Our first trip

SnapDog

I really enjoy reading the lists people make of their maiden voyages, so here’s ours – but first, Thanks to everyone for the super advice on this forum. We de-winterized the Outback ourselves and took off for a couple of trips this past week.

(1)       I was a little worried the T@b would be too small for 2 humans and 2 dogs, but after two short trips (5 nights) it’s clear we made the right decision. The T@b is perfect for us.

(2)       Towing is easier than I thought it would be. Backing into the driveway, not so much. Oddly enough backing into the campsites was not such a problem. Maybe I was just more relaxed without the neighbours watching.

(3)       Love, love, love the XL visor. It rained 3 out of 4 days on the second trip and the visor was so nice to have. Best T@b purchase yet.

(4)       Sleeping with heads under the cabinet worked best – scooching is way easier than the tuck-and-roll. Just dreading that moment we forget about the cabinet in the middle of the night.

(5)       Two Whippets can sleep comfortably on one-third of the bed, especially if their third is above the Alde.

(6)       You can actually leave the pump on the whole time and it stops rattling as soon as it is fully primed. I was turning it off after each use initially and realized that just didn’t make sense, especially when we had electric hookup.

(7)       Towing over winding mountain roads with a 4 cyl is not ideal but definitely do-able, especially if the water tank is empty. What a difference that makes.

(8)       I can see why people like to have a cordless drill for the stabilizers. The cranking is not hard, but the getting back up part x4, well…

(9)       The trip to the sani-station – not a problem. Why was I so worried about that?!

(10)    One of our speakers doesn’t work (I’m taking it to the dealer later this week – with my luck its some stupidly simple operator error issue) but gee it was fun to watch an old b&w movie in the middle of the forest while sipping a celebratory single malt with rain pounding on the roof and the Alde keeping us toasty warm.

(11)    We set off the smoke detector every single morning making toast except the last when we wised up and turned the fan on so air pulled out instead of in. (oops)

(12)    It is possible for the two of us to shift the camper around on hard packed gravel. Unfortunately, we forgot about levelling side-to-side part. It is definitely not possible for the two of us to roll the T@b up onto blocks but we gave it a good try.

We’re still working out where things go, especially cans/dry food, still deciding whether to purchase the BAL leveler (will it fit around those knobby tires?), but our shake-down trips were so much fun. Can’t wait to get out there again. 

dragonsdofly

And more adventures await! Happy t@bbing!

ericnliz

@SnapDog, Best part of the trip...you folks had fun & that's what it's all about! Thanks for sharing!

Tabaz

The BAL works on my 2016 Outback tires just fine. If you like using the drill for the stabilizers, you'll love using it for the tongue jack, stabilizers and BAL.  Just get a Drill/Hammer model with enough torque.  The only issue I had with the BAL is that it's heavy and cumbersome to store because of the threaded shaft protruding out of the socket.  Now with the Drill/Hammer, I simply unscrew the shaft all the way out for easier storage.