trailertraveler

Welcome to the Escapees Forum!!! How you plan to use your camper may influence your choice. Will it be for just weekend/vacation use? How much gear/cargo will you need to be carrying (volume and weight)? Will you require onboard bath and toilet facilities? Does each child need their own bed/bunk? Will you be in conditions that will require heating or air conditioning? These a just a few of the questions to ask yourself when evaluating potential trailers. There is more to consider than just maximum towing capacity when matching a trailer and tow vehicle. The online specifications for the 2018 4 runner do not list the Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR). This is the maximum weight that the vehicle and trailer can weigh. It may be less than the sum of the tow vehicle's GVWR and maximum tow rating and should be on the sticker inside the driver's door. Since you have the 4 runner, load it up with a full tank of fuel, the whole family and every thing that you will carry in the vehicle and go get it weighed. Subtract that number from the GCWR and you will have the real maximum tow capability for your circumstances. Subtracting that same weight from the GVWR of the 4 runner will tell you how much capacity you have left for the trailer tongue weight and additional cargo. This calculator may help you keep all the capacities within limits. Another consideration is the relationship between trailer length and the wheelbase of the tow vehicle which for the 4 runner is just over 109 inches. Here is an article that discusses this. Again, Welcome to the Escapees Forum!!!

I know that.

Thank you! If I am doing the math right 1000watts/12Volts means that it is an 83AH battery and is a 4 year old used one. If fully discharged it would provide about the same AH as a lead acid 160AH 12 Volt discharged to 50%. You say simple bulk charge, but at what voltage? No float charge? A lot of the basic converter/chargers provided in travel trailers are not programmable. Not sure you could keep one from trying to float charge other than by turning it off which I think in most cases would also shut off the converter and result in the 12volt systems running off the battery. We are getting pretty far off the OP's generator question, hope the discussion is at least somewhat useful to them.

I did and this is what I found (It is a 100AH battery not 1kw) along with more expensive ones like this 400AH $1600.00. That is why I asked you for a link.

How about a link? I searched and found nothing anywhere near that low priced. A LifePO4 65AH battery is $750. If it is not a 12V battery, what equipment like converters are needed and what are their sources, cost and space requirements. As I stated earlier the OP has a 21' trailer which I doubt has room for the multiple converters being mention in the ongoing discussion about Chevy Volt batteries.

I am certainly not an expert and do not have lithium batteries. The research I have done on them indicates that the initial investment in the batteries and the sophisticated programable high end charger required to properly maintain them is significant. The OP is looking for economical recommendations so that they can afford to install a solar system.

Sorry if you took my post as being critical of yours that was not my intent. I was just trying to provide an option other than installing a $300+ charger since the OP seemed to want to save $ for a future solar system. Another reason for my suggestion was that a 21' trailer may not have a lot of space near the power panel to install additional equipment and does not require any installation/wiring of the equipment for those that may not want to do it themselves or pay for installation.

The Honda 2000 weighs about 46# empty and 50# when full of fuel. I doubt you will find huge weight differences in generators of about the same watt rating. You do not necessarily have to have another charger installed if you do not want to or do not have room to. If you have or install a battery disconnect, you can disconnect the battery by throwing the switch, plug the trailer into one outlet of the generator (provided that your converter is one designed to work without a battery as most of the newer ones are) and plug a good stand alone charger into the other generator outlet. If you do not want/need 12V power in the trailer while charging the battery with the stand alone charger, you could flip the breaker for the converter/charger off.

I am curious as to how many watts of solar panels you have room for on a 21 foot trailer. I am guessing that there is an air conditioner, TV antenna and at least one roof vent and possibly a vent for the refrigerator. I have a 160 watt portable setup and as Kirk mentioned it is only capable of providing minimal charging even when in full sun. It does serve to top off the batteries after using the generator for a bulk charge. I am not aware of a factory produced Honda, Yamaha or Bolly propane or duel fuel inverter generator. There was a company (UScarburetion) that sold new modified Yamaha generators (with Yamaha full warranty) that used propane, but the last time I looked I think they were only offering do it yourself conversion kits. Onan has made propane generators for a long time. I believe the smallest was 2600 watts and they were pricey. Champion makes several duel fuel inverter generators, but I think they are 3000 watt or larger and about twice the price of the 2200 watt unit you are looking at.

Grand designs smallest trailer is almost 27'. Highland Ridge does appear to have one model in the length range you are looking for. It has two slides and a GVWR of 8995#. Jayco has had a good reputation over the years. Not sure whether that has changed since they were bought by Thor which also owns Keystone, Dutchmen and many other brands. In the past, Keystone and Dutchmen shared the same warranty/customer service phone center. Some of the small Winnebago models have impressive carrying capacities. You need to watch the carrying capacity of small trailers as some may have as little as 550# and many are less than 1000#. In another topic, you said you are considering an SUV as a tow vehicle in which case you may not have much extra cargo capacity in the tow vehicle as you might with a full size pickup with a cap on the bed. KZ seems to have as many or more choices of small trailers in the Escape, Classic and Connect brands than many of the other manufacturers with slide and no slide models. Northwood, which has a good reputation, makes a couple of smaller trailers in the Nash and Artic Fox lines, but they are heavy.

This is a claim that is often made. We put about equal miles on the truck towing and just driving solo. We get an average 12mpg towing a 10,000# trailer and 16mpg in general driving. So lets compare some numbers for Kirk's RV/toad combination and my truck/trailer for say 10000 with the RV and 10000 miles for general driving using a fuel cost of $2.25/gallon for gasoline and $2.50/gallon for diesel. 10000/8=1250x2.25=$2812.00; 10000/20=500x2.25=$1125.00 for a total of $3937.00. 10000/12x2.50=$2083; 10000/16x2.50=$1563.00 for a total of $3645.00. A difference of $292 in favor of the truck/trailer combination. I doubt that I could insure a CRV for the $325.00 it costs to insure the trailer and the registration fee for a CRV would also be higher than the $23.00 for our trailer in our state. All this said, I still believe the real issue comes down to personal preference. If you are not happy with what you are living in, what's the point?

Vehicle insurance and health insurance premiums can vary a fair amount from state to state. In my experience, for those not yet on Medicare, there can be differences in the hundreds of dollars per month for health insurance. The plans available and the premiums can even vary by county within a state. Your premiums may go up, or they may go down if one switches domicile. Cellular internet may cost more than cable or fiber optic service at a fixed location depending on the amount of data usage and whether one can get a truly unlimited plan that will work in the locations where one will be. If one uses mostly streaming for TV, this can add significantly to the amount of cellular data needed when on the road.

Motor homes and toads have tires that require replacement too. Most RVs have pretty much the same appliances, so I would doubt there is a huge difference in the maintenance and potential repairs. Age is a factor in replacement and repair requirements for RV appliances. I am sure that a lot of 5th wheel owners say the same thing about a motorhome. Having a 5th wheel and trailer or even a travel trailer does not prevent taking bikes along. We do it all the time. In my opinion, the choice of RV type is mostly one of personal preference. All of them have their devotees.

But possibly more cash as engine and/or transmission repairs may be more costly than repairs to trailers. Also, in my experience, insurance for motorized vehicles is considerably more than that for a trailer because of the requirements for liability coverage on all motorized vehicles. There may also be differences in registration fees for motorized and non-motorized vehicles.

Welcome to the Escapees Forum!! If you have not read it, this topic has a lot of information that may be relevant to your situation and questions. What you spend now for food and other essentials may not change a lot without a concerted effort to change your personal habitats. Costs for items like phone, internet and TV service are controllable but may require different services than what you have now. Camping fees are controllable and have a wide range from zero up to more than several hundred dollars a month depending on location and the amenities provided. Fuel costs are controllable, but in my experience it is rather difficult to actually travel and see the country in an RV without fuel. In my opinion, only you can determine whether you will be satisfied with the lifestyle that you choose to stay within your means. One question. Is the $2000/month from Social Security after or before any Medicare Part B, D, etc. or Medicare supplement payments. My impression is that most on this forum seem to agree that the Medicare Advantage Plans are not very well suited to fulltime RVers that move around. Again, Welcome to the Escapees Forum!!

In other posts you have indicated that you have mounted a cargo deck to the A frame of your trailer. The Hensley has substantial attachments to the A frame that must be at specific locations based on the length of the spring bars. Have you investigated whether there is enough room on the A frame for both?

There are relatively few travel trailer owners that participate in this forum and apparently even less that own or have owned a Hensley hitch or are willing to admit it and share their experiences. I did a search for "Hensley" on another popular RV forum and got 15 pages of hits. Perhaps you would get the information you are seeking by posting your questions on forums frequented by more travel trailer owners.

My bad, I meant to say 90 degrees. I approach this (maybe even exceed it) every time I back into our home base or my nephew's driveway for the holidays. Because the hitch box extends from the ball and combined with the length of the drawbar, there is less chance of contacting the bumper of the tow vehicle. They have always sold direct to the customers. In my experience as an owner for ten years now, very few RV technicians even know how to hookup to one and most have never seen one. No need for hitch locks as I doubt any would be thieves carry a drawbar (stinger) with them. When we purchased a new trailer a couple of years ago, I had to give the dealer's techs the installation manual so they could transfer the hitch from the old trailer. When I initially purchaser it, I was buying a trailer. I told the dealer that I would pay them Hensley's price plus the hourly rate for the installation (it took them about an hour and I was there). I told them if they could get a discount from Hensley, good for them. I do not have drills that can handle an RV frame which is why I opted to have the dealers install the hitch on both trailers. That is correct. No spring bars to remove and store. Not sure who Hensley's biggest competitor is? The Pro-pride is a very similar hitch and it is my understanding that it was designed by the same Engineer that designed the Hensley. Both require no attachments to the frame of the tow vehicle has the Pull-rite does.

As I said in my previous post, I have had the Hensley from the start. That said, I have towed numerous other types of trailers and do not find aligning the square peg with the square hole that much different than trying to put the ball under the hitch. Most travel trailers are heavy enough that you probably won't be able to horse them around even if you put a wheel on the tongue jack. There is a learning curve. The most difficult situation is when the ground is not level and the truck angle in relation to the hitch changes. In this situation, the spring bars are used to adjust the angle of the hitches receiver box to prevent the drawbar (stinger) from jamming against the top or bottom of the hitch receiver box. When unhooking, the straighter the truck and trailer, the easier the drawbar will disengage from the hitch receiver box. The weight distribution is adjustable from zero to the maximum of the spring bars by simply screwing or unscrewing the tensioners which can be done with an electric drill. When unhooking, the spring bars and sway control stay on the trailer. No disassembly required. The draw bar does not even have to be removed from the truck although it does protrude from the hitch and is a shin cracker if you forget it is there. The hitch does make some noise on tight turns and when backing. I never hear anything while going down the road. Nothing has to be disconnected or removed to backup. It will execute pretty close to a 90 degree angle when backing.

I bought the Hensley from the start. I invested a fair amount in the truck and trailer. Skimping on safety equipment was not in my plan. I also replaced the cheap OEM tires on both trailers (even though they were new) and installed a tire pressure monitoring system before heading out on cross country trips. A couple of things I like about the Hensley not related to sway control are that the weight distribution is adjustable from zero to the maximum of the spring bars by simply screwing or unscrewing the tensioners which can be done with an electric drill. When unhooking, the spring bars and sway control stay on the trailer. No disassembly required. The draw bar does not even have to be removed from the truck although it does protrude from the hitch and is a shin cracker if you forget it is there.

We have had a Hensley since 2007. First towing a 27' box (30' overall) trailer GRWR 7500# and since 2013 a 29' box (32' overall) trailer GVWR 9880#. Passing trucks going in the opposite direction at 60-65 MPH has never been an issue. Depending on the width of the highway, I may experience a sideways push similar to when driving a van or box truck. Cross winds and quartering winds have never been a problem. About a month ago coming across central Kansas, we had a quartering wind (10-11 o'clock) that gusted up to 45 MPH according to the Weather Channel. No problem with sway or handling, but the gusts were strong enough that the slide topper unfurled several times making me think the spring had broken. I had to slow to 50-55 MPH because of the slide topper not any issue with the stability of the trailer. I will also note that until this September I was towing with a 2500HD crew cab long bed that has about as long a wheelbase as you can get in a pickup. I am now towing with a 3500HD Single Rear Wheel crew cab long bed with a similar wheelbase.

You know I have heard that before but I have NEVER ever paid more than what is advertised online. Yes, there are differences in the price for a 30A or 50A service. Yes, they may also offer sites with cable or no cable. But NEVER have I paid anything other than what is told me when I make my reservation. I agree. That has been repeated so often on this forum that it must be true, right?? But we've stayed at about ten KOA's in the past couple of years and I've never been charged anything extra upon arrival. This statement has been around for decades. I think this is a hold over from the pre-internet days. The KOA Directory would list a range of prices for each campground with no real explanation that tent sites with no amenities were the lowest price and each added amenity increased the price for that site and that the price for the site was the price for the site no matter what you chose to use. RVers would pull in thinking that they would get the lowest price for any site they wanted only to find out that there was no electric/water at the tent sites, they would not fit in the tent sites, all the water/electric sites were taken, etc. The catchy slur phrase was born, caught on and has been repeated ever since.

When I use to winterize, in addition to what has been mentioned for the water lines and drains; I would make sure that the fresh water tank and waste tanks were empty. I would empty the diluted antifreeze/water mixture from the waste tanks and put enough antifreeze down the drains and toilet to try to get it to the dump valves.

Since you have internet access, getting a license isn't that hard. Most states sell them online. Here is a link to the state agencies. I generally buy licenses in three or four states a year for anything from a few days to a full season and haven't bought a license in person at a store or agency office in so many years I can not remember when the last time was.

I mentioned this before, but it must be on one of the other threads (there are three running on the same topic, very confusing). Discover has a new free service for card holders that searches the web for the social security number associated with your account and will notify you if it shows up on suspect sites and notify you if any new credit cards, mortgages, car loans or other accounts are opened on your Experian credit report. You can read about it or sign up here.