Davereilly
Member
My wife and I, along with our dog and cat, just completed a 6,500 mile round trip from the Pacific Northwest to the Gulf Coast with our 22' HiLo and I thought I would share some observations and questions. The HiLo is a 2006 model, but new to us. We purchased it this spring and had completed one shakedown trip before setting out for the Gulf Coast. Our tow vehicle is a 2005 Ford Expedition which has, at the completion of the trip, over 119,000 miles. In terms of RV experience we are fairly inexperienced, but not complete novices. We own a cruising sailboat and spent 4 years on it in Mexico. We also drove a 37' Winnebago from Mazatlan to Portland OR. As a kid I camped with my parents in everything from a surplus WWII tent to a fifth wheel.
At the suggestion of a friend we installed a weight distribution (no anti sway) hitch. We had previously towed a 7,500 lb boat and trailer from Portland to the Gulf Coast without a weight distribution hitch. The HiLo towed better than the boat and trailer but I am not sure it is because of the hitch. The hitch didn't get in our way, but I'm not sure I needed it. The HiLo presented absolutely no tow problems. In deference to the age and mileage of our tow vehicle we kept our speed to 65 mph. When we needed to go faster we were able to do so without problem. Our gas mileage was somewhere between 11 and 12 mpg.
We tried to average 350 miles per day. The limit is a personal preference not related to towing. Our trip took 7 days from Portland to Gautier MS and 8 days from Gautier to Portland. On those travel days we were setting up and taking down the trailer every day. We were able to get underway within 2 hours in the morning -- this includes a light breakfast. At the end of the day we were able to set things up within an hour from parking the trailer to relaxing with a cold one. In the future I would never travel more than two days straight before taking at least a half day resting. Again, just personal preference.
The air conditioner worked flawlessly-- a godsend in the heat and humidity of the Gulf Coast. In the future I will consider myself legally insane if I leave a Pacific Northwest Summer for even a part of a Summer in the Gulf Coast!
On our shakedown cruise, when we were lowering the trailer, we broke one of the rigid panels between the galley and the head. We replaced the broken rigid panel and the unbroken one with fabric. The cost of the repair was about $5 and it took about an hour to accomplish. I consider the fabric panels to be a vast improvement over the rigid panels. They can be rolled up when not needed and provide for a more spacious feeling, better air circulation, and better light distribution.
The bed was acceptable, and I would say even comfortable. Of course the person sleeping closest to the head was always disturbed when the person furtherest from the head crawled over them to get to the head. Not much you can do about that.
We have a small solar panel on the roof of the trailer. I am not sure of it's output, but I expect it is in the range of 60 to 80 watts. When we were going down the road we ran the fridge on DC power on a low setting and never ran out of battery, and the fridge kept things adequately cold.
We suffered one self inflicted injury but found something important about our trailer n the process. We failed to set wheel chocks one day and the trailer rolled forward and off of the tongue jack blocks. We were embarrassed and with the help of a neighbor in the RV park we were able to reblock the tongue jack without damage - we thought. The next day when we tried to set up the trailer we had no battery. Even connecting a battery charger wouldn't fully bring up the batteries. We had to take the trailer in for service, expecting to buy a couple of new batteries. No new batteries necessary. We found a couple of curious things. First, some of the circuitry in the converter had been bypassed and a couple of 30amp fuses had been installed. Both of those fuses had blown out so the converter was essentially off line. Also we discovered a crack in the cable connection to the battery. The crack was probably there before the trailer's fall and was exacerbated by the fall. New battery cable and a couple of 30 amp fuses and we were as good as new. We will need to look at the converter circuitry and probably replace it.
RV parks are curious places -- kind of like boat moorages but not really. I did not come up with a fail safe way to weed out clinkers. Admittedly, the major criteria I used for park selection was distance from the previous park and if I had selected on park amenities I might have done a better job. One obvious criteria is the presence of an on-site manager. The one park we stayed in that had no manager was hands down the worst. One park that I thought from the website would be very nice turned out to be a depressing collection of permanent residents crowded in to a parking lot. Another park I selected praying for the best since it certainly didn't look promising turned out to be a jewel. Factiously my wife and I decided that two criteria you could use to weed out parks that were primarily for permanent residents were the number of propane bottles larger than 30 lbs and the number of trailers or RVs with permanent weather skirting. I will mention by name the very best park we stayed in. That is Robidoux RV Park in Gering, Nebraska. It is just outside Scottsbluff. I think it is run by the City of Gering and it is an absolute delight. We paid $27 a night to stay there -- only $2 a night more than the worst park.
All and all we are extremely happy with our HiLo, but there are some things I have to comment about.
For something as well designed as the HiLo, dealing with the waste disposal hose is a major headache. Stuffing the waste disposable hose into one of the outside storage compartments was almost impossible. I kept thinking I would come up with the secret, but never did. WHAT IS THE ANSWER????? It was only after saying almost all of the words my mother does not know that I use that I was able to get the hose into or out of the compartment -- and this occurred everyday. Certainly someone has solved this problem. Please tell me!
The outside storage compartments are almost impossible to access when the trailer is in a lowered position.
What improvements do we have in mind?
I would like to install an external storage bin or rack on the rear bumper. Ideally I would like to carry my Honda 2000 there, AND POSSIBLY THAT PESKY WASTE DISPOSABLE HOSE AS WELL. Does this seem feasible? Does anyone have experience with doing something similar?
I also plan to install a battery monitor that would be visible by opening only the front part of the battery compartment so it could be easily read when the trailer is in a lowered position.
One final thing and I will end this overly long post. During the entire month we were on the road and through the entire 6,500 miles we traveled, and 14 RV parks we stayed in we did not see another HiLo trailer. Where are you guys?
At the suggestion of a friend we installed a weight distribution (no anti sway) hitch. We had previously towed a 7,500 lb boat and trailer from Portland to the Gulf Coast without a weight distribution hitch. The HiLo towed better than the boat and trailer but I am not sure it is because of the hitch. The hitch didn't get in our way, but I'm not sure I needed it. The HiLo presented absolutely no tow problems. In deference to the age and mileage of our tow vehicle we kept our speed to 65 mph. When we needed to go faster we were able to do so without problem. Our gas mileage was somewhere between 11 and 12 mpg.
We tried to average 350 miles per day. The limit is a personal preference not related to towing. Our trip took 7 days from Portland to Gautier MS and 8 days from Gautier to Portland. On those travel days we were setting up and taking down the trailer every day. We were able to get underway within 2 hours in the morning -- this includes a light breakfast. At the end of the day we were able to set things up within an hour from parking the trailer to relaxing with a cold one. In the future I would never travel more than two days straight before taking at least a half day resting. Again, just personal preference.
The air conditioner worked flawlessly-- a godsend in the heat and humidity of the Gulf Coast. In the future I will consider myself legally insane if I leave a Pacific Northwest Summer for even a part of a Summer in the Gulf Coast!
On our shakedown cruise, when we were lowering the trailer, we broke one of the rigid panels between the galley and the head. We replaced the broken rigid panel and the unbroken one with fabric. The cost of the repair was about $5 and it took about an hour to accomplish. I consider the fabric panels to be a vast improvement over the rigid panels. They can be rolled up when not needed and provide for a more spacious feeling, better air circulation, and better light distribution.
The bed was acceptable, and I would say even comfortable. Of course the person sleeping closest to the head was always disturbed when the person furtherest from the head crawled over them to get to the head. Not much you can do about that.
We have a small solar panel on the roof of the trailer. I am not sure of it's output, but I expect it is in the range of 60 to 80 watts. When we were going down the road we ran the fridge on DC power on a low setting and never ran out of battery, and the fridge kept things adequately cold.
We suffered one self inflicted injury but found something important about our trailer n the process. We failed to set wheel chocks one day and the trailer rolled forward and off of the tongue jack blocks. We were embarrassed and with the help of a neighbor in the RV park we were able to reblock the tongue jack without damage - we thought. The next day when we tried to set up the trailer we had no battery. Even connecting a battery charger wouldn't fully bring up the batteries. We had to take the trailer in for service, expecting to buy a couple of new batteries. No new batteries necessary. We found a couple of curious things. First, some of the circuitry in the converter had been bypassed and a couple of 30amp fuses had been installed. Both of those fuses had blown out so the converter was essentially off line. Also we discovered a crack in the cable connection to the battery. The crack was probably there before the trailer's fall and was exacerbated by the fall. New battery cable and a couple of 30 amp fuses and we were as good as new. We will need to look at the converter circuitry and probably replace it.
RV parks are curious places -- kind of like boat moorages but not really. I did not come up with a fail safe way to weed out clinkers. Admittedly, the major criteria I used for park selection was distance from the previous park and if I had selected on park amenities I might have done a better job. One obvious criteria is the presence of an on-site manager. The one park we stayed in that had no manager was hands down the worst. One park that I thought from the website would be very nice turned out to be a depressing collection of permanent residents crowded in to a parking lot. Another park I selected praying for the best since it certainly didn't look promising turned out to be a jewel. Factiously my wife and I decided that two criteria you could use to weed out parks that were primarily for permanent residents were the number of propane bottles larger than 30 lbs and the number of trailers or RVs with permanent weather skirting. I will mention by name the very best park we stayed in. That is Robidoux RV Park in Gering, Nebraska. It is just outside Scottsbluff. I think it is run by the City of Gering and it is an absolute delight. We paid $27 a night to stay there -- only $2 a night more than the worst park.
All and all we are extremely happy with our HiLo, but there are some things I have to comment about.
For something as well designed as the HiLo, dealing with the waste disposal hose is a major headache. Stuffing the waste disposable hose into one of the outside storage compartments was almost impossible. I kept thinking I would come up with the secret, but never did. WHAT IS THE ANSWER????? It was only after saying almost all of the words my mother does not know that I use that I was able to get the hose into or out of the compartment -- and this occurred everyday. Certainly someone has solved this problem. Please tell me!
The outside storage compartments are almost impossible to access when the trailer is in a lowered position.
What improvements do we have in mind?
I would like to install an external storage bin or rack on the rear bumper. Ideally I would like to carry my Honda 2000 there, AND POSSIBLY THAT PESKY WASTE DISPOSABLE HOSE AS WELL. Does this seem feasible? Does anyone have experience with doing something similar?
I also plan to install a battery monitor that would be visible by opening only the front part of the battery compartment so it could be easily read when the trailer is in a lowered position.
One final thing and I will end this overly long post. During the entire month we were on the road and through the entire 6,500 miles we traveled, and 14 RV parks we stayed in we did not see another HiLo trailer. Where are you guys?
! Have Two in my yard!
