T@B Snags

As much as we love our perfect little T@B trailer… to be honest, it’s not exactly perfect.

Window Scratches

The first thing we noticed shortly after we got it home, were the scratches on all the windows. My assumption is that during the ‘detailing’ job at the dealership, they weren’t sufficiently soaked to get rid of the winter dirt before rubbing commenced.

Disappearing Trim

Shortly after arriving at Maryhill State Park (our 2nd day out on the road with the T@B) we were chatting with a few folks about the T@B and one of them pointed out the fact that we had no trim on the left side of the T@B at the back…. which explained why there were a ton of black marks on the back of the trailer (exceedingly difficult to remove, BTW) and perhaps the reason that other drivers were staying unusually far behind us on the highway.

As much as ‘whipping trim’ might be considered a beneficial feature, I guess we’ll find just how well T@B’s warranty program works.

UPDATE – May 24, 2009: Just talked to Maureen, the warranty lady at Valley RV in Westbank and she advises me that Dutchmen (T@B’s manufacturer), is ‘having trouble’ accepting my photograph of the missing trim and did I still have the trim? Uh, NO… it FLEW off in transit. She also expressed surprise at the problem – never having heard of this happening before – uh, if you bother to read T@B owners comments online, they’d KNOW that this isn’t the first case of disappearing trim. Furthermore, she didn’t even bother to mention the windows.

HELLO? Look left, look right, look left, look right. See the difference?

Argh.

Anyway, now they’re sending their own ’specialist’ over to take pictures.

Will keep you posted.

 

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Inside the T@B Trailer

We’ve had a number of requests for more pictures —- particularly inside shots — of our new T@B trailer, so I took some this morning. (Ignore the dirt MOM… we’re currently doing some modifications.)

T@B Side View

Truly a teardrop shaped trailer. Ours is the original version of the Queen floor plan. I’ve included specs and dimensions at the bottom of the post.

T@B Front and Side View

With an exterior height of 7′ 9″, the T@B doesn’t fit into our low-profile garage, however we do have a trailer parking spot at the house, which is perfectly T@B sized and still allows for easy walking alongside the trailer. The cover at the front contains the propane tank and the battery.

T@B Table and Back Storage

The U-Shaped sofa bed converts to a uge 70″ x 73″ bed. There’s storage along the back wall behind the sofa back as well as 3 cabinets above the bed and a long narrow cabinet at the head of the bed. We use the storage below to stow 2 king-size duvets, pillows, and extra blankets and there’s still plenty of room to spare.

Ed has hit his head on the overhead cabinets every morning and night that we’ve used the T@B. I’ll rub it in by saying that I only did it once. Granted, I’m considerably shorter than he is, so I can scooch down to position myself so as not to bump my head.

We each have one of the overhead cabinets for stuff like toiletries and reading glasses, while the middle one is the ‘entertainment’ cabinet to store books, DVD’s, the digital TV converter, cable, speakers, etc.

The long narrow cabinet is a great place to put walking sticks and the like.

T@B Trailer Door and Window

The interior height of the T@B is 5′9″ (Ed’s height) so he has to duck considerably so as not to bang his head (again) on this door. I, for once, am not vertically challenged, and can stand upright in the doorway.

The windows have both reflective, light-blocking shades and bug screens. The windows can be opened upwards to 90 degrees for complete flow-through ventilation.

There is a storage cabinet beneath the seat shown which has enough room for several 6-packs if required.

T@B Kitchen and Closet

The kitchen area includes a 2-burner stove, sink and fridge. I use the cabinet directly under the sink for food and the one below it for plates, pots, pans, kettle and the like. I love the metallic backsplash, which is easy to clean – especially when I’m trying to cook. There’s sufficient counter space bside the stove on which to put an ‘extra’ 2-gallon water container and a toaster, or to perch the laptop and speakers for rainy day movie watching.

The closet to the left of the kitchen is a coat closet with room for rainsuits, a ‘city’ coat (for me) and daytime windbreakers and fleeces for both of us. We store dry bath and beach towels at the bottom of the closet. Below that closet is another cabinet that holds the 5-gallow water container. And lastly below the fridge is another small storage area that is large enough to hold the water hose, dust bin, ax and a few other tools.

T@B Roof Fan

Wouldn’t want to be without it. Extracts hot air lickety-split. As good as it is however, we will be installing an air conditioner. Okanagan summers are blistering hot.

T@B Porta Potti Corner

Sometimes, venturing out to the campground facilities in the middle of the night is not an option — especially when you hear those animals rummaging around in the woods right beside the trailer.

Queen T@B Specs and Dimensions

• Unloaded Vehicle Weight – 1615
• GVWR – 1939
• Net Cargo Capacity – 324
• Hitch Weight – 145
• Exterior Length – 15′ 6″
• Exterior Width – 6′ 7″
• Exterior Height – 7′ 9″
• Interior Length – 10′ 3″
• Interior Height – 5′ 9″
• Fresh Water Capacity (gal) – 5
• Lp Capacity (lbs) – 20

RVing: Praying for Pull-Throughs

Listening to Ed, the trailer-drivin’ ‘expert’, explain the art of backing the T@B into a spot is considerably different than watching him try to execute the same maneouver.

I was almost in need of Pampers as I watched him try to back into the spot we’d picked at the Big Pines Recreation Area in the Yakima Canyon – for the 9th time.

“First day with the new trailer”, I explained to the folks watching from the adjacent site. Unlike me, they were too polite to double over with laughter.

Finding a riverside site at MaryHill the next day with a pull-through was a complete godsend, so we stayed for 2 nights.

After running a bush over at the first (unpowered) site that Ed tried to back into at Cape Lookout (if you look carefuly at the pic above, you’ll see Ed pushing the T@B into position), when we decided to find a full hookup site, he threw me the keys.

Egads.

Oh well, turnabout would be fair play.

But miracle of miracles. I somehow managed to back it in straight the first time.

Proof postive that ignorance is bliss?