Goodbye Faulty Stabilizers!

Now that I'm pretty much retired (I'm going to keep a part-time job because it never hurts to have extra money for traveling) Carole and I are planning quite a few trips. Most of the rest of this year it will be camping trips, but next year we may finally head to Italy.

At any rate, I spent the money for a new truck and camper shell. Then we turned our economic attention to our aging Casita travel trailer. It's still a good unit, but to get it up to standards I've had to spend some money on the plumbing (which needed work) and the wheel bearings and brakes.

One of the very few things about our Casita that I never have liked were the stabilizer jacks on the rear of the trailer. The design of the things just aren't something I have liked. It has always been a bit of a pain to lower and lock them into place, and to retract and secure them when it's time to leave. To me, they were just not very good. It didn't help that the trailer manufacturer welds them to the frame rather than bolting them on so that they can be more easily replaced or repaired.

Last year I bent one of them because I frankly screwed up and didn't secure it properly when it was time to move the trailer. My fault, all on me. Then, recently, the second one was bent when, in backing the trailer into its spot on our parking lot in the yard, it disengaged on its own, partially lowered, and was damaged.

Faced with two broken jacks instead of one I was getting ready to head to a shop to have someone use a torch to cut them off. One of my wife's friends mentioned it to her husband (Frank Shue) who figured he could come over and cut them off for me. So he brought over a simple cutting tool and went to work. In no time at all he had both jacks sliced off the frame and now I can travel down the road knowing I don't have two faulty jacks at risk of coming loose.

When we get back from our current trip I'm going to install new stabilizer jacks, of a completely different design from the old ones. Other improvements on the trailer this year will be to replace the subfloor and put in wooden flooring (instead of carpet), do a fix to give the trailer a high-lift axle so that I can add 15-inch tires instead of the current 14-inch, replace the old TV antenna, and then add solar panels for recharging the battery and producing energy when we're boondocking (instead of relying exclusively on our excellent Honda generator).

Over the next two years we'll be using the Casita a lot. More than we ever have before, since my working responsibilities are now a fraction of what they have been most of my life. Retirement, baby.

I never did like these jacks. Not only an uncomfortable design, but a pain to use.

Frank Shue cutting them off. Much appreciated!!

Now she's pretty much ready for our next vacation!