My toy hauler thread

[supermanotorious]

you guys are the best! here is a top down pic for a better view of the wiring, and the notch I cut for a charging cord

 

[supermanotorious]

Interesting- while putting the microprocessor controlled charger on the 12V output, and the 12V showing as fully charged, I can individually charge the 6V batteries for several hours more. Is that necessary to desulfate the batteries anyway?

 

[supermanotorious]

After the charger indicated the bank was full, charging at 12V, I have only topped off 2/4 6V batteries which each took about 12 hours to do so. Very, very interesting. Here is the 3rd battery, also interesting that despite all the batteries being connected, each individually still reads 6V.

 

[supermanotorious]

Yosemite was a success! However I failed to bring my snowchains (nice $175 fine) and had to have some emergency roadside delivered ($455- yes, my rear end is still sore), forgot a hatchet, could've used a mop. However we woke up every morning for a full week in a beautiful national forest in 72 degree "room" watching tent campers crawl in to their cars to warm up from the 30's outside. It was amazing. The battery bank did great, we were allowed to run the gene for a few hours a day which we did if we were at camp to recharge batteries. Made it home late last night but safe.

 

[chancer]

I love it when a plan Comes together.
Glad to hear you had a great trip.
As far as the chains...Welcome to California bummer. Your family will not remember that part and your kids will ALWAYS remember this trip.

I guess the bright side is you would have spent more than that if you had not done all this awsome work DIY.

 

[supermanotorious]

This is the silly little method I use to weigh the tongue with a bathroom scale. You simply multiply the scale reading by 4 to get the weight. There is a Shell station (I freaking hate Shell BTW) near the house that is not in service but has a perfectly level pad at the gas pumps where I park to do these things.

 

[chancer]

I love it when you HATE a place like Shell, but then take advantage of their Amenities. LOL

My Dad used to go to service stations he Hated the Proprietor and Buy 1 Gallon of gas on the Company Credit Card. Just so they had to pay the processing Fees! Cause they are flat rate per swipe to the business! Hmmm no wonder I get along with Poboy.

The bathroom scale trick is cool. We used to do that with our Stock Car and 4 scales.

 

[supermanotorious]

I hate walmart even more, like if walmart was a guy, I would merck him in the shadows. I haven't spent a dollar in there going on 5 years. Now then, I would have no problem spending a night in their parking lot in the toy hauler if we had to. They don't make any $$ from that. I'm sure they allow it because they "know" the "campers" will come in and spend for one reason or another. But not me, I will starve before I feed that Godless corporation.

---------- Post added at 06:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 PM ----------

BTW Chancer, my old ladie's uncle lives in Lakeside and we try to visit him every couple years, he is a freakin' riot! I'll let you know next trip so we can meet up for some drink.

 

[chancer]

That would be fun. I have a feeling we would get along great. I hate Walmart too.
What about Burger King? They want to save a tree (or a penny) So friggin bad they do not put any Paper towels in the Rest room. and they do not put napkins in the dining room! You have to ask and then they give you Like 2! If I ever do go in, I use like half a pack of toilet seat cover to dry my hands. F that stupid worthless air dryer. Plus the food Sucks.

 

[supermanotorious]

We're loving our rig, this is our third trip in it and it keeps us warm at night! As I tended to the campfire before bed last night, the sky was clear and calm. Took my daughter to her turkey hunt at 3:30 am this morning and there was snow everywhere. I went back to bed and when I woke up around 8 am we had lost all power. I checked battery bank, good voltage. Checked fuses, all good. Guessed it might be that stupid circuit breaker under the trailer, laid down a tarp and got under there, I couldn't tell if it was tripped but I pressed the reset button several times and when I got back in the trailer, power slowly (weird, right?) came back on. I think that breaker is going to get relocated in the near future.

 

[supermanotorious]

I finally addressed 2 things that were driving me nuts regarding our manual fold out stairs. The first was shaving some metal off the bottom outside corners of the lowest step. The aft corner would constantly get hung up on the door if it wasn't unfolded perfectly straight, requiring 2 hands. Removing just a little bit of the steel with a flap disc on my angle grinder from the bottom corners of the stair solved that issue. Then I found some thin flat stock in my "inventory" (fancy word for hoard) and shaped it in to a handle. I removed some paint under the step where I was going to weld it together then did just that. After all was done I used a cardboard "drop cloth" to shield the trailer from some enamel spray paint to prevent rust.

Now dropping or lifting the stairs is a one hand operation!

 

[supermanotorious]

took the rig to the Sitgreaves National Forest this past weekend, stayed a couple miles east of Willow Springs Lake, fell a dead cedar tree and harvested some excellent firewood, how about a little TIG welding among the timbers?!

also, super impressed with myself, made a cord to run only ONE hot leg off the 220v outlet on the generator, along with the common and ground, to provide 110v 25amp service to the trailer, the A/C has a 20amp breaker so as long as we do not turn other appliances on, we can run the A/C off our generator!

 

[supermanotorious]

we're getting better at packing and organizing, goes a long way lol

on the MUST list: create a fold out charging station for phones, mifi's, tablets, you name it, fold out night stands for the loft bed, rope- rope- and more rope, chainsaw, etc

 

[chancer]

on the MUST list: create a fold out charging station for phones, mifi's, tablets, you name it,

I thought the point was the kids leave that stuff at Home!
I used to hate to see my kids staring at Smart Devices all day, Now I stare at this forum all day, and cant say nothin.
Oh wait I AM the Dad, Do as I say not as I do! LOL

 

[supermanotorious]

yeah we limit tablet time but at times, it's 100% needed, as you can see, I'm not raising dainty little girls, I'm raising bad@sses.

 

[chancer]

Right on. There is a sign in my driveway. Hangin on a tree. "No Yuppie Kids"
The kids have a Zip line, a Trampoline, sandbox, swingset, Tractor tire Swing, 3 Go karts 5 chickens, 2 Dogs and 1.5 Acres to play.
That is cool you brought your welder camping~!

 

[supermanotorious]

a friend told me about cedar plank salmon today, we do eat salmon pretty frequently, so I went out back with the hand saw and showed the kids its easier to saw since it has smaller teeth, made 2 planks, one for him, one for us, there is something insanely honest about sawing cedar with a handsaw

I cant wait till we have acreage chancer!

 

[supermanotorious]

I cant even believe what just happened. Just sold the toy hauler for some serious cash. It was pretty emotional letting it go, I put so much love and labor in to it. We plan to buy another but we're going to hold out for a smoking deal, and no rodent issues lol.

 

[chancer]

Sounds like you turned a profit. Made Priceless Memories. Got to DIY it. Awsome.

 

[Poboy kartman]

yeah we limit tablet time but at times, it's 100% needed, as you can see, I'm not raising dainty little girls, I'm raising FreeRunners.

Sorry...