Where to get Burro Owners Manual

[ThomasE]

Hi there, I just bought a 2000 17' Burro. This is my first ever trailer. The folks I bought it from didn't have any owner's manuals. Are there manuals online somewhere in PDF format? I need to learn how all the systems work, water, sewer, electric, propane. Really have no idea how to operate any of this stuff.... Thanks for any adivce! Tom

[Donna D.]

Hi Thomas, members here have provided many, many documents for these trailers. Check out the left navigation bar.




Under Resources, you'll see the Document Center. Click there and you'll find not only an owners manual for the Burro, but appliance manuals, etc.

[Gina D.]

Ho Thomas!

You are going to luv luv luv your Burro! It looks like a great one!

But I am biased...

Is there a wine rack/cooler in the cupboard above the stove? Can't make out just what that is up there...

[Per Walthinsen]

Thomas:
If you send me a PM with an address I can mail one to you (Owner's Manual and the Vehicle Preparation Guide). I scanned mine and have supplied several to Burro owners.
I also have scans of instructions for the appliances, but you'd need to supply the model numbers since things like that vary from trailer to trailer.

[ThomasE]

Donna, thanks for the pointer to the Document Center. There's a lot of reading in my future.

Gina, if you're asking about that wood framed thing above the stove it's actually a mirror which I've already removed.

Per, thanks for your kind offer. I'm going to go over the trailer this weekend and get all the appliance model #'s, then I'll PM you next week.

Right now I'm just pulling everything out and give it a good cleaning inside and out. Will likely replace the carpet, plus many more ideas floating around in my head. One of the first things I need to do is practice backing up in an empty parking lot, it took me an embarassingly long time to get into my driveway last night!

[Gina D.]

Thomas

Before you rip out the carpet, be aware that replacing it with anything but more carpet is a daunting task.

The floor is Fiberglass encapsulated plywood, not leveled, very bumpy and there is a BIG seam right down the middle. Big hump!

The inner shell has a lip which extends a couple inches into the floor area and laying a new subfloor is a lesson in foul language and frustration.

I know... I Just yesterday finished laying a 1/2 birch ply down as a subfloor for new flooring.. the shimming was tremendous to do, the screwing down into the floor takes an impact wrench, just about (I used a pro electric deck builders drill)

No matter what you do, unless you actually POUR a new floor, it will not be perfect. The best you can do is minimize the effect, or put in NEW carpet to hide it.

Your old carpet should actually just lift up in one peice. I suggest you do that instead of cutting it into bits to make it easier... just so you can replace it if the floor task is more than what you want to do right now.

[ThomasE]

Gina, I'm glad you warned me. I was wondering why I could feel some bumps in the floor as I walked around, didn't know it was something other than plain old plywood. I was actually thinking about putting down "photo laminate flooring", I call it fake hardwood, not sure if that's the correct term, but one brand name is Pergo. But I'll have to reconsider because the subfloor does have to be really flat.

What's on there now is some kind of golf course green carpet. Not even sure if I would call it carpet, it's kind of like heavy duty felt, not much nap to it. Maybe I'll look for some commercial grade low nap grey carpeting, like for offices.

[Gina D.]

hmnn.. I have never seen green stock carpet. The Escondido models always had blue industrial grade indoor carpet. About the color of the mid hued blue on this page.

No doubt someone removed it and found just what I told you, gave up and put down more carpet.

Doing a new floor is possible, many have done it, it's just time consuming and you need to be creative. Each coach, it seems, is a custom job.

[Per Walthinsen]

Thomas:
There are several useful ways to approach floor covering, depending on your needs. Some favor Pergo, others vinyl, etc. Depends on your situation.
We are two old codgers who generally don't get the insides too filthy and prefer to get up in stockings or bare feet and like the feel of carpeting. We now have a cheap berber carpeting which will soon be replaced because I happened to get a remnant from an installation in the house which is high grade plush carpeting.
As you will see when you pull it up, the inner shell flares out onto the floor making it quite uneven, I found some resilient plastic underlayment which I cut to fit the bare floor portions thereby evening it out and adding a bit of insulation.
The key thing I have found is that the carpeting is better pieced together in two or more pieces and laid loose, using an extra piece over the seam extending from the door to the refrigerator. This makes it easier to remove and replace and does one more important thing: We had water getting into the frig compartment from the outside when trucks sprayed water through the grille (before I sealed it off and provided a drain). In many trailers you will eventually also have to cope with the possibility that water leaks in through vents, windows, doors, etc. What happens is that this water often migrates under the carpeting and may not even show up on its surface until there are major puddles underneath. If your carpeting is in two or more pieces it is easy to lift up a corner and check, which gives you a leg up on the formation of moisture leading to mold and other nastiness.
Not having the funds to waste on having the carpet pieces professionally bound I went to a local carpet place and mooched information from them on how to do it. They obliged and supplied me with free binding, thread, etc. Nice folks.
Once you have learned how it opens the way to replacing the carpeting at a nominal cost from remnants, and takes away most of the sting of getting it dirty or stained because replacement is easy and cheap.

[ThomasE]

OK my color vision must be off because after looking more carefully, it is more of a blueish grey (according to my wife). It looks original to the trailer, sort of like low nap commercial/office type carpeting, which matches more of what you say Gina.

I have 2 boys 7 and 10, so mainly I want something that's easy to clean, and easy on bare feet which was why I was thinking of Pergo or linoleum. If I do carpet, I'm just going to do cheap carpet and make it easy to replace in pieces as you suggested Per. Another option is the interlocking foam mats such as...
https://www.softtiles.com/content/view/28/39/
I have this stuff, cheap from Costco like 6-2x2' tiles for $10, use it for tent camping as a sleeping pad, durable, cushiony, and easy to clean by hosing off. Easy to cut too.

[Patricia LW]

Thomas:
There are several useful ways to approach floor covering, depending on your needs. Some favor Pergo, others vinyl, etc. Depends on your situation.
We are two old codgers who generally don't get the insides too filthy and prefer to get up in stockings or bare feet and like the feel of carpeting. We now have a cheap berber carpeting which will soon be replaced because I happened to get a remnant from an installation in the house which is high grade plush carpeting.
As you will see when you pull it up, the inner shell flares out onto the floor making it quite uneven, I found some resilient plastic underlayment which I cut to fit the bare floor portions thereby evening it out and adding a bit of insulation.
The key thing I have found is that the carpeting is better pieced together in two or more pieces and laid loose, using an extra piece over the seam extending from the door to the refrigerator. This makes it easier to remove and replace and does one more important thing: We had water getting into the frig compartment from the outside when trucks sprayed water through the grille (before I sealed it off and provided a drain). In many trailers you will eventually also have to cope with the possibility that water leaks in through vents, windows, doors, etc. What happens is that this water often migrates under the carpeting and may not even show up on its surface until there are major puddles underneath. If your carpeting is in two or more pieces it is easy to lift up a corner and check, which gives you a leg up on the formation of moisture leading to mold and other nastiness.
Not having the funds to waste on having the carpet pieces professionally bound I went to a local carpet place and mooched information from them on how to do it. They obliged and supplied me with free binding, thread, etc. Nice folks.
Once you have learned how it opens the way to replacing the carpeting at a nominal cost from remnants, and takes away most of the sting of getting it dirty or stained because replacement is easy and cheap.

Great information for me. Thank you. Can you tell me what the "resilient plastic underlayment" is that you used and how successful has it been. I am just beginning my restoration and since I am not well versed in this I am really dependent on the forum for direction. Thanks again. Pat

[Per Walthinsen]

This is the time I'll fail you, Pat, because years ago we put down Pergo in our kitchen and there were a number of underlayments available at that time. Resisting the pressure to buy the gold-plated stuff we went for what was supposedly the base Pergo underlayment.

It is 5/16 inch thick, aqua in color, resembles bubblewrap on a relatively microscopic scale, with continuous surface top and bottom. It is able to successfully withstand quite a load yet will compress if urged. It is absolutely impervious to water, will not absorb it at all.

When I returned a few years later to get another piece for a different purpose, the response was: "Huh? Never heard of it." And that was when showing them a sample.

I think many carpet underlayment materials could do a useful job but may not have the extreme resistance to water. I use a piece on the seat in the shower where one can sit down to get drenched and the insulating qualities are outstanding. It successfully evened out the floor surface quite nicely if not quite perfectly.

[ThomasE]

Hi Per, I PM'd you last night about getting a copy of the Burro's manual. I also asked about the refrigerator docs, but please ignore that because I found the manual for the Dometic on this website. Thanks!

[meryone]

So excited to have my own little Burro but alas it will require some TLC and did not come with the owner's manual. I have read previous posts and have downloaded the manual available but it is for the 13' Burro without the bathroom. I'm hoping someone can share their copy with me.