1979 Wilderness

Welcome!

A 79 23 foot camper is not worth 4500, unless it's been undercover it's whole life. I doubt that. Post some pictures and we can help more. If you see ANY water damage, there's rot behind it.

Also, 79 is not really vintage. They can be fun to camp in and have more amenities than an older trailer but lack resale value and can have multiple system failures.

Not having seen the trailer, it's hard to guess but 4500 gives you a lot of leeway in trailer selection. Stick around and we'll help!

Hard to believe it's been almost 2 years since we wrote in, starting our journey with a new camper. We ended getting a 1978 wilderness trailer. I'll post some pictures here shortly but had a quick question. I'm looking for an owner's manual to answer these questions but haven't tracked one down yet. DO you know if the battery is charged on these units while it's plugged into 120V?

Here are a few pictures of our current setup. Regarding my question about the battery being charged. Can you tell from the picture whether this is the converter you were referring to?

I'm not seeing a converter. It would be inside, close to the floor and probably be brown or black, about 14H x 16W. There is a flap door that drops down and open.https://www.bestconverter.com/MagnetekParallax-to-Xantrex_ep_20-1.html

Here is a link with photos: www.bestconverter.com/MagnetekParallax-to-Xantrex_ep_20-1.html

The tongue is showing the battery and the break away brake emergency switch.

If you decide to upgrade, don't buy WFCO products. They are known to fail.

Couple more things while I'm at it 😬 

Hot water heater pilot not staying lit and noticing the smell of propane when we leave the tank on overnight. Fairly strong when entering the trailer. I've been spraying all fittings with water/soap mix and nothing bubbling yet. The heater unit was run during the winter a few times and always wreaked of propane so I'm wondering if the unit leaks but would like ideas if anyone had thoughts about how to track down the leaking culprit? I've been looking at stove, refrigerator, heater, and hot water heater. Some areas harder to get to than others! Here are the photos of each. Thank you!

Your electrical is different than what I've seen in late 70s trailers. The grey box is 110/120 electrical with breakers well labeled. The box next to it is your 12 volt fuse box. I'm "guessing" there is a converter behind that board or at least close by. The original might have been replaced and/or the manufacturer chose to install the breaker and fuse boxes that way.

I agree with Whitney on the propane leaks. There are many connections to test. The first thing I would do is plug each line using a 3/8 flare plug. (most appliances are 3/8 flare but check to be sure on size)

Refer main line is at the back and the heater is on the lower left as you face it. I'm not seeing the water heater gas line, it could be inside the trailer.

NOTE: the heater should not smell of propane when operating. Catalytic heaters are surprisingly simple and with a strong propane smell, the leak might be at the main connection. You can pull the heater and bench test it if necessary. They are hung on two or four screws. Do not use a heater smelling of propane. It looks to be in good condition, so may just have a loose main line.

The stove may have two pilots; one in the oven and one to the burner manifold. Be sure each is lit or off when the gas is on. The burner manifold (lift the stove top) should have the main stove propane line connected to it. This is the line you need to disconnect and plug for testing.

One trick I use when working with copper tubing and brass fittings is to use two wrenches on the fittings. With the handles separated by about 3", squeeze them together to loosen or tighten. This prevents twisted tubing and will give a good seal.

Plugging each line will eliminate each appliance when testing. You can do it one at a time, but I usually plug all and re-connect one. If no smell, move on to the next appliance.

Almost any RV shop should be able to check the trailer if you don't want to do it yourself. Let us know what you find.

Doesn't appear to be a pilot for the stove top. There may be shut off near the oven valve but probably not. In that case the oven pilot would need to be lit when you first turn on the gas.