Maiden voyage

Yellowreef

Well-known member
Headed down to Agua Caliente County Park in San Diego for my M18's maiden voyage last weekend. Everything worked flawlessly (except for the fridge shifting a bit and hitting the wood frame now for opening and closing.) It was not only the first trip with my 2011 Edge, but my first trip RV camping, period. Had a blast and looking forward to many more trips.

Here are a couple of pictures of the trailer and my first campsite:

P4230058.jpg

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jimtoo

Moderator
Hi Yellowreef,

Great news on your first outing. Hope you make many more happy memories with your new M18.

Jim M
 

camr

Well-known member
Hi Yellowreef, Two points!! Firstly, man, does that unit look sharp. They really are "just the right size", aren't they? For camping a week or two at a time, they are just perfect. And the scenery in the photos are absolutely beautiful. And now on to my second point. YOU ARE KILLING ME!!!!!!! Today, at home, we woke up to three inches of snow. YES, three inches. I had planned to pick the Edge up from storage and de-winterize it last Thursday, but something told me to wait. Well, if I had done that, I would have had a bunch of frozen water lines. You would think that it should be safe by May to even begin to think about RVing.
Sitting in my own pool of depression (and beside a heater) I remain, your fellow forum member, Cam.
 

Yellowreef

Well-known member
Hi Yellowreef, Two points!! Firstly, man, does that unit look sharp. They really are "just the right size", aren't they? For camping a week or two at a time, they are just perfect. And the scenery in the photos are absolutely beautiful. And now on to my second point. YOU ARE KILLING ME!!!!!!! Today, at home, we woke up to three inches of snow. YES, three inches. I had planned to pick the Edge up from storage and de-winterize it last Thursday, but something told me to wait. Well, if I had done that, I would have had a bunch of frozen water lines. You would think that it should be safe by May to even begin to think about RVing.
Sitting in my own pool of depression (and beside a heater) I remain, your fellow forum member, Cam.

Sorry about the weather out there Cam. For us, fall through spring means desert/mountain camping and summer means beach/mountain camping. And the best part... No winterizing! It is the only reason we put up with the outrageous taxes and other crazyness associated with living in CA.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
Yellow, well now that you have got camping down. Keep watching for the Socal Rally in the fall. It will be at Pechaga Casino RV park. Bob
 

Zeman

Active Member
Nice rig! I've got an 07 Ridgeline towing my 2010 M-22. In the process of installing an Equalizer 2 WDH.
 

RonBB

Active Member
"In the process of installing an Equalizer 2 WDH"
Suggest checking your owner's manual first. My Acura MDX manual says not too use an equalizer hitch. I think other Honda products' manuals say the same thing. Not sure about the Ridgeline. My TT Dealer had never heard of this before I showed them the manual. Good luck. Ron
 

Yellowreef

Well-known member
The manual for the Ridgeline says they "discourage use of a WDH as an improperly adjusted WDH may affect handling and stability." So, it doesn't say not to use it, it says they reccomend you don't use one if you don't know what you're doing. Regardless I didn't use one since the M18 IMO doesn't weigh enough to require it. What is there to distribute when the tongue weight is 300 lbs?
 

RonBB

Active Member
I agree, I haven't used a WDH and never felt I needed it for the Edge M18. I do have a friction type antisway device but I'm not even sure that it's needed.
 

Zeman

Active Member
Ditto on what Yellowreef said....I almost didn't buy the TT from the dealer when the salesman stated I would have to install a WDH before I could pull it off their lot. I pulled it 2.5 hr on the highway to my house----no problems at all. After last season, we have accumulated a lot more gear which is loaded in the trailer. Add firewood,bikes,generator,etc.,etc. in the truck bed and the attitude of the truck/trailer changes. I didn't want to spend the $ on it but I want to get a more level attitude of both while towing.
 

PhotoPete

Well-known member
Nice rig! I've got an 07 Ridgeline towing my 2010 M-22. In the process of installing an Equalizer 2 WDH.
I have an 08 ridgeline, and have ordered an m21. the 21b trail lite i was towing was taxing the ridgeline. I am hopeful the m21 will be a bit better. what is your assessment of towing capability with the m22?
 

Zeman

Active Member
I have an 08 ridgeline, and have ordered an m21. the 21b trail lite i was towing was taxing the ridgeline. I am hopeful the m21 will be a bit better. what is your assessment of towing capability with the m22?

The M-22 weighs approx. 3700 lbs. dry. All my trips last year were 1 hr. or less from home on relatively flat stretches of road . This year I plan on taking a 4 hr. pull through the Adirondacks in August----mountainous, hilly, switchbacks......... The trip would be a 3 hr. jaunt w/o the trailer. I think the Ridgeline is fully capable but I would not want any more(heavier) trailer. My selection of the Edge was the biggest/lightest hardsided trailer I could find. Once you add the endless list of goodies to your trailer it change things. I finished installing my Equalizer 2 a couple of days ago. Truck/trailer attitude is improved in my semi-level paved drive. I took it for a test run with a simulated load in the Ridgeline. It seemed more planted over bumps and the highway. I may tweak it some but it seems pretty dead on according to Progress Mfg customer support. The rear was within 3/4" of before and after measurements. I travel with 2 boys,wife,and the rest.... Your M-21 is 260 lbs lighter. Gas mileage drops to about half of normal. We won't win any races but I have no problems with this setup. I bought these at Walmart this spring---we'll see how they work. http://www.amazon.com/Camco-25664-Flat-Tow-N-See-Mirror/dp/B004809X9W/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top Happy campin'!!
 

linepilot

Member
I have an 08 ridgeline, and have ordered an m21. the 21b trail lite i was towing was taxing the ridgeline. I am hopeful the m21 will be a bit better. what is your assessment of towing capability with the m22?

I have '08 Ridgeline/2010 M21 combo and have had no problems other than mpg's going from 22 to 12. We had a 17" Nash prior to the Edge and the Edge pulls much better than the Nash did. I've been using a WDH ever since I started pulling with the Ridgeline at 600 miles, it now has over 43,000 miles and at least 16,000 of those are towing miles. I think the WHD is a necessity, since the Ridgeline is front wheel drive. You need to keep the traction/steering axle in flat contact with the road instead of being "light" in front end. This is especially true on wet roads. Good luck and I think you'll really like your combo.
 

Yellowreef

Well-known member
I have '08 Ridgeline/2010 M21 combo and have had no problems other than mpg's going from 22 to 12.

Wow, mine go from around 19 or so freeway to 10 while towing. Ive never been able to get anything past 20 on a trip. The 12 has me curious too, do you think it has to do with the WDH? Then again, going anywhere from here is the true definition of "uphill both ways".
 

ccsada

Member
I too have a Ridgeline that I use to pull an M22. I did a lot of research into the trucks towing capacity before buying the trailer and also purchased the Equalizer hitch for the Ridgeline despite the recommendation in the Ridgelines Owners Manual not to use a WDH. The hitch makes a hug difference in how the unit tows. In my opinion it improves the towing and handling of the truck almost to the point that you could forget you are towing a trailer, if it weren't for the decrease in fuel mileage and higher rpms.

We towed the trailer from Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia last year, at trip that was 5,000km / 3,000 miles and have towed probably 6,000 km total. There were plenty of steep grades through New Brunswick and Ontario and the truck never had any problems towing the trailer. At worse we would slow down to 50 mph but never slower than that. The big difference with the Equalizer hitch is when there was strong crosswinds and tractor trailers passing the hitch made towing in these conditions stress free. Even my wife doesn't mind driving in those conditions its that stable.

I averaged around 10 mpg (US gallon) or 12 mpg (Imperial) or 24 l/100km (metric) for the entire trip and we were right at max weight for the Ridgeline at just over 10,000lbs total truck and trailer weight. I also didn't drive slow as I found the truck shifted a lot less if I towed at 105 kph or 63 mph. If I went slower the mileage did improve but we had a long ways to drive.
 
Hallo ccsada,

We just got our edge m21, I tow it with my Mazda b-4000, 6 cyl and seems to tow it ok, we pick it up in northern N.B. and towed it back to PEI, we are taking our first
camping trip to N.S. in July and able to test the edge m21, had some minor leaks after the heavy rain, but needed to re-caulk some of the trim seems on the outside trim and on top of the water heater panel, seems to do the trick. Also the carbon monoxide detector batteries are only lasting a week before they start bepping, may have a faulty unit? I am sure a lot more to figure out, but seems to be a good looking and spacious camper.

Cheers,

hansandcarolyn
 

Zeman

Active Member
The CO 2 detector should be hard wired into the trailer electrical. Check the replacement date on the CO 2 unit itself. I had one on my M-22 with a replacement date of June 2010 when I bought the unit in Feb. 2010. I think your smoke detector is eating batteries. Try a different brand of batteries maybe?
 
I'm late but congrats Yellowreef on the new M18 and a successful maiden voyage. We're on opposite ends of the continent (NY) and I'm hoping to join in the fun next year.
 
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