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Camp life

NorthernRedneck said:
All the arrangements are made. I'm heading out with my wife Tuesday morning for a four hour drive west to first drop her off at her parents for a visit while I continue on another couple hours to pick up the camper and drive back to stay at her parents for the night. All fine in the summer but this is northwestern Ontario Canada in February. There's 4ft snowbanks lining the highway. There's a storm headed this way forecast to dump a ft of snow Monday night.
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At least if you get stuck hauling the camper you will have a place to stay. Make sure the propane tanks are full.
 
Got her hooked up and on the road. Done driving for today. She handles beautiful behind the f150. Strong winds and barely a wiggle behind me.

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We made it home unscathed. The camper towed great with barely a wobble behind me holding a steady 104km in high winds. The fifth wheel is as close to a match comparing it to our 33ft starcraft bumper pull. At 104km, I can feel it swaying quite a bit. They both weigh close to the same. But hands down, I'll tow this thing anytime over the ball hitch. Much more stable at higher speeds.
 
Now that the snow is melting, I am finally able to dive into the 5th wheel. I spent some time this week going through the systems inside. Yesterday I gave the inside a good thorough cleaning before we bring any of our junk into it. I also started cleaning up the exterior giving it a full hand wash using spray 9 cleaner to remove the poplar sap and fungus that was starting to encase it from sitting for a few years.
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What the entire camper first looked like upclose.

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With some elbow grease, she's slowly coming back to life.
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I also spent a few hours diving into the bedroom window crank mechanism that was broken and discovered that a connecting rod was snapped at the end. I went to Canadian tire and they had stock rod the same diameter. I cut it to length and notched the end and put it all back together. A new replacement window was 400+. For $20, I was able to fix it.

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The previous owners had about 4 layers of duct tape holding the window closed. I got all that removed. The rest will get done with a step ladder.
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We had a couple more storms come through last week that slowed progress down but I was back at it yesterday as soon as temperatures were above freezing in the afternoon.

So far I've been using spray 9 cleaner and a rag along with a softer scouring pad from the kitchen to get the surface cleaned up from years of sitting. The camper itself is in very good shape and looks like it hasn't seen much use. I suspect that when it was in use, they kept it stored inside as none of the trim is sun baked. The previous owner had a stroke and the camper was basically put into storage outside until they decided to sell. Hence the poplar grime and moss covering it.

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While going through the systems and checking all the lights, I discovered a problem with the electrical. The fridge and all interior lights work. But when I flip the switch for the outside lights, the fuse for the refrigerator pops as it's on the same circuit. After tracing the wiring from the switch by the door, I removed the exterior light fixture to discover that when they installed the wiring originally they used splice clips to join the wires together and they had come undone and the power end was pulled back through the wall in behind the refrigerator. I disconnected the propane and electrical to it, pulled 4 screws inside, and slid the whole refrigerator out enough to feed a fishing wire down and run the wiring back up and out. I reconnected the wires everything works so I put it all back together. One more thing done.

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The entire passenger side and front have been scrubbed with spray 9. Once the snow is gone, I can tackle the roof and give the whole thing a wash and wax.
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I also finished cleaning up the window that was covered in duct tape residue.
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NorthernRedneck said:
The entire passenger side and front have been scrubbed with spray 9. Once the snow is gone, I can tackle the roof and give the whole thing a wash and wax

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Looks good, be careful using abrasive pads, they will dull the paint or gel coat. I used to own an auto detail shop. If you have a buffer with a buffing pad, use automotive rubbing compound. Very little effort and good results. After the buffing wax it and it will look new. It also remove any oxidizing. Works on boats too.
 
These are the pads I used. They aren't metal. With the spray 9 and light rubbing, the gunk was coming right off without leaving any swirl marks. When the weather improves, I can was the roof then give the side a good wash and a hand polish to protect the finish. It's coming along nicely though

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I was back at it all day yesterday. I first painted the steps, front hitch, and rear bumper. Then I spent about 3 hours of scrubbing by hand to remove the remaining film of dirt and poplar sap and moss.

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The nice part of spending so much time on something is that you find all the little gremlins that can give you problems on the road. My first such discovery was a fried breakaway switch. If this had fried completely at highway speeds the brakes would have locked up.

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The tire tread all looks new but on closer inspection, I am lucky this one survived the trip when I picked it up in March.
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I went through the water system this week and was happy that everything was working fine until I looked at the water pump. Drip drip drip. Seal blown. Ok. Easy fix. I picked up another one and installed it yesterday. The water system is working perfectly now. As far as tires, she who must be obeyed gave the go ahead this morning to get new ones. My original plan was moving both fifth wheels down to the shop and swapping the tires from one to the other as the old one has 2yr old tires. Instead, I'm going to haul it to a tire shop and have them swap out for 3 new rubbers then I'll put the new spare on and keep an old one for spare.

So that settles the fifth wheel. All that's left is to pack it this week.

Now, onto our seasonal camp...
 
Yesterday morning, a buddy of mine and I hauled out another fifth wheel for someone else then my buddy hooked up to his 38ft fifth wheel and towed it in for warranty work. I took my truck to bring out my golf cart and open up our camp. After he left, the camp owners contacted me to see if we could move it to a different spot for now as they'll be taking a different site. So I moved it with my truck up to the camp owners place and we'll deal with it after the other camper is moved tomorrow. Then I will move it into place for them. Directly across from our site.


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First night at camp was terrible. I came out alone and early with 2 of our dogs to get our 9 month old puppy acclimated as she has been a very spooked scared puppy right from day 1. Well, she did alright most of the way here until she puked in the cup holder of my center console.

We got to camp and I walked both dogs in to the fenced in area and closed the gate then toured her around getting her used to everything. She was settling down when I pushed the button to open the awning and she panicked and ran to a corner of the fe
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nce where she squeezed her way under and bolted full speed. For a small dog, she has the speed of a greyhound. She ran about 400ft then stopped to sniff. I called her name. She lifted her head and took off ar full speed. I searched from the time I arrived at 3pm until dark. At this point, she's either eagle or wolf food.
 
Aww shit, I hope you find it soon. My dog is 7 and still that stupid. I tried to let him off leash at the work cabin but he wants to wander off, and if he saw a deer or something else to chase he would be lost in an instant.
 
I had the whole camp looking and no luck. I searched from 3pm until 9 last night then again most of today before I had other commitments to attend to. We are going to go back tomorrow and look again. Maybe if she's hiding and not wolf food, more familiar voices will coax her out. Her thing has always been if she even suspects she might be in trouble, she runs and hides and doesn't come out until someone else comes along and calls her who she is familiar with. So we'll try that. I left her kennel and a bowl of water out. I also took the shirt off my back and placed it in the kennel hoping my scent will attract her. Just maybe. I'm not getting my hopes up.
 
NorthernRedneck said:
I had the whole camp looking and no luck. I searched from 3pm until 9 last night then again most of today before I had other commitments to attend to. We are going to go back tomorrow and look again. Maybe if she's hiding and not wolf food, more familiar voices will coax her out. Her thing has always been if she even suspects she might be in trouble, she runs and hides and doesn't come out until someone else comes along and calls her who she is familiar with. So we'll try that. I left her kennel and a bowl of water out. I also took the shirt off my back and placed it in the kennel hoping my scent will attract her. Just maybe. I'm not getting my hopes up.
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Does she have a favorite snack? I hope you find her soon. How far is the camp from home or where she used to live? Sometime they try to go home. Leaving the kennel and water was a good idea, she is going to get hungry/thirsty and the kennel may be a little like home.
 
Camp is 100km from home and the only thing surrounding it are about 10 summer cottages down the lake a little ways. First time she has ever been there. We got her as a 5 week old puppy from 8 hrs away. Our home is the only place she really knows.
 
NorthernRedneck said:
Camp is 100km from home and the only thing surrounding it are about 10 summer cottages down the lake a little ways. First time she has ever been there. We got her as a 5 week old puppy from 8 hrs away. Our home is the only place she really knows.
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Im praying you find her soon
 
I searched every waking hour from 3pm Friday until I had to come home Saturday evening for a mother's day commitment Sunday morning. My wife was at a 3 day conference 8 hrs away with our oldest daughter and the other kids were home alone for the night. My wife returned Saturday evening then we all went out yesterday for a drive and to look around for her. Not a trace.
 
NorthernRedneck said:
I searched every waking hour from 3pm Friday until I had to come home Saturday evening for a mother's day commitment Sunday morning. My wife was at a 3 day conference 8 hrs away with our oldest daughter and the other kids were home alone for the night. My wife returned Saturday evening then we all went out yesterday for a drive and to look around for her. Not a trace.
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Damn, sorry buddy.
 
Fingers crossed!

I Had given up hope of ever seeing her again and was starting to come to terms with it after she had been missing since Friday. friends of ours a couple of sites over are out there and they saw her. She is very scared and won't come to them. I'm going to drive out at first light and attempt to catch her.
 
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