We are not full timers. We are not weekend warriors either. We are lonf distance travellers spending an average of 150 nights on the road a year & usually covering 12-15K miles. Well over 1600 nights to date. We have a genny box, non sound insulated as most are, & the basic wiring is there for the output side of a genny. Nothing complicated there.
We get by just fine with a single Honda 2000. The number of times wishing to be able to run the air while dry camping is less than a dozen total. The generator compartment has served far more usefully as a storage compartment. What I call my morgue because it is awkward to get to & is used to store mostly spares & stuff that is hardly ever needed.
I would not spend big money upfront on something that is not likely to be used much. $4000 buys 2 Hondas plus an awful lot of gas. Most of the time only one Honda will be needed & it will run everything except the air. Two weeks total of dry camping so far this year burned less than five gal of gas.
When that onboard genny needs service you have lost the use of your trailer. When a portable unit needs service you take it to a service center & carry on camping at a W/E campsite.
By nature of the genny box an onboard genny is very expensive to service in no small part because of inaccessibility issues for the tech taking extra time. I have a marine, inboard diesel, mechanic son who constantly complains about inaccessibility to basic service parts like starters.
With an onboard genny you have lost valuable storage space in the genny box.
With an onboard genny you are lugging hundreds of extra pounds around to be used how often?
With an onboard genny a fuel source has to be found. Highly unlikely that your unit has a fuel tank built in already. More install expense & loss of storage.
These are points apparently not thought of. Most don't. The allure of pushing a button & having power overshadows what they later find out about.
If I really & truly found that I wanted a genny with enough umph to power the air I would get a 3kw Honda, or similar, put it in the truck bed, get a good weather cover for it when not in use, which will be most of the time, maybe build a sound shield box for it, devise a method of adding a fan to help keep itself cool, & call it good.
The inverter genny will cost less than the built in, be much quieter than the built in to both you & any neighbours who might be in earshot & not have any of the issues listed above that come with a built in.
