1972 Red Dale - first trip questions

Yes, cleaning supplies are very important! We bought our trailer and it was nice and tidy, then we towed it 80miles home and the floor was covered in debris like wood particles, termite poop and some mouse nest and poop...though not a lot thankfully.

Bring extra blankets if it could get cold and prepare yourself for a very uncomfortable bed. Our bed/couch cushions were painful and awkward, they had vinyl piping and I was right on the seams of both cushions...i couldn't sleep all night. After that we bought a futon mattress.

Oh, make sure your stove is bolted down, bring a cordless drill and some screws for random things happening/falling off/blowing open.

Do many walk arounds with your trailer checking how secure things are inside and out. Tighten screws on light globes or remove them before you travel. Tow for a few miles and then stop and look around inside....I have caught many unwanted things wandering around unexpectedly in the trailer and have been able to prevent problems by checking intermittently. Bring tiny bungees, I used them to keep the cabinets from opening...if you have rolling cabinet catches or plastic ones, chances are they are very brittle or already broken. All our rolling catches broke except one in the first month we owned it!

Rubber bands keep curtains open in the back so you can see out if that's the style of your trailer...that's really a wonderful thing to be able to do.

You will have fun, you will make memories and you will learn a lot! Vintage trailers are very special!

Just because the seller guarantees you the bearings were repacked/greased, does not mean they were done right, or as nccamper mentioned...not done at all. Whenever I pick up a camper, and I have repacked bearings myself, with the help of my brother-in-law as well as had some repacked while getting new tires on them for the journey home, I still drive about 10 miles and pull over in a safe spot and put my hand on the wheel hub grease cap thingy (I don't leave hub caps on for my initial tow). Then if they are not too hot to the touch, I take off and check again in another 25 miles or so. If the second check still does not lead me to believe the bearings are not performing as they should because of excess heat I can feel on the grease cap, I feel confident to resume my journey, just a little less paranoid about the wheel(s) locking up. At the second check, I also make sure the lug nuts are tight.

Two leveling jacks and the hitch post keep the camper nice and steady. Three is an unusual number of jacks. 

I block the wheels then unhook the camper and put the leveling jacks under. 

A side note, bring pieces of 2x8 or 2x10 to roll the camper on if the site is not level side to side. 

Have fun.

Well, our first couple days and the 250 miles home were a success, if you don't count the 10 MPG that we got on the Honda Pilot on the way home! Foxy the 1972 Red Dale is shaping up! All of the gas appliances work and the outlet and 1 light work when plugged in to shore power. The tail lights had to be wired externally to get them to work, and there are 4 other lights and a range hood that aren't working when the power is on. This will take some sleuthing! There are 2, well 3, points of concern. The first is a major blackened water mark under a window. I tore it out today and thankfully, the framing is all still really solid. It also gives us access to the wiring coming in from the hitch plug to the running lights, as well as the wiring to the non working vintage reading light. So, wiring will be investigated first, and then the paneling replaced. My big issue with the paneling is that I can't find a true replacement. I read on another thread that someone thinks White Oak is a good replacement for Ash. My issue is that even if I find ash or white oak, it doesn't have the 70s paneling brown embossed lines to match the existing ash.  Any suggestion for how to DIY this pattern?  It's a fairly small area that needs to replacing, so it can be all hand work to get to the embossed brown lines.  Thanks! (trying to upload pics from Flickr, but not really succeeding.)

and some interior shots just for the heck of it!