Keeping equipment in good condition

San Diego sister and her family are coming for Thanksgiving.  Brother-in-law is allergic to cats so when he's in our house he is miserable.  He's a good sport about it but you can see his eyes get puffy.  They always sleep in the trailer so at least he can get a decent night sleep.  Since they are coming tomorrow morning the grand kids and I got the trailer ready for them today. 

 

I'm sure glad the fan hasn't been hit!  We haven't used the trailer since April and sitting for half a year has had consequences.  The food storage was just fine.  I have a couple cases of MREs plus real food.  When we used the trailer last time I put together an ice chest filled with leftovers but we were able to eat well for that week.  I restocked the trailer and as far as food and drink goes all is well. 

 

The bedding was still in good condition.  I have four heavy duty 5 degree sleeping bags plus four fleece liners that can be used as sleeping bags during the summer.  They smelled fresh and didn't have any damage from bugs.  I moved the table down and set up that bed and folded down the back couch for the second bed.  There's also an overhead bed but it normally stays closed up and used as a storage area for the sleeping bags, pillows, and extra blankets.  When Boy, Girl, and I use the trailer I take the couch, Girl sleeps at the table bed, and Boy likes to sleep on the floor by me.  So we don't need that upper bed.  It's good because it's got a 150 pound weight limit.  I can imagine someday when both kids grow up that I'd be the one sleeping up there as I'm the only one that will probably be under that weight.  That's not going to happen.  Boy can stay on the floor! 

 

I ran the water in the toilet and dumped it into the holding tank.  Then I took the sewage pipe and hooked it up and attached the pipe to the septic system pipe.  About 15 years ago we dug a line to the septic tank from where the trailer is on the side of the house.  It's perfect, sewage hookup right on the side of the trailer.  I got it hooked up, pulled the black and gray water pulls and you could hear the water draining out of the two holding tanks.  But then, water started dripping out of the hose and onto the ground.  Gross!  There are two little leaks in the hose.  I told the kids not to go on that side of the trailer.  The solids aren't going to leak out but it's still something that will need to be replaced.  I just never thought about it that the hose may leak.  The trailer is almost 30 years old, I should be thinking that some things are going to wear out.

  

The heater works, there's propane in the tanks.  The two tanks on the trailer are so old that they can't be refilled.  I'll have to replace the tanks.  I do have another tank that we use for the bbq and we have the 500 gallon tank for the house.  If I had to take the trailer somewhere else we'd have about 30 gallons.  Not enough.  I need to get a new propane tank and get it filled.  We should use those old tanks for the bbq, not the trailer. 

 

Two of the three roof vents blew off a couple years ago.  Each winter I cover them up with plastic.  I've never bought the two cover replacements.  Now that winter is coming again I need to either cover them back with plastic or buy the cover replacements.  Again, it's money I don't have at the moment. 

 

We have an electric outlet by the trailer that's set up for the trailer's power cord. Got that plugged in and we had power in the trailer. The lights worked, the water pump worked. Thinking about it now, I forgot to check the refrigerator. I'm sure it's fine but I'm going to have to make sure the door is closed!