Coachmen Catalina Madien Voyage

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Blue Road Blogger

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Posts
99
Location
Harnette County North CArolina
The Dodge is hauling the Coachmen Catalina with a dry weight of 10K pounds and another 1800 pounds of cargo.  Coupled with the truck that is 5800, and another 800 pounds of passengers and cargo, it is moving quite a bit of weight.
The Dodge also averaged 11-12 mpg through the mountains.  It did very well on the level surfaces where it cruised at 70 mph without any laboring.  We are hoping the remainder of the trip will yield upwards of 12-13 mpg.
Then there is the end result when we stopped for the day in Winesburg, Ohio.  With all the items we loaded for distribution, there is bound to be some settling of the product during shipment.  The dinette table took a tumble?no harm no foul.  Then there was the slide fiasco.  ALWAYS find a way to securely LATCH the door and cupboards when in motion.  As I powered out the slides; the bedroom goes first then the dinette slide follows, the dinette experienced a slight hesitation.    I stopped the slide when I noticed it was out of tilt with the walls.  Seems the cupboard doors (behind the slide and out of direct line of my sight) were ajar enough to catch the edge of the slide and jam it.  LESSON LEARNED and another chore to tend to this trip?securely fasten the cabinet doors when in motion.

It is also more work to get the computer set up when out for the first time.  It will be a while as we learn the lay of the 5er and adjust as we go.

We are trying to post once a day now that we are stationary for a few weeks.  We will be using the 3G hot spot on our smart phone as a modem.

Tim and Mary

Brighton, Michigan
 
Thursday June 16, 2011

Today is our second day being stationary.  Last night after we leveled the 5er there was a shower of sparks from the rear of the trailer.  We thought it was caused by the exterior plug on the side of the unit.  The previous owner told us it would blow a fuse when it rained and water leaked in behind the cover. 
This morning there was another showering of sparks from the rear near the bumper.  I climbed under the 5er and saw there was an open power line.  I had seen it earlier and wishfully thought it was a dead line.  I taped it with electrical tape then I pulled the dual outlet from the side of the 5er.  One outlet was cracked and the screws were rusted.  Seemed it has been leaking for quite some time.  Tomorrow I will replace the outlets with GFIC outlets and a new weather resistant cover.
We have the wedding rehearsal and dinner tomorrow afternoon?late afternoon.  So I will have a few hours to complete the exterior outlet chore.  I might also get to investigate the 12 volt system and possibly the radio in the bedroom.
There is another chore that has been discovered since our trip began.  The hydraulic pump doesn?t seem to work on 120 volt.  When we push the button, the pump clicks, but it doesn?t circulate the fluid to move the slides.  We have to plug the 7-pin into the truck to open the slides.
It may be just as well we will be here an additional 3 weeks.  We can use that time to check out the whole 5er.

Tim and Mary
Brighton, Michigan
 
Well it has been a week.  We fixed the exterir duplex and a leak in the holding tanks--actually the connections of the grey tank with the valve.  It has been raining, threatening rain, potential for mothball sized hail (north of us here in Brighton, MI) and tornadoe watches / warning since Sunday the 19th!!

It is supposed to be nice tomorrow so we might get out to explore and take some pictures!!


Tim and Mary

On the road in Michigan
 
We finished the office area.  Installed a desk and found some chairs on sale at Staples.  We managed to ge a lot of small things done.  We were on the back roads from Dundee, Michigan to Angola Indiana today.  There are some roads that are just too remote.  Anything smaller than a State Route is probably best avoided.  We had time to kill so we tried a few county roads.  Not the best of shape for a 12K pound 5er we learned.

We are set up here inb Shipshewana for 2 days of R&R before headinbg to the Dells in Wisconsin.

Not to say anything bad about the place, but the food at the Auction resturaunt just isn't that good.  More later..


Tim and Mary

In Shipshewana, Indiana.
 
Blue Road Blogger said:
...
Not to say anything bad about the place, but the food at the Auction resturaunt just isn't that good.  More later..

Tim and Mary

In Shipshewana, Indiana.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  ;)
 

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