There were so many opportunities last summer to damage our trailer. Some of the roads we traveled were just pure crap, to put it nicely. The 200+ miles of frost heaves coming into Tok from Yukon Territory were bad, really bad. But nothing holds a candle to the 120 miles of pure garbage driving out and back from Base Camp Kennicott in Wrangell St. Elis NP. The stay out there was beautiful and I’m glad we drove it, but in the end it’s likely what kept Nonnie’s Diner in the repair yard most of the winter.

When we got home in September Rob noticed some very uneven wear patterns on the trailer tires. He took it to the shop and they said that likely we had bent an axle. Well, no, we didn’t bend AN axle, we actually bent BOTH axles.

See in the pic above how cloudy the top pane of our big rear window looks? We thought it just needed a good cleaning, but sadly found out once we were in Canada that it was broken. The seal between the panes was compromised and there was moisture between, causing fogging. We tried to have it fixed in Alaska during our trips through Anchorage but it was too complicated. So now that the trailer was going to be sitting for a few months in Poulsbo Rob found a glass shop to do that work for us also.

Turns out that since this was technically an accident, Allstate actually paid for the new axles. But it wasn’t just axles, they replaced the entire units including springs (we had to pay for the shocks). We didn’t feel a tiny bit bad about getting that check from Allstate, they’re still at least $75K to the good with us. But since the relatively new tires were so unevenly worn, we also had to replace those at our cost.

Unfortunately there was no convincing the insurance company that the glass failure was the fault of the accident, so that also was on our dime to pay for. But it sure is nice to have a clear view again. We’ll have to make another lap around Alaska and see how the improved view looks now.

One more improvement Rob chose to make was upgrading the weight distribution / anti sway hitch. We had the one that came with the trailer, but honestly it was undersized. Apache RV is also a dealer for the type of hitch we use, so Rob ordered a new bigger one. This is a huge factor in keeping our towing safe, so I’m happy he got what we needed.

One item we really missed not fixing before the Alaska trip was the foam in the dinette cushions. In a word, it was dead. We tried in Alaska to have that fixed also, but now know that really there isn’t anything in Alaska that’s going to happen except emergency repairs in the summer. There are so many folks traveling and so few shops. But I ordered new foam with a big fabric order from Sailrite and replaced it.

What I don’t have is a fancy foam cutter, but I had read that a bandsaw with the correct blade would cut foam better than anything. The blade was way less expensive than foam cutters, so we gave it a shot. And it works great! Which is handy, because we’ll soon have new furniture on the deck that needs cushions, and the boat cushions are overdue to be replaced also.

So here she is on a rainy day at the shop ready to go home. New suspension, new tires, new window, new hitch, shiny cleanup. Apache RV did a fantastic job managing this project and we felt like we paid a fair price for all they did. We’ve had this trailer nearly 5 years and put almost 20,000 miles on it, so a few repairs were in order.

Here she is back in her spot between the trees on a very rainy Pacific NW winter night. It’s good to have it back home, but it’s even better knowing we really only have one more major project. We’ll replace the dinette with two recliners and a custom table and storage solution. But not this year. We have a spring trip to Sonoma planned, then some camping in May that includes an OVR gathering, some time with Tim & Cindy, and another family campout. Not sure what the summer will bring for camping, but she’s ready for whatever it is.