There is the long awaited rig, all set up and rearing to go on the dealer's lot. Yes, that does look like some great advertising but CanAm RV has looked after us well.
I took the Sienna up to London the day before handover so it could be fitted with a hitch. I don't know exactly what work was done in fitting it but I'm certain that the Hitch Maestro himself, Andy Thompson, ensured that it was set up properly.
For the handover walk through, our friendly salesman JW had found us a native Brit for us, Ray Price, just in case we were flummoxed by any Canuck vocabulary or pronunciation. Ray was great, even if he was a Manchester United supporter (do any of them live in Manchester?).
The workings of the trailer were no great mystery for us because we'd done so much research, but it was really useful to go through the hitching and unhitching procedure with Ray. For the technically minded, we have an Eaz-Lift torsion bar weight distribution system with two friction sway control bars. It was quite a shock to see how high we have to lift the end of the car to release the tension on those torsion bars, but it all works so I just do as I'm told (whilst looking really quite worried!)
Our initial test run was down to the Ford Plant at St Thomas where Ray took us into the big empty parking lot so I could have a go at backing up. Hmmmmm, that's going to need some practice I think.
I drove back to CanAm, feeling the car pulling the weight but not struggling with it. What was perhaps the real test was the wind; blowing across our path and gusting up to 65kph, it was pulling at the trailer as well as making the extension mirrors vibrate furiously. But there was no sway at all, it was all very sure footed indeed.
The slight issue we had was with the shiny new friction sway control bars that howled with protest at every sideways movement. Of course, being new, they will do that, but it's disconcerting for the novice. Ray likened it to whale song! We have been assured that with use, the sway bars do quieten down.
With some final adjustments to the mirrors, we set off for home, having to pull out onto the very busy London-St Thomas road. As a gap eventually opened up I squirted the gas pedal a little too hard and the front wheels span for a second before gripping. That wasn't a problem but the Sienna's Vehicle Stability System (VSC) didn't like it and decided to offer us a lovely warning message. I did wonder whether or not to stop and check it out but everything was running fine and I really didn't want to have to pull out into the traffic again, so I pressed on down to the highway and headed west for home. I've had spurious warning messages on other cars and, as this one merely advised that we have the system checked, I didn't feel that there was any reason to abandon the trip.
Once on the highway we had the wind behind us (sort of) so the mirrors quietened down. The trailer stayed rock solid behind us and we arrived at 100 km/h in no time at all, pulling easily then staying in 6th gear comfortably. Certainly that road is flat and the wind behind us helped, but the car had plenty of power and most importantly there was no sway at all. Of course the fuel usage readout was scary viewing; 8-10 litres per 100 Km unladen, 17-19 with the trailer. Oh well, we did know that was going to happen.
After about 35 Km, we pulled off at a service centre (more for me than for the car and trailer) and felt very deviant parking out back with the real trucks. Everything looked fine, despite the VSC message, so we set off for home in good spirits.
I have to admit to a little bit of nervousness at the thought of backing up onto our drive. It didn't help that the City has the road up outside our house and that I had to approach from the other end of the street, but I thought that I'd be having to get this thing into some tight camping sites so a big wide driveway would be OK. One thing we did invest in was a pair of walkie-talkies, just cheap things from The Source, but my beautiful spotter guided me in and I just listened to her loud and clear instructions. Perfect positioning was achieved on the third attempt!
It was still really windy, and cold as well, but I needed to sort the chocking systems out (one time adjustment, thankfully) then unhitch on our slope. All was going well when the fuse to the power jack failed with the car half way up! I had no spare, and it was getting dark, and we had to be at the basketball tournament, so I learned how to use hand crank.
Unhitched, I jacked her up (by hand), connected the electricity and that was all we had time for.
Of course, the kids knew nothing about any of this.........
