Nwcid

I am just trying to get an idea of what it is capable of. At home I have a IR with a 30 gallon tank that puts out ~5 CFM with a 135 psi max. This will run and do anything I need it to. For on the road I picked up a $60 Harbor Freight compressor. I did not expect it to be fast, but wish it had more volume. It has a 3 gallon tank with 1 CFM and a max of 100 PSI. While this will fill tires and my air hitch it leaves a lot to be desired for blowing out dust. I get about 1 min of good pressure then have to wait 3-4 min for it to kick off and have another ~1 min of air. I know tons of people rave about the Viair 400, but at $200 it is still just a 1 CFM compressor with no tank. My main use would for air is blowing dust off of us, the UTV, air filter, and tire filling. I do not plan on running air tools, but if I did, it would be an impact gun for working on the truck/trailer. Just wondering if adding a 10 gallon air tank would make sense. The truck compressor would still have to put out enough CFM to keep up.

I know you already have the 100lb tanks, but you might check with the local propane supplier. Often times they rent 100 gallon (not lb) tanks and put them on a keep filled cycle. I am not sure what the cost would be, but it would greatly reduce your need to mess with the tanks ever few days.

I do not want to know what this system cost, but I like it. This is how you do it "right".

I will give this a shot. There are 2 main ways to use a hardwired inverter. In the past the "traditional" way to do it was to decide what circuits you wanted to run from the inverter and add a sub panel just for those items. In the past many inverters only had a 20-30 amp pass though circuit so you could not wire it directly inline with a 50 amp system. Now there are units, like the one you purchased that can pass though 50 amps and they can be wired directly to one leg of your RV. If you want to wire both sides, you need an inverter for each side. In my case I put my inverter on one side and then moved items in the main breaker that I wanted to run on the inverter and still keep from overloading. The next item you have to consider is the inverter output. When you are plugged in you are getting 50 amps x 120v on = 6000 watts on each leg. Your inverter is only 3000 watts. 3000 watts / 120v = 25 amps. So whatever you run on that inverter can never exceed 25 amps. If you do ever pull 3000 watts, not accounting for loss, you are pulling 250 amps of 12v, how big is your battery bank/solar bank? I have a 960 watt solar system and at peak it puts out just over 50 amps. I have a battery reserve of about 325 AH, which means just over 1 hr of run time pulling 250 amps. Depending on the size of your AC you would not be able to run both, and if you did, not for very long unless you have lots of solar and battery.

Do you know what PSI "stock" compressors go to? For air tools was it not enough volume or not enough pressure. Volume would be relatively inexpensive by just adding a larger holding tank. Increasing PSI will get expensive.

That is not true either. You need to look at the sticker and the build to determine what you can carry. My last trailer was only 36' but it had a 3 x 6000 lb axles on it. So before even considering pin weight that is 18,000 lbs on the axles. Since it was not a "toy hauler" it only weighed about 10k so I had 8k available for loading. Many of the toy haulers have 3 x 7000 lb axles for a total of 21,000 lbs on the axels, again not considering pin weight. However most of the manufactures list them as 20,000 lb units. These units will have built in generators, 3 AC, full size appliances and weigh in around 16,000 lbs leaving 4000 lbs for everything else. While that sounds like a lot, and it is, it disappears quickly. Most hold at least 120 gallons of water, or 1000 lbs. 60 gallons of fuel. Add a 1200 lb UTV, some normal household items and you are full.

I know HDT come with onboard compressors to run the brakes and air ride equipment. How much volume, tank size and pressure do these typically put out? Are they adjustable or upgradeable? If I want to blow the dust out of my ATV, or off myself is there enough volume to do that? If I need to air up the truck or RV tires does it have enough PSI? Can you run air tools, including an impact gun?

Very nice. Thank you for sharing.

True, but you get exactly what you want and often built to a higher quality than mass produced. I do all kinds of custom projects. Some do end up costing more, but most do not.

Where are you finding a good used HD trailer for that price? I think Space Craft new start at $250,000, New Horizons are $200,000. I can't find used Space Craft, used New Horizons still hold a premium price. To go buy a new "mass produced" Fusion, Momentum, Voltage, etc 40-45' toy hauler is going to be close to $100,000. For that same price range I can build more substantial trailer that is set up exactly how I want. Those mass produced units, even the good ones only hold up so well to full or semi full time living.

Why not? Labor is often the largest cost. If you remove a large portion of that, then it gets much cheaper and you get exactly what you want.

This is what I did on mine. It required running conduit under the trailer from the front pass though to roughly mid way back and up into where my breaker box was located. The conduit protects the wire and makes it much easier to run. Also running appropriate size 120v wire is much easier than running appropriate size 12v wire.

The "motorhome" layout does not fit out needs well. They do have some cool design ideas though.

Sounds awesome. I am still in the planning phase, next is the convincing phase 😉

Right now with my toy hauler I am 38" off the ground for my garage, so that is really no different. In theory one of the lift gate stacker trailers would be an awesome base to start from. You are right, they are not set up for RV life. Finding an appropriate HVAC system would be a challenge. I would absolutely add 2 or possibly 3 slides. They would be framed, sealed and powered the same way a traditional RV is. I know there are 3 different main systems.

True, but the "garage" in this would be able to support vehicles that a traditional toy hauler could not. Building a 43' trailer would give me a similar layout to what I have now, but a 15' garage. A 48' box might be nice, but then it starts getting long.

I forgot about them, I will check it out. I dont want a 53' trailer. It looks like there is a standard 43' version. This should be shorter then hooking a 43-45' toy hauler being pulled by a HDT due to where they hitch.

Awesome. A rear door will be a must for me. I am making a toy hauler.

Yes, that is why I am asking the questions now. I know they are not built the same and any time you cut a hole in a structure you need to make sure it is properly constructed. With the trailers already being 13.5' high it might need a roof chop to install utilities on the roof. I am starting to look at the different shapes/makes of trailer. The lower, within reason, the back is, the better. I will be making a toy hauler out of it, I also do not want it so low I can not take it where I take my current toy hauler.

Lots of space. Lots of construction background and experience. I have resources to help with the metal work. My concerns are overall structural integrity, adding slides outs, height as they are 13.5' high before adding roof accessories, just overall unknown thing to look out for that I have not considered.

You don't state what you purpose is. Are you short term camping, making a fixed location, rotating tires, etc. Is there a reason you dont just block it at jack points?

As I said, I can find companies that make them. That is not what I want. I am looking for DIY resources. They make an amazing unit, but I am not shelling out $250,000

With the stuff I posted there is no "conclusion". There is information presented in a way for you to make informed choices. The "conclusion" is whatever you choose to do based on that information. If you only listen to conclusions, then you have to decide who you want to "believe" about whatever the subject is. If you understand the process, or at least the general concept of a process then you will be able to come to your own conclusion or at least follow those that use the same methodology as you. Without this all a person does is end up arguing about who's opinion is "right",

That makes sense. Ultimately he was just explaining how data is collected and how it can be interpreted. I think one of his best qualities is that he explains says what he thinks and why on a matter but does not insist that others do/think the same. On the second video, again he talks about processes, how it work, what he thinks and why allowing the viewer to make their own informed choice.

Is there much information out there about DIY converting semi trailers to RV's? I figure if you are going to have a HDT why not add a worthy trailer. I have spent some time on google and most information just leads back to the companies like that make them for prices that are way out of my budget. I did find, https://www.truckconversion.net/forums/ but most of their material is very dated. I figure for the price of buying a 40-45' 5th wheel toy hauler, I could build a custom trailer that would be more durable for the same or less money. It would also be built exactly how I wanted it. I think 53' might be a bit long, but I do see they make 43' trailers. This would give you the same overall footprint as a large toy hauler.