One of the safest things you can do is get a weight distribution hitch. Get one with trunion bars and it will keep you straight and safe down the highway
Next week-the real rv rebuild , where Matt tries to upgrade the rv, finds a bunch of mistakes, and decides to tear it down to the frame, and design and build his open super insulated passivhaus RV - brought to you by LP
If I could talk to Matt I’d start here: 2:54 What are you talking about man?? For $15K you could’ve built your own “RV” even better than the Lance you bought, using a $5K 40 foot School bus as your platform! It’s called the schoolie movement! Total budget is always under $20K. No more than $5K MAX for the bus itself. typical Renovation budgets are max $15K. Total maximum is $20K That’s it! Come on Matt! You said you did your research?! A RV is like a tricycle compared to a School bus School bus is a TANK bro! I’m a member of the Schoolie Movement. Save money and be free bro, get a schoo bus 😎
Put some solar panels on your roof, upgrade your house batteries to Battle Born lithium ion and put a slow start on your A/C and you can boondock a long time. Enjoy, Matt and safe travels.
Your enthusiasm, sincerity, and genuine opinion on [insert any topic here] is such a welcome reprieve to the typical UA-cam feed. I wish there were a Matt Risinger for all platforms and topics online! Keep it up!
Lance has been one of my dreams to own. They make a excellent camper in every configuration! You did well by using your nerdy knowledge. Safe travels and make many memories with the family as you can!! 👍
Welcome to the Lance family. You guys will love it. We have a 27ft Lance. Need to be frugal when dry camping, take Short showers sand use the campground toilets if available.
Lance is great...kind of pricey, but well made. As a newbie, I would have rented a trailer for a couple of family trips to see if the RV trailer lifestyle is a fit for your family.
@@JamesBlazen You have to be committed to the lifestyle and get use out of it. If you own a boat, you need to be out on the boat at least a dozen or more weekends a year for it to pencil out. If you own a small airplane, you need to fly at least 150 hours a year of flight time for it to pencil out, and so on. There's a reason why I still rent RVs (and usually Class A bus type RVs). For the 1-2 times a year I use one (maybe 7-10 days a year), it's easier on the wallet to just pony over $150-200/day for the days I use it rather than own one. I'll buy it when I get closer to retirement, or if I buy some mountain property with no house but can set up water/sewer and power hookups...maybe.
@@JamesBlazen If they ever put up a Four Seasons, or whatever other shitty chain hotel, anywhere I want to go boondocking ... I don't want to go boondocking there. But yes, generally speaking, I agree, for many, if not most, people it's a waste.
Agree completely, trying to find the time for the family of 6 with their schedules could make the dream to be different from reality. I personally couldn't see spending much time in this thing with 5 other people.
Hey Matt, While your tundra can handle “pulling” that camper you’ll almost certainly be over your trucks payload capacity when your family is in the truck. Worse so for the suburban, your going to be completely maxing out it’s towing capacity. I highly recommend you hit a CAT scale with your camper loaded up and family in the tow rig.
Swap out your trailer tires immediately with the best set money can buy. I'm not saying this particular company would have penny pinched, but most manufacturers do. You don't want to be stuck on the side of a freeway with your family changing tires because a company decided to save a few dollars. Also have strictly travel days and strictly recreation days as set up and take down is super time consuming. On travel days, stop by grocery stores and stock up. Me and my wife traveled 15k miles zigzag across the USA to national parks and had one fantastic time. Enjoy!
@@THETOPGLOCK we just bought a 2017 Jayco. Always heard bad things about them. I must say traveling for 2 1/2 months no problem beautifully designed, plenty of storage and room. My daughter's bought new grand design nothing but trouble the first full year. My Jayco is 24 ft feather light. Amazing travel trailer. Love it love it. Glad I didn't buy new.
Becky Shep Thats good to hear. We currently have a Keystone and have had fantastic luck with it since new in 2015. But we’ve been looking at Jaycos 29.5bhok. I’ve been reading the quality is lacking on them all during this covid mess.
I am purchasing my RV from Princess craft(intech sol dawn) and i am so happy for you!!! And the top of the line is Lance! great job!! on your research also Princess Craft by far are the leaders in service and have such a great selection you are a smart man sir i can tell!!! Be safe and have fun on your journey to serenity!!
Take it really easy on the accessories to start with. You can spend a FORTUNE on stuff you don't really need for weekend trips. SETUP Load leveling and sway bars for towing. Plastic leveling blocks. Bring a torpedo level and level side to side. Then, disconnect your truck and level it front to back with the tongue jack. Cordless drill and socket for the landing legs, which are only for reducing wiggle, not jacking up the trailer (hard learned lesson). ELECTRICAL Electrical GFCI outlet tester. LOTS of campgrounds have faulty wiring!!! Honda EU3000 generator if you can afford it. Even better is a sizeable solar panel and battery system. WATER A hose Y, water pressure regulator, filter, and WHITE supply hose, as one assembly. A collapsable water carrier. SEWER Hose, elbows, and a piece of gutter to support it in a straight line. The gutter is cheaper than the scissor type devices and works over uneven surfaces. Heavy mil disposable rubber gloves! And maybe a face shield. You won't need one of the rolling blue tanks yet, but it will be nice when you go for longer stays.
@@andrewdiamond2697 I have a K2500 Suburban, and I used to own a very heavy 1977 model travel trailer. We lived in it with 5 kids for about three months while we were between houses. We had lots of small problems to work through. I think we broke every single cabinet latch. The trailer bumper would drag on the ground really hard entering and leaving the roadway sometimes. I ruined the awning when I failed to tie it down *properly* in a windstorm. Overall, we used ours HARD, it served us well, and I miss it.
Welcome to the RV life. You have so much to learn! LOL. First rules of RV'n: Unless you are spending really big bucks on ultra-high end custom stuff, then they are all junk with only different design features used to get you to buy. Let us know how the insulation really does. It may cool fine even in direct sun all day, but my experience has been that even on "4 season" units, the heating in cold weather is greatly reduced in windy conditions. All "consumer grade" RV's are mass produced using the same suppliers of components / equipment like windows / doors, furniture, appliances, jacks, and slide-out gear. That doesn't mean it'll fall apart /ruin your recreation time, but just be aware, get familiar with it all, and be ready to fix stuff. Even our first travel trailer served us well for 5 years with no failures that cost me more than a few dollars and some of my time. I found on that unit and even with our current 5th wheel that sink / shower drains seem work loose over time - must be all the bouncing around doing 60mph down the highway. I'd recommend you find the quietest generator set up for boondocking - no one likes to listen to the loud ones run for very long. I went with a pair of the Honda 2000 watt units when we had a travel trailer. Also learn to conserve water - travel trailers generally only have 40-ish gallons of fresh water, which we found is good for 2 people for a 3 day weekend if we are careful. Any longer / more people and we need to bring extra water and be careful on how fast you fill your black tank.
I'm learning first hand the importance of good insulation in an RV. I live off grid in a 5th wheel that has 2- 15,000 btu air conditioners. I sized my battery bank for about 5 hours of continuous run time (1 AC) once the sun goes down... Unfortunately that's only enough on less than 80F nights, even when we shut the bedroom door and the AC is directly above us. Can feel the temperature change rapidly once AC shuts off. Going crazy using some reflectix to get more insulation. Put reflectix on all windows, next will be putting reflectix all along the roof as I'm sure the sun beating down on the RV all day just radiates heat through out the unit. Glad to see a shift in manufacturers to get more out of their insulation! Have fun!
Congrats Matt! We just wrapped up an 8,200 mile family road trip. It was the best time. Many memories with the kids and we got to see so much of the US and our national parks. Enjoy your future travels!
My wife and I have looked at many different brands of campers. Lance is next level. Most of the other brands seem to follow a unified formula. Lance has different layouts, higher quality, lighter weight, etc... We haven’t bought one because they are very pricey and they aren’t in our budget.
Most of the other brands are under the Forest River banner. Ultimately owned by Birkshire Hathaway. Trouble on the road any Forest River dealer should be able to help.
OMG! Matt I love you even more!!! Next to woodwork my other passion is trailers, and overland trucks. You have just made this channel complete! Looking forward to more of your adventures!! Greetings from UK.
We’ve had a Lance 2185 for a couple years now. Hands down a great investment for our family. Doesn’t shock me at all that this was your choice. Good build quality is worth the $$!
Good for you Matt! I'm 52 and just bought our new Rockwood Roo 23BDS last November. We really enjoy it and keep it at our property. Super great quality as well and just builds great memories for families ... Have fun and be safe!
It is cool hitch but it is very heavy, expensive and hangs low. If you don't need it, it's not worth it. Proper loading and the right truck go a long way in a good towing experience. I have about the same size trailer (mine is 2' longer) and tow it with a Sequoia and it tows very well with a standard weight distribution hitch. Now if this was a 30'+ conventional trailer that is a different story.
@@jackhandyy Yes many people are under the impression that a 2500 or 3500 does not need a weight distribution hitch. But lots of trailers still have 1000lbs of tongue weight and that much force down on the back bumper lifts essential weight off of the front axle, which reduces steering control and braking. So for around $400 you can put that weight back on the front axle. Plus weight distribution hitches also act as a sway control and remove a lot of bounce from the truck and trailer.
We have the Hensley - it’s the best. Never worry about loading, crosswinds or emergency maneuvers. Big trucks will definitely handle your TT better, but it can’t prevent sway...these hitches eliminate it.
@@geoffmooregm first or second gen Sequoia? I recently got one and now want a travel trailer. I used to haul huge loads with an F350, super easy and confidence inspiring. Recent hauled a tiny trailer with a dirtbike in it, with my 4runner and it was worse than anything I ever did with the Ford. Blabbed away... So, how's the Sequoia tow? Thanks
It looks like your dealer didn't set up your trailer with your tow vehicle. This will become a disappointment as soon as you take your tow vehicle and trailer to a hitch store and they tell you all the stuff you need that your dealer didn't bother to mention. Here is what I recommend and use. "Must have", a brake controller similar to this (Tekonsha 90195 P3 Electronic Brake Control), and a weight-distribution hitch with sway control like this one (Equal-i-zer 4-point Sway Control Hitch). Optionally also consider; - A tire pressure monitoring system - EEZTire-TPMS Real Time/24x7 Tire Pressure Monitoring System - A set of extension mirrors - JR Products 2912 Grand Aero Towing Mirror - A rear-view camera for the trailer - SNANSHI Truck Backup Rear View Waterproof Camera with IR Cut LED Night Vision - A set of walkie talkies so my wife can direct me as I back into the site - Midland - GXT1030VP4 There is a Texas Hitch and Truck Center just around the corner from your office at 9099 Research Blvd, stop in there and ask what they recommend for your rig. Be sure to take your Suburban with you and a list of your trailer specs like these specs coincidentally for the Lance 2445 Travel Trailer: Gross Dry Weight 5525 Lbs. Hitch Dry Weight 555 Lbs. Axle Weight 4970 Lbs. Cargo Carrying Capacity 2075 Lbs. GVWR 7600 Lbs. Don't forget to have fun!
We are very happy with our Lance 2445. We bought it in March 2020 and have done minor updates that we thought needed it. We changed the 12V batteries to 6V which is a huge difference. I also updated the walk-in closed in the bedroom with 6 build-in shelves while still maintaining the hanger bar for coats, etc. Enjoy your Lance and let us know how it is holding up. We have towed ours for 37k miles and it still looks very fresh.
Matt, Welcome to RVing. We took our kids all over the country in our 69 Airstream. It really opened up many great adventures in National and state parks from Maine to New Mexico. Both my (now adult) kids love to camp with their friends and families. My wife and I now enjoy travels in the comfort of our 5th Wheel trailer. We recently met a couple who camp in a 25 foot Lance trailer in the national parks and forests. They had nothing but good things to say about their rig. Enjoy!
Yes definitely get yourself one of these, we did out first trip with out the weight distribution tension bars and it sucked compared to when we used these bars.
Without question, you NEED an anti-sway hitch. It's truly NOT an option but a necessity. Just look them up on UA-cam and you'll see what happens if you don't have one.
He needs a true weight distribution/anti sway hitch. I have a 2018 starcraft 26 foot bunkhouse model. I towed it from oklahoma to arizona and then to northern nevada and had no problems. Very little if any bounce and virtually no sway going thru the mountains. And yes the axles on his are too far forward. They need to be directly under the back door for more stability.
Matt! Super cool camper. Two things that you will find to be soooo worth it. 1) Invest a few hundred dollars in a stabilizing hitch. It gets rid of some of the swaying and jerking you mentioned. They are really easy to throw on, only makes hooking up take an extra 90 seconds or so, and well worth it. 2) Especially in the heat and with 6 of you in the camper you should contemplate cooking outside. It’ll be more comfortable and keep the camper from stinking of dinner. Camp Chef products (or anything similar) are very reasonably priced and run off propane so no need to bring any special fuel. I personally use a two burner model with a single wide flat top and it’s great. These tips have been the biggest take aways from camping all over the mountains of WY. Safe travels!
Congratulations and many happy miles. I’ve met you in-person, and was amazed and the small empire you have built for yourself at such a young age. I put you at about 38, 40-tops. I’m 34, myself. When you said you are 47 I almost dropped my phone! No way! Makes sense from a career and family stand point but darn dude, time has been amazing to you and your wife, as well.
Those ACs usually have an internal thermostat that turns the AC off around 76 degrees but keeps the fans on. They do that to protect the AC, which is ridiculous. You can modify that internal thermostat to run cooler though. We have a 42’ Jayco in Texas and the air sealing process has been endless for me. At some corners of the slide-outs you can see daylight and around the tops and sides of the slides I’ve added thick weather stripping because of all the warm air coming in. Also, in every window, the exterior weather stripping had “weep holes” or two gaps in the stripping on the bottom that not only pulled in tons of hot air but allowed in tons of small bugs. One time we found a swarm of flying ants making home right at the base of one of these ridiculous holes. I wonder if Lance has these gaps in the stripping. There is also an insane amount access to the basement spaces through jack openings for rodents and rats to enter. I also seal off all of the furnace floor vents in the RV, which bring in a lot of hot air. It’s been quite the process living in this thing. I am about to start finally building our home so we can get out of it.
Matt! First off, I love your Build Show. When you take your family out to Zion, spend half the time there, and then head north about an hour and a half to Bryce Canyon. 100% worth it!! I can hook you and your family up with a trailer spot, horse back rides, ATV rides, and tickets to the live country music show that I’m a part of out here. After that, maybe you could check out the site where we are about to build our house out here just outside the national park. I’d love to get your insight on it. Might even make for a good Build Show episode or 10? ;)
Camping is a lot of fun, especially when you have kids but the best part is what happens outside of the RV. I hope you’re not too disappointed in the RV because the entire industry is pretty shady. The best built RV probably isn’t as good as your typical house BEFORE the remodel. If you have any issues make sure you dog the heck out of the dealership because the standard procedure is to stall and make half hearted repair attempts until the warranty runs out. Most importantly, find out the speed rating of your tires and stay below that speed as well as make sure you know what you weigh so you don’t overload them. If you have Chinese tires (which is what most RV tires are) throw them away and buy some good American made tires (Goodyear has started making them here again) before they explode on you and tear up your new RV.
I see you own an RV like me 🤣. I recently pulled all the underbelly off, covered and secured all the wiring like a car would have. I relocated the fresh water tank because it almost fell out. I moved it closer to the axle it was too far forward giving me almost 1000lbs of tongue weight. Next I want to replace one vent fan and add another. The only saving grace for owners is they are simple to work on. 👍 Even though they are not the best built products they can be made to be exactly what you want and the memories make it worth every minute. We just came back from a week long trip. We were in or on the water most of the time and the kids had a blast.
Congrats Matt. Looks Nice. Enjoy. Yall deserve a GetAway. Get a nice outdoor grill your comfy with, so yall dont NEED to cook inside. Love the roof. My favorite feature! 👏🌻
Definitely get stabilizing tow bars, I have the 2285 and I pull it with my Tundra 5.7 and sometimes I forget I have the trailer back there. Wish you and your family a great journey 😎
Love our Lance 1985 trailer. Bought from a small rv dealer, said its the only camper they have seen that the A/C will actually satisfy the thermostat and shut off. Other campers have to run practically non stop. And experience will recommend, do NOT leave the awning up all night or when away. Lost one once, not pretty.
Excited for you. My children are grown but some of our best times were in our travel trailer. Definitely stabilizer tow bar. Not enough water capacity for boon docking, and there will not be enough space for all the stuff, but that's all part of the fun. I think you are over-estimating the time to run the dual fuel on propane. Also look here on UA-cam I recently saw a video for a device which eliminates the surge when your a/c kicks in, makes it less likely to blow the breaker on your gen. Enjoy!
I got one, looked a few over and then saw a video recording of them using CNC machines to cut wooden parts.... I was sold! I highly recommend you get a TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system), RVs are infamous for tire problems.
Congratulations Matt. I've had my Lance 1995 model since 2015. I'm pretty happy over all with it. Just read your manual, everything( fridge, heater, Axles, and the Lance it self )has different warranty time limits. I'm using a champion 3100 with remote. The remote is awesome. It's light enough I can load and unload it out of my truck myself. Happy travels.
Save water suggestion - get three 1 qt spray bottles - One with soap, 2nd with cleaning vinegar and 3rd with chlorine mixed with water to ratios of your choice and possibly a fourth with plain water for spraying while cooking and simple spills. You'll be amazed at how much water you will save, especially while boondocking. My fourth is pint size. 95% of dishes and pots clean with spray bottles. Try it out - you'll be glad you did! I don't use the 3rd often, but it does come in handy at times esp with pets. Also, vinegar is great for bugs/insects around the camper when eating outside the camper. Spray the eating area. Warning - I use lots of paper towels. I bought 3 bottles set (clear, red, blue) on amazon seem to work well.
I have a F150 crew cab and I pull a 30' Cougar. It is a GVWR of 8800 lbs. I have added a weight distribution but also road Warriors Help springs on my truck. It is still sketchy because you are correct; If the truck is shorter, lighter, and narrow wheel base, the wind sends you all over the road. The ride is a lot better with the two systems mentioned above but still sketchy. I am actually considering trading to this same Lance. They thought of about everything on this trailer! Thank you for this review. You told me 2 things I didn't know; double pane windows and the PVC roof. Even more reason for me to go this direction.
Matt; Congratulations!! I noticed when trailer was lower in the rear than the front when you showed it at your shop. I think once you have your hitch figured out with 10 to 15 % load on the truck and a distributing hitch you will not have that sway/ surge. I bought my first trailer in 1966 and have been RVing since. Have fun.
Congrats!! My wife and our son live full time in our 41 foot fifth wheel. We live near Houston, in Baytown Texas... due to how we must have the RV positioned, the two AC units (15k and 13.5k btu) cannot keep up with the heat. In the hottest part of the day it gets up to 78 inside the RV with both ACs full blast. It’s brutal. If we could position it facing East/West instead of North/South it wouldn’t be so bad... But man, we love living in our RV. We’ve taken a handful of trips and it’s awesome traveling with this thing. We have a Champion Dual Fuel generator as well, and it’s awesome. I’ve never run gas through it!!
You can contact the UA-camr Big Truck Big RV, he is an expert on RV and towing. He was also involved in OffTheRanch’s abandoned mansion build and helped him on 2 new heavy trailers
Welcome to RVing! I'm a builder and have been a fan of the Build Show for a few years (I'm hoping to work with Brent in Ft Worth soon); my family live full-time in an RV and I'm constantly wanting to take it apart and rebuild it better! Right now we have 3 ACs running (13.5, 13.5, & 15 BTU) all the time to try to keep it cool with TX temps above 105. It's like trying to keep a leaky shoe box cool, but it sounds like the Lance you got is much better made than the vast majority of RVs out there. Definitely look into weight distributing hitches and skylight/vent cover/insulators, also check out Roadmaster Active Suspension kits if you get a lot of squat once the trailer is fully loaded and hooked up to your SUV. We pull a 9,600 lb 36ft travel trailer with an Excursion (7.3 powerstroke) and it pulls really smooth. We usually get about 2-3 days out of a 45 gal black water tank with 2 adults & 3 kids not trying to conserve any; if you have a generator your big concern while boondocking will be fresh water supply and fuel to keep the AC running in the summer. Park in the shade if possible! I hear Zion is amazing, y'all have fun and drive safe!
I grew up camping a lot. Like, legit camping; walking up a mountain and setting up a tent, pooping on the side of a slope, and drinking water from a nearby creek. In short, I don't have much camper experience. That being said my wife does endurance horse racing so I've been around hundreds of people with living quarters horse trailers. My biggest recommendation is to get a Honda generator. They are often twice the price of competitors, but you not regret it because they are often half the decibels. I personally cannot stand loud generators. Those endurance races I mentioned sound like you're sleeping on a busy highway even though you're out in the middle of nowhere with no cell signal. Also, as someone that has pulled a camper slightly smaller than yours with my Sierra 1500 once, definitely get a weight distribution hitch.
Start out boondocking in a park with full hookups. You'll be amazed at how quickly one can go through water and power resources. That way when you run out the first day, you can hook up and continue your fun. Hardest part is learning EXTREME water and power conservation. Enjoy! (and the solar suggestion is very good for boondocking - plus as stated, check out Long Long Honeymoon and Keep your daydream). And get a proper Weight EQ hitch! May you have the greatest adventures!
I have a 3/4 ton truck and do a lot of towing, (GN trailers and assorted bumper pulls). We also just bought a 26ft bumper pull camper and I will tell you these boxes catch a lot of wind. Gas or Diesel, your towing experience with be so much more enjoyable with a 3/4 ton or 1 ton with that size of camper. I highly recommend using a weight distribution hitch if you don't already have one. It will help!
Matt. You may end up changing the mattress. Most people I have known who end up purchasing a new travel trailer or RV end up changing the mattress out from the factory model right away. I don't know about if that will be true to with Lance, but if you find it uncomfortable you will want to look for a RV Queen mattress. The RV Queen mattress is not the same size as a regular queen mattress. Just a heads up on that one. One of the more common modification I have seen in the RV is installing plexi-glass around stove wall to keep the grease off the walls. It a very cheap solution to keeping grease off your walls. Anyways, have fun with the new trailer.
Be sure to always check the tire pressures before any trip and do not exceed the recommended speed as indicated on the DOT area of the tires. Blowouts can be overly exciting and may damage the sides of the trailer. We always stay at or under 65 on the highways as the trailer tires on our 35 foot 5th wheel are only rated for 65 mph. And, if when you stop at rest stops or for fuel, check the hub temperatures by hand or get a digital thermometer. You made a great choice with Lance! Happy Camping!! PS, Love Garner State Park.
Having hiked Zion for years I would avoid the valley floor hikes except for Angels Landing and the Narrows. If you drive just outside of the park and come back in above you can escape the heat and crowds along the West Rim trail and Observation point along with Deer Trap and several others with views that can not be matched from the floor of the park. Also don't miss out on Bryce which is incredible and must for hiking and cooler temps.
Interesting tour through your caravan (as we call them down under). A couple of comments. Many have suggested a weight distribution system and I would agree that's pretty much a must. But I'd also say you should rethink putting anything heavy, like a geni, on the rear of the van. Weight on the back will remove weight from the tow ball and that presents a real danger of having too little weight there. That's the number one reason for a lot of caravan accidents - the van starts to sway and soon its all pear shape. We travel with a Honda 2kw unit that weighs around 20kg and keep it in the front boot. It handles our a/c easily. We "free camp" quite a lot - up to 3 weeks at a time - and solar panels and a couple of 120a/h LifePo batteries meet all our needs. One other thing, have you considered heating of your unit? we have a Dometic LPG unit that runs off the vans LPG tanks and is a small heat exchanger that fits under a bed. There are other units that run off diesel and Chinese knock offs can be had for only a couple of hundred dollars. We spend anything upon to 3 months at a time travelling anything up to 25,000km around Australia each year and love it - I'm sure you will too
At Zion don’t forget to hit up Kolob Canyon. It’s part of Zion and often overlooked. Also take the kids into Pine Creek to explore. Lots of frogs down in there! Not sure of your route out but should consider Bryce Canyon, Escalante/Boulder, and shoot through in Arches and Moab. I’m building a 1200 sf addition on my home right now north of SLC and have loved your content. Just finished shingling it myself (ugh!) Thanks for sharing your gift and enjoy Utah! It’s Beutahful!
Wow! You picked a nice trailer for all the right reasons. Congrats. You also just posted a video on a topic I believe you'll get tons of response so you're probably not going to need my help but for what it's worth and on the chance you might read my comments I'll give you some thoughts. Get the lithium batteries installed today, They don't require solar to be of highly substantial benefit. During the install you'll ultimately end up with a better charging and monitoring system ( better gas gauge ) and way more usable power during quiet times. You have chosen to carry a gen set for your AC so solar at this point would be nice but it is not necessary as the batteries will charge from multiple sources in a bulk charge setting to 100% full, You'll never need float. Batteries the way they should be. Another recommend would be an inverter gen set not that open frame you showed. You wont make any new friends with that noisy thing. I would guess you already know this and that Champian you mentioned would be a good one to get ( I have it ) get the remote start option. Trust me you'll love it. Lastly and I could go on believe me would be to order an Equalizer weight distribution hitch. I use one on my 2003 Avalanche (same frame as Suburban) to pull my 6500 26' TT. I would suggest you order one with free shipping from an online supplier ( etrailer.com, rv wholesalers or some other) and assemble it yourself. After you set one up you'll have a very good understanding of the forces at play and how the equipment effects them. There are lots of choices on the topic of weight distributing hitches but IMO this one is the best bang for the buck and just gets down to business for what it is. There's no need to to spend bigger money because the benefits are substantially less as you go up in cost once you get past good enough. Oh wait, one more thing is a must. Order a level mate pro from Amazon. It's a huge help when leveling your unit at the site or anywhere for that matter. Nothing like knowing exactly how much lumber (I know you have some scap to bring along ) to throw under the wheels down to the 1/4 inch, no guessing. Go camping and have a great time.
If you want to get some solar on that guy feel free to reach out! Installed 3620 Kw of solar on our fifth wheel, with 5 Tesla batteries as well. Right now we are running our house well pump and some other loads off it while the camper is sitting next to the house (installed a transfer switch in the house to run those loads off the solar in the camper). Enjoy Matt!
Zion National Park! We're in Saint George, the nearest decent-sized town. Make sure you do the Angel's Landing hike. It's a trek and the bit at the end requires y'all to pay attention, but the view is totally worth it. Opportunity, Matt! I don't recall a single episode about building in the desert. You should swing by and speak to one of our builders. I am not a builder, just a hands-on homeowner who loves this stuff, but chose not make a living doing it.
Hey Matt that camper or trailer is awesome your kids are going to enjoy that so much special e those bunk beds I see lots of fun adventures for your family God bless you
Lance campers are great 👍🏻. I tow a 21’ with my 2019 Suburban. Definitely need an equalizing hitch and high octane fuel. 50 more horses and 100 more foot pounds would be nice too. I’ll look for ya in Wyoming.
There are several RV UA-camrs out there that are full time, or working towards that where you can get tons of info. Probably one of the first mods you will hear about is for the Micro-Air Easy start for your AC. It allows you to use your AC with smaller watted (within reason) generators.
We have a Lance 2465 love it. We camp in the summer months in Mesa AZ area( Usery Mountain Park, Mcdowell Mountain Park, Lost Dutchman State park). Have no trouble cooling it down in 108 +. Also have use our Champion 3500 inverter to run only one unit at a time.
We have the 2375 and tow with a '12 Tundra Dbl cab 4.6. Our Tundra weighs more than our 2375!! We have towed Ca. to East coast twice and Alaska once with NO tow problems. We do have a E2 WDH, be careful Lance recommend no more than 135# on back receiver hitch. I installed a shore plug on tongue and run AC from Champion 3100 in bed of truck while driving! Factory Tours on Wednesdays, call and talk to Jim Waters!! Happy Travels
Matt- you have 75lb's not 75 gallons of propane- you have about 20 gallons 'ish.. Some great figures for you to know about... Propane has Potential energy of 90,000 btu per gallon. - the rest of the figuring on propane usage is simple division from here on out. Fridge uses about 800btu/hr when running Space Heater uses 15,000-30k btu/hr when running (depending on specs) Hot water heater uses 30,000k btu when running. (depending on specs) So the heater is the biggest propane user of all- and luckily summer camping thats not so much a factor. But once that heater is starting to be needed. Think about 90,000 btu per gallon of propane divided by 30k of usage per hour, each gallon of propane you get three hours of heater time. Your hot water heater, though big btu user, maybe turns on 3 times a day for 10minutes to maintain temp- its a short interval user. If we leave the RV I turn it off while hiking or whatever, but also leaving it on isnt a concern you from a btu usage point since it turns on so infrequently. my 3400w propane generator uses 45,000 btu's per hour - so thats about 2 hr's per gallon of propane - on a 21 gallon tank setup - thats 42 hr's of gen time from all full tanks. We try not to run our Generator all the time, but at certain times.. Morning for coffee, evening for cooling down, but certainly not all day as propane would be gobbled up too fast for an extended boon dock trip. I hope this helps you, it sure has helped me calculate usage, and when tanks will run out. Edit: Oh and always ALWAYS store your RV under cover.. Try to keep UV's and moisture off of it when not being used, it'll last 4 times as long then.
lol, because of this channel and all i learned about EVERYTHING building-related, i skipped getting an RV to live-in, and instead built my stealth off-grid tiny house in the back of a ford e350 box truck, so that i could insulate it really well, put in a 24v solar system, and skip the nasty water-wasting black tank nightmare and instead opt for a diy composting toilet. with 46 gallons of fresh water (and 46 gallon grey water), a 4800 watt hours battery bank, single 20lb propane tank for cooking and water heating, i am living on the streets *and you don't even know i'm there* !
@@jackardale1119 no, i don't have an air conditioner, and it gets hot during the day, but you actually get used to it...like our ancestors did. i live in the dc region, and it was around 100 all of july (still well into the 90s in day here, and will be that way through most september too), mid-high 80s at night, and that was my first month living in it after i completed it, and after 3 days i was completely adjusted. lol, now when it gets below 80 at night i have to put a blanket on. also, i have 2 maxxfans, one at each end so they can get a really good breeze with one bringing air in and the other taking out, plus the way i designed the layout and door positioning an additional box fan i run off the inverter keeps it plenty cool. ultimately, though i am almost 50 (0in good health) and have been weaning myself off of air conditioning for a few years now (i don't like how wasteful it is), so it wasn't a big adjustment for me...that might not be the same for everyone else though. i will be posting a video tour of my tiny house maybe this weekend, my son is supposed to be helping me record it today, but rain is expected and he's worried about the noise on the roof messing with audio so we'll see. in terms of tutorials, i cannot send you anything like that, i just recommend you search-for and watch as many youtube videos on every particular subject you need to know. in addition to matt's channel here for general building info (i actually just applied his principles of using lots of good insulation, and not having thermal bridges, and also that wood building that cannot be completely waterproof should have ability to "breathe" so they can dry, which was important because i wasn't sure that over time there wouldn't develop small leaks in the truck roof, as they sometimes do with these types of trucks), i can especially recommend will prouse's solar channel (this is his diy 24v system, which is the backbone of my system, though i have added a couple little cool extras: ua-cam.com/video/RLgGGB_McW0/v-deo.html), and also "faroutride" website is where i got basically all my propane plumbing guidance: faroutride.com/propane-system/. peace
You mentioned visiting national parks. Consider for the kids the Junior park ranger program. Our family visited many, many national parks, and didn't have the kids participate but now we do and wished we did it before, the kids get a booklet to complete activities for the park, and when complete they get a badge for that park from the park ranger. Some states have a patch for visiting multiple NP, like Arizona. Also, consider the NPS passport book where you can get a stamp for that park. great keepsakes for the kids. Currently, with the COVID-19 thing, some parks partly close the visitor's center but many operate differently so you have to play it by ear. happy camping.
Great narrative and a refreshing to here someone "not be an expert" like everyone tries to be in thier videos. Will be interesting to see what the updates, lessons learned and observations are from the road.
Awesome Matt Risinger LONG time fan and subscriber to the channel. been working on a 1982 lindy class c motorhome. Its in bad shape but I am in the beginning of completely redoing the rv. halfway through the exterior right now.
If you want to Boone dock for a long time make sure to go #1 outside as much as you can 😂 I installed a urinal from a porta potty in my camper. Also dishes is a huge concern. Only put things down the drain that you'd dump on the ground so you can drain your grey tank in a dry well type area with a garden hose. Remember bringing clean water back is much easier then trying to transfer waist away. Both are dooable but keep those waist tanks as empty as possible.
Get a weight distribution hitch for the RV. It balances the weight between the front and rear wheels on the towing vehicle. It works great for medium and heavy RVs. It also helps with braking on the towing vehicle. It is worth the money.
Or go to a truck big enough it doesnt notice the trailer. I dont use that stuff with my dually. I do have air bags but that trailer is pretty light if you have a 3/4 ton or bigger
I have a sailboat and I'll tell you septic is often more of a problem than water, depending on the size of your tanks. We switched to a composting head and it allows us to stay in one place for much longer rather than having to go dump the septic tank every few days.
One of the factors that increases insulation is that the sub wall is made of a material called Azdel on the inner and outer walls. It has a greater R factor than the wood material used in most trailers. It’s also hydrophobic so if a leak develops it won’t soak up water causing the wall to contract and expand which will lead to the fiberglass to delaminate. The weights you really need to pay attention to are gross combined vehicle weight rating and cargo carrying capacity of your tow vehicle. Max towing capacity of your tow vehicle is based on your tow vehicle being nearly empty. If you load a lot of stuff into your tow vehicle and trailer you can easily exceed the combined vehicle weight rating. Also the tongue weight of your trailer and load in the tow vehicle including passengers should not exceed the cargo carrying capacity of the tow vehicle. Navy showers! Get in shower. Turn on water and get wet. Turn off water and soap up. Turn on water and rinse! With a big family navy showers are necessary or you’ll run out of water quickly. I have a Lance 1995 and live in it full time. You have a very nice trailer! Happy camping!
Congratulations on the Lance. Built very well. I also did a lot of research. I purchased a Evergreen Everlite 29FK for front kitchen. Same build style. Laminated skins on foam insulation with aluminum frame on steel dexter bottom and dexter axles. Yes, i have double glazed/thermopane windows. One AC. Ducted. Very satisfied. I use a Anderson hitch. Yes, very hard to find campsite reservations. Join Travel Trailer life Facebook group. Also you will juggle ac vs coffee pot vs microwave vs hot water as power is limited. I follow you because I am about to build a passive solar home in Alabama. As energy efficient vs cost effective as possible. I like the Rise by Sun Plans. Architect here in Mobile. Be safe!! George
One of the safest things you can do is get a weight distribution hitch. Get one with trunion bars and it will keep you straight and safe down the highway
Next week-the real rv rebuild , where Matt tries to upgrade the rv, finds a bunch of mistakes, and decides to tear it down to the frame, and design and build his open super insulated passivhaus RV - brought to you by LP
If I could talk to Matt I’d start here:
2:54 What are you talking about man??
For $15K you could’ve built your own “RV” even better than the Lance you bought, using a $5K 40 foot School bus as your platform!
It’s called the schoolie movement!
Total budget is always under $20K.
No more than $5K MAX for the bus itself.
typical Renovation budgets are max $15K.
Total maximum is $20K That’s it!
Come on Matt! You said you did your research?!
A RV is like a tricycle compared to a School bus
School bus is a TANK bro!
I’m a member of the Schoolie Movement.
Save money and be free bro, get a schoo bus 😎
Put some solar panels on your roof, upgrade your house batteries to Battle Born lithium ion and put a slow start on your A/C and you can boondock a long time. Enjoy, Matt and safe travels.
Good advice! With 4 BB's and 1000+ watts of solar he could run the a/c all day long.
I'm curious with all the attention to energy efficiency if he's going to hook up some solar and batteries
Your enthusiasm, sincerity, and genuine opinion on [insert any topic here] is such a welcome reprieve to the typical UA-cam feed. I wish there were a Matt Risinger for all platforms and topics online! Keep it up!
Great comment could agree more😀
Will we see a blower door test on this soon?
With 6 people inside, it will constantly be blowing.
Yes please!
@@JamesG1126 why does it matter if people are inside?!
😂
That would actually be interesting 🤣
Lance has been one of my dreams to own. They make a excellent camper in every configuration! You did well by using your nerdy knowledge. Safe travels and make many memories with the family as you can!! 👍
Welcome to the Lance family. You guys will love it. We have a 27ft Lance. Need to be frugal when dry camping, take Short showers sand use the campground toilets if available.
Tip for the fridge turn it on and let it get cold 2 days before you head out you can thank me later
fill it with water bottles, so there is some mass. Remove the bottles as you fill it, it will help stablize temps
Don't over pack the fridge. Leave an inch of space around the edges so the cold air can circulate throughout the inside.
I turn mine on roughly 4 hours before leaving (noon on leave day) and it is cooled by time to hit the road easy.
Lance is great...kind of pricey, but well made.
As a newbie, I would have rented a trailer for a couple of family trips to see if the RV trailer lifestyle is a fit for your family.
This is a great idea, and something I don't think enough folks do before driving into a big purchase.
Good idea. There are 4 trailers and 1 motorhome i can see from the roof of my house. None of them have been used in over two years. Such a waste.
@@JamesBlazen You have to be committed to the lifestyle and get use out of it. If you own a boat, you need to be out on the boat at least a dozen or more weekends a year for it to pencil out. If you own a small airplane, you need to fly at least 150 hours a year of flight time for it to pencil out, and so on.
There's a reason why I still rent RVs (and usually Class A bus type RVs). For the 1-2 times a year I use one (maybe 7-10 days a year), it's easier on the wallet to just pony over $150-200/day for the days I use it rather than own one. I'll buy it when I get closer to retirement, or if I buy some mountain property with no house but can set up water/sewer and power hookups...maybe.
@@JamesBlazen If they ever put up a Four Seasons, or whatever other shitty chain hotel, anywhere I want to go boondocking ... I don't want to go boondocking there.
But yes, generally speaking, I agree, for many, if not most, people it's a waste.
Agree completely, trying to find the time for the family of 6 with their schedules could make the dream to be different from reality. I personally couldn't see spending much time in this thing with 5 other people.
That generator is anything but quiet and I highly recommend the Honda inverter for your very nice travel trailer.
Hey Matt,
While your tundra can handle “pulling” that camper you’ll almost certainly be over your trucks payload capacity when your family is in the truck.
Worse so for the suburban, your going to be completely maxing out it’s towing capacity.
I highly recommend you hit a CAT scale with your camper loaded up and family in the tow rig.
Pulling isn’t biggest the issue I worry about, it’s the stopping!
Paul Hendrickson
Completely agree, depending on how his Tundra is optioned it should be okay. I’d definitely worry about the Burb though.
Good recomendation. He really needs a SRW Ram 3500.
Swap out your trailer tires immediately with the best set money can buy. I'm not saying this particular company would have penny pinched, but most manufacturers do. You don't want to be stuck on the side of a freeway with your family changing tires because a company decided to save a few dollars. Also have strictly travel days and strictly recreation days as set up and take down is super time consuming. On travel days, stop by grocery stores and stock up. Me and my wife traveled 15k miles zigzag across the USA to national parks and had one fantastic time. Enjoy!
About 90% sure lance supplies good year endurance trailer tires from the factory.
It already comes with top of the line Goodyear Endurance tires, he didn’t buy a Jayco wood framed, aluminum siding trailer.
C L Just a FYI. GY endurance are standard on Jaycos now.
@@THETOPGLOCK we just bought a 2017 Jayco. Always heard bad things about them. I must say traveling for 2 1/2 months no problem beautifully designed, plenty of storage and room. My daughter's bought new grand design nothing but trouble the first full year. My Jayco is 24 ft feather light. Amazing travel trailer. Love it love it. Glad I didn't buy new.
Becky Shep Thats good to hear. We currently have a Keystone and have had fantastic luck with it since new in 2015. But we’ve been looking at Jaycos 29.5bhok. I’ve been reading the quality is lacking on them all during this covid mess.
I am purchasing my RV from Princess craft(intech sol dawn) and i am so happy for you!!! And the top of the line is Lance! great job!! on your research also Princess Craft by far are the leaders in service and have such a great selection you are a smart man sir i can tell!!! Be safe and have fun on your journey to serenity!!
Take it really easy on the accessories to start with. You can spend a FORTUNE on stuff you don't really need for weekend trips.
SETUP
Load leveling and sway bars for towing.
Plastic leveling blocks. Bring a torpedo level and level side to side. Then, disconnect your truck and level it front to back with the tongue jack.
Cordless drill and socket for the landing legs, which are only for reducing wiggle, not jacking up the trailer (hard learned lesson).
ELECTRICAL
Electrical GFCI outlet tester. LOTS of campgrounds have faulty wiring!!!
Honda EU3000 generator if you can afford it. Even better is a sizeable solar panel and battery system.
WATER
A hose Y, water pressure regulator, filter, and WHITE supply hose, as one assembly.
A collapsable water carrier.
SEWER
Hose, elbows, and a piece of gutter to support it in a straight line. The gutter is cheaper than the scissor type devices and works over uneven surfaces.
Heavy mil disposable rubber gloves! And maybe a face shield.
You won't need one of the rolling blue tanks yet, but it will be nice when you go for longer stays.
Solid well thought out list. Especially the plastic stackable blocks that are used with the leveling legs.
AA+++ list of necessities.
@@andrewdiamond2697 I have a K2500 Suburban, and I used to own a very heavy 1977 model travel trailer. We lived in it with 5 kids for about three months while we were between houses. We had lots of small problems to work through. I think we broke every single cabinet latch. The trailer bumper would drag on the ground really hard entering and leaving the roadway sometimes. I ruined the awning when I failed to tie it down *properly* in a windstorm. Overall, we used ours HARD, it served us well, and I miss it.
I really hope I never need a face shield at tha dump station. Yikes!
@@tommyswafford7132 trust me... You always need a face shield at the dump station. 😳😖😄
Welcome to the RV life. You have so much to learn! LOL. First rules of RV'n: Unless you are spending really big bucks on ultra-high end custom stuff, then they are all junk with only different design features used to get you to buy. Let us know how the insulation really does. It may cool fine even in direct sun all day, but my experience has been that even on "4 season" units, the heating in cold weather is greatly reduced in windy conditions. All "consumer grade" RV's are mass produced using the same suppliers of components / equipment like windows / doors, furniture, appliances, jacks, and slide-out gear. That doesn't mean it'll fall apart /ruin your recreation time, but just be aware, get familiar with it all, and be ready to fix stuff. Even our first travel trailer served us well for 5 years with no failures that cost me more than a few dollars and some of my time. I found on that unit and even with our current 5th wheel that sink / shower drains seem work loose over time - must be all the bouncing around doing 60mph down the highway.
I'd recommend you find the quietest generator set up for boondocking - no one likes to listen to the loud ones run for very long. I went with a pair of the Honda 2000 watt units when we had a travel trailer. Also learn to conserve water - travel trailers generally only have 40-ish gallons of fresh water, which we found is good for 2 people for a 3 day weekend if we are careful. Any longer / more people and we need to bring extra water and be careful on how fast you fill your black tank.
I'm learning first hand the importance of good insulation in an RV. I live off grid in a 5th wheel that has 2- 15,000 btu air conditioners. I sized my battery bank for about 5 hours of continuous run time (1 AC) once the sun goes down... Unfortunately that's only enough on less than 80F nights, even when we shut the bedroom door and the AC is directly above us. Can feel the temperature change rapidly once AC shuts off. Going crazy using some reflectix to get more insulation. Put reflectix on all windows, next will be putting reflectix all along the roof as I'm sure the sun beating down on the RV all day just radiates heat through out the unit. Glad to see a shift in manufacturers to get more out of their insulation! Have fun!
Welcome to the wonderful world of RVing. I’m sure you and you family will love it
Congrats Matt! We just wrapped up an 8,200 mile family road trip. It was the best time. Many memories with the kids and we got to see so much of the US and our national parks. Enjoy your future travels!
My wife and I have looked at many different brands of campers. Lance is next level. Most of the other brands seem to follow a unified formula. Lance has different layouts, higher quality, lighter weight, etc... We haven’t bought one because they are very pricey and they aren’t in our budget.
Most of the other brands are under the Forest River banner. Ultimately owned by Birkshire Hathaway. Trouble on the road any Forest River dealer should be able to help.
Go Lance. CONSTRUCTION QUALITY.
OMG! Matt I love you even more!!! Next to woodwork my other passion is trailers, and overland trucks. You have just made this channel complete! Looking forward to more of your adventures!! Greetings from UK.
We’ve had a Lance 2185 for a couple years now. Hands down a great investment for our family. Doesn’t shock me at all that this was your choice. Good build quality is worth the $$!
Yep, my dream camper is the 2445
Good for you Matt! I'm 52 and just bought our new Rockwood Roo 23BDS last November. We really enjoy it and keep it at our property. Super great quality as well and just builds great memories for families ... Have fun and be safe!
You need a weight-distribution hitch; Hensley is the best.
It is cool hitch but it is very heavy, expensive and hangs low. If you don't need it, it's not worth it. Proper loading and the right truck go a long way in a good towing experience. I have about the same size trailer (mine is 2' longer) and tow it with a Sequoia and it tows very well with a standard weight distribution hitch. Now if this was a 30'+ conventional trailer that is a different story.
Geoff Moore and airbags
@@jackhandyy Yes many people are under the impression that a 2500 or 3500 does not need a weight distribution hitch. But lots of trailers still have 1000lbs of tongue weight and that much force down on the back bumper lifts essential weight off of the front axle, which reduces steering control and braking. So for around $400 you can put that weight back on the front axle. Plus weight distribution hitches also act as a sway control and remove a lot of bounce from the truck and trailer.
We have the Hensley - it’s the best. Never worry about loading, crosswinds or emergency maneuvers. Big trucks will definitely handle your TT better, but it can’t prevent sway...these hitches eliminate it.
@@geoffmooregm first or second gen Sequoia? I recently got one and now want a travel trailer. I used to haul huge loads with an F350, super easy and confidence inspiring. Recent hauled a tiny trailer with a dirtbike in it, with my 4runner and it was worse than anything I ever did with the Ford. Blabbed away... So, how's the Sequoia tow? Thanks
It looks like your dealer didn't set up your trailer with your tow vehicle. This will become a disappointment as soon as you take your tow vehicle and trailer to a hitch store and they tell you all the stuff you need that your dealer didn't bother to mention.
Here is what I recommend and use. "Must have", a brake controller similar to this (Tekonsha 90195 P3 Electronic Brake Control), and a weight-distribution hitch with sway control like this one (Equal-i-zer 4-point Sway Control Hitch). Optionally also consider;
- A tire pressure monitoring system - EEZTire-TPMS Real Time/24x7 Tire Pressure Monitoring System
- A set of extension mirrors - JR Products 2912 Grand Aero Towing Mirror
- A rear-view camera for the trailer - SNANSHI Truck Backup Rear View Waterproof Camera with IR Cut LED Night Vision
- A set of walkie talkies so my wife can direct me as I back into the site - Midland - GXT1030VP4
There is a Texas Hitch and Truck Center just around the corner from your office at 9099 Research Blvd, stop in there and ask what they recommend for your rig. Be sure to take your Suburban with you and a list of your trailer specs like these specs coincidentally for the Lance 2445 Travel Trailer:
Gross Dry Weight 5525 Lbs.
Hitch Dry Weight 555 Lbs.
Axle Weight 4970 Lbs.
Cargo Carrying Capacity 2075 Lbs.
GVWR 7600 Lbs.
Don't forget to have fun!
We are very happy with our Lance 2445. We bought it in March 2020 and have done minor updates that we thought needed it. We changed the 12V batteries to 6V which is a huge difference. I also updated the walk-in closed in the bedroom with 6 build-in shelves while still maintaining the hanger bar for coats, etc.
Enjoy your Lance and let us know how it is holding up. We have towed ours for 37k miles and it still looks very fresh.
I feel like we should collaborate on this.....
First thing that came to mind lol
Matt, Welcome to RVing. We took our kids all over the country in our 69 Airstream. It really opened up many great adventures in National and state parks from Maine to New Mexico. Both my (now adult) kids love to camp with their friends and families. My wife and I now enjoy travels in the comfort of our 5th Wheel trailer. We recently met a couple who camp in a 25 foot Lance trailer in the national parks and forests. They had nothing but good things to say about their rig. Enjoy!
Stabilizer tow bar . Will stop that surging while your driving
that seem more safe : www.amazon.com/s?k=towing+hitch+stabilizer&rh=n%3A15737521&ref=dp_bc_aui_C_5
"towing weight distribution hitch"
Yes definitely get yourself one of these, we did out first trip with out the weight distribution tension bars and it sucked compared to when we used these bars.
He was feeling the early signs of fishtailing because that thing has the axles too far forward.
Without question, you NEED an anti-sway hitch. It's truly NOT an option but a necessity. Just look them up on UA-cam and you'll see what happens if you don't have one.
He needs a true weight distribution/anti sway hitch. I have a 2018 starcraft 26 foot bunkhouse model. I towed it from oklahoma to arizona and then to northern nevada and had no problems. Very little if any bounce and virtually no sway going thru the mountains. And yes the axles on his are too far forward. They need to be directly under the back door for more stability.
Matt! Super cool camper. Two things that you will find to be soooo worth it.
1) Invest a few hundred dollars in a stabilizing hitch. It gets rid of some of the swaying and jerking you mentioned. They are really easy to throw on, only makes hooking up take an extra 90 seconds or so, and well worth it.
2) Especially in the heat and with 6 of you in the camper you should contemplate cooking outside. It’ll be more comfortable and keep the camper from stinking of dinner. Camp Chef products (or anything similar) are very reasonably priced and run off propane so no need to bring any special fuel. I personally use a two burner model with a single wide flat top and it’s great.
These tips have been the biggest take aways from camping all over the mountains of WY.
Safe travels!
Congratulations and many happy miles. I’ve met you in-person, and was amazed and the small empire you have built for yourself at such a young age. I put you at about 38, 40-tops. I’m 34, myself. When you said you are 47 I almost dropped my phone! No way!
Makes sense from a career and family stand point but darn dude, time has been amazing to you and your wife, as well.
Those ACs usually have an internal thermostat that turns the AC off around 76 degrees but keeps the fans on. They do that to protect the AC, which is ridiculous. You can modify that internal thermostat to run cooler though. We have a 42’ Jayco in Texas and the air sealing process has been endless for me. At some corners of the slide-outs you can see daylight and around the tops and sides of the slides I’ve added thick weather stripping because of all the warm air coming in. Also, in every window, the exterior weather stripping had “weep holes” or two gaps in the stripping on the bottom that not only pulled in tons of hot air but allowed in tons of small bugs. One time we found a swarm of flying ants making home right at the base of one of these ridiculous holes. I wonder if Lance has these gaps in the stripping. There is also an insane amount access to the basement spaces through jack openings for rodents and rats to enter. I also seal off all of the furnace floor vents in the RV, which bring in a lot of hot air. It’s been quite the process living in this thing. I am about to start finally building our home so we can get out of it.
Matt! First off, I love your Build Show. When you take your family out to Zion, spend half the time there, and then head north about an hour and a half to Bryce Canyon. 100% worth it!! I can hook you and your family up with a trailer spot, horse back rides, ATV rides, and tickets to the live country music show that I’m a part of out here. After that, maybe you could check out the site where we are about to build our house out here just outside the national park. I’d love to get your insight on it. Might even make for a good Build Show episode or 10? ;)
I’ve been looking at them too! Same conclusions after weeks of research! Thanks for posting!
Camping is a lot of fun, especially when you have kids but the best part is what happens outside of the RV. I hope you’re not too disappointed in the RV because the entire industry is pretty shady. The best built RV probably isn’t as good as your typical house BEFORE the remodel. If you have any issues make sure you dog the heck out of the dealership because the standard procedure is to stall and make half hearted repair attempts until the warranty runs out. Most importantly, find out the speed rating of your tires and stay below that speed as well as make sure you know what you weigh so you don’t overload them. If you have Chinese tires (which is what most RV tires are) throw them away and buy some good American made tires (Goodyear has started making them here again) before they explode on you and tear up your new RV.
Sadly this is true. If you spend less than $100,000 on a camper it's cheap value engineering down to the last nut and bolt.
I see you own an RV like me 🤣.
I recently pulled all the underbelly off, covered and secured all the wiring like a car would have. I relocated the fresh water tank because it almost fell out. I moved it closer to the axle it was too far forward giving me almost 1000lbs of tongue weight. Next I want to replace one vent fan and add another. The only saving grace for owners is they are simple to work on. 👍
Even though they are not the best built products they can be made to be exactly what you want and the memories make it worth every minute. We just came back from a week long trip. We were in or on the water most of the time and the kids had a blast.
Lance comes standard with Goodyear Endurance American made tires.
@@geoffmooregm who is the mfg of your camper?
@@melayman2461 quality built. Now that they have been bought out by another mfg i home Quaity control is held tight.
You need the anti-sway tow bar. This is not an option, but rather a necessary safety device. Don't drive another mile without it.
Congrats Matt. Looks Nice. Enjoy.
Yall deserve a GetAway. Get a nice outdoor grill your comfy with, so yall dont NEED to cook inside. Love the roof. My favorite feature! 👏🌻
Definitely get stabilizing tow bars, I have the 2285 and I pull it with my Tundra 5.7 and sometimes I forget I have the trailer back there. Wish you and your family a great journey 😎
I have the same combo, Tundra + 2285, truly ideal!
And a mix of load leveling hitch and anti sway bars, it will go anywhere.
Good for you watch videos we did it made buying and traveling a lot more fun for us who are beginners. Enjoy. Lance is one we almost considered.
Love our Lance 1985 trailer. Bought from a small rv dealer, said its the only camper they have seen that the A/C will actually satisfy the thermostat and shut off. Other campers have to run practically non stop. And experience will recommend, do NOT leave the awning up all night or when away. Lost one once, not pretty.
Excited for you. My children are grown but some of our best times were in our travel trailer. Definitely stabilizer tow bar. Not enough water capacity for boon docking, and there will not be enough space for all the stuff, but that's all part of the fun. I think you are over-estimating the time to run the dual fuel on propane. Also look here on UA-cam I recently saw a video for a device which eliminates the surge when your a/c kicks in, makes it less likely to blow the breaker on your gen. Enjoy!
I got one, looked a few over and then saw a video recording of them using CNC machines to cut wooden parts.... I was sold! I highly recommend you get a TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system), RVs are infamous for tire problems.
Congratulations Matt. I've had my Lance 1995 model since 2015. I'm pretty happy over all with it. Just read your manual, everything( fridge, heater, Axles, and the Lance it self )has different warranty time limits. I'm using a champion 3100 with remote. The remote is awesome. It's light enough I can load and unload it out of my truck myself. Happy travels.
I’d recommend a stabilizer hitch and even suspension bags on the vehicles makes it smoother
Congrats Matt !! You guys will love getting out and seeing the Nat'l parks!
It's like buying a time share on wheels,Lance makes excellent RVs.
Save water suggestion - get three 1 qt spray bottles - One with soap, 2nd with cleaning vinegar and 3rd with chlorine mixed with water to ratios of your choice and possibly a fourth with plain water for spraying while cooking and simple spills. You'll be amazed at how much water you will save, especially while boondocking. My fourth is pint size. 95% of dishes and pots clean with spray bottles. Try it out - you'll be glad you did! I don't use the 3rd often, but it does come in handy at times esp with pets. Also, vinegar is great for bugs/insects around the camper when eating outside the camper. Spray the eating area. Warning - I use lots of paper towels. I bought 3 bottles set (clear, red, blue) on amazon seem to work well.
I have a F150 crew cab and I pull a 30' Cougar. It is a GVWR of 8800 lbs. I have added a weight distribution but also road Warriors Help springs on my truck. It is still sketchy because you are correct; If the truck is shorter, lighter, and narrow wheel base, the wind sends you all over the road. The ride is a lot better with the two systems mentioned above but still sketchy. I am actually considering trading to this same Lance. They thought of about everything on this trailer! Thank you for this review. You told me 2 things I didn't know; double pane windows and the PVC roof. Even more reason for me to go this direction.
Matt; Congratulations!! I noticed when trailer was lower in the rear than the front when you showed it at your shop. I think once you have your hitch figured out with 10 to 15 % load on the truck and a distributing hitch you will not have that sway/ surge. I bought my first trailer in 1966 and have been RVing since. Have fun.
Love the rationale you used to make your selection. one of the better analysis and selection criteria
the champion dual fuel is great! got me through 8 days without power after a tornado. the propane lasts sooo much longer than gas.
Congrats!!
My wife and our son live full time in our 41 foot fifth wheel.
We live near Houston, in Baytown Texas... due to how we must have the RV positioned, the two AC units (15k and 13.5k btu) cannot keep up with the heat. In the hottest part of the day it gets up to 78 inside the RV with both ACs full blast. It’s brutal.
If we could position it facing East/West instead of North/South it wouldn’t be so bad...
But man, we love living in our RV. We’ve taken a handful of trips and it’s awesome traveling with this thing.
We have a Champion Dual Fuel generator as well, and it’s awesome. I’ve never run gas through it!!
Nothing like towing a single wide around the country. Classy living.
For hitch education Big Truck Big RV is a great channel.
You can contact the UA-camr Big Truck Big RV, he is an expert on RV and towing. He was also involved in OffTheRanch’s abandoned mansion build and helped him on 2 new heavy trailers
he is right the guy knows everything towing campers and matching tow vehicles he is in the corpus christie area
John Doris And all the accessories and all the do and don’t about the RV
Most definitely! JD knows his stuff.........
@@MarshallLoveday ah, JDs ok. :)
Welcome to RVing!
I'm a builder and have been a fan of the Build Show for a few years (I'm hoping to work with Brent in Ft Worth soon); my family live full-time in an RV and I'm constantly wanting to take it apart and rebuild it better! Right now we have 3 ACs running (13.5, 13.5, & 15 BTU) all the time to try to keep it cool with TX temps above 105. It's like trying to keep a leaky shoe box cool, but it sounds like the Lance you got is much better made than the vast majority of RVs out there.
Definitely look into weight distributing hitches and skylight/vent cover/insulators, also check out Roadmaster Active Suspension kits if you get a lot of squat once the trailer is fully loaded and hooked up to your SUV. We pull a 9,600 lb 36ft travel trailer with an Excursion (7.3 powerstroke) and it pulls really smooth.
We usually get about 2-3 days out of a 45 gal black water tank with 2 adults & 3 kids not trying to conserve any; if you have a generator your big concern while boondocking will be fresh water supply and fuel to keep the AC running in the summer. Park in the shade if possible!
I hear Zion is amazing, y'all have fun and drive safe!
welcome to the club. you will find out through trial and error for items you need. have fun and soak up the memories.
also, watch those seals!!!
I grew up camping a lot. Like, legit camping; walking up a mountain and setting up a tent, pooping on the side of a slope, and drinking water from a nearby creek. In short, I don't have much camper experience. That being said my wife does endurance horse racing so I've been around hundreds of people with living quarters horse trailers. My biggest recommendation is to get a Honda generator. They are often twice the price of competitors, but you not regret it because they are often half the decibels. I personally cannot stand loud generators. Those endurance races I mentioned sound like you're sleeping on a busy highway even though you're out in the middle of nowhere with no cell signal. Also, as someone that has pulled a camper slightly smaller than yours with my Sierra 1500 once, definitely get a weight distribution hitch.
Start out boondocking in a park with full hookups. You'll be amazed at how quickly one can go through water and power resources. That way when you run out the first day, you can hook up and continue your fun. Hardest part is learning EXTREME water and power conservation. Enjoy! (and the solar suggestion is very good for boondocking - plus as stated, check out Long Long Honeymoon and Keep your daydream). And get a proper Weight EQ hitch! May you have the greatest adventures!
I love your channel along with Perkins Builder Brothers and Mattbangswood...keep up the good work and much love from Texas !!!!
I have a 3/4 ton truck and do a lot of towing, (GN trailers and assorted bumper pulls). We also just bought a 26ft bumper pull camper and I will tell you these boxes catch a lot of wind. Gas or Diesel, your towing experience with be so much more enjoyable with a 3/4 ton or 1 ton with that size of camper. I highly recommend using a weight distribution hitch if you don't already have one. It will help!
Enjoyed seeing you talk about your travel trailer. I have been into the travel trailers for a while Matt and you're going to love them.
Oh the joys of being an RV newbie. No matter the make or model, it’s all a learning curb! Enjoy the journey!
The disappointment you feel when you realize the letter V is right next to the letter B on your keyboard. :)
Building Science meets RV’s. Only Matt Risinger could pull it off! Love this guy.
I’m happy for you Mr. Matt, it’s always great when your dreams come true.
Matt. You may end up changing the mattress. Most people I have known who end up purchasing a new travel trailer or RV end up changing the mattress out from the factory model right away. I don't know about if that will be true to with Lance, but if you find it uncomfortable you will want to look for a RV Queen mattress. The RV Queen mattress is not the same size as a regular queen mattress. Just a heads up on that one. One of the more common modification I have seen in the RV is installing plexi-glass around stove wall to keep the grease off the walls. It a very cheap solution to keeping grease off your walls.
Anyways, have fun with the new trailer.
Be sure to always check the tire pressures before any trip and do not exceed the recommended speed as indicated on the DOT area of the tires. Blowouts can be overly exciting and may damage the sides of the trailer. We always stay at or under 65 on the highways as the trailer tires on our 35 foot 5th wheel are only rated for 65 mph. And, if when you stop at rest stops or for fuel, check the hub temperatures by hand or get a digital thermometer. You made a great choice with Lance! Happy Camping!! PS, Love Garner State Park.
Having hiked Zion for years I would avoid the valley floor hikes except for Angels Landing and the Narrows. If you drive just outside of the park and come back in above you can escape the heat and crowds along the West Rim trail and Observation point along with Deer Trap and several others with views that can not be matched from the floor of the park. Also don't miss out on Bryce which is incredible and must for hiking and cooler temps.
Interesting tour through your caravan (as we call them down under). A couple of comments. Many have suggested a weight distribution system and I would agree that's pretty much a must. But I'd also say you should rethink putting anything heavy, like a geni, on the rear of the van. Weight on the back will remove weight from the tow ball and that presents a real danger of having too little weight there. That's the number one reason for a lot of caravan accidents - the van starts to sway and soon its all pear shape.
We travel with a Honda 2kw unit that weighs around 20kg and keep it in the front boot. It handles our a/c easily. We "free camp" quite a lot - up to 3 weeks at a time - and solar panels and a couple of 120a/h LifePo batteries meet all our needs.
One other thing, have you considered heating of your unit? we have a Dometic LPG unit that runs off the vans LPG tanks and is a small heat exchanger that fits under a bed. There are other units that run off diesel and Chinese knock offs can be had for only a couple of hundred dollars.
We spend anything upon to 3 months at a time travelling anything up to 25,000km around Australia each year and love it - I'm sure you will too
Matt! This is such a great rundown on the Lance 2445! Thanks for putting your experience out there for everybody's information!
Love my Equal-i-zer hitch... Also added timbrens to my Ram 1500 and made a huge difference it towability.
Welcome to the RV communitity!!! I look forward to your travels as well as all futre videos!!! God Bless and Enjoy the RV!!!!
At Zion don’t forget to hit up Kolob Canyon. It’s part of Zion and often overlooked. Also take the kids into Pine Creek to explore. Lots of frogs down in there! Not sure of your route out but should consider Bryce Canyon, Escalante/Boulder, and shoot through in Arches and Moab. I’m building a 1200 sf addition on my home right now north of SLC and have loved your content. Just finished shingling it myself (ugh!) Thanks for sharing your gift and enjoy Utah! It’s Beutahful!
Wow! You picked a nice trailer for all the right reasons. Congrats. You also just posted a video on a topic I believe you'll get tons of response so you're probably not going to need my help but for what it's worth and on the chance you might read my comments I'll give you some thoughts. Get the lithium batteries installed today, They don't require solar to be of highly substantial benefit. During the install you'll ultimately end up with a better charging and monitoring system ( better gas gauge ) and way more usable power during quiet times. You have chosen to carry a gen set for your AC so solar at this point would be nice but it is not necessary as the batteries will charge from multiple sources in a bulk charge setting to 100% full, You'll never need float. Batteries the way they should be. Another recommend would be an inverter gen set not that open frame you showed. You wont make any new friends with that noisy thing. I would guess you already know this and that Champian you mentioned would be a good one to get ( I have it ) get the remote start option. Trust me you'll love it. Lastly and I could go on believe me would be to order an Equalizer weight distribution hitch. I use one on my 2003 Avalanche (same frame as Suburban) to pull my 6500 26' TT. I would suggest you order one with free shipping from an online supplier ( etrailer.com, rv wholesalers or some other) and assemble it yourself. After you set one up you'll have a very good understanding of the forces at play and how the equipment effects them. There are lots of choices on the topic of weight distributing hitches but IMO this one is the best bang for the buck and just gets down to business for what it is. There's no need to to spend bigger money because the benefits are substantially less as you go up in cost once you get past good enough. Oh wait, one more thing is a must. Order a level mate pro from Amazon. It's a huge help when leveling your unit at the site or anywhere for that matter. Nothing like knowing exactly how much lumber (I know you have some scap to bring along ) to throw under the wheels down to the 1/4 inch, no guessing. Go camping and have a great time.
If you want to get some solar on that guy feel free to reach out! Installed 3620 Kw of solar on our fifth wheel, with 5 Tesla batteries as well. Right now we are running our house well pump and some other loads off it while the camper is sitting next to the house (installed a transfer switch in the house to run those loads off the solar in the camper).
Enjoy Matt!
Purchase a stabilizer/equalizer hitch. Its a must have for a travel trailers.
Zion National Park! We're in Saint George, the nearest decent-sized town. Make sure you do the Angel's Landing hike. It's a trek and the bit at the end requires y'all to pay attention, but the view is totally worth it.
Opportunity, Matt! I don't recall a single episode about building in the desert. You should swing by and speak to one of our builders. I am not a builder, just a hands-on homeowner who loves this stuff, but chose not make a living doing it.
Hey Matt that camper or trailer is awesome your kids are going to enjoy that so much special e those bunk beds I see lots of fun adventures for your family God bless you
Lance campers are great 👍🏻. I tow a 21’ with my 2019 Suburban. Definitely need an equalizing hitch and high octane fuel. 50 more horses and 100 more foot pounds would be nice too. I’ll look for ya in Wyoming.
Congrats! I'm super happy for you! I hope you and your family build many great memories and have tons of fun times together with that camper!
There are several RV UA-camrs out there that are full time, or working towards that where you can get tons of info. Probably one of the first mods you will hear about is for the Micro-Air Easy start for your AC. It allows you to use your AC with smaller watted (within reason) generators.
We have a Lance 2465 love it. We camp in the summer months in Mesa AZ area( Usery Mountain Park, Mcdowell Mountain Park, Lost Dutchman State park). Have no trouble cooling it down in 108 +. Also have use our Champion 3500 inverter to run only one unit at a time.
We have the 2375 and tow with a '12 Tundra Dbl cab 4.6. Our Tundra weighs more than our 2375!! We have towed Ca. to East coast twice and Alaska once with NO tow problems. We do have a E2 WDH, be careful Lance recommend no more than 135# on back receiver hitch. I installed a shore plug on tongue and run AC from Champion 3100 in bed of truck while driving! Factory Tours on Wednesdays, call and talk to Jim Waters!! Happy Travels
Matt- you have 75lb's not 75 gallons of propane- you have about 20 gallons 'ish..
Some great figures for you to know about...
Propane has Potential energy of 90,000 btu per gallon. - the rest of the figuring on propane usage is simple division from here on out.
Fridge uses about 800btu/hr when running
Space Heater uses 15,000-30k btu/hr when running (depending on specs)
Hot water heater uses 30,000k btu when running. (depending on specs)
So the heater is the biggest propane user of all- and luckily summer camping thats not so much a factor. But once that heater is starting to be needed.
Think about 90,000 btu per gallon of propane divided by 30k of usage per hour, each gallon of propane you get three hours of heater time.
Your hot water heater, though big btu user, maybe turns on 3 times a day for 10minutes to maintain temp- its a short interval user. If we leave the RV I turn it off while hiking or whatever, but also leaving it on isnt a concern you from a btu usage point since it turns on so infrequently.
my 3400w propane generator uses 45,000 btu's per hour - so thats about 2 hr's per gallon of propane - on a 21 gallon tank setup - thats 42 hr's of gen time from all full tanks. We try not to run our Generator all the time, but at certain times.. Morning for coffee, evening for cooling down, but certainly not all day as propane would be gobbled up too fast for an extended boon dock trip.
I hope this helps you, it sure has helped me calculate usage, and when tanks will run out.
Edit:
Oh and always ALWAYS store your RV under cover.. Try to keep UV's and moisture off of it when not being used, it'll last 4 times as long then.
I was trying to figure out how 75gal was fitting in that little space
Great info.
I ended up putting air bags under my f250. Best decision ever, I recommend.
just made the sway and bounce harder...
You worked hard for it Matt enjoy it
I would love to see you get together with Big Truck Big RV and do a newbie video of the towing setup of your new trailer.
lol, because of this channel and all i learned about EVERYTHING building-related, i skipped getting an RV to live-in, and instead built my stealth off-grid tiny house in the back of a ford e350 box truck, so that i could insulate it really well, put in a 24v solar system, and skip the nasty water-wasting black tank nightmare and instead opt for a diy composting toilet. with 46 gallons of fresh water (and 46 gallon grey water), a 4800 watt hours battery bank, single 20lb propane tank for cooking and water heating, i am living on the streets *and you don't even know i'm there* !
Does it have an air conditioner; if so, please send me pics and tutorials of how you did everything!
@@jackardale1119 no, i don't have an air conditioner, and it gets hot during the day, but you actually get used to it...like our ancestors did. i live in the dc region, and it was around 100 all of july (still well into the 90s in day here, and will be that way through most september too), mid-high 80s at night, and that was my first month living in it after i completed it, and after 3 days i was completely adjusted. lol, now when it gets below 80 at night i have to put a blanket on. also, i have 2 maxxfans, one at each end so they can get a really good breeze with one bringing air in and the other taking out, plus the way i designed the layout and door positioning an additional box fan i run off the inverter keeps it plenty cool. ultimately, though i am almost 50 (0in good health) and have been weaning myself off of air conditioning for a few years now (i don't like how wasteful it is), so it wasn't a big adjustment for me...that might not be the same for everyone else though. i will be posting a video tour of my tiny house maybe this weekend, my son is supposed to be helping me record it today, but rain is expected and he's worried about the noise on the roof messing with audio so we'll see. in terms of tutorials, i cannot send you anything like that, i just recommend you search-for and watch as many youtube videos on every particular subject you need to know. in addition to matt's channel here for general building info (i actually just applied his principles of using lots of good insulation, and not having thermal bridges, and also that wood building that cannot be completely waterproof should have ability to "breathe" so they can dry, which was important because i wasn't sure that over time there wouldn't develop small leaks in the truck roof, as they sometimes do with these types of trucks), i can especially recommend will prouse's solar channel (this is his diy 24v system, which is the backbone of my system, though i have added a couple little cool extras: ua-cam.com/video/RLgGGB_McW0/v-deo.html), and also "faroutride" website is where i got basically all my propane plumbing guidance: faroutride.com/propane-system/. peace
Someone posted your home on r/diwhy
@@xdxdsheep idgaf
You mentioned visiting national parks. Consider for the kids the Junior park ranger program. Our family visited many, many national parks, and didn't have the kids participate but now we do and wished we did it before, the kids get a booklet to complete activities for the park, and when complete they get a badge for that park from the park ranger. Some states have a patch for visiting multiple NP, like Arizona. Also, consider the NPS passport book where you can get a stamp for that park. great keepsakes for the kids. Currently, with the COVID-19 thing, some parks partly close the visitor's center but many operate differently so you have to play it by ear. happy camping.
I can easily see you making a trip out to California and have them walk us through the framing of one of these after this video.
Great narrative and a refreshing to here someone "not be an expert" like everyone tries to be in thier videos. Will be interesting to see what the updates, lessons learned and observations are from the road.
Awesome Matt Risinger LONG time fan and subscriber to the channel. been working on a 1982 lindy class c motorhome. Its in bad shape but I am in the beginning of completely redoing the rv. halfway through the exterior right now.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on how you made the choice on this RV.
If you want to Boone dock for a long time make sure to go #1 outside as much as you can 😂 I installed a urinal from a porta potty in my camper. Also dishes is a huge concern. Only put things down the drain that you'd dump on the ground so you can drain your grey tank in a dry well type area with a garden hose. Remember bringing clean water back is much easier then trying to transfer waist away. Both are dooable but keep those waist tanks as empty as possible.
Welcome to ... The Build Show... cant wait to see what modifications you make to the Lance
Get a weight distribution hitch for the RV. It balances the weight between the front and rear wheels on the towing vehicle. It works great for medium and heavy RVs. It also helps with braking on the towing vehicle. It is worth the money.
Weight distribution bars+ anti sway control is the most important investment on a trailer.
and make sure you tighten the anti sway bar enough.
Or go to a truck big enough it doesnt notice the trailer. I dont use that stuff with my dually. I do have air bags but that trailer is pretty light if you have a 3/4 ton or bigger
I have a sailboat and I'll tell you septic is often more of a problem than water, depending on the size of your tanks. We switched to a composting head and it allows us to stay in one place for much longer rather than having to go dump the septic tank every few days.
One of the factors that increases insulation is that the sub wall is made of a material called Azdel on the inner and outer walls. It has a greater R factor than the wood material used in most trailers. It’s also hydrophobic so if a leak develops it won’t soak up water causing the wall to contract and expand which will lead to the fiberglass to delaminate. The weights you really need to pay attention to are gross combined vehicle weight rating and cargo carrying capacity of your tow vehicle. Max towing capacity of your tow vehicle is based on your tow vehicle being nearly empty. If you load a lot of stuff into your tow vehicle and trailer you can easily exceed the combined vehicle weight rating. Also the tongue weight of your trailer and load in the tow vehicle including passengers should not exceed the cargo carrying capacity of the tow vehicle. Navy showers! Get in shower. Turn on water and get wet. Turn off water and soap up. Turn on water and rinse! With a big family navy showers are necessary or you’ll run out of water quickly. I have a Lance 1995 and live in it full time. You have a very nice trailer! Happy camping!
Congratulations on the Lance. Built very well. I also did a lot of research. I purchased a Evergreen Everlite 29FK for front kitchen. Same build style. Laminated skins on foam insulation with aluminum frame on steel dexter bottom and dexter axles. Yes, i have double glazed/thermopane windows. One AC. Ducted. Very satisfied. I use a Anderson hitch. Yes, very hard to find campsite reservations. Join Travel Trailer life Facebook group. Also you will juggle ac vs coffee pot vs microwave vs hot water as power is limited. I follow you because I am about to build a passive solar home in Alabama. As energy efficient vs cost effective as possible. I like the Rise by Sun Plans. Architect here in Mobile.
Be safe!!
George
Congratulations ! Nice rig ! I hope you have a lot of fun.
Nice to see you rewarding yourself after all those years of hard work.