Fools Rally at Westside Regional Park

We started going to the fiberglass trailer rally called Fools Rally last year.  I see that I didn't post anything about this last year which is too bad.  Last year, the rally was at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area.  Almost the entire park burned last fall as part of the Carr Fire.  In fact, the wild fire started in the park.  We needed a new place to camp this year, and I suggested Westside Regional Park, which is part of the Sonoma County park system.  That means that it is about 30 miles from home. ​

The Westside Regional Park is on the shore of Bodega Bay, and it was nice as could be.  The sites are well spaced, with grass between each asphalt trailer/RV pad and containing a fire pit and picnic table.  Sites have no hookups which was fine for the weekend.  The park has flush toilets and showers, $2 for 5 minutes, which we did not try as they were not heated and we had this furnace problem, so heat was important to us.

There is lots to do in this area.  We visited Bodega Head where you have a great view of the ocean coast.  We heard that there were lots of whales passing during Saturday, but not while we were there.  We also walked a bit of the Kortum Trail which is along the coast, just above the beach.  Many of our favorite Sonoma County places are nearby so there would have been lots to do if we were there longer.

Since we could only go for the weekend, Friday through Sunday, due to other commitments, we did and used the weekend as our first trip of the year and a good opportunity to try out the trailer after it sat for the winter.  We learned one valuable thing: our furnace is not working correctly.  Some times, it won't light even though the blower runs.  We discovered this at 1:30 am the first night.  We pulled the sleeping bag that we keep in case of really cold weather down, and put it over us, and we were warm enough for the night.  

In the morning, the furnace did start and warmed up the trailer nicely.  Later, after supper, we tried it again, and it worked on the third try.  Not so good.  I will be calling our mobile RV repairer and hopefully, he can fix it.  Reading on the Escape Trailer Forum, others have had this problem, and it is likely either the sail switch or control board, so I will get both replaced.

Our next trailer trip is in July, so we have time for the repair.

PS: I did more research on the furnace in the Escape Trailer forum.  The two common problems are failure of the fan switch and the control board, although the Escape Parts manager thought it could also be the igniter.  (Very prompt and thorough responses to my emails, by the way.)  I also found YouTube videos by Reace on how to repair the sail switch and control board.  Based on this, I removed the furnace.  I found that my model of furnace was different from the current one in that the sail switch is more difficult to reach.  I ordered a replacement sail switch and control board (on Amazon, great price for the control board) and replaced both.  The furnace worked on the first try, but then it did this when I tested it just before our trip.  I kept the removed sail switch and control board as backups.  I suspect that the contact between the igniter and the control board could have been loose or corroded.  In any case, I can now remove and replace the furnace if I need to do so again.  I have the exterior shower and found that Escape built a box around it to provide protection of and access to the plumbing.  I modified it so that I could look right down on the back of the furnace to help me align the furnace with the exhaust pipe to facilitate re-installation.

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