First little bump

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Well, got a few trips under my belt and I'm sure wiser than I was! So far, the bed works great and Blackjack and I are happy campers. Actually, this weekend we used the fridge though I only started it the night before - I think two days would have been better! My friend hung a "Wine Cellar" on the bathroom door so I won't have to worry about blackwater for a while! Oh, and the awning was fantastic this weekend - I'm really glad to have that! Problems I've run into: the 20 amp campground hookup was actually shared with another camper which meant neither one of us could run our a/c (oh, for a vent fan!), the refrigerator door doesn't want to stay on - but, it does work wonderfully and I can get it latched on if I just line up the little pins, and finally..... Well, you see I was being a good camper this morning. I threw my huge trash bag on top of the truck, hitched up and pulled out of the campsite over the bumpy road up to the office. Just before the office I stopped on a very steep downward incline (being thankful for the trailer brakes) and parked the car to throw the trash in the dumpster. Big mistake. The minute I turned off the car, the trailer jumped the hitch (yes, I had it bolted!) and rammed itself under my truck bumper. Took a bit of coaching and some muscle but managed to hook up and pull home. Anyone have any suggestions besides NOT parking facing downhill???? I rechecked the hitch and ball - both are 2". (16' Scamp pulled with Chevy S10). My friends are teasing me - either I'm going to keep the Scamp forever or I'm gonna sell it tomorrrrow!!!!!!

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but more then likely you just thought it was seated when it was not.
i check mine by jacking the trailer up if the truck starts lifting then its attached . i had the same problem with my boat trailer and the dolly i use to move it about with. it looks seated but it is not
ill see if i can find a picture of what a regular coupler looks like .
Lex posted one of a new european design some time in the past few weeks
ps sorry to hear about your lack of a/c . just out of curiosity what park did you go to?

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Also check to see if you have it adjusted right. My hitch has an adjustment nut on the underside so I can tighten or loosen the movable clamping part to accomidate wear on the ball itself, If I set it very open, or loose on an old or slightly smaller ball it can and will pop off. I have seen some where the adjustment nut would work looser and looser over time and become a problem. What you have now could be a very bad situation in an emergency stop if the trailer jumped off the hitch during heavy stopping.

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Susan,

Don't let it worry you a lot. You no doubt didn't have it hitched correctly. The above post that suggested that you always crank on the jack to raise the tow vehicle is the best test. Always do it more than the tow vehicle goes down when you hitch by a couple inches!

If you want to adjust the hitch, all you have to do is turn the nut tighter with it hitched to the tow vehicle. You want to make it so tight that it won't come off very easy when you un-hitch. Then loosen it 1/8 turn and try again. You want it to un-hitch with out hanging but no looser. You may have to turn it back and forth a few times to get it adjusted. Make sure that you keep the ball coated with ball grease any time you use it.

Good Luck

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I'll check all of the above tonight. Thanks for the hints. I did have the ball lubricated. The campground I went to is The Cove just north of Winchester. I was looking for a place I could swim/play in the water with my lab and it was wonderful other than the lack of a/c. Very pretty and lightly used lakeswimming. Would have been a problem if I'd needed the dumpstation though - 7 miles of dirt/gravel into the place and another 2-3 miles up and down windy dirt roads to the dump station. Three cheers for my wine cellar! The closer bathrooms were all outhouses. We had a three year old with us and she really needed a bathroom! My little Scamp is treating me so well - it is soooooo easy to break camp after a lifetime of hauling tents and other junk. I think I'll do the jacking up thing next time just in case. Maybe I really didn't have the ball seated. The trailer is too new to have worn out a hitch (1999) even though I bought it used. I did remember to check the hubs and they were hot - if it was 95 degrees outside, what's hot????? I'll repack anyway just in case. Thanks again folks!

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Susan,

You should be able to hold you fingers on the hub. If it is to hot to do this then they are to hot.

Ron

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I need to get a better camping directory.
The cove is not listed but from thier web http://www.vvalley.com/cove/
it sound like a nice place . the priceing seems strange to me ,chargeing by the person.:r

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:wave Don't bother looking for the campground in the usual spots. The couple next to us said they'd been camping there thirty years. It's probably too primative for even the campground folks - only three or four showers for several hundred sites and I only saw one real toilet. Very, very nice congenial place if you're not looking for campground razzmatazz - it was incredible how quiet it got at night without the usual generators and a/c's. Beautiful large swimmable lakes with lots of entry points including a good sized sandy beach for the kids and private spots for people like me with special needs (my big black dog would probably scare swimmers) and fishermen. They have a couple of floating docks for the teenagers to get rowdy on and they wisely towed them way out into the lake so you don't really have to know they're even there! Plenty of small boats without gas (no gas allowed).
Yes, the charging system is as funky as the rest of the place - I'm sure it cost us more than regular sites would because it's by the person. On the other hand, the sites are very large and round instead of long and narrow - ours easily held my truck, the scamp, three large tents and three other cars with plenty of room for a central play area:wave . Great place for partying with the family!

Would also be a great place if you like offroading or backwoods biking - the roads through the place are quite a challenge and I saw lots of people hauling ATV's around though I never heard them and don't know where they went with them.
Sorry to be so longwinded!! Anyway, if you like funky, (and, I do), it's worth giving up the a/c to jump into the lake whenever you want!

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I think iam organising a gettoghther in moose river but i think the idea of primitive camping is a turn off to a lot of people which is a shame . Well at least i know a new place off 81 to spend a night thanks:cheers