Recommended Dry-Camping Mods to a Small TT

69 Avion wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
You haven't mentioned anything about your holding tank capacities. Will they be a problem?

Fresh water capacity and holding tank capacities are usually the limiting factor. Whatever capacity that is "enough", also weighs a lot. At 8.33# per gallon, it adds up fast.

May likely be indicative of my lack of experience, but I'm not overly concerned with having to "pony up" a discharge fee and haul such a small unit (<19 feet) 15-30 minutes out (while the family makes lunch) to a nearby campground or state park facility. In western PA, we've got them "all over".

Not the same problem as running out of gray water space in a very (truly) rural area. Kind of spoiled around here...but also kind of sad that we don't have real, "wild" areas.

I have a few 5 gallon water jerry cans too...I wasn't that concerned with drinking/gray/black tanks...but should I be? :)

Thanks!

2gypsies wrote:
You haven't mentioned anything about your holding tank capacities. Will they be a problem?

Fresh water capacity and holding tank capacities are usually the limiting factor. Whatever capacity that is "enough", also weighs a lot. At 8.33# per gallon, it adds up fast.

You haven't mentioned anything about your holding tank capacities. Will they be a problem?

granlobo wrote:
Thanks everyone for their thoughtful and informative posts on the site...I've enjoyed and benefited from them immensely!

I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts regarding the following:

We're looking to graduate up from tent camping to a small TT. Personal preferences and allegiances aside, the best overall choice for us (factoring in cost, features, tow vehicle appropriateness, sleeping capacity, etc) is an r-pod.

>75% of our anticipated use will be in a "dry camping" capacity in designated DCNR sites...we're definitely not "campground" folk. Most of our trips initially will be of the 2-3 day variety, with a desire to complete several 3-week-long "loops" across the country down the road.

I'd much rather roll certain "upgrades" into the initial loan/purchase of the r-pod instead of being confronted with deficiencies during our first full summer/fall of use next year.

A few things I thought of:

A) The 20 lb LP tank on front...recommended to upgrade to a 2-tank bracket configuration? Overkill for only 3 days when running only the water heater, fridge, and cooking stove for meals?

B) The unit comes "stock" with only one 12V deep-cycle battery. Seems like a good candidate for an upgrade. Will they sit 2 of them side-by-side in parallel? Have a 2nd one alone to "swap out" while the other is charged? Etc.

C) Any special wiring (significant enough that you'd want it installed at the dealership) to "trickle charge" 1-2 batteries with a solar panel?

D) Success/recommendations on which type of panel? I like the "mats" that drape over the contours of the r-pod itself...but a toughie if you're under a shade canopy. Stand-alone that can be moved and connected via a cord to a nearby, sunnier location?

E) I'm not overly excited about buying a generator...cost-wise OR the fact that state/national parks may not permit them around here. A good idea to purchase one of those 26-30 amp-hour "recharging stations" for any portable devices we have with us? And to dump into the deep-cycle battery in a pinch?

Anything else that I'm forgetting? I'd really like to get any bread & butter (expected) upgrades rolled into the initial loan/purchase so that we can focus on enjoying the unit and be confident in our ability to go off-grid for 2-3 days.

Thanks!

A: I would look at getting the twin bracket and an auto-changeover regulator. It means you always have a spare stored in a secure place.

B: Depends on the room on your trailer hitch. If width is an issue, but height isn't, I'd consider two six volt, deep cycle, golf cart batteries that are in series. That will effectively act as one 12 volt battery. This is a proven configuration that works for a lot of people on rv.net.

C: Make sure to get a multi-stage RV converter. A single stage will boil your batteries.

D: Not sure. If the "mats" work, go for it. Perhaps both, assuming you have room for the panel stand and the mat when packed up and on the road. I'd consider a MPPT charge controller... more expensive, but makes the most out of what limited panel space you have.

E: Not familiar with the "recharging stations". If they are the "power packs" that have a small battery in them, they are OK for running a CPAP overnight, but not much else. I'd highly recommend going for a 2000 watt Honda eu2000i model generator, which is also a known good solution that a lot of people found works well for them.

beemerphile1 wrote:
You are getting good advice but----
Virtually any RV can dry camp/boondock for 2-3 days just as it comes from the factory.

I would suggest that you simply buy it and go camping. Over time you will figure out what you need to change. There is no point in spending money now on things that won't benefit you at all. The one exception might be a second battery.

X2
With the addition of changing the light bulbs to LED's. Real easy to do and should be cheaper if you do it rather than the dealer.

Steve

granlobo wrote:
I'd much rather roll certain "upgrades" into the initial loan/purchase of the r-pod instead of being confronted with deficiencies during our first full summer/fall of use next year.

If they are throwing some of these items to make the deal, then its not a bad idea. However, "rolling" these add-ons into the loan might not be the best approach. I know it means you don't have to pay for them right now, but the overall cost of financing these add-ons over time might not make sense financially.

It is important to understand that the minute your trailer rolls off the lot, it will lose significant value. The add-ons will never "add" the same amount of value to your camper for resale that you will pay over time financing it.

From what you describe from your intended travels (and based on my own experience starting small and then going big), I think you might realize down the road in a year or two that a bigger trailer will be in order. Its very easy to find yourself upside down (unless you are making a big down payment and I missed that somewhere).

It sounds like you have some fun trips planned. What tow vehicle are you using?

Matt

You are getting good advice but----
Virtually any RV can dry camp/boondock for 2-3 days just as it comes from the factory.

I would suggest that you simply buy it and go camping. Over time you will figure out what you need to change. There is no point in spending money now on things that won't benefit you at all. The one exception might be a second battery.

granlobo wrote:
Thanks for all of the great info!

Regarding the 6V batteries...a lot of people seem to like that.
The r-pod has an on-board battery monitoring system (not that you can't check it yourself with a multi-meter, but I don't want to start out by invalidating that system), which means I'd need to put two 6V in SERIES to get back to 12V. No biggie.

Yes, put the 2 6V in series to get back to 12V. The common standard size most people use for the 6V batteries is GC2 (gulf cart batteries). If you see people refer to T-105, that's the Trojan model number for the same thing.

Given that we have concerns with kids & wasted battery...I think I'd still want to go with a 2nd battery, which in this case, would mean a 2nd pair of 6V batteries.

2 "sixes" in series to make 12V. A second set of "sixes" in series to make 12V. Probably neatly arranged in readily-available battery trays/boxes. Instead of trying to put the 1st pair in parallel with the 2nd pair (getting into a lot of wires on the tongue of the vehicle at that point), I'd probably be inclined to leave the 2nd set off and swap out the batteries set-for-set when the first pair hit 50%. Sound OK?

Rather than carry another 2nd pair of 6V, you could just carry the original 12V that came with the trailer and switch to it if the two 6V go dead. I did that for a while, until I realized I was never actually needing to switch. :)

IMO, you definitely wouldn't want to put 4 6V on your tongue - they're quite heavy, which would likely add too much to the tongue weight.

Regarding your 115W panels...do you find that these functionally prolong your battery life while camping? I've heard it said that they DO...and also heard it said that they're more for maintenance and re-charging when not in use. Depends on the output wattage?

It prolongs my battery life significantly. How much depends on how big the panel is (output wattage) and how much you consume. For us, if we're not running the furnace and camping in the open the 115W panel is more than enough - before the end of the day the batteries are fully charged. If we're in trees (panel is shaded part of the day) it extends how long we can go without needing to recharge the batteries in some other way to around 8-10 days (about twice what we could do without solar). If we're running the furnace every night while camping in a somewhat shady site, 4-5 days (again, about twice as long).

At the time I bought my trailer smallish panels like mine were still quite expensive, so putting more wattage on was out of the picture. These days the cost has come down quite a lot so there's really no reason to not have 200 or so watts.

Things that (IMO) aren't practical while using solar: AC, any kind of electric powered cooker (including coffee pot - we use a pore-over filter for coffee and heat the water on the stove), electric powered refrigerator, cooler, or freezer (the RV fridge runs primarily off propane when not hooked to shore power, only using 12V for the control circuitry), electric powered heater, hair dryer or curling iron.

It's possible to still run 120V AC devices while using solar - with an inverter (device that converts DC to AC). For such things I have a small 300W pure sine wave inverter. How to very roughly figure the 12V DC amps used by something that runs off of 120V AC: Take the wattage of the device and divide by 12 (if using a true sine wave inverter) or 10 (if using a modified sine wave inverter - most things run less efficiently on them).

E.g. If a household fan says it consumes 60 Watts, it will pull roughly 5 amps using a pure sine wave inverter, or 6 amps using a modified sine wave inverter. (Over the course of 24 hours, it would need 120 - 144 amp hours.)

How that figures into solar: Assume a panel sitting in the open will produce 100% it's rated output for 5 hours a day (reality is that it will produce less than that for longer - it's a ballpark number). Take the rated wattage of the panel and divide by 12 to get amps: e.g. 115W panel will produce 9.6 amps. Multiply by 5 (5 hours) to get the total amp-hours produced: 48 amp hours. So, running the above example fan, the batteries would still go dead - the panel is producing less than the fan is consuming in a day (so don't leave the fan on :) ).

Also keep in mind if camping in the woods: I get roughly 1/4 the output when in partial shade, and about a tenth in dense tree cover. Cloudy days affect things too, but less so than heavy shade.

granlobo, you asked about our battery setup -- I think you can definitely fit two on the tongue in plastic boxes. I reinforced the tongue with heavy steel bars running crosswise under the boxes, and the boxes are bolted to the bars. Probably overkill, but why not?

And yes, we do use one battery at a time and then swap 'em when the first one reaches 12.1 volts or 50 % state of charge. Lots of people say 6 volt is better, and using two batteries at once is better, and they are probably right on both counts. But big 12 volt batteries are cheaper and easily available. And not using both at once means that you don't end up with both discharged at once -- after swapping them out, I recharge the drawn-down battery.

I am sure that solar will be helpful, although I do not yet have it. But my best advice is not to try to get your rig in perfect condition all at once. Do some camping and then see what needs upgrading or fixing.

You don't change out the fixture, just the incandescent bulb in side. I saw someone picked up a 10 pack for $23 off of amazon a few days ago.

How big is the air conditioner? That will decide how big of a generator you need. The least expensive reputable quieter set up would be a pair of Champion 2000w inverter generators that can be paralleled together for a grand or less. There are other options with a single inverter generator but they can be near as loud as my 3500/4000 open frame. It works for us because we rarely need AC at high altitude, rarely camp around others and with the solar doing the charging, it truly is the quietest around since it never runs.

Our last trip had a few cold and rainy days. We didn't conserve even though the panel was putting out minimal power, in fact we used more than usual. Luckily the sun came out the third day or I would have been thinking of a alternate means of charging. This year we have upgraded the solar to 490w, will use our full bank of 345 ah and with a 3000w inverter can use the microwave, a hair dryer and a satellite system for the TV too.