Casita Travel Trailer Four Year Review

hello folks and welcome back it's hard to believe but it's time for the four-year review of our Cita travel trailer sit back relax and enjoy the [Music] show on this episode we're going to do a 4-year review of our CA travel trailer and the modifications that we've made to it we're going to show you things we really love about our Cita and some things that aren't our favorite if you need links to any of the items that we've added to our C travel trailer you can check out our website at C RV life.com where we have links to all of the items we've ever installed in our trailer and if you have any questions you can email me at Greg cv.com and I'll be glad to try to help you out the first item we added to our trailer was going to be the strongberg csin tray up here and we actually added this before we even began our Channel and we found out right after we bought the trailer that we needed a place to store certain items so we did some research found this tray and then we mounted the Box on top of it up there and then here is where we keep all of our utilities here's what it looks like inside the box as you can see we carry our water hose our power cord basically any utilities that we need to hook the trailer up when we get to our campsite on top of the box we've added this 50 wat solar panel and we're fixed to increase that to 100 watts and that supplies all our power when we're boond docking underneath the tray we did add this ladder here it's a collapsable ladder that allows us to climb up on top of the trailer when we need to do any maintenance up there for our propane tank covers we still use the cover that came from cin CA the only problem with the strongberg craws and tray on top you can't lift the cover up to get it off of the tanks when you need to refill them so we did is we took drilled the rivets out of the cover here and we used these tie wraps to hold the cover together and whenever we need to refill our tanks we just cut the tie wraps separate the covers when then we finish we just put the tie wraps back and it's worked this way for about two years now as you can see we did opt for the Anderson an sway weight distribution hitch we would highly recommend it it is definitely great for reducing any sway with the trailer on the tongue of the trailer we do use two different locks up here one for one we're unhooked from the Jeep and one for when we are hooked up to the Jeep and they're just a nice an theft deterrent for the front of the trailer uh we also added the uh chain saver up here which we love it it's uh easy cheap to install and it keeps your chains and everything up off the ground so they stay nice and clean round on the side we added the cover to put our seven pin in and from what I understand now Cita adds these from the factory but if you don't have one they're fairly inexpensive and they are worth their money to keep your seven pin plug protected all right let's go ahead and uh continue down the trailer here you can see it's still nice and shiny keep your trailer shiny uh you do need to wax these about every year because the fiberglass will uh start to uh chalk out or fade out if you don't on this side Ceda dust uh when they Supply them they do come with the screens for the refrigerators uh if you don't have those I would highly recommend those as far as problems we've had on this side uh the door lock we did have to replace our door lock lock on the uh inside of our door lock these screws right here had come out or come loose while we were traveling and what happened is I was unable to open the door the lock mechanism just spun so ended up having to drill out the lock and replace the lock and we do have a video on that if you need to replace your lock that's not a cedo issue that could have happened anywhere on any trailer because they all use the same type of locks we did replace the frosted glass that was in our door with a see-through window that also has a shade that pulls up we like this a lot better and it gives us more visibility inside the trailer we do understand that cassita does now include this option in the doors on the newer citas also on this side we did have an issue early on in the life of the trailer where The Brak over here on the right hand side of the trailer actually ate itself as we were traveling uh we were able to get it fixed on the road it was pretty simple and the nice thing about it is Dexter axle I can't say enough good things about them they came in after this was all and done and replaced the entire brake assemblies on both sides and the hubs and we've never had an issue since then also on our BR Wheels we run a temperature pressure monitoring system which I would highly recommend it will give you a heads up if you have an issue with your brakes or your tires on the trailer as you're traveling down the road we do have the easy Lubes on the hubs on this trailer but we still once a year take the entire Hub apart uh replace all the seals clean it and grease it I would rather do this and make sure everything's good instead of just depending on the easy Loop one thing we did add to our trailer is awnings on the Windows because it gives you some good shade blocks the rain and we did that by putting a cater rail up here with vhp tape and then we buil bu an awning that slides into it here's what it looks like installed and we do have videos on this if you'd like to do this on your trailer now we didn't purchase the awning from Cita but we did add this extra piece of Katy rail on the passenger side and that allowed us to build an awning and use the window awning cater Rail and the new piece to put a six foot awning out on the side we don't miss the awning from C but every once in a while it is nice to have it and here's what that awning looks like and we also have a video on that too one thing we did on our water tank is we removed the cap off of the drain we purchased a ball valve to go on there and then we added this adapter right here for a garden hose and so we we want to drain our tank we just open the ball valve and drain the water out and when we want to fill the tank we just H up a garden hose here and we can fill the tank in a third of the time it would normally take to fill it through the nor nor will fill on the back of the trailer a minor issue that we had on the back of the trailer when we first purchased it is we noticed that the bottom of this light right here was filling with water there was a crack in it contacted Cita they sent us a light we installed it very easy and simple to take care of I also added the second sewer hose carrier here we just bolted it to the bumper and we carry our primary sewer hose in here and then we carry a back backup sewer hose in the bumper so we always have two sewer hoses when we're camping the next item we added was a receiver hitch on the back of our trailer we contacted cassed works.com in Briant Texas they did an excellent job installing the hitch and that gives us the option of one we can put a tray back here with a box in it that we carry uh all our camping supplies in and this is our normal operation or if we have a short trip we're going on and we just want our bicycles we can put a bicycle rack back here and carry them with us so it gives us plenty of flexibility on the back of the trailer we did install a backup camera the nice thing about this backup camera is it runs all of the time while we're driving and I have a display that mounts on our mirror so basically I have a rearview mirror behind the trailer at all times and to me that makes a major difference when you're traveling down the roadway over on this side the first thing that we upgraded on this side was going to be our battery system we went from a lead acid battery to an actual lithium battery this is the battleborn battery this is probably one of my favorite upgrades this has made a world a difference when we Boondock and when we get inside you'll see some of the control circuitry that I use with it in conjunction with the solar panel and speaking of solar our solar connector is added up here for an external panel and that works in conjunction with the permanently mounted panels on the front of the trailer hot water heater we uh do a regular cleaning inspect on it haven't had any issues we do replace the anode on a regular basis I will check it periodically and when it's about 3/4 gone I'll go ahead and replace it ca did install the screen on the uh water heater when we bought it uh there's no screen here on these little vents but I've never had an issue of anything getting in there and building this one the major things that we did do and I have a video for this is we replace the cable that came out of here permanently mounted with a removable cable here and that's to me it's worked out a lot better because one this stays closed all the time there's no bugs can get in here when the cable came out of here we had a case in uh I think it was Arizona where I had ants actually crawling up the cable and into the trailer well now with this it's sealed there's no way for anything to get in the trailer we like that option A lot better at the same time we also mounted a permanent surge protector and we use the Watchdog surge protector we love it and it's mounted inside the trailer due to normal wear and tear I did have to replace the Blackwater tank dump valve uh it's just a normal thing you're going to have to replace them after time CU they do wear out and we went ahead and replaced the gray at the same time another option that we did here is replace the Black cover here with a clear cover that way if a tank leaks by we'll know it ahead of time we also added a gray tank level sensor and a propane sensor to our propane tanks and this is what the display looks like and we can see how much water is in our gray tank or when we need need to get propane in our front tanks now one thing we did replace is the cap that goes on our city water connector here the one that came from the factory is just a little push in but it didn't really seal anything off I purchased this one this one actually screws in and seals up this connector and the reason being is there is a check valve in here and if you happen to be using your freshwater tank and your water pump it can push water back out of this connector if that valve is bad IRS is currently good but I just want to make sure that if I'm out camping and it goes bad I can still camp and don't have to worry about it all right well let's go ahead and go inside and talk about the things we've changed inside first off we have the Liberty model which has we've set it up in the two- bed function which gives us a nice walkway in between the beds at night uh we like this function and it makes it easier to get in and out of bed at night you can't set it up as one big bed but we would rather have the two beds now remember uh cassita also has three other models besides this one so you just have to choose whatever works the best for you the first thing we're going to talk about that we've changed in here is you'll see that we've replaced the TV mount that Cita installed in the trailer this Mount is a little heavier Duty and you'll notice that it unlatches and drops down we have a new TV uh which is a smart TV and then uh when you go to put it back up it latches right away and we just like this mount a lot better than the one that came with the trailer from CA the next item we're going to talk about is window blinds uh Cita when we bought this we had metal mini blinds here which we hated with a passion uh they were uncomfortable if you lean back against them they bent and they just didn't hold up and we like this option better uh Angela made these blinds they're made out of canvas uh they just roll down in front of the window when you want them down and then when you want to put them up we just roll them up and then Angela made little straps that basically hold them in the up position and then when they get dirty you just take them down throw them in the washing machine and they're nice and clean and we do have a video on this if you're interested in that as far as the bedding material Angela made those also uh if you're not that handy sewing I can give you the information for a company out of South Carolina that they will make the bedding material they do make fitted sheets that are cut to the curvature of the Cita you just have to call them ahead of time and make contact with them let let them know which mattress you have and which curvature you need and they'll make that for you now let's talk about the uh next thing is going to be our tap table and on our table we've been through numerous different iterations of trying different tables and this is what we settled on we found these poles that have rubber caps on the end which make them really easy to put in and out of the floor stand at the bottom uh the ones that came with Cita uh and and it's not just Cita it's an industry standard um they didn't have these rubber caps on the end so when you put them down in the uh stand down here uh at times they were really hard to get out and then also on the top up here they had an open hole that you could basically cut yourself on or catch stuff on now we don't have that issue and we like this option A lot better now I will tell you that that bottom plate down there uh this one right here that's real shiny I did have to replace that it just unscrews and just put the new one in and screw it down uh you do need to crawl underneath the trailer though and uh seal it up now the table you can see we strap it over on the side here if we want the table out front we just move it down to the front one here put the table on it like when we're eating dinner or whatever and then when we're finished uh we just move the post back to the other one it's out of the way you can set the table up down here and have it out of the way or you could just leave the post and give you more room next thing we'll talk about is the air conditioning and we do use uh better filters than came from the uh Factory we like those better they keep the air in here cleaner and other than cleaning the spec yearly we've never had any problems with our air conditioning over here on the side we did add an extended table on the side of the sink here it's really simple it's just pop red to the side of the cabinet and I have links for all of this uh on my website if you'd like to do the table also next thing we'll talk about about is on the sink uh it came with a solid cutting board plastic cutting board on the sink we found these rollup cutting board or rollup sink cover on Amazon we like it better because I could take a a cup of coffee or whatever set it on top here and as I'm pouring the liquid into it if I happen to spill any it just goes down into the sink and doesn't make a mess anywhere when you want to get into the sink it just rolls up out of the way and uh we just like it a lot better and think it's simpler the metal flimsy cover that they had on the stove over here we got rid of it I found this wood uh cutting board type cover it does lift off you just set it over out of the way when you're cooking but when you're not cooking you have a nice flat cover here that uh you can use as a prep Service uh we also put in spice holders on the back here they're empty now because the trailers in storage now on the opposite side over here you'll see that we did not do the microwave option normally if you do that from the factory that's what's in this cabinet here we would rather uh use it for storage you can see I found a set of shelves that go in here we've got plenty of room you can see how much we cram in here and it it works a lot easier it gives us a lot a lot better storage facilities than you would have with a microwave now as far as the rest of the Cabinetry uh up on the top up here and then all the way around the top you can see there's tons of Cabinetry which gives you plenty of room to store your clothes we also added this little basket over here that's where we put all our charging cords and everything and then I also took the max fan remote and placed it up here so that I've got it nice and stored and easy to get to all right the next thing we'll talk about is going to be our power distribution AC and DC and this is where we've had most of of our problems and actually made most of our changes to the trailer the first thing you notice is we added a victron solar controller that controls our solar panel that's permanently mounted and also controls the solar panels that plug in on the outside the portable ones that I showed you the jack on the driver side of the trailer the next item is going to be our uh battery monitor this is the display for it the actual battery monitor is under the bench on top of the battery this is going to be your power distribution panel uh this is going to have your AC on one side DC on the other side and then the bottom of it is going to be a converter that converts AC to DC to charge your batteries now we've had the converter on the whco power panel here go bad twice uh we replaced it once within 9 months it went bad again so we replac the bottom down here the converter with a converter from Progressive Dynamics the new converter also controls or charges our lithium battery and at the same time we had to replace the DC distribution panel on the right with a progressive Dynamics now it's been over two years since we replaced all of this with the progressive Dynamics equipment and it's worked great we've had no issues whatsoever and we would highly recommend it now with that being said uh Cita does Still Supply the whco power panels in their trailers and from what I understand the power unit down here is supposed to be more durable uh than the previous and it will also charge a lithium battery now uh with that being said wifco also did replace the panel uh force uh no cost but it's just a headache of having to replace it and I like our current system all right the next next thing that we'll talk about down here is the water heater switch that's the red switch there uh when we purchased the trailer it had just a black non-illuminated switch uh you could turn the water heater on and not know that it was on now when you flip that little red switch on it illuminates to let you know that the water heater is on the next item that we'll talk about down here is going to be the gas furnace which is just to the right of that and that is an option uh we do have a electric heater strips in the air conditioner but if you're going to Boondock or you're going to be in excessively cold area I would highly recommend getting the gas furnace next thing we're going to talk about is rivets we've had to replace this one here we've had to replace this rivet we've had to replace this rivet and these two rivets over here that go between the bathroom and here we've had to replace those now these uh we had to replace these in the last first couple of years but in the last couple years I haven't had to replace any rivets I don't know if the trailer just kind of settled in but we do carry a rivet set just in case all right well let's go ahead and talk about the rest of the storage that we have up here on a liberty and an independence uh on the liberty and Independence you have two drawers underneath the stove here and you can see we use this one for like silverware and then the uh next one down we just use it for like bags and aluminum full and all and then we store all our pots and pans in the bottom uh cabinet underneath here then the uh refrigerator we still have the three-way uh ACDC gas refrigerator it's worked with no problems we do do a cleaning the spec on it on a regular basis now then the bathroom here you'll see that we did add the teque mat at the floor down here which that makes a big difference when you get up after you've taken a shower go use restroom the floor is nice and dry and it just feels more stable and I like it a lot better also in the bathroom in here we did add a soap dispenser over here on the left for our shampoo and body wash and then uh up the top up here we did add a clothes hanger that folds up so if we have to wash clothes while we're out camping we've got some place to hang them up the fan we've had no issues with we added a mirror in here we also added a toothpast holder and then we also added a clip to hang our rag on down in the bottom down here this is where we keep all our black tank uh cleaning supplies black take additive uh you know anything like that and and then on the door here the trailer came with one Tower rack and we ordered one just like it we put a second tower Rack in here now also the shower curtain is different uh this is a new shower curtain the one that came from Cita was just plastic this is like a synthetic knit or wreath so it actually dries a lot faster now in the closet over here uh we've left it pretty much as the way it was from the factory we hang most of our clothes up so we would a have the the hanging bar now there is a company called Katie's closet which puts shelves on the right and in the back and if you contact cassed works.com he will install them for you uh we would rather have the hanging instead of the shelves but if you fold more stuff you might want the shelves and we did add these the just shoe holders on the inside of the door and that uh basically gives us a good place place to put everything in the door and then we still have the rack on the bottom of the door it really all boils down to this uh people ask me on a regular basis if I like my Cita and the answer is yes uh would I purchase it again here again the answer is yes there are some fiberglass models out here that have a lot more options or have different functionalities with they they built into them or different construction techniques uh but they're a lot more expensive than the cassed is so for the money for the the bang for your buck so to speak I would prefer to have my Cita it does everything that we want it to do uh we've taken it places where we've had to use the four-wheel drive on the Jeep just to get into them so I would highly recommend a CA travel trailer uh like I said earlier they have four different models that you can choose whichever fits your needs uh the systems in them uh we've had very few problems uh the only system we had any problems with was the uh charging system really everything else on here has just been minor uh the charging system we we fixed that problem when we went to the progressive Dynamics charger and the lithium battery system uh as far as other upgrades we've done to the trailer we've enjoyed all of them uh the only upgrade that I did over time is the numerous iterations on the table uh I should have just left the table like it was and found this post that that you see here on the video right now and I probably would have been happy with that from the get-go but with that being said we want to tell you we appreciate you watching thank you very much for your support if you have any questions on a Cino trailer and we can answer them drop me a line and I will try to help you out I will include as many links as I can in The Narrative of the video but if you need to go to our website at C RV life.com and click on the links items we use in our trailer and that'll take you to all of the links that we have on the website for items we've used with that being said we'll see you in the [Music] campground [Music]

Channel: Casita Rv Life

Views: 19,302

Keywords: Casita Travel Trailer, Casita RV, Casita Camper, Fiberglass RV, Fiberglass travel Trailer, Fiberglass camper, eggshell camper, eggshell travel trailer, eggshell rv

Id: rBErsUHnqT8

Length: 26min 32sec (1592 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 12 2023