2014 TAB CS-S Newby

bchase

Greetings. After years of looking enviously at the TAB owners while RVing in our small class A motorhome, I've finally pulled the trigger on a new-to-me 2014 TAB CS-S. It's been sitting for a year or so, so needs a few updates. New battery and propane tank already taken care of. Needs some cleaning and I'm excited that the previous owner (the original purchaser) never did any modifications so it's a "clean slate" for me to start customizing and personalizing! Any other 2014 owners that care to share info? I have some questions about systems with very little documentation to look at. Looking forward to this new adventure. Leaving in 10 days for a break-in trip of only about 2500 miles and two weeks of road time  :-)

dragonsdofly

@bchase welcome and congratulations on your trailer. One of the first things you might consider, since you have an earlier trailer is to install a battery cut-off switch. This will stop parasitic draw from discharging your battery. The battery disconnect switch became standard with the 2017 models. Without it, a fully charged battery, just sitting, not on shore power will be completely drained within a week or so. In lieu of a disconnect switch, pulling the in-line fuse in the battery compartment will do the trick. 

Also check the status of the alde fuid. It should have been changed every 2 years. Many have not and repair or replacement of the system would be very expensive. Your previous owner should have an update on the alde maintenance.

Enjoy that shake down trip. Good luck and Happy t@bbing!

Marceline

bchase said:

Greetings. After years of looking enviously at the TAB owners while RVing in our small class A motorhome, I've finally pulled the trigger on a new-to-me 2014 TAB CS-S. It's been sitting for a year or so, so needs a few updates. New battery and propane tank already taken care of. Needs some cleaning and I'm excited that the previous owner (the original purchaser) never did any modifications so it's a "clean slate" for me to start customizing and personalizing! Any other 2014 owners that care to share info? I have some questions about systems with very little documentation to look at. Looking forward to this new adventure. Leaving in 10 days for a break-in trip of only about 2500 miles and two weeks of road time  :-)

Does your T@B have the Alde system? 

StepheninDen

@bchase Welcome!! Hope you had a great maiden voyage!!

We got our 2014 T@B CS-S three years ago and absolutely love it!! Similarly it hadn’t been used much and needed some love. Here’s what I’ve done so far. Almost everything I’ve done I leaned from this amazing forum!

Year 1:

- Replaced storage box with used 5’ long diamond plate truck box. Room for everything!

- Bought Bluetooth tire pressure monitor

- Bought Echo Bluetooth brake controller (my TV doesn’t have a wired brake controller)

- Added battery cutoff switch

- Mounted spare tire to the jack 

- Upgraded clamshell strut brackets to screw directly into the frame after one pulled out of the wood.

- Added a “windscreen” for the stove by bending a piece of aluminum bar (I think it was 1.5 or 2” wide) I bought at Home Depot to fit around the grate. Prevents the wind from blowing out the stove and keeps heat in.

- Bought some extra patio furniture cushions from Cost Plus to make a U-shaped couch like in the 320-S (I slide the table top to the back, put a square patio cushion on top of it and add patio back cushions across the back. The extra cushions all fit neatly underneath for sleeping.

- Replaced the 2 little Alde fuses you’ll find under the cover of the actual unit with 5A (5 amp). The 3A ones are prone to blowing when you fire it up (Someone on this forum confirmed with Alde that it’s safe). FYI, to avoid blowing a fuse always turn your Alde off when connecting to shore power, turn the temp down when you start it, then adjust up to the desired temp.

Year 2:

- Upgraded to LiFePo 100ah battery (can use much more of the battery and easier to manage, downside is lithium battery doesn’t charge from the TV)

- Splurged on new bench cushions from NuCamp

- Swapped 20lb propane tank for two 5lb tanks (saves weight and space and allows me to only fill propane once one is empty)

Year 3:

- Removed the 2-way fridge and replaced with slide out drawer and cooler (better for boondocking)

- Made the pilgrimage to Sugarcreek OH and the NuCamp factory for some big mods

- Swapped to the Boondock axle

- Joined the black and grey sewer dumps

- Added high altitude kit to the Alde (I’m in Colorado and the Alde can vibrate loudly and smoke at high altitude)

- Replaced the Alde fluid with the new Rohmer antifreeze 

That’s it so far 😂. This season I plan to finish a new butcher block table top on a pedestal mount to replace the original table.

Enjoy getting to know your new T@B!!! It can be a steep learning curve at first but SO much fun!!

StepheninDen

StepheninDen

This is an older pic before I removed the fridge. If you zoom in you can see wind screen and the heavier strut brackets.

Slackers

Agree with @StepheninDen on moving the spare from under the galley to tongue jack.  It offers better rear clearance and in our case improved the towing experience.

BrianZ

For your next trip, @bchase, consider new tires if they are more than 4 yrs old or your sidewalls have any fine cracks.  We had a blowout at 5 yrs.  Make sure you have the proper tools for changing a tire.  I had to pull the flat tire onto a couple of wood blocks to get clearance to fit the jack under the jacking frame support bar behind the wheel.  Also, make sure you know where that is located.  Here's a photo of our right wheel showing a jack stand under the support bar, which also shows how close (vertically) the bottom of the wheel rim is to the bottom of the support bar [and it would be closer with the weight of the trailer on the wheel] for purposes of fitting a jack under the bar when the tire is flat.

Mickerly

You have made many of the same modifications as we have with our 2018. Something you may want to consider in the future. Our 2018 came with a Lagun table mount on the outside aft of the tire. If you have the Lagun table, adding a mount outside is great. Raised all the way up it acts as an extension to the kitchen counter space. When lowered, it makes a nice dinette. To reduce mosquitoes, we added red battery powered lights to the kitchen. 

Denny16

@Mickerly thanks, I have considered doing this, but went witH free standing camping table.  We have a 2018 TaB400, no rear galley, and no Lagun table inside.  I did get the Lagun table hardware, with an extra mount to add an external mount to the trailer.  May do so in the future.  Thanks again
cheers