sancho
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 10-6-2004
Location: OC So Cal
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Any Advice on Taking a Travel Trailer Down Permenently?
Thinking of dragging a Travel Trailer down
as a permenent
basis, the Baja Special early 80's Layton, or?
I've heard Mexican Customs, will on occasion
balk at letting trailers in that appear destined
not to come back to the US into Mex.
Any opinions as to length?
thanks for your time
eks
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DENNIS
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Remember "The Long Long Trailer" with Ricky and Lucy in their convertible? That may not have made it through.
What are the specs on yours and where are you taking it? I'm not n expert ....just curious.
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DENNIS
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I just did some after-the-fact research on the Long Long Trailer and it was only a 32 footer. In my memory banks, that trailer was about a mile
long. It probably would have made it through since there are motor homes longer than that now.
I think I recall a Long Long Trailer thread here in the past.
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woody with a view
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Dennis
i think you're referring to the long, LONG caravans that seem to be one long trailer. 'specially when trying to pass one/it/them.....
advice:
make sure your brakes are up to the job.
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by woody in ob
i think you're referring to the long, LONG caravans that seem to be one long trailer. 'specially when trying to pass one/it/them.....
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Yeah...I know what you mean, Woody. Some of those caravans are like slow moving freight trains.
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capt. mike
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most fun i ever had - getting one old beater from metro phx to hotel serenidad its permanent home in 2001.
listened to the world series with D backs and Yanks drinking in a trailer park in Tecate night before i crossed.
sold it last year but as soon as i find another one i am trucking it south again and this time hope to keep it forever. i want a SLIDE out man!!
like 35 ft!! wow, i love being trailer trashed......
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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DanO
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In response to the original post, one would think that having the trailer clean and in good operating condition and currently registered would head
off any assertions that it's being taken down for use as a residence.
On actually buying and dragging it down, let me offer a few pointers, based on personal experience.
1. Don't buy a trailer from a guy who weighs more than 400 pounds. You may get a real deal, but odds are that the particle board underfloor in high
traffic areas and the fiberglass shower tub and underfloor are weak and will eventually collapse, while you're standing on them. The collapse of the
shower will give you convenient access to the subfloor area to repair water lines (see number 3 below), but you really don't want to be doing that
sort of work when you're naked and fully lathered up.
2. Ditto for buying a trailer from a guy who is not only a 400 pounder, but also chews tabacco and smokes like a house on fire and appears to have
questionable hygiene. Trust me, when it gets hot, that place will reek like the curb outside of Hussongs.
3. Make sure the aluminum sheeting or other material covering the underside of the trailer is intact, with no holes, before you leave. Otherwise,
you may end up with rodents living in or visiting the subfloor area. Those ratone bastards like nothing better than spending half the night noisily
chewing though the cheap plastic water tubing between your water tank and the bathroom. They also love building nests in or around your heater and
water heater using the subfloor insulation.
4. Try to avoid using a short wheelbased vehicle with a cracked frame and shot steering stabilizer to drag down a long trailer. You'll end up with
cramps in your hands because of the death grip you'll have on the steering wheel for eight straight hours.
5. If you have to traverse any mountainous offroad terrain to get to your spot, don't do it just after a torrential rainstorm, unless you like
looking in your driver's side mirror and seeing nothing but air under the trailer's wheels on that side as you try to negotiate between a rockslide on
the passenger side and a washout on yours. Heart attack, anyone?
6. If you are having a lot leveled for the trailer that involves cutting from the back and sides and fill on the front, make sure that your fill
isn't too steep to back the trailer in over it from the front and make sure that you have enough room in front and on the flat to get the trailer into
proper position while or after backing it in. If not, you'll have to come in straight from the side. Depending on which side the trailer's door is
on, you will need a ramp on one of the cut sides to back it in or ramps on both of the cut sides to allow you to drive it in, drop it and drive
straight out. Failure to think through this in advance will result in you standing around scratching your head for several minutes while the local
trailer parking expert laughs, drinks beer, and offers such sage advice as this:
Local expert: "flock it, just unhook the chain and unlock the hitch and drive straight in from this open side here. When you hit that wall of dirt
on the other side the truck does a wheely up in the air and the trailer pops off the hitch and stops, while you punch the gas, four wheel up and over
the wall. Your truck is up and out and the trailer is in place. But you only get one shot a positioning it right, eh? Ha ha! Piece of cake, man,
really."
You: "Seems to me I've got a pretty good chance of breaking the tongue or my hitch, or both, huh?"
Local expert: [Strokes chin thoughtfully, takes long pull on beer.] "Maybe, maybe. Trailer won't need a tongue after this though."
You: "Or what if the trailer pops off the hitch but has so much momentum that it doesn't stop, and it ends up up against the side of the wall instead
of the middle of the lot? Or what if it does that but I can't get the truck up the wall fast enough or I hang it up on the wall and the trailer rams
into the back of the truck? Or what if the trailer doesn't pop off and I hang the truck up on the wall? Jesus, it's like planning a train wreck."
Local expert: [Blinks at you, takes another swig.] "I guess that's all possible too. But what other choice you got? You just gonna park the
trailer in the road?"
You: "Well, that's a thought. Or we could grab a couple of shovels and dig out a ramp from the wall on the other side."
Local expert: [Stares at you like you've just admitted to being an escapee from an institution for the criminally insane.] "What?! Sh*t, man, that
would take all day, maybe more. Anyway, we only got one shovel here. No, just go for it, man. Drive it in, you can do it! Ha ha! You got any more
beer?"
[Edited on 4-7-2009 by DanO]
\"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.\" -- Frank Zappa
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Phil S
Super Nomad
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Mood: After 34 years. Still in love w/ my wife
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My brother & I "towed" our trailers down maybe thirteen years ago to Loreto area. Mine was a 29' and his a 33. Before we left from Oregon, we
installed larger, heavier axles, that gave us more braking power????? to negotiate the Santa Rosalia "hill", and the heavier axles to survive the pot
holes of those days, and installed ten ply tires. Neither of us had any problems other than the pot holes. And oh boy, were there plenty of those,
and an occational 'off the road' when a freight truck refused to stay on his side of the road. He too was dodging the pot holes, and the 'washouts'
from the side of the road. Boy. You folks that are towing rigs down these days, "have it made"!!!! The roads are wider, (in places) and they are
extending the culvert concrete ten foot tall sides farther back from the roadway. (seems like they were ten feet tall as we approached them.)
Slide outs are the answer these days. More money though, and for something else to go wrong. But the extra room would make the spouse happier I'm
sure.
I wouldn't worry about your considering anything around 33 feet or so. And be sure the towing rig is heavy enough to 'do the work', and help stop it
when you find it necessary to "slam on the brakes". Bring it through Tecate and Ensenada and south.
[Edited on 4-7-2009 by Phil S]
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MrBillM
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The Long Long Trailer
Available from Netflix.
I copied it awhile back.
It seemed a lot funnier when I was Eight.
Some things are better staying remembered. I "remembered" seeing Hellzapoppin when I was a kid and laughing my Butt off. Bought a copy on EBay.
What a STUPID movie.
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