Travel Trailer must haves

[teeroy]

thanks for the heads up on the 6 volt battery deal Murminator, great tip. is there a cable kit to connect the 2 batteries in series, or did you just make your own? I just retired my old motorhome and bought a used 5th wheel, no more gen set.

 

[Murminator]

Yeah you can buy them at any RV place they will all ready be premade it is only 1 jumper cable. When using 2-6ers in series hook the - to the + to get 12V.... I know it sound weird but that how you do it. for 2-12V in parallel you hook + to + to maintain 12v

To further explain

To trailer......................To Trailer
l......................................l
l......................................l
l......................................l
Neg-.....Pos+........Neg-....Pos+
.............l..............l
.............l----------l

Use the neg on one battery and pos on the other the go to the trailer to use the batteries to the fullest potential

The red lines are the wires I had to put the dots in because it wouldn't reconize spaces and jumbled everything together

 

[teeroy]

thanks Murray, we have a couple pieces of equipment in our yard that are old school 24 volt systems, just 2-12v batteries hooked up in series. I hadn't heard of the 2-6v battery system before for the RV stuff. your explaination was clear and concise, much appreciated.

I'll be hitting Northern Metallic today and ordering a few of them. I had been using a large 12v Cat battery along with an RV battery in the motorhome, not sure what kind of amp/hrs it was good for but it would only last 3 or 4 days before needing to be charged. I'm guessing the 6v batteries have the threaded posts, do 2 of them fit in the space meant for one 12v, or do you have to remove the stock holder to fit them?

 

[Slamnek]

Now I need to know some good trailer sites between Kamloops and say Valemount.

THX

I highly recommend Wells Gray prov. park out of Clearwater. I was just there on the begining of my honeymoon and we camped at Pyramid lake campground. Great place, water falls everywhere. I will definatly go back there.

 

[Murminator]

On your 5th there are probably in somesort of cabinet wich is usually a tall one with vents on the top and bottom. Just make a shelf and put above the other battery so they are stacked. My is a tag trailer just had to modify the bracket from holding 1 battery to 2 batteries

 

[SLEDBUNNYRACING]

If it hasn't been mentioned....a "snowandmud.com" decal on the back.

 

[teeroy]

If it hasn't been mentioned....a "snowandmud.com" decal on the back.

and where can we find one of those essential items? I've seen the window decals on the back of a few trucks around Valemount, are they available for sale here somewhere?

 

[teeroy]

those 6 volt batteries are pricey little buggers, they want $242 each for Optima batteries, and $185 each for the Interstate brand. waiting on a price for Exide 6 volt, were they that much down south? they didn't even offer a kiss......

 

[Murminator]

Yup I paid around $500 for 2....try costco I heard they can bring them in pretty cheap

 

[teeroy]

Yup I paid around $500 for 2....try costco I heard they can bring them in pretty cheap

okay, thanks Murray. going to go with the Interstate batteries from the local RV dealer, nearest Costco is 2 hrs away in GP and fuel will prolly eat up any savings. Bumper to Bumper called this morning, the Exide 6 volts are $120 each from them. the Interstates are the middle of the road price wise.

Thanks again for your help and advice.

 

[sumx54]

and where can we find one of those essential items? I've seen the window decals on the back of a few trucks around Valemount, are they available for sale here somewhere?

At the home page on the left hand tool bar you will see a "store" icon. You can get them there.

 

[teeroy]

At the home page on the left hand tool bar you will see a "store" icon. You can get them there.

thank you sir. guess I'm not the coldest pop in the cooler....

 

[Mike270412]

I didn't hear anyone say "chainsaw":d
Us pyromaniacs gotta have a big pile of wood handy.

 

[maxedcat650h1]

the funniest thing i see and here every summer is the wife or the better half standing behinde the trailer yelling all sorst of directions for backing up as i know most men are good listners so grab a set of those walkie talkies drop one on the console and the other to the wife and presto no more loud sheriks across the campground because lord only knows most dont have backup cameras on their rigs.

 

[GRD]

the funniest thing i see and here every summer is the wife or the better half standing behinde the trailer yelling all sorst of directions for backing up as i know most men are good listners so grab a set of those walkie talkies drop one on the console and the other to the wife and presto no more loud sheriks across the campground because lord only knows most dont have backup cameras on their rigs.

That is a great idea!!!

 

[catnip]

I was wondering the same thing about 12v vs 6v, do you need an inverter to make it work?

 

[tasco]

Just picked up a Honda 3000 IS generator, Seems like my 1500 watt Inverter faults out after my coffee maker is 1/2 done a pot. Can barley hear this puppy run in the next campsite. The wife is realy going to like it, airconditioning, microwave and coffee maker any where. I also have 2 six volt batteries, and have only once had a problem with running out of battery, and that was the first trip out last year when I decided to leave the batteries in the RV over the winter, ( Batteries froze). Reason for the gernerator is My wife likes all the amenities, So I guess we take them with us.

Electric barbeque, Electric pancake grill, microwave, Airconditioning, Electric Coffee maker. We realy rough it.

 

[ZRrrr]

So were up to 3 Pie Irons now!

Picked up the trailer in Savona, BC. Stayed a night in Clearwater, a night in Blue River (nice!) and a night in Jasper with the new trailer. Learning lots along the way and having a blast. Even survived the first black/grey water dump. Smell from the trailer beside me though was another story...gag!

Need some more advice:

Built a storage pad in the back yard. Managed to get the trailer into the yard with some degree of difficulty. Beside our drive pad is a "dry ditch" with grated manhole cover. This ditch is about 5 feet wide and drops a good 2 feet to the manhole. We used 4 patio slabs in a stepped pattern to get the one side of the trailer across the ditch. 2 of the slabs ended up cracking. Looking for better suggestions on some sort of bridge or ramp to get across the dry ditch. I was thinking about those large planks (thick and wide) the truckers use for loading heavy equipment, but have no idea where a person would get those? All suggestions welcome. I will try to post pics of the ditch later.

Also wondering if you guys put the scissor jacks down when storing the trailer?

Thanks.

 

[teeroy]

ZR, we get our planks (3"x10") from UFA, or get them from a local sawmill if you know of one. spruce or fir are the toughest, poplar will dry out and crack after a few months. we mostly use the planks for decking on the lobeds now, I have switched to using pipeline skids for blocking/loading equipment. they are 4"x6" and about 4 or 5 feet long, and work great stacked or stepped. hope this helps a bit.

 

[ZRrrr]

ZR, we get our planks (3"x10") from UFA, or get them from a local sawmill if you know of one. spruce or fir are the toughest, poplar will dry out and crack after a few months. we mostly use the planks for decking on the lobeds now, I have switched to using pipeline skids for blocking/loading equipment. they are 4"x6" and about 4 or 5 feet long, and work great stacked or stepped. hope this helps a bit.

Phoned the Leduc UFA. They have two different lengths in stock. Both Spruce. Estimated width is 12" which is even better.

Thanks for the excellent suggestion! I'll be headig there tomorrow and stopping at the trailer shop not too far away to see what goodies I can get my hands on.

Thanks again.