First time trailer campers, to South Georgia Gnat Country

Sneakle

2018 Tab320s Boondock.

Hi you all,

Enjoyed our first outing. Here are observances, mistakes and corrections that others may find helpful, or amusing!

Cranking up the hitch and removing the wheel to attach TAB to car: My driveway is steep so there is a dip at the bottom where it meets the street. There was a terrible grind when the wheel tube hit the driveway. Note to self: always crank it ALL THE WAY UP after removing wheel. Fortunately it wasn’t distorted and wheel still fits on it.

• 2010 Subaru Outback, 3..6R as TV: Ok if kept around 60 mph and few hills to climb. At higher speeds I smelled what may have been trans. fluid? It was a hot day in the South and at stops I felt a lot of heat coming off the engine.

• Sway Bar: Left it off on the way there and used it on the way back. Couldn’t tell a lot of difference. How much to tighten it down is still a mystery to me.

• Safety chains: too long so I used a small bungie to lift the sag.

• Brake controller (wired). Worked fine. I fiddled with the adjustment wheel until I could just barely sense the trailer brakes grabbing. 

• Rear Facing Camera, $140 Amazon: My car has a rear camera but bought this for seeing behind the tab. The unit worked fine for navigating the hitching but it is not meant for constant view behind the trailer when underway. 9v battery has limited life and the camera would often freeze on a still shot for extended periods. But it’s fine for temporary use when backing. The camera’s magnet would not stick on the TAB body so i put it on the yakima rack. Used zip ties for security.

• Pulling a trailer: Had to make some allowance for the trailer when turning corners but less than expected as the TAB followed nicely in the tracks of the car. 
• State Park campground arrival: Found our reserved site that had water, power, cable, table and waterfront.
• Backing it in: Took me about 5 times to get it in straight. 

• Leveling. Used 1 of the plastic levelers under a wheel. chocked the wheels then cranked down the 4 steading pads using a power drill with appropriate bit.

• Electric hookup: The nice guy who is the live-on-site attendant showed up so I had him walk me through the electric hookup.

• Water hookup: Could not get a tight connection and water spurted all over the place from the TAB’s city water port. So, we just used the hose to pour water into the internal tank. (Checked this out when back home and found a rubber gasket missing. I could see a black ring inside the TAB’s city water port but it was actually a hard plastic part. Easy fix by inserting a standard hose gasket). 

• Cable hookup: The campsite panel had 5 identical coax outputs. On the television, I chose “source” and tried all the source choices but “no signal” detected from any of the coax outputs. So either a problem with the campsite panel or I need to read up on my television some more. 

• Streaming using “Apple TV” and my iPhone as a “hotspot”: This worked. You have to unhook the HDMI wire from the tv and insert your own HDMI cable to the Apple TV box. Only thing about this is now the audio is limited to the speakers in the tv instead of the TAB speakers. 

• Toilet: worked fine.

• Screens and shades: one of the gray plastic tabs broke off in my hand. Hope they are replaceable.

• Bed: We put in the slats and made a full size sleep area. Slept ok but we will buy some kind of topper so we don’t feel the cushion seams. Have to decide if 2 singles or a full size is easiest to roll up and stow.

• Table: We stored it in the area under the seat cushion to make more room for the curious visitors who wanted to look inside the TAB.

• Refrigerator: Needed to tweak to find the best setting. Takes a while to settle in after making an adjustment. If you put it on the coldest, it goes down to 20 and freezes milk. The rubber gasket fell out on the floor every time the door was opened. So when visitors wanted to look around I tried to position myself so they couldn’t open the fridge door and have the thing fall out. (I’ve since read on the forum that it’s an easy fix with some gorilla glue.)

• Stove: didn’t use it. Next trip.

• Sink: no problems.

• Hot water: didn’t try it. Next trip 

• Sewer dump out: Don’t know why I was dreading this. It was super fast and easy. Hook up the sewer pipe at the TAB, place the other end in a hole, pull the levers, black first, then gray. Used the available water hose to flush things out then put the sewer hose in a garbage bag in the tub.

• Battery: Wasn’t used much.  But here at home the battery is showing only 50%, even after a couple of days attached to AC from our house. I bought a charger/maintainer to see if that would bring it back to 100%.  Been on that for 9 hours but still reading 50%.

• Speaking of curious visitors: We probably had the smallest unit in the park but lots folks stopped to ask what it was all about and maybe look inside. NuCamp marketing would be wise to print up some slick info postcard handouts (even 3x5). Place a stack in every TAB sold and send some to TAB owners.

• Hope this didn’t come off sounding like a list of grievances because we had a great time. Just newbie campers learning the ropes.

Sharon_is_SAM

@Sneakle, you did well for your first time out!  

Regarding the “wheel tube” - that’s your jack and to help prevent scraping - besides cranking it all the way up, try to take those dips at an angle and there will be less of a difference between the TV height and the TaB hitch height, so you will see less bottoming out.

Most owners find that a sway bar does not add anything to your towing experience except more weight.  I think if you can learn to load your TaB with adequate tongue weight, you will be fine without the sway bar.

You did well if it only took you 5 times to back in.  We still sell tickets for the show😀

Good for you - you managed to use the fresh water tank, pump and toilet!

Call Elsie in Parts at nuCamp for replacement of the gray, plastic shade clips.  Eady to break and free to replace!

What size and kind of battery do you have?  You said you were on full hook-ups - did you have your battery switch turned on so it would charge on ac?  The battery switch should have been turned to “on” while towing, too - to charge your battery, power your break-away brakes and run your 2 way frig which can consume more than you think, but less than the 3 way.  Check your fluid levels in the battery, assuming it is flooded.  What battery monitor is installed in the 2018 TaBs?  If it doesn’t charge up, call your dealer.  Maybe it sat on their shelf too long, or maybe was not fully charged before delivery.  Are you using a surge protector or EMS at home and while camping?

I’m done grilling you!  Really, you did well and welcome to the learning curve!

Sneakle

Sharon thanks for weighing in. 
Battery: I probably had it turned off at the switch while on the hookup. And maybe off when towing. The battery monitor is SeeLevel II and shows 13 volts and 50%. Though my digital trickle charger/maintainer says it's now fully charged. The battery doesn't look like a deep cycle battery to me, Brand is Quick Start. Do the batteries come from NuCamp or do the dealers choose and install the battery? The battery showed full charge before my trip. Thanks, Mike

MuttonChops

Sneakle said:

. . . SeeLevel II and shows 13 volts and 50%.

For Battery SeeLevel only reports Voltage, so if you are reading 13.0 then the battery is fully charged. 

How do you get the '50%' to display . . . what button did you push?

rkj__

I broke one of those grey clips on the window shades the first time I touched one!  I had not even bought the trailer yet, so I felt a little bad about it at the moment it happened.  I did end up buying that trailer though, and the part is only a few dollars, so the dealer did not make a big deal about replacing it. 

ChrisandAlexis

@Sneakle, do you have a water pressure regulator connected to the city water hose? 

Sneakle

>>How do you get the '50%' to display . . . what button did you push?<<
I pushed the button marked FRESH. does that not show percentage charged? 

Sneakle

>> do you have a water pressure regulator connected to the city water hose? <<
yes

ChrisandAlexis

@Sneakle, the FRESH button on the SeaLevel is for the percentage of fresh water in the fresh water tank. The battery button is for the voltage reading of the battery.

Sneakle

DOH!
thanks

ChrisandAlexis

@Sneakle, what is the reading when you press the BATT button? If you disconnect the charger and let the battery sit for a couple of hours and have the cutoff switch to the on position, what is the BATT button reading?

MuttonChops

Sneakle said:

>>How do you get the '50%' to display . . . what button did you push?<<
I pushed the button marked FRESH. does that not show percentage charged? 

From the SeeLevel Manual:

The system shows the battery voltage by measuring the voltage

which powers the display**1

Press the BATTERY button and release it, the display will show the

battery voltage on the LED display.

Press the button corresponding to the Tank to be checked (Fresh, Grey, Black) and

release it, the display will show the [Tank] level in percent on the LED

display.

**1   This is the battery voltage under load, if you check the Battery Voltage with the Fan (for example) on high and when off the Battery Voltage value will be different.  In general if everything DC Voltage powered (Fan, TeleV, Radio, lights, Fridge 12V mode) are off then the SeeLevel value will be very near true no load battery voltage.  battery state of charge voltage tables assume the battery has no load, "open circuit" . . . . of course T@B must be on Battery power only, shore power not connected to measure the true battery voltage.

trainwrecked

I tow with a ‘17 outback (love it) and not sure if yours is the same, but I have to keep the headlights on when towing or the tab battery drains.  The alternator operates on feedback from the car and if the lights are off, it doesn’t think it needs to make much power and will drain power out of the tab instead of charging.  Keeping the subaru lights on makes it stay in high voltage mode.

On the tv setup - I do the same streaming with my iPhone instead of an Apple TV.  Not sure if the Apple TV can output to Bluetooth, but I hook my phone up for video through hdmi and then connect to the jensen stereo with Bluetooth for audio.

happy tabbin!

Sneakle

Thanks trainwrecked. I'll give that a try.