Towing – Riveted

Southern Oregon Coast

Laura Domela — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 00:13:38 +0000

Wanna know how much stuff we just packed into our last day here at the bottom of the Oregon Coast?

1. Drove down towards Brookings, OR and stopped to check out the campground at Harris Beach. This campground looks amazing and it's now on our list of places to stay next time we come through. This is Harris Beach:

2. Then, a 1.5 mile hike in the northernmost coastal redwoods near Alfred Loeb State Park:

This place is like a fairy tale, with the occasional huge, old growth redwood.

3. Then we headed into the Port of Brookings to find some lunch. The fish & chips place was closed (what??). I consulted Yelp for the next highest rated place and found a spot called Zola's Pizzeria, so we caved and had pizza for lunch on the Oregon Coast. But it was some fantastic pizza!

While we were eating our pizza, two ladies were at the register ordering their lunch. They each said they wanted a glass of Chardonnay with their lunch. The cashier asked, "House chardonnay, or Coppola?" The ladies answered "Coppola. Could you put a couple of ice cubes in please?" Ummm, so why bother getting anything other than house chardonnay if you're just gonna put ice cubes in it? That's my question.

4. Oh and guess what else was going on down at the port today? CRABFEST!

We wandered around a bit, bought some local homemade salsa, watched the crab races (crab races!!!), and then picked up a couple of cooked crabs.

Crab will be for dinner tomorrow night because we're both too full from pizza to eat dinner tonight.

5. Before we left the port we drove around along the river (the Chetco River) over where it meets the ocean, and we noticed a couple hundred people hanging out on the jetty watching something.

Turns out a fishing boat went aground (or sank?) coming into port last night around 8pm. Nothing was happening…the boat was just sitting there, but it caused a huge town gathering.

6. Next we headed North from Brookings toward our next hiking destination, and pulled over along the way to check out the "highest bridge in Oregon" — the Thomas Creek Bridge, which is 345 feet high. There's a big brown National Park-like sign advertising a viewpoint for the bridge, so we pulled into the huge parking area they've set aside and walked toward the bridge. Huh. Not a very great "viewpoint" in my opinion:

Not really worth all that nice signage. Here's a shot through the cyclone and barbed wire (but still):

7. Next stop/next hike: Natural Bridges Cove in the Samuel H. Boardman State Park and Scenic Corridor. We parked at the trailhead and headed out along the Oregon Coast Trail (another mile and a half or so).

View of one of the Natural Bridges from a bridge on the trail:

We hiked along the trail for a bit, turned around, and on our way back took the trail down to Natural Bridge Cove. Whoa.

This is some gorgeous bit of coastline down here. The hike was beautiful, and steep (especially down toward the bridges) and it gets a little hairy out over the bridges (totally gave me that squeemy feeling), but here we are (picture that open arch of water below us, and steep steep cliffs on either side of us, leading down about 100 feet to the aggressively churning ocean):

I might look calm here, but in reality I can't wait to get back up to the gnarly tree path were there are things to hold onto.

Neither of those above photos shows the certain death you'd face if you so much as slipped. Oh lordy. Kevin just showed me a photo he took while he was standing out there. Aaaaauuuugh.

But the views from up here: stunning.

I think that time we were in Bodega Bay and hiking the Bodega Head trail regularly for a week or so, when that one guy who was with his friends fell from the rugged cliffs into the rocky ocean below and was never found again…and we watched the search and rescue helicopters searching for him from our table at Gourmet au Bay…I think that really freaked me out.

8. Next, we headed to Myers Creek beach for some beach hiking at sunset. This is a gorgeous beach with big rock formations as far as you can see.

Kevin picked a good rock to jump up onto as an unexpected wave snuck up on us:

Nice sand texture:

A whole sand dollar!

This rock has a tunnel through it:

We walked another couple miles on Myers Creek beach and left just before sunset.

Number 9 will be hot tubbing at our campsite later this evening. Yay!

Hitch Issue: A Sheared Roll Pin

Laura Domela — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 16:33:06 +0000

About three weeks ago, we installed a new ProPride hitch. We'd been fairly happy with our old weight-distribution hitch, but it was starting to get old…cracks showing up in the hitch block, chain links showing wear, saddles getting slightly bent over time… We also occasionally had the slightest bit of sway when a big truck passed. We decided to spring for a ProPride or Hensley, since we'd read so many good comments about them in the forums.

After a bit of study, we decided to go for the ProPride. It looked like it had a couple of minor differences from the Hensley that might be nice. But honestly, most of all, it was black and not orange. Orange is good on the inside! (Maybe we'll do a post later about the install process…it took about two hours and was fairly straightforward.)

We've towed about 500 miles with it now, hitched and unhitched 5 or 6 times, and been on freeways, 2-lane highways, and super twisty winding roads. It tows fantastically well. Big trucks pass us and we feel absolutely nothing. The whole operation feels more solid and steady than with our old hitch. It doesn't squeak or creak at all, either.

We've gradually been dialing in the adjustments and getting used to hitching and unhitching this new system. Getting the weight-distribution right and the trailer leveled takes a little trial and error.

As we mentioned in our previous post , when we pulled into the park here and started to unhitch, as we were lowering the weight-distribution jack, the jack handle just spun in place and the jack handle didn't move. This is a pretty serious problem because if we couldn't take the tension off of the weight-distribution jack, we couldn't unhitch the truck. We figured out how to pry to the top cover off of the jack head and pretty quickly saw that the roll pin that was supposed to hold the handle shaft in a spider gear had sheared off on both ends.

Here's one end:

The other end was on the ground, and the middle was stuck inside the shaft.

We tried jamming a few different things in temporarily (small screw, cotter pin, etc.) that might let us lower the jack, but they all sheared off as soon as we tried to turn the handle. I scrounged around in the hardware bin but didn't find anything. Then! I thought: martini picks!! They're cheap and the right diameter. Let's try it! Fortunately, these martini picks are apparently built to military specs. No olive shall come loose in any combat drinking situation. They were so hard that we couldn't cut them with our heavy duty wire cutters and we had to break out the bolt cutters. For a martini pick…that holds olives. (Don't ask why we carry bolt cutters.)

We sacrificed two martini picks (awwwww):

We tapped one in from each side and were able to finally manually turn the crank and lower the weight distribution bars so we could unhitch.

Today, Kevin ran down the street to the auto parts store and picked up a punch and the correct size roll pins. He punched out the old broken section, tapped in a new pin, and reassembled the jack. Now, we're good as new — maybe better, since the original seems to have started out with a weak roll pin.

We Made a Break for it!

Laura Domela — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 21:07:14 +0000

We were watching the weather pretty closely this morning to see if we might be able to make it over Lookout Pass safely to get to Spokane today. It was clearing up fast and at around 11am we decided we'd go for it.

See you later Missoula!

Weather when we started wasn't bad at all. There were even breaks with blue sky and everything!

Look! A plane on a train!

Starting to gray up a bit now:

This was our backup plan if the pass was too bad (a few miles before the pass): 50,000 Silver $ (whatever that means!) They have free RV parking in the back for self-contained RVs, which we are.

And not that it wouldn't have been lovely back there, but we happily made it over the pass with no issues over the pass. The roads were plowed and clear and just wet but that was it. Oh, and it was gorgeous.

One mile from Lookout Pass:

Now we're in Spokane, where there's no snow at all. The weather's quite nice, actually. I'm taking Kevin out to dinner tonight for his second birthday dinner, at a spot called Clinkerdagger (voted #1 most romatic restaurant in Spokane…not sure what their scale is like, but we'll let you know).

We got a spot at the Ponderosa Falls RV Resort and it's pretty here (and we gained an hour). The follk in the office were super fun and nice…lots of trees, about 10 miles from downtown Spokane. They've got Wi-Fi, but either it's not working or you have to pay extra for it and we didn't, so we're using our AT&T data card.

Gotta get some more work done now. Later.

Whoomp Whoomp, Cough, Sputter

Laura Domela — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 00:48:09 +0000

Do you hear that?
What?
That woop woop woooop sound?
No.
Is that just a suspension squeak or something?
Dunno.

Feel that jerking?
Isn't that just the bumpy road?
No, it's like a tugging – like something's pulling us backward.
Seems like just the bumps in the road to me.
No, it is different…

WHOOOMP! Bing!

Uh oh – we've got a problem. It's a little wrench symbol. Can you grab the manual and look that up?

Yep… Hmmm…. The Ford F150 manual says "Limp Home Mode – drivetrain problem has caused your vehicle to go into a reduced power mode to get home. Some gears may not be available."

Yeah, it's got, like, almost no power at all.

Forty nervous miles later, we pulled into our campground. The truck was shuddering badly, shifting hard, and misfiring. We disconnected the trailer, started the truck up to move it forward… everything was FINE.

We drove it around Charleston (without the Airstream) for several days. Everything was FINE.

Today, we hooked up and started the long drive to Asheville, NC. We got less than five miles when it started again, much more aggressively than before. Whump Whump Whump, Bang! Whump. The truck was bucking and bumping and coughing… Finally, after 150 miles or so, we decided to pull into a Ford dealership in Colombia, SC.

During the previous few days, I had researched our truck's symptoms online. We were not the first to have these problems. On the Ford forums there was a torch mob yelling about how Ford should fix this problem. It seems that the new engine design (which has turbochargers and an intercooler) has problems in certain cases with water accumulating in the intercooler, getting sucked into the induction system, and making the engine cough and sputter. It particularly happens if you're driving in humid weather for long periods at freeway speeds and pulling a load.

Hmmmm… We are the poster child for that problem.

Our service guy was named John, and he was super cool. He was a pilot (we chatted about airplanes and flying during most of the diagnosis process), and he rode motorcycles, and of course he was a technical nerd because he worked on cars with computers. He needed us to drive around towing the trailer while he had his fancy-dancy computer system connected to our truck's brain.

Cough Cough – sputter sputter – "Yep, it's missing on number three, now there's five… OK, sparks are all working fine, no codes from the transmission…. oops, now it's missing on number one… Hmmm… ALL the cylinders are showing misfires. The ignition shows OK, the fuel injection shows OK… I've never heard that noise before."

John took us back and we watched while he pulled up the service bulletins and diagnostic info on his computer.

The good news was that our problem matched EXACTLY the service bulletin just issued by Ford (which was also the problem I had read about online). Furthermore, Ford had just released a new, re-designed intercooler to fix the situation.

The bad news was that there were only two of the re-designed intercoolers available in the US, and they were in New York. Yep, the same New York that is now reeling from hurricane Sandy. Those parts won't be arriving in Columbia, North Carolina any time soon.

John's advice… "Drive. It'll suck and it'll make noise and be rough, and the Check Engine light will come on. When it does, stop and cycle the ignition to clear it. But, it's not gonna break down and leave you on the side of the road, and you'll be able to get where you're going. I'd say just keep calling Ford dealers down the road until you find somebody that can get you the updated part."

We took John's advice.

Cough, Cough, Woop Woop BANG! Cough Cough sputter… (repeat for three hours)

Now, we're in Asheville, NC. We got here after dark and headed over to a recommended restaurant for some dinner (Tupelo Honey Cafe, thanks Doug Trout!)

Leaving Florida Panhandle’s Gulf Coast (and a slight mishap)

Laura Domela — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 00:34:40 +0000

As long as we've been on the road, we're still occasionally finding places that we think "I could stay much longer in this place." The Florida Panhandle is one of those places. I thought I'd show you a few of the houses here on the gulf coast, in case you aren't from around here.

Here's a little info I found about a specific homebuilder who claims "Hurricane-Proof Homes" that might be interesting/informative.

And here are a couple shots from our drive today:

Okay we drove past this place a couple times and I didn't call because we had a great spot already, but the location where this sign was looked amazing, and I think someone needs to call them and go stay there, because HOW GREAT! Waterfront RV spot on the gulf with full hookups! The location was killer…between the peninsula, and the Indian Pass Raw Bar.

We drove through Ocala, FL today, and holy moly there are a TON of horse farms (really nice ones) there. I did a little Googling and learned that Ocala is the Horse Capital of the World. I know!! It is, though…really!

So today, we had an "incident." It was one of those things that you think could happen at some point based on what you know, but you hope you remember the checklist items so that it doesn't happen. Today, we forgot that one checklist item: Pump=Off.

Note: Do not try to "remember" your checklist items. That's why you have a checklist. It's an object. Not a memory.

As you might remember, we replaced our factory kitchen faucet with a much better one. We learned that there was one downside to this faucet: the on/off handle is a little heavy, and if you're going down a bumpy road, it can occasionally vibrate itself down into the "on" position. Now, the freshwater tank holds 39 gallons, and the gray water tank holds 39 gallons, so if you emptied the whole contents of the fresh water tank into an empty gray water tank, then no problem. 39 = 39. Cool. However, if:

(1) you stay at a place with water and no sewer, such as St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, and
(2) already have the fresh water tank full, and
(3) have a half-full gray water tank that you decide not to dump between one place and the next, AND
(4) forget to turn off the water pump before traveling as it CLEARLY states on the checklist, and
(5) the faucet vibrates to "on" going down the road, and
(6) you drive a couple hours before you pull into a shopping center parking lot for lunch and notice water dripping from the bottom of the trailer ("It's runoff from that rainstorm we just drove through, right?") but then you go in and the entire floor is wet, the rugs are soaked, and it smells a little like last night's fish dinner.

Oops. For those of you who are wondering, when your gray water tank overflows, it overflows first into the bottom of the shower. This is a nice feature, because the bottom of the shower can hold quite a bit of water (several gallons!) before it gets so full that it overflows then sploshes out the shower door and onto your Airstream floor. Tip: use a bucket or large bowl to bail water out of the shower and into the toilet, so that you can drive to the nearest dump station without sloshing more water out onto your floor.

We used many towels, rugs, etc. to mop up the water, and when we got to our stop for the night, we happily learned there was a laundry room and managed to wash and dry all of our rugs/towels/that pile of clothes on my side of the bed that had gotten soaked during our mishap. Now, all is well.

We're camped out for the night at Lake Marian RV "Paradise". It's nice, and kinda rustic and quaint, but are there really this many mosquitoes in "paradise"?

We cooked the fresh gulf shrimp that we picked up the other day (scampi style, with a salad) and they were delicious.

Tomorrow: Miami.

If It’s Broken, Get a New One

Laura Domela — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 00:11:58 +0000

This morning we got up early (see today's post about the 6am PVC cutters next door) and called a nearby body shop to get an appointment for an estimate to fix the damage to our truck. We met Scott over at Mahnke at 9am and he took a thorough look at our truck and said it would realistically be 4-6 weeks to have it fixed. He said we'd need a whole new truck bed, and there was a spot where the truck bed hit and dented the cab so they'd need to fix and repaint most of the cab, and there was likely a slight bit of frame damage, etc. (He also said there was no way the guy who hit us was going the 25mph speed limit. Duh.)

After we left the body shop, we stopped to have some breakfast and talk over our options. We landed at the Cowboy Cafe for an omelette and some coffee.

We figured we could probably (a) find an RV park or campground nearby where we could get a monthly rate, cancel our reservations that we have in Leadville and Mueller State Park over the next couple weeks, and just hang in Denver while the truck was fixed…maybe getting a friend to tow us from Alumafandango on Sunday to the new temporary home of our choice. We could rent a small economy car to get around, make the best of it. Or, we could (b) go to the nearby Ford dealer and see (1) if they had a 2012 F150 Supercrew Platinum with the max tow package in tuxedo black that our cool custom painted tuxedo black bed topper would fit on, and (2) what they would give us to trade in our crashed truck. The last option (3) against the advice of the mechanic at the body shop, was that we could attempt to tow our trailer the 1200 miles home and have the truck fixed in the comfort of our own city with our own backup car.

We decided to head over to Lakewood Fordland to explore option 2 a little.

So our sales guy Michael greeted us at the door and we told him what we were thinking about. He said he wasn't sure they had one in that color, but let's go check. We walked directly over to a 2012 F150 Supercrew Platinum in tuxedo black — with pretty much the identical list of features and options that our 2010 truck had. Same chocolate and black leather interior, same sound system, same nav system, same crazy color lighting options on the cup holders, same moonroof, same automatic running boards. It was kind of creepy. How did they know???

Some of you who've been reading this blog may notice a pattern here. See Example A, and Example B.

The 2012 F150 has an Eco Boost turbo-charged intercooled 3.5L V6 (different from our 2010's 5.4L V8, but apparently has more power, a flatter torque curve, and better fuel economy). (Kevin just read all that to me.)

Here's Jay, our Ford finance guy (I accidentally snapped this while looking for a photo on my iPhone, but I liked it, so here it is):

Jay is a photographer when he's not the Ford finance guy, and we spent about two hours hanging out talking about (and looking at) photographs. It was just about the best car buying experience ever, actually. We love Lakewood Fordland.

Our sales guy Michael (a total rockstar) and another guy took both trucks down the road to a truck bed topper place they work with and had the topper from our 2010 F150 removed and replaced expertly (including the bed rug and all the wiring and everything) onto the new 2012 F150. They did a perfect job! Ford will be swapping our towing mirrors from our old truck onto the new one in the morning and we'll be set to head over to Alumafandango.

So. A new truck. A new truck that looks and feels eerily the same as our old truck, only without a big crashy dent in the backside. There have been some improvements in this model, we have a 6 year warranty with this truck, the interest rate we got this time is half the interest rate we had, and we'll get a check from State Farm tomorrow after the adjuster shows up and they figure out what the damage was.

(Just like) new. Problem solved.

We drove back to the RV park and parked the truck in the same place where we were this morning, and our across-the-way neighbor, Bob, comes walking toward us with his arms outstretched and his face making that "WTF???" expression. We just said "I know dude. How about that speedy body shop we found???"

Fender (and bumper, and tailgate) Bender

Laura Domela — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 12:00:00 +0000

While we were driving in Silverton yesterday we were rear-ended. Now we're trying to figure out how this will affect our future travel plans (we're supposed to be in Denver on Tuesday). Our hitch wasn't damaged, but the tailgate, bumper, and left rear quarter panel all need replacing. If we can get it fixed in Denver and it doesn't take too long…that's an option…we'll just leave and head straight to Denver this morning instead of taking the other route we were considering). Towing all the way home is I suppose the next option (after we get our crushed left taillight housing issue solved and the bumper duct taped on or something). What a total bummer, and a crappy end to a really awesome morning offroading. (Shoulda stayed offroad!)

While we were all dealing with the insurance and police report and such, and the sheriff was taking photos, she pulled a gun and holster out of the other guy's car and said she was going to hold onto it until we were finished. He said to her "Give me back my gun" and she said she would give it back to him just as soon as we were all done here. Eventually, after a little arguing, she said he could put it in his son's car (the son was following in another vehicle). The guy then (with his hands in his pockets) said he had a loaded gun in his pocket. The sheriff then instructed him to remove his hands from his pockets. I think this guy was just being an A-hole because the sheriff was a woman. He seemed friendly and fine to us…but she sure didn't like him. (She told us later that she is a way better shot than he is so he shouldn't have been messin' with her.) Oh, Colorado.

Someone working at the scene of the accident (who asked not to be identfied) said that if we really wanted someone who could give a quick look at our vehicle before we towed with it, we should drive over to Molas Lake Campground, go to the wooden shack, and find a guy named Outback (who happened to be a very good mechanic). She said he'd be easy to find because he's got a long gray scraggly beard and his arms are all tatted up. I said "I took a portrait of that guy the other day! His name's John, right?" Yep, that's the guy. Oh, Colorado.

(Tire) Pressure

Laura Domela — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:03:00 +0000

When towing a tandem-axle trailer with a pickup, you have eight tires on the ground (or more, if you have a dual set-up.) Eight tires means double the probability of a tire problem, and all that weight means the consequences of a failure are much worse. You may not want a tire failure on your family car, but you REALLY don’t want a tire failure while towing an RV.

We have a basically new truck and a basically new trailer, but we have still had two “tire failure events”. The first time, we were driving along a winding road near the Oregon coast, and ONE trailer brake locked up. Almost immediately, we had a puff of smoke and a blown tire. It turned out that the brake/hub/axle was defective from the factory. Airstream got us a new one express shipped and installed within a day under warranty.

The second tire incident may have been related to the first. About 2,000 miles later, we were towing up another winding road in the Oregon Cascades. It was nighttime, and we were on the way to Detroit Lake State Park. About 10 miles before our destination, I felt a very slight tug from the trailer. It was fairly subtle, and lasted only a fraction of a second. After that, everything seemed normal. I was concerned that maybe a trailer brake had started to lock up again (although the entire hub/brake assembly had been replaced with a new one, so it seemed unlikely). The trailer towed normally for the rest of the ten miles into the campground. Laura jumped out when we arrived at our site and went back with a flashlight to make sure we went smoothly into the pitch black campsite. I backed into the spot easily, and Laura came to my window (which she normally does to say something like “looks good, back up maybe six more inches, we’re level left-to-right…”).

This time, she did NOT say that.

“Um, honey? We’re missing a wheel."

(OF COURSE that’s not what she meant.)

“We have a flat?”

“No, we are missing a wheel. From the trailer. The wheel, tire, everything. Gone.”

I then fine-tuned my entry in the “stupidest question in the world” contest…

“Are you sure?”

“…” (My question did not rate a response)

“Come look. I was looking to make sure the stabilizers would clear the curb, and it was really dark, and something was weird. I could see one silver part of one wheel, but then there was just black for the other one. I put my hand out and there was nothing there. Just that gnarly metal nub, like when they grind a tooth down to put a cap on it."

I grabbed a light and went back to look. Front trailer tire and wheel…check. Rear trailer tire and wheel… GONE. There was only the hub/brake assembly hovering in space with two of the studs broken off at the hub. Behind that, there was some bodywork damage to the rear underside of the trailer – apparently inflicted by the wheel/tire assembly as it departed the scene. THAT was the “slight tug” we had experienced ten miles before.

Not good.

I should take this opportunity to modify my alarmist statement above about “tire failure events” towing an Airstream. While it seems like a sudden and complete tire failure on a loaded 6,000 lb trailer being towed up a winding mountain road, with steep drop-offs on the sides, in the dark, would be a VERY BAD THING – the truth is we noticed nothing. The trailer towed as normal for ten more twisty, hilly miles, into the campground, and into the site, as if nothing had happened. Also, in the first incident – with a sudden blowout, the trailer towed as normal (although in that case I knew about the problem so I went very slowly and carefully to a safe pull-off).

I know this would not be true of every trailer, and it makes a good argument for a tandem-axle design versus a single axle design. If a single axle trailer had a wheel depart, I’m certain you would not continue calmly to your destination unaware.

In retrospect, the loss of the wheel was probably due to lug nuts either being too loose (wherein the vibrations would slowly cause the lug nuts to back off until the tire started to wobble – causing the lugs to shear and the wheel to break free) or by the lug nuts being over-tightened damaging the studs and causing them to break under load much later. The last time these lug nuts had been touched was when the shop replaced our hub/axle. That shop, I believe, either over- or under-tightened our lug nuts. I did not heed the warning (which I believe is posted on a sticker on many trailers) to “re-check lug nut tightness after 50 miles”. Do it. Really.

We went searching for our missing tire/wheel the next day. It was an exercise in futility.

We called a towing and roadside service company in the nearest town, and they sent a guy with some replacement studs. He took the hub off the trailer in our campsite, removed the broken studs, pressed in some new ones, and then we fitted our spare tire. $300 later, we were good to go again.

Once back home, we dropped the trailer at Airstream Adventures Northwest for repairs to the damage to the rear of the trailer, plus a replacement wheel/tire. They did a perfect job – the damage is completely gone. Total repair cost was about $2,000. (Ouch!)

Having two wheel/tire failures in a relatively short period of time gave rise to an unreasonable paranoia about our wheels and tires. I now check the lugs before each trip. I check the tire pressure before each drive.

We wanted a peace-of-mind solution for tires. We decided to get a remote tire pressure monitoring system. After a bit of research, we decided to go with the:

Hopkins 30100VA nVision Tire Pressure Monitoring System

This system sits on the dashboard and gives you a nice green light if all tires are at the proper inflation. If one of them gets a tiny bit low, it beeps and gives a yellow light. If pressure drops substantially, it beeps LOUDLY and lights a red light. It has a popup screen that shows air pressure in every tire you have.

The system requires you to put a special transmitter on each tire – where the valve cap would normally go. The main unit plugs into a 12V plug and sits on your dashboard. It monitors the tire pressure wirelessly.

There are some issues we’ve had with this unit. First, the user interface for setting it up is very clunky and unclear. It took quite a bit if futzing around to get all the sensors installed and working properly.

Second, it only comes with six sensors. You can buy extras in pairs. If you’re using a four-wheeled tow vehicle plus a four wheeled trailer, you need at least two extras. If you want to monitor the pressure in your two spares as well – you need two more.

Third, the sensors have to be replaced periodically – every couple of years maybe? We don’t know for sure yet. We’ve had one sensor fail in two years of use.

Fourth, in our configuration, the signal from the trailer sensors to the receiver on the dash was intermittent. The company sells a special “booster” add-on (which we mounted in the canopy in the back of the truck) to help when there is a long distance between the truck and the trailer. That’s an extra and hidden cost to the system.

We’ve had good service from the unit. Three times, we’ve had tires get a bit low and it has warned us before a problem developed. Twice, it was a screw or nail in the tire which could have later turned into a bigger problem. Overall, I’d recommend one of these systems, although the door is wide open for one that performs better and is easier to use than this one.

And finally – I need to point out that a system like this would not have caught or prevented either of our failures. One was a brake lockup with instant blowout. The second was a wheel that departed the rig – with tire pressure sensor intact, and tire fully inflated. Yep, the pressure was just fine – but the wheel and tire were in a ditch several miles back…

(Posted by Kevin)

Car-Topping the Hobie Tandem Island

Kevin Morris — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:07:59 +0000

**Update: We've recently posted a more detailed, step-by-step of our method of car-topping the Hobie Tandem Island. Check it out here if you're interested.**

As you may notice from the number of posts we make from locations near lakes, streams, and the ocean – we love the water. We've both enjoy a variety of water-related activities including sailing, kayaking, fishing, and general exploring.

Unfortunately, towing an Airstream precludes towing a boat trailer, so getting ourselves, our trailer, and a boat to our destination requires car-topping the boat.

We therefore set about choosing the biggest, most versatile boat that we could reasonably car-top while towing the Airstream. Hobie has a new 2-person sail/kayak called the Tandem Island (OK, I think it's really called the "Hobie Mirage Adventure Island Tandem" but seriously, that's WAY too many words for one little boat.) The Tandem Island (or "TI" as we will now refer to it), is an 18 foot sit-on-top kayak. For power, it has conventional paddles (which we never use), a really awesome pedal system called the "Mirage Drive" (which can easily propel the boat at a sustained 4-5 MPH with two people pedaling at a nice comfortable pace), and an 18-foot mast with a 90 square foot sail (that's the super-fun part). To stabilize the boat while under sail, there are also two outriggers (called "amas" and metal booms called "akas" that connect the amas to the main hull. The result is basically a small trimaran with pedal power for when the wind dies.

Car-topping the boat was a bit of a challenge. We put three Yakima cross-bars on top of our F150 truck – one on the cab and two on the built-in rack on the SnugTop XTR camper shell. First, we tried using standard kayak saddles and rollers to load and manage this heavier-than-normal kayak.

Nope.

Yakima's "Hully Roller" system may work great on light boats, but on ours it wouldn't hold the weight. The rollers lost their grip on the bar, rolled backward, and proceeded to dent the hull of the boat. (We pretty much fixed that with a blow-drier and a little pressure and patience, but that's another story). We ended up getting the Hobie cradles that are a custom fit for the bottom of the boat (originally intended to be mounted on a trailer) and mounted them to the front two cross-bars. The back cross-bar has a pad, and is only used during the loading process. We put the nose of the boat onto the pads on the rear cross-bar, then slide it forward until it drops onto the two cradles. Then we attach the amas and akas after the fact, strap the whole thing down, and add bow and stern tiedowns (very important if you don't want your boat ending up in someone's back seat after a panic stop or an accident.)

With the boat on top and the trailer on back, we cannot tell any difference in the towing, handling, or gas mileage. The boat stays secure and is relatively easy to load and unload. We're very happy with the whole operation.

(posted by Kevin)

That’s one way to fix the ticking…

Laura Domela — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:34:00 +0000

While we were at at home for a few days last week, we noticed that the Explorer was making a little ticking sound. Exhaust manifold leak? Head gasket? So we made an appointment at the Ford dealer for service and took it in for a look on Thursday. We had plans to leave again on Sunday to meet up with my mom on the Oregon coast, so we crossed our fingers and hoped it was just an exhaust manifold leak that could be fixed by the time we were supposed to leave.

While we were at the dealer we decided to check out some new trucks. We'd been wishing for a little more power up those hills and a bit more stability in general and had talked about upgrading sometime in the future, so we went out with a salesman to explore our options.

Remember when we took our 2005 Airstream in for maintenance and came home with a 2010 Airstream? Seems to be the way we roll.

Meet our new tow vehicle:

While we were in signing papers, the service guy called: exhaust manifold leak.

(Images courtesy of ford.com)

( Posted by Laura)