I do the same as KY. Why fill up at home and have to haul that extra weight? I do leave a gallon or two in the tank to use when cleaning up the camper back at the house. I do the bleach thing in spring. If you do drain, don't forget to drain the water heater too.

Keep trying the fridge. Mine takes quite a few tries to light. It is a small orifice so it takes awhile to bleed air from the line and get fuel to the burner.

Isn't there already a water line going to the toilet? Why not just cap the heater fill?

Tighten the fittings and add a wrap or two of teflon tape to the threads. my fridge is totally silent. Good luck!

I agree. Use the 2-ply RV tissue from Wal-Mart. I have not used the blue pills. I use the Thetford stuff also available at Wal-Mart. It comes 6 bottles to a box and I use half a bottle in the black tank after each dump (of the tanks, that is :<).

I recently started using a 2 x 4 & 2 jack stands as diesel rat does. I am not so concerned about tipping but it does take a lot of the sway out when moving around the camper. It keeps my jack mounts from loosening up as well.

What does it smell like? Burnt? Sulfer??

Keep in mind that hitch box extensions reduce the tongue weight capacity. My 2500 HD has a 600 lb. tongue weight rating but it drops to 400 lbs with my 24" extension added. I tow a 18" fish and ski and it works pretty well but I would not want to tow much more. Perhaps a pop-up camper would be better for you. No slide, but some are quite nice. Look at Phoenis or Northstar.

Two things come to mind:
1. Tires. I run load range E on SRW carrying a 3000 elkhorn and I do not have the rocking you describe.
2. Sway bar. Do you have one?

Also, is the camper floor approximately as wide as the distance between your wheel wells inside the box? If not, you could add a second wider plywood outer floor to your TC to give it more width. It could even get wider behind the wheel wells. Kinda hokey but it might help.

I have not seen anything exactly like that but did see an article in TC Magazine (online) about removing the bed on your pick-up then mounting the TC and adding storage all along the unders. Perhaps you can check TCM archives, this may give you some ideas. It was not that long ago, maybe within the past 2 months.

I have a dometic 3-way as well, no fan switch though. That may be because my TC is a hard side. There is lighting instructions right inside the door and on Dometic's website.

Could you rig a pully system so you can hang the kayaks in the garage and just lower them onto your TC? You could also use a small rope hoist over a tree branch to do the same. We use one for deer hunting and they work great. I think they are around $20 from Northern Tool.

I am not a big fan of cab-over stabilizers. Your teuck beb and cab are seperated and move independently to a certain extent and connecting your camper at both ends seems like it would stress the framing of your camper each time you went over a bump. Let it bounce, they are made to do that. Take a look around the campgrounds, you'll see very few people use cab-over stabilizers. Good tie-downs are all that is needed.

My fridge operates the same way. The striker is actually lighting a small pilot light when operating on gas. In addition, my fridge has a 110 volt igniter to use when on AC and a 12 volt igniter for use when on DC (battery). I suspect your furnace may be set up similar and your 12 volt igniter is not working. The CO detector may work once the furnace ignites using DC. There is a sequence to the ignition process. Your battery should be fine.

Are you sure the fridge has a 12 volt motor? What lights the burner? Pilot light? Spark Ignition? Hot Surface Igniter? If one of the last two, could be that that component is not operating on 12 volts. My best guess is the 12 volt igniter is bad. Put a meter on it and see if there is continuity. Yes means it is OK.

I built a 4 x 6 cart out of 2 x 6's and plywood and added 4 casters to it. I only need to move my TC a few feet side to side so it works great, heavy to push though! If I needed to move it farther, I'd opt for something with larger pneumatic tires and probably pull it with a lawn tractor.

I use my TC for hunting here in Wisconsin so a toilet and shower are nice but I too use park facilities when available. I see some manufacturers are eliminating the bathroom sink which I agree with. I also could do away with a 3 burner stove and replace it with a 2 burner model. The extra counter space would be nice!

A couple week to several months! I'm jealous!!!

With that length of stay, room in your TC will be appreciated. Look for something in the 9-10" range with a slide-out. This will require a 1-ton truck, preferrably a duelly. A wet bath would be good too since (I'm thinking you'll occasionally boondock since you mention a generator would be nice), not sure where you are located, but an AC is nice if you camp in warmer climes. Where are you located? That would determine a manufacturer. It is nice to be close in case you need work done. In the meantime, check websites for lance, Arctic Fox and Adventurer. All are nice and have offerings that meet your needs. Storage is going to be your rub, I think. There just is not too many places on any TC that do not get used. Models with basement storage will help.

Hope this helps!

WOW! That's a big question! Lots of things figure into the size of TC you'll be comfortable with. Kids, pets, how many days you plan to use it, your physical sizes, will you tow, what size truck are you comfortable driving? what are your "must have items? bathroom? AC? slide-out? generator?

Can you give us some more info?

Almost everything in your TC runs off of 12 volts supplied by your camper battery.Your battery gets recharged when connected to 110 volts or your 12 volt supply from your truck. Microwaves and air conditioners typically need 110 volts. I have heard of supplying 12 volt power from truck to TC via the trailer wiring but my camper has a 7-pin coupler seperate from the trailer wiring. This is much nicer! I'd guess the severed wire supplied 12 volts to the whole camper, not just the lights. Does your TC have it's own battery?

I have my TC insured trough Progressive here in Wisconsin and I was told it is part of my vehicle when on the truck. My policy covers it when it is off the truck like storage in the driveway or when we unload it at a campground.

Hate to say, but you are putting way too big of a camper in a 1/2 ton truck. I'd trade up to a bigger truck. The bigger payload will be way more suited to the bigfoot, not to mention it will fit in the bed.

I am guessing it does have a thermocouple to light. The orifice is usually very small so it will take some time to purge any air from the line. You can speed it up a bit by lighting your stove burners for a minute or two to get any air out up to the unit. The thermocouple is usually located in the rear of the oven under the main burner. For safety, please keep your face off to the side when lighting.

It would reduce weight but by how much? 150-200 lbs. total? How would that benefit you? Better fuel economy I guess but would you even be able to detect that small of an increase? I say leave them on. You might need that truck for an emergency (pick up new appliance, tree falls and you need to get it out of the yard, etc.) and you probably won't want to be futzing with mounting jacks before you can take care of that.

I would not remove them. You'd be creating places where water can get into your camper. Also, many times they are lag bolted into wood structure and spinning the lag bolts in and out will cause them to loosen faster. They may also be thru bolted and gaining access to the nuts on the inside is usually a pain. On my TC, I have to remove the water heater and LP tank container to get to my front jacks. Leave them be.