Maiden Voyage of the Tiny Texas Tumbleweed

I wished I could tell you that I am one of those guys who just does it all right.

I’m not.

Sometimes I have to make myself.

We washed the Tiny Texas Tumbleweed (TTT) inside and out. We put in a DVD player with WiFi capability. We charged the T-Mobile portable LTE WiFi. Sheri put in decorations, towels, and more. I checked the battery, replaced a fuse in the converter, we made the all systems (kind-of) were working.

But THINKING you are ready versus really using it… those are not the same.

But that isn’t the same (at least analogous) as going on the maiden voyage and wringing it out. Lets face it, $25B on an aircraft carrier and they still gotta wring out the “bugs” (see the vid below, just for fun, ok?):

So we took TTT (Tiny Texas Tumbleweed) down to the Bunk Haus RV Park and Cabins on Canyon Lake. This park was reasonable, not very fancy and a little aged, but no problem for us as Sheri and I are easy going.

What did we learn that honestly we should have known BEFORE we took her out on the maiden voyage?

What advice from my own prior experiences and writing on RV52.com did I ignore?

• I sure would like towing mirrors. My GMC mirror just couldn’t see around the trailer. An extra 6 inches would have been very nice (Please limit the untowards jokes in the comments please).
• Our key for our outside storage didn’t work. I’ll order a new lock and key. I have to choose between a 5/8″ and 7/8″ hole size hence the next bullet. I’ll buy one of these two lock sizes on Amazon.
• Tape measure.
• For that matter. Tool box. At least throw it in the truck.
• HDMI cable for the DVD player. No HDMI, no box.
• The shower on the QB816 Dutchmen is terrible. Not RV terrible, but terrible for an RV. See the difference? It has no lip. There was little to no caulk. It was unusable. We’ll fix it when we get home and shower at the park (yuk – you know what I mean).
• We work on our computers – we love computer hobbying – which is why you have RV52. So we need little desk/tables.
• A storage ottoman would be really, really nice. Otherwise it is hard to sit and/or work in the TT.
• Over the door hooks to put our towels on.
• Jacks for the front to stabilize.
• Coffee machine – likely a Keurig good deal from Walmart) – which we are well versed with.
• Window shades (from Camping World). Super important. We have found the pleated to be the most useful/easy to use shades.
• Toaster oven. These would be an amazing addition.  Like most other things in America, you can spend as much as you want. I picked a really high rated inexpensive one from Walmart.
• The inside the RV 4 way level. I brought my big construction level, but I have the right level for the job. I should have brought that.

Most of the links above are affiliate links. That doesn’t cost you anything if you click on them and I wasn’t forced to recommend anything – it came from me.

I had a friend buy a brand new (not used, but new) Tiffin. He took it on 3-4 local-to-Austin wring-out trips and found lots of things. After about 6 months to a year he felt he could venture anywhere.

When we bought our Open Range so many years ago, we stayed in it for a couple of days and accumulated things to fix for the dealer we bought it from.

Used or new, go ahead and give it a wring out trip or two close to home. Trust me, you’ll find a list of things you forgot to test, bring, fix, or worse.

PLEASE –> Love to hear your “maiden voyage” stories. Just put it in the comments below. I’ll approve them as fast as I can!