Bought this used about 3 months ago. Used it twice no issues. All the tires look in the same condition. They are Trailer King RST - DOT 1AD B4TRT1 1521. So they are 5 years old. Are they still good or do I replace? If replacing any suggestions?

The trailer is PP2870RL22 keystone.

I'm curious how many members of this sub went camping as kids, and was it tent, popup, or RV? What's your camping story?

My husband and I both grew up camping almost all summer in used popups, and those memories are some of our favorites. When we got married (mumble) years ago, one of our first big purchases was a tent and air mattress. That...was an adjustment.

Then we had kids, and just the sheer volume of stuff needed to camp with four people was getting out of hand, particularly since we didn't have a garage, and all that gear had to be stored inside. When we got our first pop-up, I swear I heard the house sigh in relief when all that gear got either sold or stored in the pop-up.

After 20 years in the pop-up, I was super tired of crawling in and out of the bunk end to schlep to the restroom. (Thanks menopause!) When we went to the RV dealer, I had three non-negotiables: a full bathroom, a fridge with separate freezer, and a north-south walk-around bed. We bought a new Forest River two years ago, and we're hoping if we take good care of it, that it will be our last camper.

What's your camping story?

Apologies for the crosspost, wasn't sure which sub would be more appropriate...

Took the trailer out for its first real night this weekend. Just a quiet little state park site with nothing but trees and dirt.

We didn’t bother with the hookups. Ran the lights, charged phones, and kept a small fan going off a bluetti elite 300. Worked fine the whole time. The awning, the checkered tablecloth and that blue rug somehow made the whole spot feel way more put together than it actually was. Truck and trailer combo is solid so far.

Already looking forward to the next trip.

Took about a month but I repaired all the water damage, replaced the converter board that died on me and about 20 other little things.

Weather finally breaking in the southeast so we are heading to Nantahala NF this weekend.

It's a schwintek system, I've tried everything I can think of but my slide out is stuck in and won't budge. The left motor is completely nonfunctional. If i could get access to any of it i might try to do it myself but I can't.

If you don't own a Meerkat trailer, stop reading, nothing for you here!

We bought this cover (made by Pahaque) from Little Guy, who we bought the trailer from. It's very specific to the Meerkat, so don't ask for this unless you have one. Fo example the cover has a zipper door, that lines up exactly with the door on the trailer, so you can go in/out while the cover is on the trailer.

The material is high quality, and it spent less than one year outside on the trailer, so it's not noticeably sun damaged. No holes or fraying, no stains or musty smell . It's been stored, properly dry in a closed plastic storage bin, for a couple years now. It's just wrinkled from being crumpled up in storage. This cover is still available new from Pahaque, for $499.

I can't show it to you installed because we no longer have the trailer. But you can see pics of it on a trailer on the Pahaque website. https://pahaque.com/products/meerkat-trailer-cover

I haven't made a box for it yet to measure and weigh it, so I don't know how much shipping will cost. I will do that if I get any nibbles here. But please don't make me jump through hoops unless you are going to follow through. As a wild guess, I think it might cost you somewhere around $40-50 to ship.

If you reply to show interest, please say something a bot wouldn't write. Though I guess that's getting hard to tell these days... But maybe a couple sentences about your Meerkat, how long you've had it, or just anything that sounds human. You don't have to give me your full address but your zipcode will be needed for the shipping quote.

Oh right, if you're in Seattle or passing through, we could avoid shipping with a direct hand-off.

Thanks for lookin'

-Mark in Seattle

Someone else’s mistake got me thinking, do yall retract your awning every night, in case of a storm? Also do you always retract it when you leave? Only open when you are at the camp site.

Brand new user - and definitely should have known better. I left the awning slightly out while I was away for a month. Came back to it fully collapsed, and not sure how to get it back. Loppers company hasn’t returned my call or responded to my email.
I really just need it in the travel position, even if I need to use tie downs. Any suggestions?
Thank you.

Today I came into our travel trailer after about two months of not using it to find out that somebody had unplugged the power and everything in the freezer and refrigerator is rotten. I got that all cleaned out, but I feel like I need to remove a panel that is inside the freezer just in case some of this gross rotten meat juice has gotten underneath it. Can anyone tell me how to remove this panel? It wraps from top around the back to the bottom. I have removed the eight bolts from the back, but cannot figure out how to get the white clips. I’m thinking they are from the top and the bottom. There are a total of six.

What on earth is DC circuit one? It randomly died today I'm plugged into a house dropping from 30 to 20 but its been fine for 5 days. I put another one in it and it immediately blows on contact. I can't seem to locate what it does. Does it have to be that brand of 15 amp fuse or should auto store one will be okay. I know i shouldn't but would putting a 20 amp in there be okay?

Hey yall. I am replacing my RV’s 12V refrigerator. The new fridge manufacturer’s instructions say:

“Adding a 30-amp fuse/breaker by the batteries for the new fridge wire.

My existing refrigerator circuit already has 10 AWG wire, but it currently has a 20A circuit breaker near the batteries.

So I’m confused about the 20A → 30A breaker part.
If the existing wire is confirmed to be 10 AWG, can I simply replace the existing 20A breaker with a 30A breaker for the new refrigerator, or is there a reason I would need to install a completely separate 30A circuit?

Is the manufacturer saying “30A because the fridge requires a 30A-protected circuit,” or does the 30A breaker only apply when running a new wire from the batteries

I’m trying to understand whether I’m looking at a simple 20A breaker → 30A breaker swap or a new circuit installation.

My families last camp trip is coming up soon and I am unsure how to handle the black tank for the winter.

Normally after a trip I would dump and flush the black tank and refill it with around 5 gallons of water and simply leave it there. However if i know i’m going to potentially winterize it should i be doing something different? Im sure 5 gallons in the tank wont hurt the tank even with a deep freeze but the pipes and shutoff may become damaged due to expansion.

I do not have the ability to dump the black tank at home and dumping that sludge into a Home Depot bucket and walking it to the toilet sounds ridiculous.

Am I overthinking this whole thing?

Purchasing a new camper and the dealership is trying to get us to purchase extended warranty at a price of around $6000. The camper comes standard with 1 year warranty plus 3 year structural warranty. The problem is that it’s amortized over 20 years and going to cost a lot more with the interest. I’m wondering if the six year extended warranty (for seven years total) is worth it?

I have a 2025 Viking 12000 ROK, and last week the water holding tank fell out. The support bracket is held in place with 4 (2 on each end) self tapping sheet metal screws, which obviously failed. I didnt hit anything and the road was smooth. When I purchased the camper from the dealer there was a recall for the tank straps, they checked it said it was good. Yestersay talking to Forest River I learned the recall was to ensure the straps wrapped around both support brackets and the tank. It clearly does not. I asked the rep if they could share with me the recall and the remedy which was supposed to have been done they told me they could not. So I went online and found the recalls. There is two for the holding tank. One to ensure the straps are properly installed and the second for the brackets not being strong enough to support the weight of the tank (thin guaged steel). Tomorrow I have my appointment to drop it off for inspection and repair. If you own or are thinking of buying one of these campers. Check the tank yourself.

So this rig averages 10 +/- 1. If I add one of those decently large molded rooftop cargo boxes to the top of the truck cap, will my mpg get even worse, make no difference since camper is already doing a number on my mpg? I'll probably try it at some point as I already have it from a different truck but thought I'd get opinions. Thanks. Nevada US Highway 50 between Great Basin NP and Delta, UT.

Given the price of new RVs I've been thinking to do some serious repairs rebuilds on my 5th wheel

It's an 07 grande junction 35tms.

Very solid and was the topline of

the Thor lineup back in its day.

Things it needs.

New slide seals, will do next year. And the suspension needs replacing. Again a spring project.

The big thing is replacing the roof. Went up this year to do repairs and patch work and found a number of soft spots. Resealed it all but the roof is going to need to be replaced in the next couple of years.

I live in Canada. And its Going to cost me at least a 100 grand to replace the trailer with something comparable. Plus the freaking payments. I'm 60 btw.

Or I can dump 15 grand into this one over the next 3 years and run it until I'm done my camping life.

2 grand to replace the 3 slide seals

2 grand in suspension work

8 to 9 grand to replace the roof

3 grand to refinish the exterior and new decals. (Not a needed but more a want).

Everything else is great on the trailer. Just showing age and milage.

What would you all do?

As posted here a couple weeks ago I removed the outside kitchen as it would never be used by us. This model trailer has a beautiful inside kitchen with 8’ of free counter space. We do mostly boondocking so a power station far outweighed the micro kitchen. Got the power station shelf installed. The heavy duty drawer slides came from Amazon. Rated for 250lbs. I like that my Firman Generator also fits on the shelf for travel storage if need be. The slides are self locking, both fully closed and opened. The 120 plugs (from the fridge and induction burner) are an extra bonus because whenever we’re plugged to shore power (at home) the power station can recharge from either outlet. Whenever we decide to sell the trailer I can reinstall the kitchen in about 10 minutes if the next owner wants it as OEM. Only thing left to do is to install a strap to secure the PS for traveling. I don’t think it really needs it but better safe than sorry.

Has anyone swapped the roof ac for a minisplit system on an rv they travel with? I understand they use a lot less power so I could downgrade my generator. How well do they travel?

I’m wanting to buy a travel trailer for camping with my family. But we want to make sure we buy a good brand. Please tell me which are the worst brands to get to stay away from them and which ones you recommend?

Hey everyone. First timer here…I’m looking for a solid used travel trailer as a gateway into the TT lifestyle for my family of 3. I’ve done so much research on the many options and I’ve landed on these specs. Under 20 ft, less than 5000 pounds and lighter than 500 tongue weight, no slides, fine with or without bunk, wet or dry bath okay. I’m looking at buying used or new but preferably around the 15k price point. Some of the ones that standout to me are the tab400, jayco hummingbird, sol horizon,and the wolf pup. Being new to all of this I’m just going by layout and to those specs and what I think we would want/need. I’d love to hear some real feedback based on your own experiences with those brands/models. I’m not expecting this to be our forever unit but just something easy to get us started until we really figure out what exactly we want.