the water pump all.

as for water. I tow with quite a lot of water on my rig because it helps balance out the toys in the back

 

I've found U Haul rental centers to have the best price for propane refills. Also, tanks over 12 years old cannot be refilled. You convert your 12+ year old tanks to hold compressed air. Plenty of YT vids to show you how.

 

Is propane for hot showers and cooking? Or is water heater electric? I’m planning to plug it in tonight and see what’s what.

 

Yes. Water heater and fridge should auto switch between propane and electric (if you're plugged into something).

 

Hot water, and potentially the fridge when not on shore power.

 

Can be both and to run refrigerator as well.

Check your switch panel for Gas Hot water heater, 110v Hot Water heater. Dont use both at same time and make sure you have water in it before turning it on by purging the air out (AKA run the hot water in sink until it flows)

Id recommend you bleach our fresh water tank out. Quick google search to get the bleach to water ratio. Need to know how many gallons your fresh is.

For toilet crapper hose, there may be one on the rig already. check the bumper. If its about a 4" square tube, might be inside. Sometime they are located on the undersides as well.

Here are some specs you probably already know

https://www.rvusa.com/rv-guide/2019...on-travel-trailer-floorplan-323bhdsck-tr39969

 

Did you get the manuals with the unit? You should have a coachmen manual and component manuals for the fridge, stove, etc.

If you dont have those in a drawer then go to Coachmens website and get them.

Are the sides ribbed metal?

Did you check the roof? do that ASAP. Get a couple tubes of roof sealant to keep in the unit. Dont let branches rub on the roof.

 

When I was homeless for a bit a couple months ago (before Ex let me in the house), I picked up a 2020 Keystone Bullet. I loved that thing!!! I camped down by the river outside of town. At least I know how I'll set myself up again if ever in that same situation.

 

Older campers with one A/C usually have pull-out cords with 30A RV specific plugs on them. 2 A/C's will have a 50A male plug. Newer RV's are mostly switching to twist-lock conventional connections, with no cord in the trailer.

Get a (quiet) generator that has either a 30A or 50A receptacle to run AC's without shore power.

A bunch of different refrigerators out there. Some switch automatically, but many do not. Likely either a 12v or 110v electric choice, for sure. Some run off propane, some don't.

Propane for water heater and furnace, for sure. Possibly refrigerator, but maybe not?

Everything @Jeveritt said, plus always empty black water tank first. I sometimes close drain cap and open grey water tank to back-flush black water tank, if no fresh water supply available to run water into black water tank to rinse it out. Keep that shit tank as clean as you can.

Some newer ceiling vent fans are much nicer than older ones, to ventilate in decent weather. These have caps on them so you can leave them open no matter what.

 

I have a 100 gallon fresh water tank on my 5th wheel. I've never traveled with water. Saves me 700 pounds of weight sloshing around in a tank and fuel. Wal-Mart's are your friend....VERY RV friendly. I fill my tank usually at a Wal-Mart as I get closer to my destination.

Dump stations for gray and black water: https://www.rvdumps.com/

Empty your black water first....then open your gray tank to push the turds down into the septic tank at the dump station. Butt, there's a standing NO shitting rule in my camper, UNLESS YOU want to be the one doing the work at the dump station while I watch. If there is an alternate facility in the proximity where you can drop a deuce....use that facility first.

NO dropping of feminiminininine cotton products into the terlet/black tank either.

 

I crack the gray first to make sure everything is hooked up properly and isn't going to make a mess, close, THEN black dumped, close, dump grey.

 

Yes. I skipped over that. Sorry.

 

I discovered a dump station had its in-ground pipe clogged once.

My black tank is 50 gallons.

That was fun.

 

@Jeveritt and the other guys did a great job of answering, but I'll chime in as well.

Power Cord
Look at the plug on the side of the trailer; it'll be round and look something like this. If it has three blades, it's a 30A plug and you only need a 30A cord. If it has four blades, it's a 50A plug and you need a 50A cord. As others mentioned, you should get adapters for both 120v 20A ("normal") and the "other" (30 or 50) plug so that you can draw power from every type of receptacle you'll see.

Get at least 30' of cord. I have a 30' cord and a 100' extension.

The plug on the side of your RV will be round and threaded, this is a NEMA "locking" plug. Make sure that whatever cord you buy has that on one end. The other end will have straight blades and plug straight into the receptacle - campgrounds and hookup spots do not use the locking versions of the NEMA plugs. There will be cords with straight-blade sockets instead of round sockets; these are extension cords. You will be very frustrated if you try to find a way to plug one directly into your RV.

https://koa.com/blog/30-vs-50-amp-rv-service/

Shitter
It is indeed a quick-turn-esque connector. You do need the plastic hose. Again, get an extension: It's WAY better to have a bit of extra hose that you don't always use, than to try to stretch your short hose and pray it doesn't come out of the socket.

Dumping's not as bad as people make it out to be. It's fucking gross, don't get me wrong. But a lot of people act like it's getting shit literally all over your face.. if that's happening, you're doing it wrong lol. It stinks, it's dirty, and you will occasionally get something nasty on your hands... but you're washing your hands no matter what after you dump anyway, so just suck it up and get the job done.

Place hose into dump hole.
Bring hose to pipe cap and route it such that it always flows downhill.
Check valves.
Open pipe cap.
Attach hose, verify both ends are secure.
Open black. Close nose. (I don't really bother with cracking grey to make sure things are holding... IME things only blurp apart once the pipe is full and heavy and flowing hard, so cracking gives false confidence.)
Once black slows down, open grey.
Once grey slows down, close both valves.
Wait a few ticks for things finish trickling into the hose, then disconnect the hose from the pipe. DO NOT DROP THE HOSE AT THIS POINT.
Lift the hose and "walk" everything inside the hose all the way into the dump drain.
Shake hose a bit to make sure it's clear.
Finally, clean up: Cap the pipe, pack away the hose, wash down your dump area.
Wash your hands with soap and water, and some Purell won't hurt.

Sounds like a lot, but it's really just a matter of making sure things are sealed before they're opened, and closed before they're unsealed.

The enzyme packets are magic. Use them often.. you can't really over-use them tbh. Might waste some money but you won't damage the system.

Slides
Slow is normal. Should take ~30 seconds or so to go all the way in or out. If it's taking minutes, that's too slow. Squeaking/squealing is "normal" but indicates dirt and wear - they run on very expensive sliders that get rocks and dirt and shit inside and wear out, keep them clean. Grinding/crunching is not normal and indicates you'll likely have problems in the future.

If your sliders are "automatic", as in hit-a-button-once-and-wait-for-it-to-finish, then it's controlled by a current-sensing circuit that runs the motor until it can no longer turn and its amp draw shoots up. If it's just a manual "IN/OUT" button you have to hold, count your lucky stars: one less thing to intermittently break. Every motor system I've seen is 12v; if you end up trying to troubleshoot you should be able to find the motor and just attach a bike battery to its leads in order to force it. There may also be a manual crank, find that if you can.

Batteries
It takes as many batteries as you want to try to fit on it. It takes deep cycle batteries, NOT car batteries - it will destroy car batteries very, very quickly.

Deep-cycle batteries come in 6v and 12v varieties. You need 12v total, so if you want to use 6v batts then plan on buying an even number and wiring half of them in series with the other half in order to make 12v total. 6v batteries are often cheaper per amp-hour, if you're wondering why someone might go to the trouble.

Speaking of amp-hours, that's the metric that matters for deep-cycle/RV/marine batteries. Lots of "deep cycle" batteries will advertise their cranking-amp ratings; they are fake deep cycle. Ignore them. You will never pull 800A off your house batteries.. ever. (If you do, you'll be calling your insurance company to find out about your fire coverage.) A battery that advertises 100Ah means that it can provide 100A for one hour, 1A for 100 hours, or (realistically) 10A for 10h.

If you connect batteries in series, you add their voltages: two 6v 100Ah batteries in series become one 12v 100Ah battery bank.
If you connect batteries in parallel you add their ampacities: two 12v 50Ah batteries in series become one 12v 100Ah battery bank.

Your battery area should have a master disconnect and a master fuse (prob 100A) somewhere near the battery bank. If you don't have one, install one. The disconnect will save your batteries when you park your RV and forget to turn off a light. The fuse will save your RV if something bad happens electrically.

Propane
Whatever size tank will fit - probably between 15 and 30 gallons. Are the lines braided hose or copper pipe? Do they have fittings? You'll be able to smell leaks once you're connected up, so don't sweat hidden problems too hard.

Your water heater, furnace, stove, and hopefully fridge will all use propane.

Things to check
Electrical connections, propane lines and water pipes, as others have mentioned. Plumbing is usually PEX for fresh water and PVC or ABS for drains. The water pump should turn on automatically when pressure in the water lines drops, and then stop once it builds back up (IE, open your sink faucet and the pump will start running, close it and it should soon stop). It's perfectly normal for the pump to cycle between on and off when a small faucet is open, this just means that the pump can build pressure faster than the faucet can drain it.

Check the roof and walls for signs of leaks: Look for any drip marks around corners and inspect all the caulking along edges and panel joints. If it's cracked, just re-caulk it.. that might indicate bigger problems, but you'll see other signs if that's the case (water damage, bowed walls, panel delamination, etc).

WHEELS! This thing is still a trailer. Trailers are built with trash for axles. Look at the hubs, look at the bearings, look at the brakes, look at the suspension.

Tools
Electrical kit - spare fuses (lots), multimeter, pliers, wire (12 or 14 awg), wire strippers, and wire junctions (both butt connector and blade connectors).
Plumbing kit - PVC glue, thread tape, Flex Seal or Flex tape. Grips/pliers.
Trailer kit - Sockets and wrenches. Two or more adjustable wrenches, at least one big. Bottle jack. I like to have a power driver of some kind, like a Milwaukee impact or whatnot.
Misc kit - Screwdrivers. Drill and bits. Zip ties. Sticky velcro. Stick-on battery lights. Miner-style headlamps.

I'm slowly but steadily rebuilding my motorhome pretty much from the bones up, one broken piece-of-shit-motherfucker-trash-asshole <component> at a time as they each rear their head and show themselves. In general, imagine the laziest, cheapest, stupidest way to build something... and know that the geniuses in Elkhart Lake have figured out a way to do it even lazier, cheaper and stupider. These things are fun, but they are pretty much always broken. Accept that you'll just have to fix things along the way, and you'll have a great time.

 

Lug wrench to fit the trailer's lug nuts. Don't wait to find out the hard way your truck's doesn't fit.

 

I think my outside plug (coming out of trailer) is 50amp

so do they have a 50-110 adapter or do I go from 50-30-110?

 

No sign of roof leaks or damages, however, looking at the brochure, it says roof has a 12 year warranty??? That seems pretty badass. The other warranties show just 12 months which obviously is long gone.