First travel trailer?

[Redwoodcamper]

I have been camping and towing equipment trailers for 15 yrs, but always resisted travel trailers. Always preferred tent camping, but getting older and have a cross country trip with the wife this coming fall. We camp in areas with rough roads and switchbacks too tight for a 25+ ft trailer. At the same time we wanted something with a heated underbelly, full fridge and freezer, walk around queen bed, and double axle. We ended up signing papers on a keystone bullet 204rbw. Picking it up Monday. I'm very mechanically handy but still have a few questions starting out.
First, it has a Murphy bed. Anyone upgrade theirs with mattress toppers or pads?
How long will the fridge run on two 20gal tanks? Roughly.
Has anyone got a solar kit off Amazon? Looking at the 200watt kits. This should help us dry camping and on our long trips.
Anything in particular I should check on pickup?

I've been reading the stickies and FAQs for days. Thanks for the help. Nice to have help when jumping into this.

[Redwoodcamper]

Great responses. Thanks for the help. I understand that 6v batteries don't hold more power or anything, it just seems like they are more cost effective and take a little more abuse. I am also thinking of hooking up some larger gauge wire from my truck batteries to help charge faster when I travel. I don't expect to use that much electricity. Just me and the wife.

[afidel]

For the propane question this was shamelessly stolen from another forum:

There's approximately 91,500 btu's in a gallon of propane. I have a 12 cu/ft Norcold refrigerator that burns 2400 btu/hr. So one gallon of propane will last about 38 hrs. However that's if the refrigerator runs constantly. Again, assuming it runs for 8 hours out of a 24 hr. period a gallon of propane should last about 5 days. Naturally it all depends on how hot the outside temperature is, how full the refrigerator is, the temperature setting and how often you open the door. If you have a 30 gallon propane tank it should last about 150 days.

[yillb]

SoundGuy wrote:

Redwoodcamper wrote:
If I need two more batteries for more amp hrs I can stash them in the front pass through.

AGMs sure, but you wouldn't want to be storing conventional flooded in the front pass through cargo compartment. 😉

As far as the fridge is concerned you'd draw down the batteries l-o-n-g before you ran out of propane. And FWIW, you don't have two 20 gal tanks but rather two 20 lb tanks - BIG difference. 😉

I'm not sure why you'd think 2 6v will hold more power for solar? A super expensive super high rated 6v comes in around 220ah

A high level 12v comes in at 280ah. It would take tqo batteries to equal the same reserve output, that makes no sense. Two of those 280ah batteries would power about 25amps worth of stuff for about 15 hours. If Assuming ideal solar conditions, and 5 peak solar hours a day, you need 2400/5, or 480W of solar. You can buy two 250W panels which would cover this. you have 200 watt solar panels filling those two batteries, and if you were using heavily, you could fully charge them this way. This of course assumes you're just working with 200ah batteries as that's the "norm". The weight difference will be about 6 pounds from 12v to 6v, unless you were to use a series with the 6v batteries extremely high capacity 6v batteries often weigh more than 12v batteries with the same output..

I guess what I'm trying to say..... get two 250 watt panels, and two 12v 200+ah batteries and you'll likely be able to boondocks until your propane /tanks get full 🙂

To give some insight this https://www.amazon.com/RENOGY-Premium-Solar-Panel-Polycrystalline/dp/B00HKLN1I0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1489934926&sr=8-3&keywords=300+watt+solar+kit would charge your single 12v battery in about 6 hours, if you were in the sun all day. Your batteries would charge and drain during the day and useable overnight. two of these units wouldn't work because of the controller having a max of 400 watts. Once you start getting into 6v systems, even wired for 12 your capacity rarely goes up enough to warrant the 6v system. At that point the only real benefit is weight.

[wing_zealot]

"We camp in areas with rough roads and switchbacks too tight for a 25+ ft trailer."
Areas I'm familiar with that have rough roads and switchback aren't conducive to wide open sky needed for solar power.

[SoundGuy]

Redwoodcamper wrote:
If I need two more batteries for more amp hrs I can stash them in the front pass through.

AGMs sure, but you wouldn't want to be storing conventional flooded in the front pass through cargo compartment. 😉

As far as the fridge is concerned you'd draw down the batteries l-o-n-g before you ran out of propane. And FWIW, you don't have two 20 gal tanks but rather two 20 lb tanks - BIG difference. 😉

[Redwoodcamper]

I'm gonna weld up a bracket for at least two large 6volt batteries in the tongue area. I'm a decent metal fabricator. If I need two more batteries for more amp hrs I can stash them in the front pass through.
Good to know about the fridge. Thanks.

[donn0128]

The gas burner in an RV refer takes so little gas it is really not of a concern. You will use more gas making a pot of coffee.
As for solar? Solar is useless unless you have enough storage capacity. So first things first, where are you going to place two or three more batteries?
Your next big issue when boon docking is water, both fresh and waste. Most places do not allow waste water being dumped on the ground, so forget that thought.
Storage tank sizes are really going to a problem with that trailer I would think for than a night or two boon docking.

[westend]

This portable panel setup from Solar Blvd is a bit less than what you were looking at but seems like a good deal.

Two 20 lb cylinders should run your fridge for a couple of weeks, I'd think, maybe longer.