I Bought a Used Toy Hauler and it Sucks! Winter Camping Trip w/Friends.

Well friends I have good news and bad news. The good news is I bought a toy hauler when we're out here camping to test it out for the first time. The bad news is it's kind of a piece of s**t. I decided it was time to upgrade from the cargo trailer that I've been taking to events and sleeping in for the last year. And so I've been looking for a small toy hauler and when I found this 12-foot toy hauler really close to home I jumped on it and bought it without really giving it a super duper thorough inspection because I just hadn't seen any. And this is newer, way newer than anything else I'd seen. It's a 2013. So when I got it home I discovered a myriad of problems. So we've been doing a lot of work to this thing and I'll run you through that and give you a tour. But first let me get the bike out and kind of get set up. So we're here at Riverbend County Park because it is close to home. Open in the winter. It's February. RV friendly, easy to get to, and very close. We are less than 10 miles from one of my favorite riding areas. That's right. It's the 450L. As you can see I've got two benches, two couches that fold out. They both turn into beds but that one's about a foot too short for any adult-sized human. So it's gonna stay a couch. I got a table that goes in between here that turns it into a dinette. And this side is my bed where I'm gonna sleep. But there's not a lot to it. Let me show you. Sorry about the shaky cam in advance. Got cabinets. This is all bedding. See? Man cave. I did not put that there. That's actually the model. I got a kitchen. Gotta get that set up. Fridge, which is nice. And cabinets. And this is all... That's wheel chocks and tie downs and whatever. I decided for this trip I'm gonna cook stuff that I can cook in the trailer. Just because I want to really enjoy the trailer. Normally when I'm camping I prefer to grill or cook over the fire. But this is sort of a test run. So I want to make sure everything works and can put up with the stresses of being used. So we're gonna do two nights. I'm gonna make spaghetti. I'm gonna make tacos here in the kitchen. And I'll bring Ian for all that in a bit. But right now I'm gonna hook everything up and get set up before our special guest arrives. See what I mean? Look how nasty this awning is. Nasty. So this thing is a true piece of sh**. I should have taken somebody that knows anything about RVs shopping with me. But let's talk about what we've gone through with this thing so far. So let me get my sad sob story out of the way so we can just get to camping. Chewy! Come on. Also Chewy's here. If you couldn't tell. So I was looking at toy haulers. And I have a budget, a limited budget that I wanted to spend. And everything I was looking at within that budget was 2003, 2002, whatever. And when this one popped up, and it was all big stuff too. Like for some reason it doesn't matter how big they are. The price is the same. And I wanted something small. It's just for me. Just to take to rallies. I don't need to live in the thing. I want it to be easy to pull. Easy to maneuver. Easy to get in and out of campsites. Things like that. So I was looking at 12, 14 footer. You know and everything out there's 20, 24, whatever. It's way more than I want. I only need to carry one motorcycle. Sometimes two. I don't need to put a side-by-side in there. So this one pops up. It's a 12 footer. It's a 2013. And it's in a town, you know, half an hour from my house. So I messaged the guy. Got to go look at it. It's in rough shape. And we knew that. But his argument was, well, that's why the price is so much lower than all the others. And he had just replaced the air conditioning seal on the roof. This is important for later. He said the linoleum's a little rough. It was really dirty. The guy never used it. He basically got it from his father. So it's just been sitting. So the advantage is it's barely used. Like you pull open that furnace and it looks like it's never even been ignited. All the plumbing is pristine. Everything is great. So I thought, okay, well, I'm getting a deal. A few dings and dents here and there. But it'll be fine. So I buy the thing. We go to DMV and the first thing I notice is the tires are just shot. They're the original tires and they're just flat. And the battery doesn't work. He took the battery out, he said, because it got drained. So I took it to Les Schwab on my way home. Got a new battery. Got new tires put on it. $600 right off the bat after already paying more than I wanted to. Then I really started digging into it. So I got it home. I started messing with the beds. One of them just detached itself from the wall immediately. So that was my first big project was fixing that. I was pretty proud of myself for making that work. And then I started trying all the systems. Things started out pretty well. The stove worked. I got propane. The fridge works on propane. Really nice. All the electricity inside works. The lights, everything. But then I started running water through it and started running into problems. The water pump leaked like crazy. Just spraying water everywhere down there. That had to be replaced. So I replaced the water pump. The toilet was leaking. I had to pull the toilet out. Replace the toilet valve and get a new valve. Get a new connection to the valve because that was leaking. The shower thing was broken. That had to be replaced. I had to completely rebuild the faucets in the shower. Oh, the sink faucet didn't even have a spout. So I had to buy a whole new faucet for that. And water problems, water problems, water problems. Leaking water everywhere. So I've replaced the water pump and done all that stuff. That's good. But the real issue came when it started raining. Because the guy told me to replace the seal. So I was like, oh, it's probably fine. And it starts raining and this thing leaks like a sieve. Like, it is bad. And it's dripping, dripping, dripping in there. There's puddles inside. And he's like, I actually texted him because I still had his number. And he's like, oh, maybe I didn't get the air conditioner tightened down enough. So I cranked it down and did not help at all. So I got up on the roof and here's the real kicker. This was the depressing part. That leak's been going on for a while. And the roof is really bowed in from the weight of the air conditioner. So the water just pools up there and just runs inside. So it took a couple weeks. But I got a new seal. I pulled the air conditioner off. I got up there. I resealed around the edge. I put a new gasket foam air conditioner seal in. And I tested it the other day. I just put like a puddle of water up there for like 40 minutes and nothing got in. So I think I got that fixed. But the problem is the roof is sagging in. And it's going to be pooling up there forever. So that is a big project for later or I just don't keep the damn thing. But I finally got it seaworthy as it were. And I'm out here testing it for the first time. It's the winter. It is February. But my first big trip with this is all the way to Mojave, California. And that is a month and a half away. And so I really wanted to get a dry run in. So I just hooked it up to the water and the electricity. That's all working. The water heater works. This is the first time I've used it. Thank God. This is not the first time I've had the awning out. But it's the first time I've used it. And I'm just kind of letting it dry. Knowing that it's going to need to be cleaned up and treated and all that when it's a little nicer out. The problem is we get these two days without rain and then it'll rain again. So I'm trying to jump on stuff here and there. So we're camping. We're dry running it. I want to see what else I haven't figured out that doesn't work. I want to try out the kitchen and everything in there and get it all set up. So that when the time comes to cruise down to Mojave or up to Touratech or out to Giant Loop. I'm ready to go. So that's the sad saga of the piece of toy hauler that I bought. Go me. So let this be a lesson to you. I'm pretty happy with where it is now. We'll see how it sleeps. I haven't actually slept in it yet. And we're camping in the winter. And I know because there's snow on the ground. Literally in our campsite. That's why I picked this one. I wanted the snowiest one. It's supposed to be just at freezing tonight but not freezing. So I invited the boys in their tents. They should be fine. I would camp in 32 but that's about my limit personally. Lots of spite. Lots of spice. Lots of space to set up tents back there and hopefully we can go riding tomorrow. I'm all set up so maybe it's beer 30. I don't know. We'll find out. Thanks for coming camping with me. Let the camping commence. I gotta tell you this camper thing. And I've never owned an RV before. So this is my first time camping in an RV that I own. This is easy mode dude. I would do this all year. If it wasn't for the roof leak issues I'd do it in the rain. But cheers Mr. Puff Puff. Whore's light. Got my dog. We're in the woods. Doesn't get better than this. Apparently he threw that bed in as an afterthought but damn is he digging it. So that's funny. This dog hates laying on the ground. He won't do it. But if I bring this crappy pink bed that we got for free... I think he's asleep. You know dogs are bred for specific reasons, right? Like Labradors are bred to retrieve things and Terriers are bred to kill rats and things like that. These pugs have been bred to be lap dogs for thousands of years. He's a little prissy. But he's always down to do whatever. He just would rather be cozy than cold and wet most of the time. But he's always eager to follow me. So he's a good boy. I know Chewy has fans out there. Thumbs up. Like the video if you're a Chewy fan and say hi Chewy in the comments and I'll pass all those hi Chewy's on to Chewy for you. Just for you. A lot of talking in this camping video. I'll be curious to see how it does because the non-motorcycle camping videos usually don't do well at all. I understand that you guys are subscribed. Many of you are subscribed just for motorcycling content. Not even for camping content. I get it. But some of you just love camping in general like I do. And so I try to throw stuff out once in a while for y'all. Excited to hang out with friends. But I'm also just really enjoying camping right now. So I always know that exhaust man. Nothing else sounds like that piece. I mean really nice bike that he has. And I was like do you have any more? It's not enough because Tim's coming. Right. I could get by on two bundles. Easy. You charge money for that. Yeah we just started today. We're ready for a day of breakfast. Well my uh my grandpa was a camper for a summer. I hung out with him the whole time. And it was amazing. Oh fun. Oh. You guys are gonna have fun. All right have a good night. Appreciate you. You're welcome for helping me train and learn whatever it is. We got you. Buzz. Apparently you're smoking your brats tonight. I wasn't kidding about smoking meat when you guys came over. No I'm excited. I got a smoker for Christmas. So let's go. Planning meeting. Go. It's gonna go over. I knew it was gonna happen. That looks like fire to me. I'm gonna shut this off. I went to Walmart earlier and bought some pots and pans. And based on the picture I thought I was gonna be good for what I need to cook. And it turns out what I bought is like pots and pans for ants. So I'm gonna try really hard to make the spaghetti that I plan on making. But I'm gonna have to maybe cook the meat in this because here it is. This is the skillet that I got that I thought I was gonna cook a pound of sausage in. And I don't think I'm gonna be able to. What is this a skillet for ants? Maybe cut that part out. So technically this isn't spaghetti. It's sausage rotini marinara or whatever. But it's spaghetti. Come on. Now we're camping. This is very different than what I'm used to. Can you see that? Look at that. Tim doesn't even want any. I made so much. I have a huge spoon. I'm never eating a mountain house meal again. Feels like cheating. Like a lot. I definitely don't have more money than I want to do it. No. In fact I do dumb things with the money I do have. Like buy sh**ty linen toy haulers. I've never actually used a percolator before so I'm hoping this goes reasonably well. I know it's hard to mess up but that's sort of my specialty. A simple mechanism. First night in the trailer went well. Slept as well as I ever do camping. This crack in the bed where it forms the couch, the top of the couch and the bed when you fold it down, just sucks me in like the Marianas Trench all night. I may try sleeping with it just in couch form tonight. We'll see. The biggest thing is there's way more condensation in here than I was expecting so I'm gonna have to remember to sleep with the windows or the roof vent open anyway. But in terms of being able to survive the night and sleep in here, she'll do the job. She'll do the trick. What do you think Chewy? 10 out of 10. Wood camp again. He's a duck. We have percolation. I repeat, we have percolation. That is coffee. You like my mug? My wife made it for me. Got her a mug press for Christmas and I get to reap all the benefits. Well, don't worry. There's not going to be a lot of trailer camping videos but I thought why not do something a little different? Little camping. Little Chewbacca. Little Timbo who is just now texting me demanding coffee at the exact moment it's finished. That is the power of Tim. Sorry, I'll have to call out the guard dog. Oh no. What's up? It's a good morning. Chewy hates Tim. It's really sad. Look at him staring at you. He only does that to me. This is just torture for him. He looks miserable. I thought about riding today but it's really cold. If I do go riding, it'll be this afternoon in the two hour window when it's like 50 degrees but I may not go and that's okay because the point was to test out like hauling everything and camping in the trailer. I don't need to ride to do that but I did need to bring a bike and see how that all worked so I'm good either way. This is camping at its finest. I made spaghetti last night. Had some leftover which I put in a Tupperware which is in the fridge and I'm going to reheat it in the microwave. Hashtag camping. I am afraid I'll get used to this and it'll make... If not impossible, it'll make motorcycle camping seem really uncomfortable by comparison so I'm not going to do this any more than I have to. Honda makes some really nice small generators you can throw on the bike. Very small. Yeah. You know the bike is a generator. Well yeah. It does already turn gas into electricity. Let's pretend like I'm lighting it. It's been an interesting day and by interesting I mean not at all interesting. We didn't do much. Had lunch. Ate some chips and salsa. Hung out. But it didn't seem like any of it was worth filming. We obviously didn't go riding. It's too cold. Tim doesn't have enough gas and I kind of got the sense that if he was going to suit up to ride to town to get gas he probably would just would have kept going and ended up at home. Yeah. Okay well I just got a text message and a phone call that changed things so my brother is coming up to hang out with us for a bit tonight. And Duck Fan is still coming but later than he expected. So I feel like he's going to be in the mood to hit it hard when he gets here. So we'll see what happens. Could be an interesting evening but I saved you all the boring parts in the middle. But now I have a fire and I have my favorite koozie. Hold my beer. Watch this. Adventure Medics. Got that at Giant Loop Ride last year I think. I have a selection of koozies actually in the trailer because I have nowhere else to put them so. Maybe I'll swap them out as the night goes on. What's up headband? I think there's room. The Chadillac's here. Hello. You look cozy. Yeah you told me that it's cold. Yeah you remember Tim right? I've never met Tim. I thought you guys met at my housewarming party. Were you not there? No I wasn't there. Oh you should have been. Here's Tim, Chad, Chad, Tim. Tim what you got there? Blindness. How's it taste? Just don't look at the light dude. There's nothing else to look at. I can't see anything else. I definitely hear an Africa Twin. And if it's not an Africa Twin then I'll cut this out of the video so you won't know I thought it was an Africa Twin and it wasn't. But it sounds like an Africa Twin. And it sounds like someone that's riding it that doesn't know the campground so it keeps going the wrong place. Your first time at a campground? I could hear you half an hour ago. Well I couldn't get through here because it's... It's a one-way you gotta go around. I didn't know that. Good morning. I slept pretty well I think you know for camping again. So I tried the couch configuration instead of the bed configuration mostly because the thing is slanted so far towards the wall that I was just rolling towards the wall all night. So I figured with the couch configuration I have room for have a buffer because the back of the couch is there. And it's wide enough it's as wide as my sleeping pad so I think that works. The boys are still asleep. They weren't up that late but they like to sleep in and I when it's cold I like to sleep in too so I get it. But it was great to get out test out the new toy hauler in terms of being campable. It seems fine. I mean admittedly I only pulled it less than an hour to get here so that'll be the real test. Maybe I'll try to squeeze in a longer trip between now and the big big trip using all the systems and the things that I've repaired. So far so good. I think it's going to do the job and it's going to be nice to be in something I can stand up in and sleep a little bit more comfortably in for the week I'll spend headed to California and staying there and coming back and then giant loop and turret tech and everything else that's going on. It's not perfect. It's not without imperfections. There are some major projects I think the roof needs to be redone. But I also think it'll get me through a year or two pretty easily and just keep an eye on the leak. If we can keep it from leaking anymore, which I think I fixed, then it shouldn't get any worse. That's just not going to get any better. Otherwise, it's got everything I need. Nothing I don't. It's only 12 feet long so it's easy to pull and park and maneuver and get into some of the smaller campgrounds I like. So I'm not unhappy with its performance. I'm just unhappy with its many flaws. But it's funny. I posted that I posted a short about RVs and my RV being kind of a lemon and so many people chimed in with all RVs are lemons. It actually made me feel a lot better. Thank you to all of you who commented on that, including neighbor Daryl who was the RVing expert in my opinion. So I know this isn't my regular fair and I hope you at least enjoyed the video and a little bit of camping footage and let me know how you feel about the RV and maybe future camping footage. We didn't get out and ride. I think in the future I'd like to ride more. I've ridden plenty this winter but I just wasn't feeling it this weekend. I didn't want to. Tim not being into it was a big factor. I don't want to just like leave him here and go ride. But no excuses. I also, it was just cool. Just want to say thank you to you for watching this and implore you to hit the like button if you haven't. That really helps on this and every other video and also give a special shout out and thank you to my channel members and patrons without whom content like this would not be possible. Channel members and patrons get early access to videos. They get merchandise discounts and other perks and there are links below the video. There's a join button here on YouTube and a link to Patreon where you can sign up for a dollar a month or you can even get a discount if you buy a year at a time so you can do a whole year for $10.20 which Chewy and I very much appreciate. Also want to say thank you to everyone who uses my affiliate links to Rocky Mountain, Giant Loop, RevZilla, Amazon, Motocamp Nerd. Those make a big difference and really help me finance my adventures and keep my income flowing in so that I can keep making content and not have to go back to my old job. So thank you to everyone who clicked on those and who keeps clicking on those and just, you know, if you didn't know, you click it, it puts a cookie in your browser. You don't have to do anything else and I'll get a small commission and it'll cost you nothing extra so it's what we call in the business a win-win. But for now and as always I just want to say thank you very much for watching and please do not forget to be excellent to each other. Thank you.