2nd Outing.... more lessons learned

**Russ Olin** · 07-21-2019, 08:00 AM

So, we took the Imagine out for its 2nd outing. We are at about 10,000 feet Elevation. Up on Beaver Meadows Forest access in the San Juan Forest. Between Bayfield & Pagosa.

As you can see we had a nice remote off grid camping spot. Dogs, well they sure loved it.
Now more about the RV itself; Second trip no problems again. Everything working as it should. Very lucky considering stories from other people on this site.
I said before it must have been built on a Wednesday. LOL
Things I do not like for off grid camping. For 1 it pisses me off to fill up the fresh water tank get up to the camping spot which was sidling as we drove in and before I could turn around & level up the trailer a 3rd of my water had drained out through the air vent. NOT COOL when you are off grid you need all of your water.
On my 1997 Holiday Rambler which was a cut above this current RV the air vent ran back to the same place that you filled the water tank on. So when the tank was full it STAYED full.
It didn't run water out of the vent all the way up the forest service road. Or when it wasn't level.
As far as Grand Design's fresh water design someone in kindergarten could have designed it.
As far as the rest of the trailer everything but one brake light is working. Perfect.
I touched on earlier posts about the rubber gas line running along the tires with NO protection. Once again kindergarten level. Also no wheel wells to protect the floors under the trailer. Very B league.
If everything in the trailer didn't work so well I might already be looking for a different brand. I was high on Outdoor RV when I bought this one. Outdoor RV's carry way more fresh water, have heavier axel brackets from the factory, don't have to re-do it yourself. The battery's slide in under the RV and can be locked. And probably the fresh water doesn't drain out as you get to your camping spot. But they also have bad reviews. So for now my 2019 stays working as is, I will keep it 4-5 years. I had my old Holiday for 18 years. It was simply a cut above the RV's we see today. We just wore it out.
As a side note:
For people new too off grid camping such as we are doing here, be careful with your pets.
The last morning we were at our camping spot, at the crack of dawn coyotes started yelping at the tree line around the RV. Myles the dark colored dog started barking & growling back at them. This went on for about 5 minutes. Couldn't see them out the bedroom window, Finally got up & opened the back door just to see if I could see them. Of course not they are smart staying just in to the tree's. What was the point of this? The coyotes were hoping we would make a mistake open the door one or both dogs would bolt out charge into the tree's and then baby its all over for the dog or dogs that is. As soon as I open the door not one peep. They realized they weren't going to get breakfast there that morning. Never had coyotes work my camp like that before. I'm 61 yrs old learned something new every day. Hope that you enjoyed, have fun out there.
Russ & Deb

**el Rojo** · 07-21-2019, 08:16 AM

Very nice! Thanks for sharing.

**kevinpo** · 07-21-2019, 08:20 AM

Now that's my kind of camping! Thanks for posting the great pictures.

Cheers,
Kevin

**Rich T** · 07-21-2019, 08:59 AM

You may know this already but you can put a shark bite ball valve on the over flow/vent line under the trailer by fresh tank dump valve. If u do be sure to open it as u fill tank, close for travel and open before you start using water. I was taping up around this area before I left hm and turned the valve handle for better access, forgot to turn it back to open. On trip couldn't figure out why water was spurting from faucet when fresh tank showed plenty of water? Finally saw valve closed, when I opened it air sucked in and all worked well, hope I didn't permanently damage anything? Pump was definitely pulling hard and sucking tank walls in.
Rich