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HITCH HINTS RV TIPS THE COOKING LADIES NEW PRODUCTS AND MUCH MORE! CANADA’S #1 RV MAGAZINE - YOUR KEY TO RV ADVENTURES!CANADA’S #1 RV MAGAZINE - YOUR KEY TO RV ADVENTURES! www.rvlifemag.com $9.95 268 - 44 Crawford Crescent., Campbellville, ON L0P 1B0 Publications Mail Agreement #43638025 Vol. 52 No.3 TOUR Fall Foliage FIRST LOOK AT THE 2024 S ROAD TESTS: Redwood RV 4120GK Fifth Wheel DESTINATIONS: Plus 52-3 NEW.indd 152-3 NEW.indd 12023-10-02 2:51 PM2023-10-02 2:51 PMBUILDING DREAMS ...ONE DETAIL AT A TIME. (800) 768 - 4016 Go. Camp. Live. K Z-RV.com At KZ, we build RVs that last. Our team of dedicated technicians perform full system checks on all our units, as well as an extensive 300-point inspection on randomly selected units. Our attention to detail is how we make your dream RV a reality. Visit a dealer today and experience the KZ difference. Untitled-4 1Untitled-4 12023-05-09 12:32 PM2023-05-09 12:32 PMFollow us on Facebook! @ RVLifestyleMagazine Follow us on Instagram! @rvlifestylemagazine Departments 6 HITCH HINTS By Andy Thomson Setting your torsion bars… Mysteries of the SAE J2807 Tow Rating Standard explained! 10 RV TIPS by Garth Cane Heading south this winter? Here are some helpful hints… 16 THE COOKING LADIES Phyllis Hinz and Lamont Mackay Pork Barbecue Baked Potato – putting passion into the art of barbecue. Road Test 18 REDWOOD RV 4120GK FIFTH WHEEL by Norm Rosen Upscale Elegance! CONTENTS VOL. 52 NO. 3 ON THE COVER Road testing the 2024 Redwood RV 4120GK Fifth Wheel Trailer. Cover photo by Norm Rosen HITCH HINTS RV TIPS THE COOKING LADIES NEW PRODUCTS AND MUCH MORE! CANADA’S #1 RV MAGAZINE - YOUR KEY TO RV ADVENTURES!CANADA’S #1 RV MAGAZINE - YOUR KEY TO RV ADVENTURES! www.rvlifemag.com$9.95 268 - 44 Crawford Crescent., Campbellville, ON L0P 1B0 Publications Mail Agreement #43638025 Vol. 52 No.3 TOUR Fall Foliage FIRST LOOK AT THE 2024 S ROAD TESTS: Redwood RV 4120GK Fifth Wheel DESTINATIONS: Plus 52-3 NEW.indd 152-3 NEW.indd 12023-10-02 2:51 PM2023-10-02 2:51 PM Destinations 24 ONTARIO PARKS’ ESKERS AND KETTLE LAKES Travel Editor James Stoness shows how the glaciers crafted some of Canda’s best camping destinations. 30 FOLLOW THE FALL COLOUR TRAIL From Maine to Tennessee, our friends at Spacious Skies Campgrounds have touring tips for RV enthusiasts. Special Features 36 SPOTLIGHT ON THE 2024 RVS! Here’s a selection of the latest RV models, coming soon to an RV dealer in your area. New Products 46 NEW PRODUCTS FOR YOUR RV ADVENTURES A special array of RV accessories, curated for Canadian campers. RV Lifestyle Magazine archives are open for your viewing pleasure – check them out at www.rvlifemag.com Click on MAGAZINES, and use the password RVLFREE2017. Watch our road test videos at our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ rvlifestylemagazine SUBSCRIBERS: e-mail editor@rvlifemag.com for FREE access to the latest digital edition! RV52-3 CONTENTS.indd 3RV52-3 CONTENTS.indd 32023-10-02 3:47 PM2023-10-02 3:47 PM4 RV Lifestyle | Volume 52 Number 3 There’s a cool breeze wafting across the Canadian Prairies, and a hint of Autumn in the air as we send this issue of RV Lifestyle Magazine to the press. It’s been a very interesting year for the RV industry, as shipments more than exceeded sales for the first time in many years. RV dealers from sea to sea are juggling inventory to reduce the stock of 2023 models so they can bring in the 2024 units – this makes the Fall RV Shows the best opportunity in years to strike a super deal on a brand new, but non-current model year RV. How did the RV manufacturers overestimate the demand for 2023 models? It goes back to the supply chain disruptions during the 2022 model year, when suppliers shipped com- ponents late in the season, RV manufacturers had their production schedules turned upside down, and many dealers wound up with their 2022 units arriving as late as September. RV gurus across North America were forecasting sales in the 500,000 range for the 2023 model year… but they did not factor in the impact of late 2022 shipments. RV deal- ers had to sell 2022 units during the first half of the 2023 model year to make room for new stock, and the inventory situation snowballed throughout the 2023 model year. Shipments of 2023 RVs are still struggling to reach the 300,000 mark, while the 2024s are rolling off the production line. Bottom line: many RV dealers across North America are working through their non- current inventory before they can stock the 2024 models. It’s an RV buyer’s market – the best-ever for avid RV consumers. Looking for the RV of your dreams? Visit one of the RV shows in your area or drop by your local RV dealer’s open house… the industry is offering the best deals we’ve seen in many years – the big winners will be the families who seize the day and seal the deal on a new but non-current RV of their dreams. Check out the RV Lifestyle Magazine website at www.rvlifemag.com where you will find more than 900 expert articles, and our archive of DIGITAL editions. As a PRINT magazine reader, you can access the DIGITAL library FREE of charge – click on the “Magazines” tab, scroll down to pick an issue, click on the cover, and use the password RVLFREE2017 to open the magazine. When you first visit the website, you will be invited to subscribe to our FREE weekly e-Newsletter – please join our family of online RV enthusiasts, who tally more than 2 mil- lion page views per month at www.rvlifemag.com Visit our YouTube channel to watch our collection of road test videos – click on the link at the top right of the RV Lifestyle Magazine website. Enjoy the magazine, the digital edition, the YouTube videos, and our weekly e-Newsletter! LET’S GO RVING! Publisher’s MESSAGE William E. Taylor, Publisher TMTM TM TM volume 52 number 3 Publisher: WILLIAM E. TAYLOR bill@rvlifemag.com Group Publisher: MELANIE TAYLOR-WALLIS melanie@rvlifemag.com Editorial Director: NORM ROSEN nrosen@rvlifemag.com Technical Editors: GARTH CANE gcane@taylorpublishinggroup.com Art/Production Manager: GISELLE BANSAL Design: TAMARA TAYLOR Contributing Writers: PHYLLIS HINZ JAMES STONESS ANDY THOMSON Advertising Sales: info@rvlifemag.com 1-800-354-9145 EXECUTIVE OFFICES: TORONTO: 268 - 44 Crawford Crescent, Campbellville, Ontario L0P 1B0 Tel: 905-844-8218 Fax: 905-844-5032 MONTREAL: Tel: 514-856-0788 Fax: 514-856-0790 VANCOUVER: Bob and Carole Taylor, 1745 Rufus Drive North Vancouver, BC V7J 3L8 ADMINISTRATION: President/CEO: WILLIAM E. TAYLOR Group Publisher: MELANIE TAYLOR-WALLIS VP/Special Projects: NORM ROSEN Advertising Sales: TODD TAYLOR, Accounting: NANCY MUELLER Camping Canada’s RV Lifestyle Magazine is published seven times a year by Camping Canada Magazine Ltd. 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PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT #43638025 Undeliverables to: 268 - 44 Crawford Crescent, Campbellville, Ontario L0P 1B0 MONTREAL, QUEBEC © 2023 CAMPING CANADA MAGAZINE PRINTED IN CANADA RV52-3 CONTENTS.indd 4RV52-3 CONTENTS.indd 42023-10-02 3:42 PM2023-10-02 3:42 PM• MERCEDES-BENZ SPRINTER 2500 4X4 • 400-WATT SOLAR PANEL PACKAGE • 4 X 100AH ECO-ION LITHIUM (LIFEPO4) BATTERIES • DUAL 10-INCH TOUCHSCREEN CONTROL PANELS • XANTREX™ 2000-WATT PURE-SINE WAVE INVERTER • TRUMA VARIOHEAT 11,500 BTU FURNACE • TRUMA AQUAGO® COMFORT PLUS WATER HEATER • 2.1 CU. FT. TRUMA PORTABLE FRIDGE/FREEZER • 124 CU. FT. GARAGE STORAGE AREA • MURPHY BED SYSTEM 70” X 72” • 40 GAL. HEATED FRESH WATER TANK • FOUR SEASON COACH • PRIVATE WET BATH / GEAR LOCKER KEY FEATURES Tour the REKON 4x4 today at www.pleasureway.com/golive6 RV Lifestyle | Volume 52 Number 3 www.rvlifemag.com HITCH HINTS by Andy Thomson For RV owners, one of the most important factors in safe and enjoyable towing is the proper adjustment of the torsion bars that dis- tribute the weight between the trailer and the tow vehicle. When properly set- up, the torsion bars will lever some of the weight of the trailer onto the front wheels of the tow vehicle, which helps to level the tow vehicle/trailer combina- tion and enhances steering, braking, and stability of the rig. In previous articles we discussed how to set your torsion bars properly. Here is a quick summary of the process. 1. To set the torsion bars you need to park on a level cement pad. You want the trailer and tow vehicle in a straight line, disconnected, with the coupler ready to drop on the ball. 2. With the tow vehicle in position, but disconnected from the trailer, use some masking tape and measure the height from the ground to the four cor- ners of the tow vehicle. Mark the tape with these measurements, for example 22 inches, or whatever is appropriate for your tow vehicle. 3. Now that we know how the tow vehicle sits without the trailer, we want to determine the change in position when the trailer is connected. 4. Connect the trailer and do up the torsion bars. Take note of the change in height at each corner of the tow vehicle, and mark this on the masking tape. 5. You will find that the tow vehicle will have been pushed down by the weight of the trailer. For example, the rear measurement may now be 20” instead of 22” but the front may have come up to 22.5”. In this case, you need to go up to the next link in the tor- sion bar adjustment chain (adding ten- sion to the torsion bars) and measure again. 6. You may find that the next link puts you into the opposite position, where the front is pushed down 1” and the back stays even at the 22” mark. This means that the torsion bars are trans- ferring too much weight forward. 7. If this is the case you need a par- tial link. To do that, overlap two chain links and slide a ½” bolt through them. A ½” bolt is 1/3 of a link of adjustment SETTING YOUR TORSION BARS continued on page 8 Andy Thomson has been writing for RV Lifestyle Magazine for more than 25 years. He also owns and operates Can-Am RV Centre located in London, ON. Mysteries of the SAE J2807 Tow Rating Standard We test our tow vehicle/trailer combinations on a special track, where we can push the rigs to their limits. Hitch Hints 52-3.indd 6Hitch Hints 52-3.indd 62023-10-02 3:09 PM2023-10-02 3:09 PM8 RV Lifestyle | Volume 52 Number 3 www.rvlifemag.com HITCH HINTS by Andy Thomson continued from page 6 This is how we have configured hitches for the past 45 years. Because of these articles and internet searches, people with towing stability problems regularly seek us out. This is how we wind up helping them most of the time. A couple of hundred times every year we reconfigure a problem hitch to these new settings. The difference is usually quite dramatic and customers are quite pleased. The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) has been working on a tow rating standard that they can use to bet- ter determine a vehicle’s tow rating. The standard will be better than nothing, but it will still have many issues, the main one being that it is dependent on weight alone. The issue that concerns me most is that the SAE have come out with a recommendation on how to adjust tor- sion bars that in my experience is quite flawed. Most vehicle manufacturers use enclosed cargo trailers with test weights inside for tow testing. This gives the cargo trailers a low center of gravity, and most of them use torsion axle sus- pensions. Connect a tall RV trailer with a slide-out, leaf springs and no shocks, and those handling tests are no longer meaningful. In a crosswind a tall RV trailer will behave much worse than a “…most of the 200 trailers a year that we fix for people come in close to the SAE spec, usually due to a combination of weak receivers and improperly set ball mounts...” cargo trailer, however the SAE did no testing on crosswind effects and really how could they? However, most loss-of- control trailer accidents are the result of sudden wind changes. The next barrier to effective testing is another SAE standard that we dis- cussed in previous issues. Many of the vehicles being tested have hitch receiv- ers that are too weak to transfer weight properly. If you cannot set up the hitch optimally how can you perform a good handling test? And most of the testing appears to be done with little or no rear- ward angle on the ball mount so the weight transfer on the tow vehicles is wrong. Without angle on the ball mount when turning, weight is taken off the front wheels and inside rear wheel and all dumped on the outside rear wheel. Last but not least, the testing was done with the ball positioned well behind the bumper, and no effort was made to reduce overhang. The bottom line is that they never tested a truly dialed-in hitch system. The next concern with J2807 is the handling tests themselves. One involves a test where travelling at highway speed, the steering wheel is snapped 180 degrees and immediately snapped back to the straight ahead position. The prob- so in some cases you will need 2 bolts to achieve the correct transfer. 8. When properly adjusted, the tor- sion bars will put enough weight on all four wheels to lower the corners of the tow vehicle from the “22 inch” start- ing point to between 21 ¼” and 21 ½” front and rear. 9. If you are setting up a new hitch, the torsion bars will wear in quite quickly. You will likely need to add a third of a link after 200-500 miles. You will need another third of a link after another 500-1000 miles. You will prob- ably feel the difference in the steering response of the tow vehicle as the new torsion bars “wear in”. It is fine to experiment by adding or subtracting 1/3 of a link at a time, and you should notice the difference in steering feel right away if it was the right or wrong change to make. 10. If you can’t get the weight to trans- fer to the front wheels without your tor- sion bars meeting the trailer frame, then you don’t have enough reward angle on your ball mount, or the torsion bars are too light, you may have a hitch receiver that is too weak, or all of the above. Our tests include slalom runs where we evaluate the stability of the rigs in simulated driving conditions. Hitch Hints 52-3.indd 8Hitch Hints 52-3.indd 82023-10-02 3:09 PM2023-10-02 3:09 PM9 www.rvlifemag.com Volume 52 Number 3 RV Lifestyle lem with this test is that there is no cor- rection for steering gear ratio or wheel- base. In a vehicle with a short wheelbase and a quick steering ratio this is a very violent maneuver, whereas in a long wheelbase vehicle with a slow steering gear it’s relatively relaxed. The second SAE handling test is a steady state circle around the skid pad. As the G force increases, the tow vehicle will start to go outside the cir- cle, and either the back end will break loose (oversteer) or the front tires will plow (understeer). Car companies like understeer. Now my own testing of this is takes place on a delightful exit ramp with a downhill decreasing radi- us turn. What I find with my combina- tions is that the front end will almost always start to plow first, but if you overcorrect (which is the tendency) then the back end will come around. If you just let it drift a little, it pretty smoothly continues around the ramp drifting a slight bit off line. In the SAE test they kept breaking the back end loose, which is to be expected since their hitch set up was unloading the inside rear tire and overloading the outside rear. This combination of events led them to recommend a strange way of adjusting a weight distribution hitch. Instead of setting the hitch to push the tow vehicle down the same amount front and rear they use another method. Measure the height of the front of the tow vehicle. Drop the trailer on the ball without torsion bars. Measure again. Let’s say the front raises 2” then they want you to set the torsion bars so the front raises 50% from its solo position or in this case 1” higher than its solo position. This results in a considerable unloading of the steering axle. If you set your combination up this way it will be quite unstable at highway speeds especially when there is truck turbu- lence or crosswinds. In theory, it would have a little more traction decelerating into low speed sharp turns. I have never seen an accident that was at all serious on a low speed sharp turn but there have been plenty due to loss of control at highway speed. After the SAE came out with this I thought that possibly we’ve been wrong for 40 years. I tried setting up some combinations with their method and none of them were what I would consider stable at highway speeds. In fact, most of the 200 trailers a year that we fix for people come in close to the SAE spec, usually due to a combination of weak receivers and improperly set ball mounts. Before writing this column I want- ed some more track testing just to check again that there was not some- thing I was missing. I felt I should use a pick up as that is what the SAE used mostly in their testing. We used a ½ ton GM truck with a 34’ Airstream for test- ing. We tested it to the industry spec where the truck is pushed down evenly and to the suggested SAE spec. Two differences from the SAE testing were that our ball was as close to the bumper as possible and we strengthened the stock hitch receiver. In their test the back axle lost traction with the industry specification. In the 100’ slalom we achieved 81 KPH with the hitch set to our spec, 81 KPH is really moving in the slalom. At the sixth cone the Airstream drifts sideways on all six tires which is no easy feat. In theory if the back tires were to break loose on the truck this is where it should happen when the trailer is sliding sideways, but the truck stayed planted and slid very little if at all. When we tried the same speed with the SAE spec we made it to the second cone and had to give up the run due to lack of control. On the track there is a nice declining radius turn where we expected the SAE spec truck to do better, but there was no speed difference to speak of, on both settings the front tires started to plow before the back wheels broke loose. Next we tried a steady state turn that took us down and then up a lip of asphalt as well as over several bumps with less sticky pavement. The SAE setting bounced more and felt less planted, but again we could not measure any appreciable difference in speed. I think that most drivers would find it much easier with the industry spec. I have the greatest respect for the SAE. What the auto industry has accomplished is nothing short of amaz- ing, and the technologies reach far beyond the car industry. I think in this case the SAE has tried to take on some- thing that should not be their job. Then whose job is it? I believe it should be the RV dealer. The dealer is the only one who sees the trailer, vehicle and hitch system and who also meets the driver and understands how he’s going to use the combination. But since many RV dealers are afraid to get involved over fear of lawsuits etc. the towing equation tends to be neglected. In fair- ness, if we didn’t have a 45-year track record I doubt we would do what we do either. The good news is you don’t have to take my word for any of this. It’s easy to experiment with your own combination. Set it up to both specs and try it each way and you can decide for yourself if the industry spec of the last 50 years is right or if the SAE spec works better for you. In the end, getting the right combi- nation and making sure it is configured properly is often up to you. That’s why you need to look beyond tow ratings and weight, and focus on the core prin- ciples behind the design of the tow vehicle and the trailer. Of course never compromise your hitch set up! Our test track includes bumpy and uneven pavement – just like real road conditions. Hitch Hints 52-3.indd 9Hitch Hints 52-3.indd 92023-10-02 3:10 PM2023-10-02 3:10 PMNext >