Month: July 2020

Coffee..How we handle it.

Making good coffee while camping is a must. I have been a fan of percolators for a while and use one at home everyday. The one that we use for the camper is one that I bought a while ago for use on our boat on in emergencies when the power goes out. I bought a Farberware 8 cup stainless unit that has served us well. The great thing about percolators is that they get the water up to a higher temperature than a lot of drip coffee makers. This in my min makes for a much better cup of coffee.

I use store bought coffee and whole beans that I grind myself. The unit has a basket in it, but we still choose to use a paper filter to help keep the sediment out. There is a lot of flexibility on how you use this percolator. It will function on a cook-top, the Blackstone or any propane grill. The percolator can also be used over a campfire (just keep the handle away from the flame). There are two downsides to this particular unit. Being an 8 cup unit, the coffee doesn’t last real long, I tyically find myself making two pots when we have a full crew on the camper. Since this writing, there is a 12 cup version that I have not tried yet.
The other downside is that there is no heating element to keep the coffee warm after its brewed. I just use a Stanley thermos after I make it to keep it warm.

For camping purposes we needed some mugs that would hold up, I found some red enamel mugs on Amazon that have worked well. They won’t break in transit and match that camper in color. They mugs are metal so you do need to be careful that you don’t burn your lips with piping hot coffee as they will absorb the heat.

Is there a better way to start the day?

What are the basics every travel trailer needs?

We bought a lot of stuff for this camper at the onset. Just like any new hobby there is this initial expenditure of stuff you need or want to buy. On this list I am going to focus on a few things that you really have to have in order to protect the camper and to make your outings safe. This list is made up of the actual products we bought and have experience with, you also get some of the rationale behind why we got what we did.

Wheel Chalks
You need to made sure that your camper is not going to move on its own once its unhooked from the tow vehicle. We choose these tandem chalks as they fit inside the wheel and have much less chance of being kicked out of the way. They can also be used just to chalk one of the tires, don’t always have to put them in the middle. You can also use these as a mini ramp. If you get a flat you can pull the trailer up on one using the good tire and lift it up enough to get the wheel with the bad tire off the ground. They are a little bit of a pain to store, but so far have worked out well for us.

Leveling Blocks
You need to make sure that your camper is level when you pull into a campsite. Many high end sites with concrete pads may not need any attention. Some sites may find you leaning to one side and you need to correct that by putting something under the tires. Some people haul wood plans around, we chose a more modular system with these blocks. You stack them up to give you the height you want and they can also be used under the trailer jacks if you need a little more height to stabilize the trailer.

Surge Protector
You never know what kind of shape the electricity is going to be in when you visit a campground. It is essential to your camper that you protects its electrical system with a surge protector of some type. We choose a power watchdog 30 amp unit for our trailer. It was under $100 and offer the protection we wanted. In the event of a surge that unit can be rebuilt, which makes it a little more cost effective. In addition it has Bluetooth capability so you can monitor current draw and system operation from your phone. The app allows you to set alarms if needed for things like low voltage, outages etc. These can also be a value when it comes to determining current draw on your trailer. I was able to see that the A/C was under 20 amps so I could safely power the unit at home without fear of a problem.

Water Pressure Regulator & Disposable Filter
It amazes me the number of folks I see in campgrounds without these two items. The pressure regulator makes sure that you will not blow plumbing fitting apart inside the trailer hooking to water sources with high pressure. The filter just helps to keep debris and garbage out of the water supple that feeds the trailer. We tend to bring bottled water when we camp for cooking, but use onsite water for all the rest of our needs.
I found no need to get an adjustable pressure regulator, let the preset level be satisfactorily for water pressure and use the gauge to make sure things are in spec. Trust me, we have hit a few camp grounds where the water pressure was like a fire-hose.