The biggest annoyance I found last year with traveling in the RV was the speed that we drained the house batteries while boon docking. I find that often when I vend at horse shows I won't hook up so I can pay less or in many cases nothing. So, to make vending more economical, in January 08 I invested in two things. First dual golf cart batteries and then I also upgraded the water pump for better water flow. I believe these upgrades will make a 3 day event much more pleasant. The next item for me to consider is a converter so I can run the Microwave in the evening.

This was the show stopper for purchasing the Chateau. It comes with a 16 gallon tank which is smaller than most campers! I was quite shocked. Right now the dealer is talking about having me take delivery 5/4 with the grey tank install happening 5/11. This will be interesting as I need the rig for almost every weekend in May.

As I suspected, the tank didn't arrive in time so i got to use it 3 weekends in a row with that tiny tank, and yup just as I suspected, within 2 days that darn tiny tank was full! So I felt very pleased with my decision to get the upgrade.

6/4 - dropped the Chateau off and they installed a 45 gallon tank! I cannot wait to try it out.

Another simple install. I want to keep my Cell in the back where I sleep and this way I can keep the charger plugged in with it. I can also use my 12v car Vac in the bathroom. The cord will not reach the full length from the 12v in the cab.

These were no brainers at only $25 each, yeay for Camping World sales:) Now I can keep the vents up in the rain, remember I live in the Pacific Northwest, it ALWAYS rains here.

On my first horse show in Pasco it was 90 degrees and we had the AC on high, until it blew the power, then it blew the generator a couple of times. then the circuit again. The dealer tested and confirmed that when the compressor starts up the load is 40 amps and it should be 16. They have ordered me a new one under warranty...

Well, on our trip to California we had a heck of a time keeping the laptops going, both of them. We blew the house 12v connection fuse, and had to share the chassis 12v, worried we would drain the battery too much. So, right now the RV is in the shop getting a 1000w inverter installed under the dinette seat, it will have a switch next to the lp detector, I will take pictures once it is in. I am promised that this will be able to power 2 laptops for a couple of hours. It will be a sweet upgrade!

So far I find that a new RV still has alot of maintenance and tweaks that need to happen. However I was not prepared to encounter a brake issue so early in the life of my rig. We took a trip in June and noticed a severe wobble in the wheels up through the steering wheel when we went to California. We assumed it was a towing issue. I took it in to a Chevy dealer who said the brake pads were burned and cracked and they replaced them to the tune of $870. They "said" the rotors were just fine. We then took an overnight trip to Winthrop and encountered the same wobble without the toad. It happens on any grade when braking at 40-50mph. I was a bit miffed at this point, having spent good money to fix something and it was not fixed. Granted cracked, burned brake pads would need replacing regardless, but the dealer had the rig for 2 weeks and basically fixed nothing. I then made an appt at Les Schwab, they checked everything out and said that the BACK roters were way out of tolerance. if the in tolerance range is plus or minus 3, the backs ranged from 5 to 8 off center, so they machined them. Because it was the back, they had to take them apart, could not machine them on the rig. Total cost was still minor compared to replacing the brake pads at about $210. I have only driven on one trip since then, it was towing, on the flat to vend, but there was no wobble at all. I will have to take a quick run up highway 2 (Stevens Pass) to make sure everything is in order... The moral to the story as I am finding out is no matter what RV you buy, be it new or used, it WILL require maintenance. Oh and I LOVE the new inverter. We can run both laptops for hours and for vending without power available I can run my laptop and the Credit card swiper all day.

Yes, the Dingy! We upgraded our old Jeep Grand Cherokee in Feb to a 2004 model. This model is 3800 lbs curb weight. Our new Chateau is 5k towing so the pair just need to be brought together. So for our upcoming trip to Utah (that will be blogged of course), We are investing in a full tow package. I priced around some options and settled on Camping World because right now they are having a great sale.

We are getting the Sterling all terrain aluminum bar


, Even Brake


, all wiring and the Roadmaster Rock Guard.


I had a small issue with Camping World service, it seems that the Mount Vernon store is very busy so when I called for a pricing check on what I had ordered, I was never called back. After many minutes on hold and over 10 calls, I had to get mad, I hate that. Laif helped me out and he was VERY responsive. I had never received a printed quote on my original purchase, so he typed up 2 quotes showing the cost difference and found my email by looking up my account. Then today I went there and they were very helpful and attentive. I can see how I was overlooked when watching their Counter staff work the counter AND take calls. I don't think I could handle it myself. The jeep is there and on Friday we will take back the RV for the final fitting and a shake down of the system. I will report back.

I liked that the labor is a lifetime guarantee and that they have lots of locations which I can utilize in my travels if ever I have a problem.

Our shower door was a vinyl pleated curtain in a channel. The vinyl was so thick that quickly the pleat memory was lost. We were not diligent at re-pleating after every shower due to leaving the curtain to dry. The next thing you know 2 years later that heavy vinyl had torn at the top gussets where it was riveted to the slider channel. I called RV Town where I go for all of my maintenance and they recommended a door system that is in their Weekend Warrior toy hauler. It is a cartridge system that is very streamlined and light. I have so much more room and the plastic is translucent which adds a lot more light to the showering area. It works like a vertical awning with a thin but very sturdy plastic that rolls into a very small cartridge that comes with a squeegie built in. The cartridges are replaceable.

I also had to get the Microwave and Fuel door reseated, screwed down and sealed. In both cases one of the screws had worked its way out.

Still to be worked out is our noisy water pump that makes the walls shake. It is a more powerful one I had installed for the better water pressure but it seems to make everything shake and it is very noisy. I will deal with that issue another time.