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Maiden Voyage. Questions

Npdchief07
Explorer
Explorer
Just got back from our first trip in our new Wildwood travel trailer. . Everything went tpretty well.

Question. Can we travel with the fridge on propane? It takes forever to cool down.

When we went to leave the car hitch was now higher than the tongue on the trailer. Luckily a fellow camper helped us stand on the truck to get it down. How can we prevent this? The tongue Jack was fully extended.

I noticed some campers place all their tongue Jack's, stabilizers etc on blocks of some sort,. Is that a good idea?
9 REPLIES 9

prichardson
Explorer
Explorer
Using blocks under the stabilizers and jack does two things. 1 reduces the amount of extension thus more stable and 2 provides a larger footprint to reduce sinking into soft surfaces. Turn your fridge on a day or two before your trip then leave it alone except for fueling.

OleManOleCan
Explorer
Explorer
Putting blocks under jacks, stabilizers make it easier and quicker to level your camper. I have some 6x6s cut about a foot long, that I throw in my truck when we go camping.
Several years ago we stayed at a nightmare campground where one end of some sites needed a couple of blocks just to use your jacks.
BTW: Life's too short to stay more than a night at one of these spots.

dolbsss
Explorer
Explorer
I stuff as many leveler blocks or wood blocks under the jack to have it extended as little as possible. Always travel with propane running fridge, just note it is a fire hazard while fueling. Luckily my exhaust is on the opposite side than my fuel, but I still shut it off unless I have the end pump.

owenssailor
Explorer
Explorer
e run ours on propane whenever travelling. This s for 4 o 6 months at a time all across the continent.
2011 Jayco 28U
2012 Chev Silverado Crew Cab 5.3 6 spd 3.42 (sold)
2017 Chev Silverado Crew Cab 5.3 8 spd 3.42
Equal-i-Zer 1400/14000
RotoChocks

Mountain_Mama
Explorer
Explorer
We always cool our fridge down before we leave. Help it along by putting frozen jugs of water in freezer and fridge section. If hr or so trip, we fill it with cold and frozen foods before leaving and turn it on to electric when we get hooked up at site. When we went on our trip to Yellowstone, cooled it down before leaving and then ran it on propane for trip.
2003 Holiday Rambler Alumascape 34RLT

Lwiddis
Explorer
Explorer
“When we went to leave the car hitch was now higher than the tongue on the trailer. Luckily a fellow camper helped us stand on the truck to get it down. How can we prevent this? The tongue Jack was fully extended.”

Don’t extend the jack more than half way. Use blocks.
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad

SoundGuy
Explorer
Explorer
This weekend we happened to be on a tongue high site so in addition to my usual 4-stack under the tongue jack I also added 5 Lynx levelers & a Lynx cap to reduce tongue jack extension.



Under the front stabs I used 8 high stacks of plastic leveling blocks, under the rear stabs that were close to the ground just single Lynx caps. It's handy to have parts on hand to allow you to adjust to the campsite you're on. 😉
2012 Silverado 1500 Crew Cab
2014 Coachmen Freedom Express 192RBS
2003 Fleetwood Yuma * 2008 K-Z Spree 240BH-LX
2007 TrailCruiser C21RBH * 2000 Fleetwood Santa Fe
1998 Jayco 10UD * 1969 Coleman CT380

campinginthewoo
Explorer
Explorer
Yes you can travel with fridge on propane you should shut it off prior to fueling unless you fill up without the trailer and I always use a block of wood under the tounge Jack
"Our family is a circle of love and strength.
With every birth and every union, the circle grows. Every joy shared adds more love.
Every crisis faced together makes the circle stronger. "

SoundGuy
Explorer
Explorer
Npdchief07 wrote:
Can we travel with the fridge on propane? It takes forever to cool down.


Of course. Any 6 cu ft gas absorption fridge I've owned has cooled down quite well in about 5 hours, whether in electric mode or gas. Presumably you're aware you should never run the fridge with the trailer sitting much off level, otherwise you can easily damage it beyond repair. :M

Npdchief07 wrote:
When we went to leave the car hitch was now higher than the tongue on the trailer. Luckily a fellow camper helped us stand on the truck to get it down. How can we prevent this? The tongue Jack was fully extended.

I noticed some campers place all their tongue Jack's, stabilizers etc on blocks of some sort,. Is that a good idea?


I use a 4-stack under the tongue jack and stacking plastic blocks under each stabilizer to reduce extension to a reasonable amount, the only exception being a single piece of plywood under the tongue jack when we happen to be on a tongue low campsite.

2012 Silverado 1500 Crew Cab
2014 Coachmen Freedom Express 192RBS
2003 Fleetwood Yuma * 2008 K-Z Spree 240BH-LX
2007 TrailCruiser C21RBH * 2000 Fleetwood Santa Fe
1998 Jayco 10UD * 1969 Coleman CT380