Questions about Cargo Trailers behind RV

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About to go on an extended cross country road trip. It will be just me and the DW. We'll be driving our 1998 26' lazy daze class c. Rv runs well and only the usual trivial things that happen with rv's to deal with. The issue is last trip we went on I spend more time tripping over all the junk we seem to need to go anywhere. Under storage was full, under bunks, closets, over head bunk all stuffed, and still stuff was on the floor. This time not only are we going to be driving a lot longer, but also staying in the rv for up to 6 months when we arrive. Now I'm not a neat freak, but I do have foot problems that makes stepping on stuff or falling over stuff painful. My solution was to buy a small cargo trailer and put all the extra stuff we're not using at the moment in there. Wife's not thrilled about pulling another trailer since the last one rolled over and just about killed us. Another time different configuration. Anyways.

RV 26' 14.5k lbs max load, empty weight 11.9k lbs Tow weight from book 3.5k lbs. 4 prong flat pin light wires.

Trailer 2000 10x6x 6 wells cargo totewagon. new axle about 5 years ago. 15x5 wheels, getting new radial tires tomorrow.

Questions: Both units are fairly old, what areas should I inspect/concentrate to make sure the factory numbers still apply. There is some corrosion on the trailer frame, but didn't see any structural issues, just paint coming off. I'll be scraping off these areas and hitting the bare metal with some rustolim spray paint.

Not impressed with the way the tow hitch is welded onto the rv, would it be worth while to get someone to look at it and see where it could be beefed up a little?

Hitch ball mounts are a bit sloppy in the receiver. been looking at some of those quiet hitch type devices. Do they work and are they worth using or mostly a pain to work around?

Best way to secure the trailer when not attached? those hitch locks look interesting assuming they're not to cheaply made and come off with a crow bar. I can just see us leaving it at a campground to save our spot while we're exploring the area only to come back and have someone move it and take over our spot.

Suggestions on how to clean the fiberglass sky lights? There's some black spots on them that didn't come off when I washed it this morning.

With a line of screws along the side why would only one be corroded?

Anything else I should know about towing one of these? I've towed big travel trailers (until I wrecked the last one) don't want any issues because I was being ignorant.

[mowermech]

A quick Krylon overhaul will mask any trailer that has "special" paint or decals.
any "safety" lock can probably be defeated with a small Victor "hot wrench" (one of those little oxy/acetylene cutting torches in the pack-around case. I have one. handy little bugger!).
Every time I think of "security", I think of the day when I spent all afternoon installing the latest and greatest kitchen drawer and cupboard door "child proof security locks" in our kitchen. By the time I got the last one installed, the 4 year old boy had figured out how to open them. Quite simply, a total waste of money and time!
ANY lock is merely a device to keep honest people honest.
A truly dedicated crook has the tools at hand to defeat anything we can put on a trailer: Crowbar, 5 pound hammer, chisel, sawzall, cutting torch, whatever he needs, he (or she) has it or can readily get it!
Of course, we can still try to keep thing secure, but we shouldn't be too surprised when it fails.
good luck.

[photobug]

Researching trailer security, there are a couple of interesting videos out that show just how easy it is to defeat a lot of the "cost effective" solutions. pretty much anything that uses a padlock that you can get a set of bolt cutters on is about worthless. The round locks they sell at storage places, some guy picked it in less that 20 sec. The puck type locks seem to be the best for the doors, if they're the right size to fit over your hasp, they tend to be a bit shallow. Cheep hitch locks cant seem to stand up to a good crowbar and usually break and pop off within 30 sec. If all else fails they can just grab the safety chains and haul it off with them. My thoughts are unless I want to spend $300 for an armored hitch lock, it would be better to make it so the trailer doesn't roll if you don't want it to. I ended up buying what looks like the club for your steering wheel. It runs through one of the holes in the wheel and hooks onto the leaf spring, then locks on the outside. won't allow for the wheel to turn. As far as pulling it with the safety chains, why not just make them so they come off easily. Gated s hook or some type of caribeaner you just take the things off when you're not using them. I know nothing will make it completely theft proof, Sawzall with a metal blade through the side will defeat the door lock. Tow truck with a lift will pick the whole thing up and move it, but at least won't be easy to just walk off with without someone noticing. Someone said making the trailer distinctive will make it less liable to be taken since you can identify it driving down the road. maybe I should paint it to match the MH

[SweetLou]

F1bNorm wrote:
Re: back-up camera. You mentioned mounting in the hitch area. I think it would be better near the roof of your MH. Up high you can see the top of the trailer and its easier to line up. Also you can see traffic over the top.

If not included, I would get a removable wheel for the hitch jack. It will make hitching up easier. Bring the trailer to the MH, not MH to the trailer. Make sure you remove the wheel and crank the jack all the way up or you will bend or break it on the first driveway!

I would think that in his set up it would be a must have, especially when the cargo trailer is only a single axle.

[Lwiddis]

No, no, no, Mkrisch! The stuff in the trailer will be the back up stuff to the things in the MH (which of course has its own back up stuff)....extra 20 pairs of socks, 12 gallons of emergency gasoline etc. Another idea is to buy a second MH for more stuff...and a trailer for second MH's back up stuff.

[photobug]

F1bNorm wrote:
Re: back-up camera. You mentioned mounting in the hitch area. I think it would be better near the roof of your MH. Up high you can see the top of the trailer and its easier to line up. Also you can see traffic over the top.

If not included, I would get a removable wheel for the hitch jack. It will make hitching up easier. Bring the trailer to the MH, not MH to the trailer. Make sure you remove the wheel and crank the jack all the way up or you will bend or break it on the first driveway!

I've already got a backup camera mounted above the back window on the MH I can see both sides plus the hitch with it, but is blocked from seeing behind when the trailer is attached. Been thinking of the garmin wireless backup camera that connects with the gps unit on the dash. Assuming it works through all that metal, could mount it between the clearance lights on top of the trailer. Probably power it that way, although I'd have to have the lights on when ever I needed to use it.
Trailer came with a 6" wheel to attach to the bottom of the jack. I used to have a 17' ski boat, so I'm assuming that this thing won't be any more difficult to hook up than the boat was.

[mkirsch]

It's one thing if you actually USE the stuff you bring along. My worry here is they'll move all the excess stuff to the trailer, then proceed to pack the RV full of stuff all over again, ending up with the same problem.

On this trip, really buckle down and pay attention to what you use and don't use. You might even go so far as to mark the items you use with a piece of tape or your first initial in an inconspicuous place with a Sharpie. Anything that hasn't been "tagged" after 6 months on the road is unnecessary weight and bulk that you're bringing along for absolutely no reason.

The obvious exceptions are basic tools and safety equipment. These are items you may need but hope you'll never use. Obviously you don't need a complete shop, just enough wrenches, hammers, and pliers to make basic repairs.

[Bedlam]

Scottiemom wrote:
Learn to get by with less. We live in our motorhome. . . true, it's a 40'er, but why do you need so much stuff? Are you taking 6 months worth of food? Clothes at the most should be a few pairs of jeans, shorts, shirts, and undies. You can do laundry on the road. Why do you need to have every crevice filled with junk, then haul a trailer for the rest of it?

We took our 22' B+ to Alaska for 3 months. I had her packed full, more food than anything else because we had heard about high prices for staples in Alaska. But everything fit in cupboards, don't have anything laying around on the floor. I took way more than we needed though. We had 3 changes of jeans, a week of undies, maybe 6 shirts, an insulated vest, hoodie and one heavier coat. We were limited on space for everything, but we were good to go.

We did add a trunk on the back for tools, the grill, etc. That might be a better solution. Put a truck in your receiver on the back.

Less is more.

Dale

I tow a 20’ enclosed trailer behind my truck camper giving me a combined length a little over 50’. It carries extra water, fuel and LPG for boon docking, motorized and pedal powered vehicles for sight seeing, outdoor furniture and tools. What can I say? I’m a guy that likes to bring his garage along. The trailer also allows to buy bulk items instead of expensively packaged smaller quantities and even has clothes line run inside to allow us to dry clothing regardless of weather.

[Lwiddis]

“I towed it with my van up and down the highway at 70+ didn't have an issue. I don't plan to be driving the MH that fast anyways, uses too much gas.“

Oh yes, that’s the only reason to not drive 70+ towing...gas mileage.

[F1bNorm]

Re: back-up camera. You mentioned mounting in the hitch area. I think it would be better near the roof of your MH. Up high you can see the top of the trailer and its easier to line up. Also you can see traffic over the top.

If not included, I would get a removable wheel for the hitch jack. It will make hitching up easier. Bring the trailer to the MH, not MH to the trailer. Make sure you remove the wheel and crank the jack all the way up or you will bend or break it on the first driveway!

[photobug]

Had to replace a rear brake light on it this afternoon, weird attachment, rubber grommet holding the whole light assembly in. Just pushed on it a little and it just popped right out. Assembly and me perplexed how to change the bulb. Didn't seem any way of opening it without breaking the housing. Fred Meyer had the same size assembly with LED bulbs. Just cut the old ones off and crimped on a new set. Wouldn't you know, one side had about 4' of extra wire, the other side had to reach inside to access wires. Thinking of a dab of silicon sealant around the edges to weather seal a bit more, there was some corrosion under the grommet. New license plate, all the standardized mounting holes were stripped out, Previous owner had drilled new holes in the plate, didn't have a drill with me. It's safety wired onto the rear door until I can find a better solution.

[hotjag1]

I doubt that you will have any problems pulling or stopping that little trailer with your current motorhome. I don't think you will even know it is behind you unless you look in your camera or mirrors. You have stated that you really won't have anything very heavy in it, just bulky items.

It almost looks like you could pivot it or move it back and forth a little bit by hand with a wheel on the tongue jack if necessary. If I was doing what you are doing for 6 months, I would definitely pull that little trailer for the same reasons you want to. It would get tiresome really quick having to step over and around things in the MH. As others said, make sure the bearings are in good shape and fresh grease.

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I chose this trailer for a couple of reasons. First single axle vs dual, two extra tires and axle toll. Max Gross Weight for the whole thing is about 3k lbs, which is less than the tow rating on the motorhome. Using the dual, I'd be tempted to overload the thing. Empty weight and max gross weight are less than the minimums required for trailer brakes. As nice as it would be, we're looking at $400 or so for a brake system plus wiring the controller to the MH. That's assuming the axles have be correct plates to mount the brake housings. It's been said to just leave the extra stuff at home. Problem is, once we leave, there is no home. I'll be living out of the rv for 6 or so months before I find a new home. I'm not even sure at this point where this new "home" will be, so shipping it forward isn't an option. I'm looking at the garmin wireless back up camera that connects to the gps. Ive got one hard wired from the back of the HM to the stereo in the cab. PIA to get it all wired, not sure I want to deal with that again especially with a connection at the tow hitch area. The whole thing is for carrying bulky items that take up all the room inside the MH so I'm not tripping over things for the next 6 months or so. That and easy access to the bikes so I'm more tempted to use them than try and drive around town in the MH.

[mowermech]

Also consider the fact that the braking requirements for trailers vary according to what state you are in. some states require brakes on trailers over 1500 lbs. unladen (empty) weight, some require brakes if the trailer is over 3000 lbs. GVWR, some go by the actual weight of the trailer.
My personal choice would be the smallest tandem axle trailer, with brakes, I could find. If at all possible, I avoid single axle trailers, although my little ATV trailer is single axle.
IMO, "Bearing Buddies" are marginally acceptable for boat trailers, but not a good thing for any other trailer. I would not use them. Trailers with grease fitting on the spindle end are good IF the lubrication instructions are followed EXACTLY! One little mistake could result in a blown seal and a big mess. An annual or biennial inspection and repack, replacing the seals, is a good idea.
Have a good trip.

[SweetLou]

They all gave you sound advice. I would also look into what it costs to put a camera back there. Would be nice to be looking at things as you drive like is it still back there. Make sure you have a spare tire as well for the trailer.