First off, had such wonderful dreams, thank you for that brain, universe, wherever dreams come from.
Currently writing from the old RV’s bed, Bottlecap is nestled to my left within petting distance of my left hand, within distance for pinkie pets with my index finger on Q. Stayed at France Park last week, stayed inside mostly and didn’t do much when there, which is fine. It had been raining and the back drive turns into mud on the farm, the farmer’s tractor is out for harvest by the gran bin. Long story short, I got stressed out trying to back the trailer without possibly making a mud pit on either the farmer’s or the rent’s land.
This led to an unplanned RV swap as it’s smaller and much more maneuverable. I thought I may have a momentary adjustment period of being back in here, but honestly, it’s been good. I’ve actually been in a really good mood being in here, so many good memories and the bed is even more comfy. Less storage space and separation, however. There’s some additional organization and such that needs to occur as I had been using this as a temporary storage unit, and some essentials like plates, cookware, etc need to happen.
So the plan is to get the RV in top top shape, sparkling and fully set up and spend time driving and being out as much as possible. Same plan as before. Just much easier regarding logistics as you jump in the driver seat and go in the Class C. It’s also more flexible as driving somewhere random, pulling over, and taking some time to chill is possible in here. With the trailer a slide needs to be pulled out and getting to the bathroom requires planning ahead of time which makes things more cumbersome, not to mention hitching, unhitching, reversing, etc.
On some other good news, I finally got the truck, trailer weighed and worked out my tongue weight and everything I needed on that front. Truck and trailer together weighs 14,700 lbs, which is 7.35 tons. Tongue weight for 10-15% ideal distribution needs to be 850-1000 lbs or so, current tongue weight is 780. My current weight distribution bars are overrated at 1,500 lbs. Now I know why the trailer is prone to sway without a doubt and previously, having even more weight rearward was really causing a problem. It was reassuring for all other specs to be good, however. We have 1,986 lbs of possessions in the RV, well, minus water, so more like 1,436 lbs of stuff. Trailer weight is 8,480 lbs with a full tank of water, max weight is 9,000.
The primary spec is the tongue weight empty is 752 lb, while the loaded TW is 780 lb. If you don’t distribute weight in a trailer correctly and the TW is too light, it will lead to increased sway as the trailer is unstable and…. porpoising! Porpoising is a bobbing up and down motion on the trailer’s axis which contributes to poor ride quality, increased tow vehicle and equipment wear, and general instability. If possible, it’s better to go higher than lower on the tongue weight percentages for a less sway-prone, planted feel.
The kicker is.. I already put the heavy generator on the tongue and loaded up the front compartment with some stuff. I also moved the heavy solar batteries already from the extreme rear to the center over the axles. I couldn’t imagine what the TW would have been before 😅 The over spec torsion bars for the weight distribution hitch really doesn’t help either as they are over spec, directly leading to more porpoising.
Soooo. Shit in the rear of the RV needs to be moved forward and I need properly spec’d bars. It makes me wonder if my old travel trailer was also improperly loaded and my bars were over spec also. Who knows. It also explains why the Class C pulls the trailer better as it’s heavier and much less prone to porpoising as it’s a heavier rig with a longer wheelbase, and a dually.
Anyway, I enjoy being in the old RV again. I got my work cut out for me today. Cleaning, sweeping, mopping, deciding what shit to get rid of. It never ends, eh? But the biggest benefit of swapping RVs is that it forces us to dogfood and get this rig up to snuff also.
It’s about 8am now, might as well just get started with the day
Leave a Reply