Ready to Camp... almost!

Phew... it took us quite a while to tackle this dreaded job of moving the camping trailer from one side of our block to the other side. I've been putting this one off as I know nothing about towing and trailers, and our brother helped us hook it up when we brought it here a year ago. Since then, it has sat on one our verges... waiting for the moment when I would be brave enough to hook up our car and take it to a mechanic to double check the electric brakes.

... and that just hasn't happened. Anyway, we finally got off our arses and moved it this week as we are getting that front verge gravelled... and the trailer was sitting in the way. So, needed to be done... with a definite deadline!

First things first, remove the tow ball and replace it with that hitch thingy... A long handled wrench would do the trick I thought... but even with my entire weight (well, I'm not that big...) behind it, it wasn't budging the bolt. Sigh... so, I remembered by brother's advice... soft mallet whacks fix everything. So, whacking the end of the wrench with the mallet sort of started to get the bolt moving... but I quickly realised that the thing wasn't quite as delicate as a violin... so much harder whacks were in order! Funny, seeing as I'm not so gentle on the violin... but that is still several orders of magnitude of force different!

Now the puzzle of getting the holes aligned... thank goodness for rear vision cameras! We quickly realised that the hitch and block were at different levels... and we would need to use the jack to bring the trailer up to the hitch.

... after about 5 attempts... some with me missing the block driving back slowly... and others where my wife wasn't high or low enough with the jack.

... perhaps not today, I still like her....

Success! Again, whacks with the mallet were just the trick!

Safety chains attached, electronics attached, compression brake lock released, wheel stowed, handbrake removed, jack removed, all good to go... around the block and park on the other side?

Woohoo! We did it! No injuries... and no problems... and just as important, no divorce! ... and we remembered to chock the trailer first on this end. Last time, we didn't and we had to wrestle it to a halt! Learning the hard way is a great way for creating lasting memories!

So, next stop... the mechanic, to double check the electric brakes... I'm not sure that they were working properly when we towed it up from the farm... and I would like to be sure about hose, especially as we have a smaller car than the one that we used on the long trip.