Best Of
Re: Lithium Battery…Ok to Leave in Camper Over Winter
Thanks for the info! Looks like I should be ok. My batteries don’t have a built in shutoff but I can just turn off solar charging and the battery disconnect. Glad to hear I won’t have to pull them out from under the bed.
Re: Cordless drill for leveler jacks
Have a look at the drill, and if you have the manual, grab it and review the basic settings. There are several settings that can prevent the drill from "snapping" and twisting. On the top, there is a "high and low" setting. On the ring with the numbers there are symbols for a drill, etc. By adjusting the "clutch" (those numbers) it will control how much torque the drill provides before the "clutch" disengages and saves your wrist!
I can't explain this well, but this basic YouTube video will help. All these little settings will help you get control of the drill.
(Apologize if you already know this stuff...the video below was a good review for me!)
And: Tripoley! Can't begin to tell you how much fun that game used to be "way back when" out camping with my friends and parents!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1u6DF12MN4
Re: Has anyone purchased and received a Haven?
Lawyerboy said:Our dealership in Florida said he would have one on the lot last month which didn’t happen. Just curious if folks took the plunge and how it performs. Morning
Ordered our Haven mid Oct and took delivery on 3 Dec which was about the time our Dealership and nucamp estimated. We had it home three days packing and then launched on a two week RV trip - shake down. As with anything new, we had a few issues but nothing that derailed our trip. The Haven has the new ALDE 3030 but no physical manuals were provided. Everything is linked to QR codes, so as soon as we got home we started printing (this is our third nucamp trailer and we knew far more than the PTI tech at the dealership). We ordered the upgraded solar package and spent an hour looking through the paperwork provided to find the PIN codes so we could monitor the Victron unit through the app. The Garmin remote for the radio refuses to pair and the circular light in the shower stopped working day one. Vent works but the light stopped. Nucamp has sent us a new one. I also spent time removing the thousands (pun) of screws in the bench seat over the ALDE system. I want quick access if needed, plus the lever to drain the ALDE is there. Removed half the screws in the bench over the Victron. The back bench area has a nice storage area. The bed felt like sleeping on wood but fortunately, my smart wife had already ordered a pad and something else so the bed was actually comfortable. The heat from the ALDE is radiant, so it takes a bit of time to heat up the camper. What we started doing is set it to 80 and it heats fast, then dial it down to a comfortable level. Through the Alde 3030 you can link the AC and ALDE heat and set a temp and the two units will work together to keep your rig at whatever temp you set. The top cabinets are high for my vertically challenged wife, but she found a small stool that folds flat that gives her the perfect reach. The dry bath is very nice and as a 6'2" 230 guy, I had no issues using the shower. After using the rig for two weeks, there are a few things we would change; the only USB/USB-C connections are on each side of the bed (side note, the storage around and under the bed is AWESOME according to my wife). These sort of ports are needed in the dinette area but we used a small power strip with ac/usb/usb-c connections to temp solve the problem. The two steps into the rig are terrible Not sure the fix but I wonder if a single step of the heavy caliber as offered on the new nucamp rigs might work. We also thought it would have been a nice touch to add under carriage lights similar to what is on the new 400s. There is a switch inside that needs to be turned on to power the rearward facing camera. The auto awning is nice and the awning lights really light up the area at night. The electric trailer jack is nice but never have owned/operated one, I can't tell whether ours is slow or the speed is normal. Storage / garage area is awesome. Things that use to go into the bed of our tow truck, now are stored in the Haven garage, making pre and post packing much easier. The fridge is the same size (dimension) of our 2019 t@b 400, but it's missing all the stuff our 400 had like propane and AC components. This for us doubled the interior; on one shelf we got a small pizza box and in the freezer, we got two 1qt bags of ice with room to spare. The freezer width isn't that great but it's depth is impressive. The sewer hose is stored in a compartment in the rear bumper. This compartment does not extend the full length of the bumper; so we were only able to put a 10' sewer hose and our black water flush hose inside. The other 10' section is in a small rubber made box in the front storage tub. We pulled the Haven with a 2020 F150 5.0 and on our first 1000 mile trip, it pulled as easily as our 400 ever did. Our 400 had served us well with us traveling over 50k miles to include two trips from FL to AK with it. But as we aged, the crawling over each other to the late night bathroom runs was proving more of a challenge and having the luxury of being able to make the bed without having to crawl on the bed itself were things we wanted. Similar trailers like an Air Stream were out of our budget range. I did buy a large cover to use on the Haven when it's in storage. Had to use our large ladder and it took my wife and I about 30-mins to get it installed but it is well worth the effort to protect the unit from the sun here in FL. Be happy to share our experiences and lessons from our first trip with anyone if they are interested.
Replacement Front Box
This discussion was created from comments split from: 2019 T@B Front Box, Tire Mount, and Rack $500.00.
Re: Maintenance Schedule
The AC compartment has a "drain pan", and the drain pan may be cracked. The AC drain in your 2017 is toward the front of the trailer, so when you do use the AC, if the trailer isn't a tiny bit "tongue down", the condensation cannot drain from the trailer. The photo below shows the AC compartment, with the drain in the front corner of that area. The drain spout exits the trailer just in front of the driver's side tire.
The "cracked drain pan" involves the area underneath the AC unit, which has been known to crack and need to be recaulked. Not too hard to get the AC out, and there are several threads about it.
Re: Nova Kool installation in a DM T@B
Update. The Fridge is installed. LP that went to the Norcold is capped off and line removed. Prep for add'l storage is complete, just waiting for doors and small drawer to be made. Pictures:
Re: Radically Downsizing
Inflatable kayaks for the win! We recently purchased two sea Eagle EZLite 10 kayaks for our travels in place of hard old town loon kayaks. These kayaks are drop stitched, so they can be inflated much higher/harder than the old rubber tire style of blow up boats. With an electric pump, we can be on the water in about 15 minutes. They are every bit as usable as the loons. They fold up nicely, though the package is not tiny by any means. They are primarily flat water boats, but can certainly be used in class one/two type water. And they are not cheap, but so far we feel they have been worth it. We now take the kayaks with us on pretty much every trip we do whereas before we never took the Loons on our long cross-country trips.The only issue we've had is that the skegs they come with are too big by far. I basically have cut them in half and they now work great in shallow water. Highly recommended!
Re: External Solar Port on T@B 360
nuCamp sizes the Victron solar controllers that they factory install to the wattage of the rooftop solar. In most cases, there will not be enough room (edit: capacity) left for an additional panel. Buying a suitcase panel without a controller and adding a separate Victron controller mounted close to the battery has the advantage of reducing the voltage drop that results from the long wire run between the panel and your trailer.rickpool said:I am trying to figure out whether the external solar port inside the Nautilus box (360 Black Canyon) connects to the Victron MPPT controller or directly to the battery?
edit to add that the designation, like 75/10 on the controller stands for 75 volts and 10 amps. Exceeding the voltage will damage the controller, so you would have to be careful not to exceed the maximum combined PV voltage from your rooftop and a secondary solar suitcase. If you were certain that this would not be the case, then you could use the factory controller for both. The drawback is that it would never provide more than 10 charging amps to your battery.regardless of the amperage coming from the panels.
Re: Having Trouble Getting the Heat to Go On Using Propane
@MerryC The Alde manual, waaaay down at the end of the manual under "Fault Messages" says that if the battery drops to 10.5V, the heater will stop. When the battery reaches 11.0 volts, the Alde will work again. If any of the batteries in the trailer reach this voltage level, it is time to stop everything and charge the battery when that is a reasonable thing to do.
The Fuses you need are "slow blow" fuses for the Alde. There are some huge threads about the Alde Fuses, and what StepheninDen said was one option....but the "better" option would be the "slow blow" versions. I replaced my 2017 Alde fuses with the slow blow fuses. The link below are the ones I bought 6 years ago (time flies!). I replaced both of my "fast blow" fuses with these slow blow fuses, and I have not replaced any since.
Here is the long thread from 2016 or so where this issue was discussed. Many owners were still learning the ins and outs of all the "games Alde plays". The discussion goes back and forth with the various "solutions". And, discussions on why the fuses blow, including all the "tricks" used to prevent the "fast blow" fuses from blowing. Since adding the "slow blow" fuses I don't think about this much any more, but: I usually always turn the Alde off whenever I'm not actually using it, and I rarely, if ever, plug in to shore power.
In the newer Alde 3020 from around 2019 or so, Alde changed the control panel so there is only 1 fuse on the positive 12V line to the panel.
Re: Caulking Guide?
Has anyone used this caulk?
Geocell Proflex Stays elastic and stops leaks quickly. Bonds to virtually all RV materials and adheres to damp, frozen and oily surfaces. Withstands joint movement and temperature change due to RV travel. 25 year life expectancy. 10 oz.
Saw it posted on a FB page
Geocell Proflex Stays elastic and stops leaks quickly. Bonds to virtually all RV materials and adheres to damp, frozen and oily surfaces. Withstands joint movement and temperature change due to RV travel. 25 year life expectancy. 10 oz.
Saw it posted on a FB page
