Trip report

WilliamA

I just returned from a 5,000 mile trip to Az. My brother and I attended a funeral for my Uncle in Surprise, Az. We took the liberty of goofing off on the way down and back with plenty of hijinks, camping and side-trips. There's a lot to unpack and we're still downloading/swapping photos so I'll make a post when all the photos get sorted.

The short version is that the trip went well. Unlike many of my unfortunate northern brethren, we (narrowly) avoided spontaneous immolation when stepping out into the Phoenix areas balmy summer/weather of Venus by cleverly packing our shirts and shorts with freezer packs. Other than melting some solder connections in our phones, we did okay.

I'm really pleased to report that the new trailer suspension was the star of the trip. Historically, whenever I'd take a long trip, I always found the trailer contents to look like I'd loaded it with a snow shovel. This trip, arrival at various destinations both on and off road resulted in nary a thing out of place. I'll post about the suspension in more detail later, but can't be more happy with the results. This was my first long trip since replacing the suspension.

Places visited:

Oregon Trail/Platte river crossing site

Bent's Fort

Petrified Forest (drive-through)

Montezuma's Castle (drive-through)

Sedona (drive-through)

Navajo reservation (various stops for photos and swag)

Monument Valley

4 corners

Mesa Verde

We made a stop on I-17 just south of Flagstaff before heading down the hill to Phoenix where I swapped out the coolant for liquid sodium. We swapped out our spf-20 sunscreen for spray paint. Those things seemed to work well enough to get us through three days in Phoenix.

The Gladiator seemed to take the trip well, but nonetheless seemed MUCH happier once we got back to the point where rivers had actual water in them. The highest engine temp I saw was 221F. Highest trans temp was 212F. Highest engine oil temp was 241F. Those temps were far too hot for my paranoia to take but we made it fine. I ran the Norcold 100% of the time and am happy to report it was able to maintain 41F the whole trip, although the compressor ran pretty much the entire time in Phoenix. Highest battery usage I've ever recorded.

More to come once I get things sorted out....

Nebraska..

Bent's Fort, Colo.

4 corners

Mesa Verde

More write-up to come...

Mechanical problems:

I've been putzing with my porch lights off and on since I converted them to RGBW LED's. I had one side go out and the other side lose half of its LEDs. I completely disassembled them this week for testing and, as it turns out, dis overed that the light strips, while rated as waterproof, are not. I found e iden e of water in both. I'm heading to West Marine today to pick up both new. I'll make sure to waterproof them during installation this time. They aren't expensive at $14 bucks each. Fool me once....

I took a quick run yesterday to West Marine in Stillwater, MN and picked up two new RGBW LED's for the porch lights and got those installed. It's working again. I rerouted some wires while I was at it and put a layer of caulk on the backside of the lights. That should fix the water incursion into the light housings.

Battery:

I'm not kind to my stuff. I'm something of a freak about maintenance, but not so fastidious about battery charging. I knew that my trailer battery (Duracell grp 27) was not well before I left. We ran the Norcold 100% of the trip. Since the battery was crap, I just left the trailer plugged into the truck the whole time. The Norcold did a great job (as usual) keeping the preset 41° even for the two days in Phoenix where we saw a high of 112°. After we returned, I charged the trailer battery overnight and tested it. No load voltage dropped from 12.6V to 3.6V in 12 hours. Junk. I picked up a new Duracell grp 27 AGM and slammed it in. Problem solved. I'm not upset. The old one took three years of my abuse. That works out to $25 bucks a year. The AGM has a moderately higher discharge threshold so maybe I can squeeze more out of it. I could probably get 5+ years out of it if I were more vigilant about charging. Don't hold your breath.

I've got just over 7,000 miles on the Timbren long travel suspension. I checked the mounting hardware, wiring and brakes pre and post-trip. Also checked the new Cooper tires for odd wear. They look great and show good wear in camber and toe. I run the tires at 35 psi to minimize sidewall flex so they should last the standard 5 years I go between replacement. Second only to running over a yard rake, running too low a pressure in a tire, particularly on the highway, is the best way I know to destroy it. (I also run 39 psi cold pressure in my Jeep tires.)

Other than a good clean-out, the trailer is ready for another trip around the block. I'm heading out in two weeks to do more of the Wisconsin Adventure Trail. Now that the kiln shed remodel is done, (hurray for me!) I'll have a bit more time to goof off while it's still warm. August is small mouth bass season!

Putting the ship (kiln) into the bottle...

Stuffed....now to finish...

Finished. Boom. Done.

Kathy (DW) still has to build the exit flue and chimney using her brick/concrete block collection, but I'm off the hook for everything else but the metal work making mounts for the 850,000 BTU burners. She's the mason. I'm just the carpenter/electrician/metalworker...

WilliamA

stevemilligan42

Surprised you didn't melt in Mesa Verde at this time of year. It's hot!

JohnnyLoco

Awesome

LuckyJ

How did you sleep at night?? Did you reinstall tge AC?

WilliamA

https://teardrop-trailers.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/11428#Comment_11428

Nope...We used the ceiling fan...slept like babies:(in my brothers case) old, snoring, babies...

LuckyJ

@WilliamA said:
Nope...We used the ceiling fan...slept like babies:(in my brothers case) old, snoring, babies...

Wow, unless the temp wouod drop a night, no way I would have sleep in the heat. I was northof the 60 th parallele for the last 2 weeks and I was using a fan a night cause for me it was to hot in the ship. And outside, either shorth sleeve of light jacket. 😅

WilliamA

https://teardrop-trailers.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/11405#Comment_11405

Wasn't a problem. Mesa Verde had temps in the mid-80's at night. We camped in a primitive site so only the ceiling fan (Maxx fan set to blow in, turned to 40%). The humidity was pretty low though.

My concern there was the road up to the Mesa. Death-defying switchbacks and million foot high cliffs. It had my flashback/PTSD right at a solid 85% stationary panic for two days. Combined with a pleasant (just kidding) trip up the switchbacks over Wolf Creek Pass and I was pretty much a basket case for two days. I've never in my life been so fascinated by/fixated on, the yellow lines on the road. My brother said the view was incredible, but all I saw was that double-yellow line. The steering wheel has a new set of finger grips in it and my elbows might never unlock....

My brother took this one for me....

WilliamA

LuckyJ

Nice. Thanks for the additional info!