Hello from Marshallton, DE

[rabbit]

Been looking at used Casita 16s and I liked them but the tariff was incredible so I picked up a '98 Burro 17 Wide Boy (actually Wide Body) Saturday last in the "lower counties". I had a couple of ChinaMart Reese drawbars with me and luckily the 5 1/4" drop worked out well and managed to tow it back up here 96 mi. in gusty winds. The nav lights did not work altho I had the necessary adaptor from 7 blade to 6 round pin. Hunted around for an automotive fuse block and didn't find so fast trip to Georgetown DE for a set of magnetic brake and turn signal lights and fortunately I also have a 7 blade to 4 flat for my utility trailer which worked with the conn. on the magnetics so got those bungee'd on the bumper and headed off to get the tire pressure up to snuff (from 20 to 50lbs!!). You've heard this all before so I'll just say it goed where it was towed and not too much bucking despite the short wheelbase of the 4runner tug. So now I've got it level on a sloping driveway and a small ceramic heater in there and the lockset off the door as there are no keys so off to the locksmith. I'd like to get in touch with the Burro expert in, I think, Portland Oregon so now I'm "activated" mebbe I can contact him? I like the big "bed" aft altho neither of us is exceptionally tall. As the weather moderates, I will work thru what functions and what doesn't. Will be a challenge without an electrical and plumbing schematic!!!

jack

[Donna D.]

Hi Jack, welcome to FiberglassRV . Does your Burro have a flushy and shower? Or is it the "Dance Hall Edition"? Which basically means an open floor plan. You'll find a wealth of information here on the forums. For appliance manuals, etc. check out the Document Center, including a Burro owners manual: Document Center The owner manuals is at the very bottom under "Trailer Brand Manufacturer."

[rabbit]

Fortunately or not so, it's plumbed for indoor hygiene. Something leaks (probably the marine hopper) on pressurized "city" water but it leaks in the shower pan so that won't be priority #1. Make a good hanging locker in the meantime. Yesterday I did some preliminary exploring in the resource documents and found the '81 Burro brochure and some info on the Dometic 3-way fridge. It was sort of funny that I could actually download the docs until I registered and then I was denied access because I hadn't been activated or was in a queue or something. It seemed pretty intimidating to have the bus in the driveway yesterday and think about all the stuff that may work more or less. After a typical Monday of cruel and unusual employment, I've calmed down and started to think about a strategy to test and troubleshoot ONE THING AT A TIME. I finally got it level this evening by adding some lumber under the elevator jack and screw jacks under each leg of the tongue back to prevent rocking.

Thanks for the headsup on the resource documents, Donna.

jack

[Don W.]

Hello Jack and welcome. If you haven't already checked things out, we up here in the Mid-Atlantic are having a rally in July. Don't have a burro represented yet and would love to have you attend. Look under the upcoming rallies for the information. We will be at the Delaware watergap KOA in the pocono's. I'm up in NJ if you ever want to meet up for a smaller camp caravan.

Don

[Taylor Kissinger]

Welcome Jack, It sounds like you are ready for the great adventure of FGRVs. You have a few months to iron out the bugs before the weather gets really nice. Enjoy the ride Taylor

[rabbit]

Originally Posted by Don W.

Hello Jack and welcome. If you haven't already checked things out, we up here in the Mid-Atlantic are having a rally in July. Don't have a burro represented yet and would love to have you attend. Look under the upcoming rallies for the information. We will be at the Delaware watergap KOA in the pocono's. I'm up in NJ if you ever want to meet up for a smaller camp caravan.

Don

Thanks for the invitation, Don. I visited the watergap yrs. only once yrs. ago. There was something in the nature of an art colony/summer craft camp there; I have forgotten the sponsor or organization. The burrito would be happy to represent the latter day California incarnation; bit down at the heels right now; hope to get the running gear into a trustworthy (or at least known to me) condition and maybe some cheap and cheerful cosmetics inside (white gel coat needs a spot of color here and there). Got a Fastec lockset which is a dead copy of the OEM Tri-Mark on order from Amazon. Probably much cheaper than rekeying.

jack

[Larry Tenhage]

Hi, Jack! Sounds like you know what you're doing with your Burro, especially with electrical issues. I've had to do a bunch of electrical work on my Trillium too. So the last time, I soldered all the connections, & put heat shrink tubing on everything afterwards.
We are hoping to go camping in early August in Cape Henlopen State Park .

Good luck with your work on the Burro. As you've probably found out, documentation on Dometic fridges is not had to find


Larry

[rabbit]

Hi Larry:

The Delaware shore is OK except I'm not much of a beach person and maybe I'm too close to it. I'd like to get up your way. I like "Steel City," particularly the escarpment there. Bicycle World Championships held there a few yrs. ago.

jack

[jen b]

Hiya Jack, I'm right up the road from you in Philadelphia. In the context of folks on this board being from all over north america, we're practically neighbors!

[rabbit]

Hi Jen:

I checked your tow profile and find you also have el burro blanco with the name of a fictional beast of burden belonging to Sancho Panza. I googled that a couple nites ago and got Rucio and also Dapple. Perhaps they are one and the same? Did you have to do much refitting/cosmetic correction on yours? Is the 13 footer a "wide body" or was that a later development for the 14 and 17? Are there others in Philly?

jack

[Borden]

Burro vs Boler size?
The 17' boler is 7' 11 1/2" wide with 6' 4" headroom and 14' long inside.
outside not counting max air caps 8' 1" tall, 100" wide and 17' 4" long

What are the measurments of a Burro 17' wide boy?
any pictures of the new rv?

[jen b]

Originally Posted by rabbit

Hi Jen:

I checked your tow profile and find you also have el burro blanco with the name of a fictional beast of burden belonging to Sancho Panza. I googled that a couple nites ago and got Rucio and also Dapple. Perhaps they are one and the same? Did you have to do much refitting/cosmetic correction on yours? Is the 13 footer a "wide body" or was that a later development for the 14 and 17? Are there others in Philly?

jack

Rucio and Dapple are indeed the same....I did a sort of oddball trip in October with a pack horse, who I occasionally referred to as Rocinante (although that wasn't his real name), so having a Burro seemed an ideal opportunity to use the other Quixotic equid name

And I am no Burro expert but just going on photos I've seen it could be the case that the wide bodies might actually be a little wider than the older 13' models. My own Burro is the only fiberglass camper I've ever met in person, so I've got no real-life experience to go by.

[rabbit]

Jen, I'm in the same fix as have never owned a trailer except for an old utility trailer built out of a Chevy truck axle, corrugated culvert for fenders, you get the picture and have been in a couple of Casitas.

Borden, I've read various on the OA width of 17' Burro. 7' 10" and 7' 6" come to mind. I haven't put a big set of calipers on it! Overall length is I believe 17' 8" and I assume about 14 foot of that is habitable. The tranverse convertible dinette/bed aft is "longer" than that in a Casita. I guess you effectively loose a bit on interior dimensions to the double hull on the Burro. I hope you don't pull the large Boler with the Corolla.

jack

[Radar1]

Originally Posted by jen b

Hiya Jack, I'm right up the road from you in Philadelphia. In the context of folks on this board being from all over north america, we're practically neighbors!

Jen,
Do you have any campsite recommendations for the Lansdale area? We get up there once in a while but used my Sisters driveway last time. I actually was one of the surveyors that scoped out the route for I-95 through Essington back in my teen years

John (originally from Sharon Hill)

[jen b]

John, you might check out Nockamixon State Park. It's not too far away in Bucks county and is quite a nice park. I've never camped there specifically, but PA state park campgrounds are really reasonably nice.

[Radar1]

Originally Posted by jen b

John, you might check out Nockamixon State Park. It's not too far away in Bucks county and is quite a nice park. I've never camped there specifically, but PA state park campgrounds are really reasonably nice.

Thanks,
I'll check it out. I've actually kayaked there but didn't realize they had camping available.

John

[rabbit]

I needed to mensurate a few things in the Burro this morning. Ours is 7'X14' inside. I believe the double hull and the glass batt between for insulation takes up some space that could be used for stretching Shaq's toes.

jack