Maiden voyage

[Mike_E_]

Well, we picked up our '18 GD Reflection 29RS on Sept. 9 and had to wait a WHOLE 6 days before we could camp in it....torture.

Got her loaded up, picked up dear wife from work and off we went on our way to Whistler for the weekend.
Our truck handled it amazingly. Yes, it pulled it up all the hills at speed, but it was the many descents that had me going "Wow." It is way smarter than I am. I made the comment to my wife, "It's like the truck can see what is coming". Very impressed.

Got to the campground at around 6:30, so we had about a good hour of light left. The attendant told us we had a pull-through site and I said, "Well, that's no fun. You've got a guy who's never backed up a 5th wheel before...AND it's getting close to dusk." "I'll tell you what," she said with a grin, "why don't you stand around here talking to me for half an hour and then I'll give you the last back-in spot that will barely fit your trailer?" I was just about to say "PERFECT!" when my dear wife said, "The pull-through will be just fine."

Got unhooked, hit "auto-level" and started to get my hoses etc set up.
Seemed like only 10 minutes before we were on our chairs with Bailey our Lab at our feet.

Tried everything out and were pleasantly surprised that everything was as it should be.
Then I noticed some water on the floor up by the bathroom. A little poking around and I found that the toilet was leaking when flushed. Further info has led me to believe it is the 'vacuum breaker' at the back of the toilet. Message has been sent to our dealer for it to get looked at/fixed.

Had a great sleep. The bed was very comfy.
Bailey had a better sleep lying in front of the fireplace all night

Anyway, here's a couple pics.

Pic 1: Truck with Andersen rail mount and ball in lowest position and the adapter facing rearward. Could swing the adapter around to move the trailer farther back, but I'm concerned I might unweight the front of the truck too much. There is lots of pinbox clearance as set up, so I might just leave it as it.




Pic 2: dinnertime view of the sun hitting the mountain tops. We are currently on "GD loop" here : a Solitude right next to us, and a Reflection 303RLS next to him.



Cheers,

Mike, Susan, and Bailey.

[Mike_E_]

Here's a pic of my current bedrail clearance. 7.5inches at the front/ 7inches at the rear. I have 2 mounting holes left on the pinbox so I might raise it up 1 hole to get it a bit more level.



You can see in the next pic that I can switch the Andersen adapter which will move the trailer back another 4 inches.



Mike

[mr__ed]

bucky wrote:
Here is a trick I learned on this site for backing into a site in the dark.
First make sure that trees and picnic tables etc are not in play. Place 2 or 3 small lanterns in a row where you want the side that you can see to be. Put the RV on that line. It sure saves a lot of stress.

Excellent idea. Never thought of that. Sorta like an airplane runway! Of course you still need to be aware of other objects, like tree limbs.

[bucky]

Here is a trick I learned on this site for backing into a site in the dark.
First make sure that trees and picnic tables etc are not in play. Place 2 or 3 small lanterns in a row where you want the side that you can see to be. Put the RV on that line. It sure saves a lot of stress.

[ACZL]

Mike,

Your 1st pic showing your combo is a very nice set up and good looking. You mentioned about your hitch being all the forward and all. Based on pic, it does not appear that you have a lot of room left inside box if you moved the hitch to the rear. Maybe I'm wrong, but just looks that way. As for removing weight from front axle, I tried an experiment when we went on vayaky w/ ours tho we have a B&W Patriot. Going from rearward most position to forward most, the weight diff or shift from rear to front was 160 lbs. DW said to leave the hitch all the way back to gain more of a gap between bumper and front of coach. There was some difference in way it handled/rode, but not enough IMO to worry about. Have lower Stable Loads on truck.

[Nv_Guy]

Glad to hear your shakedown went as well as it did. Your combination looks good, here's to many years of good times.

[danrclem]

Good lookin' outfit and have fun.

[Lantley]

Mike E. wrote:

mr. ed wrote:

Durb wrote:
Nice. I'm glad your first outing was a success. 3 years in our trailer and I have never backed it in while dark. I'm planning on some supplemental lights to help when the time comes.

I never backed mine into a site when it was dark, either. I always made it a pint to arrive at an RV park while there was some light. If I knew I couldn't make it before dark I'd opt for staying at a different venue overnight, such as Walmart. If I had a significant other to help guide me, I may have attempted it, but there are too many opportunities to hit something when it's dark. Just not worth it, IMO.

Yeah, I was kidding about the backing up in the dark part.....definitely wouldn't want to have to do it.
In fact, our next trip is about a 6 hour drive from us, so I'm planning on heading down ahead of everyone else to get there in the daylight.

As much as I try to avoid it. I have backed in in the dark many times. It can be done but should be avoided.
If I have been to the CG prior to the point that I am a little familiar with the layout it's doable.
However coming into unfamiliar territory at night can be a nightmare.

[blofgren]

Looks great, glad to hear everything went well. You will likely have a few minor bugs like the leaky toilet to deal with, but that's part of rving! :B

As for the backing, take your trailer to an empty parking lot and practice. You don't want your first time to be at a tight campground trying to get into an ugly spot.

We haven't been to that campground in a few years but we definitely plan on going back.

[F-TROUP]

Glad the shake down went good. Picture perfect spot for sure. You might look at the Timbrens for the back of your truck, cheap and easy fix for the sag.

[Lwiddis]

Looks good and looks level!

[Mike_E_]

mr. ed wrote:

Durb wrote:
Nice. I'm glad your first outing was a success. 3 years in our trailer and I have never backed it in while dark. I'm planning on some supplemental lights to help when the time comes.

I never backed mine into a site when it was dark, either. I always made it a pint to arrive at an RV park while there was some light. If I knew I couldn't make it before dark I'd opt for staying at a different venue overnight, such as Walmart. If I had a significant other to help guide me, I may have attempted it, but there are too many opportunities to hit something when it's dark. Just not worth it, IMO.

Yeah, I was kidding about the backing up in the dark part.....definitely wouldn't want to have to do it.
In fact, our next trip is about a 6 hour drive from us, so I'm planning on heading down ahead of everyone else to get there in the daylight.

[mr__ed]

Durb wrote:
Nice. I'm glad your first outing was a success. 3 years in our trailer and I have never backed it in while dark. I'm planning on some supplemental lights to help when the time comes.

I never backed mine into a site when it was dark, either. I always made it a pint to arrive at an RV park while there was some light. If I knew I couldn't make it before dark I'd opt for staying at a different venue overnight, such as Walmart. If I had a significant other to help guide me, I may have attempted it, but there are too many opportunities to hit something when it's dark. Just not worth it, IMO.

[Durb]

Nice. I'm glad your first outing was a success. 3 years in our trailer and I have never backed it in while dark. I'm planning on some supplemental lights to help when the time comes.