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What items are essential in your PUP?
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2545 Posts
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February 16, 2012 - 7:50 am
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Nope, nothing holding the boards except friction and weight.  Some people will nail the boards together with DIY levelers leaving a flat area to chock the tire on each level but I always thought they looked to be 20 feet long that way. 

Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer.  Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.

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February 16, 2012 - 9:24 pm
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And....camp with friends.  If your go with a group, you can always borrow what you don't have.

Or...camp close to home the first time or two.

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February 17, 2012 - 10:05 am
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[quote author=thingette 1s sister link=topic=1389.msg10896#msg10896 date=1329445455]
Or...camp close to home the first time or two.

That's what we did.  First 2 trips were to a campground within an hour of home.  Third trip was a big rally in NY.  I met a bunch of my camping friends there.

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February 17, 2012 - 11:16 am
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Thanks thingette 1s sister and Fritz, I'll be doing both of those for my first trip out.  French creek is only about a half hour away from home, and I'll be camping with many of you fine folks.  It sounds like I'd be fine 3 hours away from home as long as I've got all your experience to share! 

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February 17, 2012 - 11:17 am
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A couple "nice to have" items are solar powered lights.  I have about 8-10.  I'll plant them around the camper and mark out areas you might have difficulty seeing at night (concrete slabs, tree roots unearthed, etc.).  They're cheap, durable, handy, self sufficient and not a nuisance.

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February 25, 2012 - 8:06 pm
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Picked up lots of stuff at the dollar store today, boy was that fun! Mostly kitchen stuff (I'd cry if that was the quality I had at home, but for the camper it's fine!). I even found those solar lights for the ground, great call, Steve A marking tree roots.  I stayed at one site last year that was like a maze trying to get into the area, lots of jagged rocks and tree roots, would have been great having those lights! 

Hey Lone Lock (Matt) My dad made me a leveling thing-a-ma-jig as well as some wheel chocks. I think he's giving you a run for your money!  I'm rather impressed and (thankfully) excited to try it out!  I didn't take any pictures, and don't have a place to host the pics to link them to here, so you might just have to ponder what he did till the french Creek trip  8)

I pulled out the electrical cord to the camper, I really had no idea before that it was so long, I just figured it was a couple inches till someone mentioned it was long on here.  It's about 20 feet! yay! And, apparently the cord that my dad's been using that was attached to the house came with the camper (I figured it was his) so that's one thing less to buy!

Can't wait to go camping!!

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February 25, 2012 - 9:31 pm
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Glad you picked up some fun stuff.  Stop by Harbor Freight (Wegmans shopping center in Downingtown), they have tons of fun stuff.  Don't forget we are starting to get into Garage Sale season.  I picked up my heavy duty extension cord (is heavy duty 10 or 30 amp? either way, it is the good one) at a garage sale for $5  😮 . 

Take some pics of your new toys and leveling system.  Joe can forward you some directions on how to link them from Webshots or another one of the pic sites.  It is easy. 

Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer.  Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.

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February 29, 2012 - 6:33 pm
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It turns out the extension cord my dad was using came with the camper, woo! Plus I pulled out the cord that's part of the camper, and that's about 20' too! I'm feeling good on that aspect. 

Here's a pic of what my dad did for the leveler.  Although I'm very impressed with what he did, I'm a litter concerned it may need to be higher (and to the chocks need to be bigger)?  I guess I'm just not fond of having to use multiple people and driving over pieces of wood.  It sounds like it's gonna be a pain in the butt! I wanna win the BAL leveler darnit! OK, I'm done my rant.

As you can see it's 3 pieces of wood, each level has pegs in it which hold it to the level below, and the chocks have pegs to hold onto any level. 

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-cw7yih5i-dk/T0rZpXS652I/AAAAAAAAAJ8/ASgELl667GY/s512/Leveller.jpg

He did the angle of each pretty narrow so there was a sitting point in between each angle.  I guess that's good, it sounds like less guessing that way.  It looks like the leveler is only about 3" tall when complete.  Do you think that's enough?  How unlevel are campgrounds normally?

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February 29, 2012 - 6:54 pm
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[quote author=MariskaHargitay]
I even found those solar lights for the ground, great call, Steve A marking tree roots.  I stayed at one site last year that was like a maze trying to get into the area, lots of jagged rocks and tree roots, would have been great having those lights! 

More than glad to help.  If any advice I offer makes someone's day/trip a little better, then it's made my day a little better.

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February 29, 2012 - 8:15 pm
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It looks like it will work.  If the chocks are 2x4's then they should keep the pup from moving. 

My DIY leveler had the possibility of 9 inches of lift.  With 3 boards I'm guessing you have about 6 inches of lift.  Depending where else you camp you may need more but  at French Creek you should be fine.

One question.....I see that there are pegs on the boards and on at least one of the chocks.  Are there pegs on the second chock?  You can have one of the chocks with pegs, but the second one can not have them.  Since the tire is round you won't be able to put the pegs into the hole when parking the trailer.  You need to be able to just slide the 2nd chock into the wheel.   

Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer.  Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.

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701 Posts
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February 29, 2012 - 8:29 pm
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Batteries, we have a battery bag with all sizes for things we have and things we don't

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February 29, 2012 - 10:28 pm
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[quote author=thingette 1s sister link=topic=1389.msg10896#msg10896 date=1329445455]
And....camp with friends.  If your go with a group, you can always borrow what you don't have.

Or...camp close to home the first time or two.

For our first trip with our first camper, we did just the opposite.  We drove from the DC area to Disney World, around 870 miles, after taking delivery of the camper three days before we left. Why start small? 😉

Then again, I've been camping and towing trailers for a long time including several boats, so I had a good idea what to expect.  Also, I did a lot of research as well as make make a list of all of the nearby RV dealers and some other retailers in case we needed something we forgot.  Fortunately, the trip went about as smoothly as one could hope for.

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February 29, 2012 - 11:06 pm
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My top two suggestions:

#1.  heavy duty extension cords of different lengths..25 footers, 50 footers, and 100 footers, you just can not have to many...

#2. a mattress topper...the thickest that works for you..otherwise you get into bed, all is good, by midnight you feel like you are sleeping on a board...cuz you are,  then you begin turning 180 degrees, but ultimately you wind up feeling like you slept on a board, cuz you did...lol  a mattress topper would be at the top of my list...ya gotta have a good night sleep
best of luck, Wolfie

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138 Posts
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March 15, 2012 - 1:03 pm
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I can't live without the BAL stabilizers we bought.  Our pup came with the ones that you wrench down with the metal pole.  Two of them wouldn't lock in the up position and had to be bungee corded when we traveled and one was broken and gave me a scar on my arm when it slipped and threw me into the tongue.  Now I just take the handle out and crank them down.  My 7-year-old likes to do it.

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21 Posts
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March 15, 2012 - 4:55 pm
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Ok, all you serious camper types are gonna laugh...
1. matches or a lighter.
2. a light that is not dependent on your unit to work... battery, propane, oil... whatever and spare fuel/battery
3. something to start a camp fire with. (newspaper, sawdust, we have little wax starters)
4. A good book/deck of cards/ legos... something to do if it starts raining on your parade. :reader:
5. A way to get weather updates. (Cell phone that gets alerts for us.)
6. The morning you are planning to leave, take your bag with you into the bathroom. If you use it/touch it take it with you. (unless you do serious makeup and hair for work... that you don't need... but tooth brush, paste, deodorant, shampoo, whatever... you won't forget it that way (thanks Breadbox ~ DH))
7. Since you are going to the Creek... bring a sweater... it gets chilly at night. BUT we have a fire that melts the ring...
8. a camp chair for everyone coming with you.
9. for a first timer I would do paper plates... move up to "real" once you get your bearings in your new toy and figure where to store stuff.
10. CAMERA... you will always want pictures of something!

On a slightly unrelated note... get a small three ring binder and keep the owners manuals in it along with all the other paper you end up with you need/want. Ours has the manuals for all our stuff and the pup plus the reservations section has all the past and present reservation info in it. We keep copies of some of our favorite camp recipes in there as well.  That way you always know where to go if you end up with a question... like the wattage of something or the refill size for something (like our water filter) Ours stays in the pup in the cabinet by the door.

Can't wait to meet ya! We (Breadbox and I) are going to be there too! Don't worry too much... whatever you forget, I am sure someone will have spare of. SEE YA SOON!

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