# No worries!



## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

(Whoa - the first Outbacker novel!)

Our new Outback 23RS, almost immediately dubbed the â€œNo Worriesâ€, came home Friday from the dealer after an all day session of inspection, hitch setup and other adjustments (like to our pocketbook).

The new camper was a gift to each other for our 22nd wedding anniversary.









Final configuration was 2005 Outback 23RS, Reese WDH with dual cam anti-sway, Prodigy brake controller, and our 2003 Ford Expedition EB. We used the tow-and-see mirrors and I think I may move to McKesh â€" I didnâ€™t have a good time trying to adjust the mirrors â€" didnâ€™t fit well with the EB mirrors.

Ride home was sweet â€" about 40 miles of surface streets, freeway, and highway with big rigs, side winds and lots of traffic (I think they were evacuating Seattle â€" oops, no, just Labor day weekend). The pull by our â€™03 Expedition was better than I had anticipated and the sway was minimal but not eradicated. Uphill performance was good too.

Got home and spent the afternoon and evening teaching the kids about the camper â€" doâ€™s and donâ€™ts and teaching them how to help me with setup and takedown. Both are experienced RVers so I donâ€™t have to work too hard getting them in line. Spent the evening in the camper trying out the various systems and seeing how it would â€˜liveâ€™. Didnâ€™t sleep in it but we did use it enough to see why many of the modifications suggested on the forum were outstanding ideas.

Saturday we took it out to a local parking lot and practiced backing and turning. I set up some cones and handed mama a radio and took the other one for myself. Set her up in a comfortable chair (she has a torn ligament in her knee) and started pulling the rig around. We encountered some communications issues right away (â€œWhich left?â€ â€œWell, when you are backing up, your right is the camperâ€™s left if you face the way itâ€™s travelingâ€ â€œ I AM NOT keeping my finger on the PTT button! That jerk always says Iâ€™m doing things that Iâ€™m not â€" hey, how did he hear that?â€) Iâ€™m sure others may have gone through similar episodes. Anyway, got the hang of it pretty quick â€" even the 23RS needs a lot of room to navigate, you guys with the 28s have my respect.

Got home and began to unhook. Got the whole thing ready to uncouple and the coupler wouldnâ€™t let go of the ball. Iâ€™ve run into this before on lighter trailers but this was altogether new â€" wouldnâ€™t budge. Tried everything for almost two hours. Even called my dad (hey, I was desperate! Oh, his solution? Put your foot on the coupler and roll the trailer back an inch or two â€" I donâ€™t think olâ€™ dad really had a good mental picture of the problem; love him anyway). Decided to call a short break and came in to search the internet for anyone who might have had a similar problem. Found something I hadnâ€™t tried â€" Iâ€™d tried moving the TV forward and back but the post I found suggested some side pressure could be the problem â€" worked. Man, was that sucker tough. Lots more grease next time!

Saturday evening my brother came over and we spent time in the camper showing it off and they stayed and played cards â€" in the camper of course â€" to help us test the â€˜livabilityâ€™. My brother left mumbling about his â€œcrummy little pop-upâ€ and his wife rejoined with â€œYOU are the one who wanted the Jeepâ€.

Sunday and Saturday were modification days. My son Ben (13) put in the new locking doorknob on the bathroom door and then assembled a camper toolbox. We together modified the water pump compartment (under the couch â€" not too good for the one sleeping there!) with foam insulation. Repaired a minor leak on the galley sink â€" bad compression fitting â€" and then re-caulked the outside cook center. Checked the camper all over for fit and finish items and found a couple that needed fixing that had escaped the PDI. Overall though, it was in great shape. My daughter (16) volunteered to help by going shopping for new clothes. (Does anyone understand that?)

A few more things to get assembled and we are ready to go. First trip to Camas Washington for a two night stay. Only two weeks until we give it a go â€" the soonest we could arrange â€" and then â€œNo Worriesâ€.

Brian


----------



## Campinout (Jun 18, 2004)

BigBadBrain

Sounds like you are ready to ROCK!!! I mean camp!!! LOL Well congrats and enjoy!! BTW on our expedition we have the mirrors with the strap that attaches to the door, they work great!! Enjoy your first trip with your new outback!!


----------



## jnk36jnk (Mar 9, 2004)

Congrats on the new 23RS.







Your expedition should handle it with no proplems. I tow a 25rss with a 03 expedtion and do allright. Some of the steeper hills slow us down, 2nd gear when needed, but if I wanted to go fast I'd drive a 'vette.







, and I'll 2nd that Seattle traffic, came south on I-5 from Widbey Island yesterday bout noon or a little latter.







Traffic actually not too bad, for Seatle that is.


----------



## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

Congrats! Sounds like you have done your studying!


----------



## rennerbee (Jul 25, 2004)

Glad to hear that all went pretty smoothly. We had the same problem with uncoupling. We, or I should say my husband, ended up taking the whole hitch off the burb to get it out. next time around we parked it further back in our pad, where the front of the burb is not nose first into the edge of the driveway and it seems to have helped as we haven't had the problem since. We are in Battle Ground, pretty close to Camas. Where are you staying in Camas? I wasn't aware that there were sites out there. I know that LaCamas Lake is there, but don't know of sites at or near it. Anyway, just curious as we might like to do a quick and close get away and that would be convenient. Also, hint from a local, I would avoid going on Hwy 14 East of Washougal-gets really, really twisty. We don't even really like to take it with the cars and there are 18 wheelers that FLY down it--VERY dangerous. I would think that you would be taking I-5 through Vancouver to Hwy 14 East and you won't need to go that far, but just in case. Take it easy and have a great time.


----------



## Travelers Rest (Feb 27, 2004)

Congrats on the 23 RS. We have had our since January and love it. We too tow it with an Expedition EB but its a 97 and is getting tired!

We've been through a few growing pains with it but nothing to really speak of. One thing you might do early on before you find yourself unable to get out of bed due to back problems, is add a support under the front queen mattress. You can just get a 3/4 by 2 by 24 oak board and lay it on top of the flimsy board that serves as a lid for the storage container underneath. This will keep your butt from sinking through the mattress over 10 or 12 nights of sleeping.

Here is a tip on towing communication that helps my wife and I a lot. We quickly discovered taht it is pointless to have one of us yelling at the other "move it that way" or "it needs to go over!" Those ambiguous directions just make for poor communication, lousy backing and serve to make all parties mad at each other!!

Now we express all directions in terms of the direction that the rear of the trailer should move in ref to driver/passenger side. So when the spotter says move to the passenger side, the driver knows that means the tail needs to move the passenger side (turn the wheel more to the left). Just a little tid-bit that helps us not kill each other when were squeezing into a spot!









Again, congrats and ENJOY!! In fact, get your daughter to go buy even more new cloths to make the whole thing a happier experience!! Hahaha... Nope, my friend, we will never understand it!

Steve


----------



## illinoisboy (Jun 11, 2004)

Congrats and welcome to Outbackers. You will love love the 23RS, it's a great unit-perfect size. My solution to the hook up problem was to line hitch up early in the morning while everyone is still asleep including the wife. No yelling , no arguments and my wife doesn't complain a bit about not being involved


----------



## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Brook,
We are going to Camas to attend my daughter's swim meet (there is an invitational meet there and her High School won it last year - they are returning to try and defend their title) so we are really looking for someplace to call home for a couple days. We are looking at this place:

Potential RV Park in Vancouver

but we are not yet sure if that's the best option. If you've heard of it let me know. I'm not sure how much of a get-away it would be from Battleground (I've thought that Battleground might make a nice place to setup to tell the truth, it looks like a nice place to visit).

Thanks for the warning about 14. We had thought to go over to Gifford Pinchot to Moss Creek campground but it was a bit far from Camas. I'd thought of it for later excursions but I think I'll drop down to I-84 over to Hood River and up to the camp site rather than taking 14 after hearing your description. It's been a LONG time since I drove 14.

Hey Steve,
Thanks for the advice on communications - sounds like a much better idea. Now if I can just get a left-handed radio so my wife doesn't hold the PTT button down. Maybe I could let my daughter do it with a promise of a trip to the mall if she does it well.









We are starting our yearly planning exercise for the camper. I don't think we'll wait for warm weather, we're going to get out there and start camping even in the cold. Makes for fewer cramped camping areas (glass is always haff-full). Both kids are as anxious as we are to get out and use the new camper. We'll likely get over to Long Beach for a short trip - it's always cold and windy there anyway. Besides, it seems you can always get some good Dunginess crab live from the tank in Long Beach! There is a park we visited there with our fifth-wheel and before that in our truck-camper and it was always a nice place.

No worries!
Brian


----------

