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Old 01-18-2025, 07:12 PM   #1
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So I did a thing today... New RV owner...

I've been looking on and off at travel trailer RVs for the past few years. I've been using an off road trailer with a roof top tent on it for the past dozen years. But I sold my wrangler in 2020 and then sold the Grand Cherokee last summer and now drive a Sierra 1500 pickup. And all of my camping (other than road trips) have been in government campgrounds (just a gravel pad with a fire pit and table, no power/water). It's where my buddies go and they all have 26-30ft rigs. Not worried about towing, I do a lot of that at work and am completely comfortable with this.

Anyway I finally found the perfect RV at a price I couldn't pass up. Fortunately my buddy knew the owner, so when the ad went up the other day, he was able to put in a good word to get me to the top of the list of their callbacks. I officially get ownership on Monday when the bank opens and we'll do the paperwork. And because I live in Northern Canada and wasn't preparing to buy an RV this year, the owner has graciously said they'll store it till spring saving me from moving it on ice and snow covered roads to a storage facility. I have space to store it come summer at my place once the snow melts.

Now to the unit. It's a 2016 Jayco Jay Flight SLX 212QBW. It's in great shape. 25ft long. My criteria has always been a queen bed and a dinette and a full size fridge with a freezer. A nice to have item would be a couch, but could do without. And I wanted it under 25/26ft with ideally dual axles. As a single guy, I don't need a monster trailer. This checks ALL my boxes, including the steal of a price. Online it likely goes for 4-5k more, plus whatever the northern remote price up is. The seller said she'd listed it last fall for 60% more than what I paid and had people kicking tires, but few wanted to spend that in the fall vs spring. Then I hear she got divorced and assume she wanted the money or to sell it now (but would store it?). IDK and honestly don't care... I got a wicked deal.

My only immediate plans are come spring, more solar on it and to find a way to mount some of the large capacity batteries (190AH) I have access to (there's 4 that I can have). I don't think I want those on the tongue at ~136 lbs a piece, and I doubt putting them under the bed, even at the foot (so closer to the center) will take that much off the tongue (even without the stock batterie(s) there). So I'll likely have to get my brother (welder) to extend the rear bumper a little and build a box there to house at least some of these, then just run power back there. I'll then wire in an inverter and thus be able to basically run the trailer off of the DC if needed. Is this needed? Of course not. But I have access to the batteries for free and 90%+ of my camping will be at unpowered/unserviced sites. Most of my camping will be 3-5 nights at a time. I might be able to settle with just two of these under the bed, that might be back enough that it won't murder my tongue weight. But yeah, will find a way to use these.

Aside from that, I'm not sure what else to do or is needed. I suspect I'll be spending a lot of time googling things over the next few months while waiting for the snow to melt.


Here's an image I found online of the same trailer. I'll take some on Monday, but she didn't have any good ones of the side.

Here's the layout:

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Old 01-18-2025, 10:19 PM   #2
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Monday is a Federal holiday, I highly suspect your bank won't be open.

You cannot put Lead Acid batteries inside the trailer. They vent hydrogen fumes. Put two GC2 golf cart batteries on the tongue and be done with it. Be very careful of too much weight aft, you can easily get sway from too light of a tongue weight.

What is your tow vehicle? did you get a weight distribution hitch with it?

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Old 01-19-2025, 04:23 AM   #3
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The OP is in Canada, not sure that Monday will be a holiday there.
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Old 01-19-2025, 04:49 AM   #4
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Nice starter trailer.

Be sure to check the tire age and service the wheel bearings!
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Old 01-19-2025, 07:52 AM   #5
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Congrats on the new trailer. Lots of comfort. Much slower travel.

Battery power

I just sold a Kodiak Cub 20 footer. I used it for dry camping for about 5 years. It had 200 amp hours of AGM batteries located under the rear dinette seat.

AGM, GEL, and Lithium can be mounted under the seat. Flooded cell batteries generally would not be good there. Proper sealing to prevent gas in living space, venting to outside, and acid drainage are a serious problem.

200 amp hours of AGM batteries would allow two of us to stay for 5 days and still have substantial reserve. We did not use 120 volt appliances. Propane was the main source for cooking, refrigeration, and heating.

That 200 amp hours allowed camping in freezing weather down to night time 20 degrees F for 3 days with substantial reserve. The furnace fan was the chief battery power user in freezing weather.

Inverter

We added a 1000 watt inverter for computer and iPad charging. It worked fine on the 200 amp hour battery bank.

An 1800 watt inverter would allow you to run one 120 volt cooking appliance at a time. It would require a 400 amp hour lead acid battery bank for efficient use. It would run appliances like a microwave for short periods. Air conditioning runs for long periods and would require a much larger battery bank.

Generator

A 1000 watt generator could put an 80 to 90% charge into a 200 amp hour lead acid battery bank in about 5 hours using a 35 amp charger. We ran the generator every three to five days to extend stay. We almost never used the generator.

A 2000 watt generator could put an 80 to 90% charge into a 400 amp hour battery using a 60 amp charger. At the same time the generator could run a coffee pot or microwave.

Some people do the 2 hours twice per day thing. Run generator for 2 hours morning while cooking breakfast. Run additional 2 hours evening cooking dinner. Lead acid batteries need to be fully charge 14 hours or more periodically to clean lead sulfate off the plates.

Solar

A rule of thumb for solar is it can harvest 6 hours of full output per full solar day. So a 200 watt solar system could harvest 16 a X 6 h = 100 amp hours per day. Good for long sunny summer days. Rules change when you get close to the arctic circle.

A 400 watt solar system could harvest 32 a X 6 h = 200 amp hours per sunny day. Better for short cloudy spring and fall days.

As long as there is strong sunshine, it would keep you going indefinitely in many cases.
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Old 01-19-2025, 09:00 AM   #6
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Put the batteries on the tongue yu so not want the weight at the rear of your trailer if you do not get it balanced out it will sway all over the place. If they are free i would test them first before you go to the work of installing, charge, test, and then i would test with a load on them and see how long they last. I have 2 agm 6v on my TT with the same reserve and a large portable solar panel so i can capture the best sunlight. I can easily go 3 days and still have lots of battery left. If you pay attention to what you are doing you do not use alot of battery, shut lights off, shut water pump off when not in use, I let hot water tank come up to temp and then shut down until we need it. For coffee we either use the camp fire or i have a mikita cordless coffee pot or i just fire up the gen for a few min to use the house coffee. I found leaving the hot water tank on was the biggest battery drain.
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Old 01-19-2025, 04:33 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CharlesinGA View Post
Monday is a Federal holiday, I highly suspect your bank won't be open.

You cannot put Lead Acid batteries inside the trailer. They vent hydrogen fumes. Put two GC2 golf cart batteries on the tongue and be done with it. Be very careful of too much weight aft, you can easily get sway from too light of a tongue weight.

What is your tow vehicle? did you get a weight distribution hitch with it?

Charles

Tow vehicle is a 2019 GMC Sierra 1500.

The batteries are sealed and do not vent anything. And I already have them, they cost me nothing and even one of them far exceeds the capacity of two GC2 batteries (3x+).



Yeah the rear weight is a potential concern. But even if I don't put the batteries there (will see what 2-3 of them under the bed looks like first) I'll likely be extending the bumper and putting some kind of storage there. The only downside to this model is the front pass thru storage has a pretty small door. I don't even know if my camping chair will fit through the door, and if it will, would be super tight. On the plus side, that will help offset the weight of the batteries.




Quote:
Originally Posted by mokurt View Post
Nice starter trailer.

Be sure to check the tire age and service the wheel bearings!

Tires are new two seasons ago and are in good shape (although not sure of the spare), and I'll take it into the shop I deal with to service the wheel bearings come spring. While no first hand experience with that failing, for the cost, it's easily worth it for the peace of mind it'll bring.
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Old 01-19-2025, 05:22 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Persistent View Post
Congrats on the new trailer. Lots of comfort. Much slower travel.

Battery power

I just sold a Kodiak Cub 20 footer. I used it for dry camping for about 5 years. It had 200 amp hours of AGM batteries located under the rear dinette seat.

AGM, GEL, and Lithium can be mounted under the seat. Flooded cell batteries generally would not be good there. Proper sealing to prevent gas in living space, venting to outside, and acid drainage are a serious problem.

200 amp hours of AGM batteries would allow two of us to stay for 5 days and still have substantial reserve. We did not use 120 volt appliances. Propane was the main source for cooking, refrigeration, and heating.

That 200 amp hours allowed camping in freezing weather down to night time 20 degrees F for 3 days with substantial reserve. The furnace fan was the chief battery power user in freezing weather.

Inverter

We added a 1000 watt inverter for computer and iPad charging. It worked fine on the 200 amp hour battery bank.

An 1800 watt inverter would allow you to run one 120 volt cooking appliance at a time. It would require a 400 amp hour lead acid battery bank for efficient use. It would run appliances like a microwave for short periods. Air conditioning runs for long periods and would require a much larger battery bank.


Solar

A rule of thumb for solar is it can harvest 6 hours of full output per full solar day. So a 200 watt solar system could harvest 16 a X 6 h = 100 amp hours per day. Good for long sunny summer days. Rules change when you get close to the arctic circle.

A 400 watt solar system could harvest 32 a X 6 h = 200 amp hours per sunny day. Better for short cloudy spring and fall days.

As long as there is strong sunshine, it would keep you going indefinitely in many cases.

I'm aiming for 600AH for the bank. More would be nice, but I'd rather not go with less. It'll just be a matter of the weight.


I won't be running the AC (it's rarely hot enough up here for AC, and humidity is usually not an issue). The microwave might happen, but I'm not sure.

Renogy has a 3000w pure sine wave inverter on sale right now. I'll see tomorrow what kind of free space I have on the roof for another panel or three, then place an order with them.

But sadly most of the sites we use are treed and despite 7-9 hrs of average sun a day (and 17-19 hrs of daylight) in the summer, I'm expecting minimal returns here. This is more for when it's parked or traveling. I could use portable ones, but I have a single one of those already and hate setting it up - to the point that for most of last season I just ran my truck a bit each day to charge the starting battery to run my 12v DC fridge. This is why I want a larger bank. 90%+ of the places I camp will be unserviced with no power hook ups. So will run off the bank for the trip and then recharge them at home afterwards unless I get lucky and the sun does it for me, but I won't bank on that.

I have no plans to run or get a generator. I don't winter camp and have no use for one other than the trailer, although recognize that this would be the easiest thing to do.



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Originally Posted by zrock2010 View Post
Put the batteries on the tongue yu so not want the weight at the rear of your trailer if you do not get it balanced out it will sway all over the place. If they are free i would test them first before you go to the work of installing, charge, test, and then i would test with a load on them and see how long they last. I have 2 agm 6v on my TT with the same reserve and a large portable solar panel so i can capture the best sunlight. I can easily go 3 days and still have lots of battery left. If you pay attention to what you are doing you do not use alot of battery, shut lights off, shut water pump off when not in use, I let hot water tank come up to temp and then shut down until we need it. For coffee we either use the camp fire or i have a mikita cordless coffee pot or i just fire up the gen for a few min to use the house coffee. I found leaving the hot water tank on was the biggest battery drain.

With the size and weight of these, I really do not want them on the tongue. I'm not even sure under the bed will be far enough back.

I have an expensive tester at work that I use when I do battery tests at our sites, however it's honestly not really a concern.
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Old 01-19-2025, 05:49 PM   #9
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... rear weight ... if I don't put the batteries there
I'll likely be extending the bumper and putting some kind of storage there. On the plus side, that will help offset the weight of the batteries..
That won't offset the front and rear weight, it will make it worse. It will be easier to pull around by hand, but make it less stable on the road and much more shock on the structure than centrally locating the weight.
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Old 01-19-2025, 06:20 PM   #10
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That won't offset the front and rear weight, it will make it worse. It will be easier to pull around by hand, but make it less stable on the road and much more shock on the structure than centrally locating the weight.
If I put 300 lbs on the rear that will absolutely reduce the tongue weight. It almost certainly will not be a 1-1 reduction, but if I have 450 lbs of tongue weight stock (can't remember the spec here off the top of my head), and then put 300 lbs of weight on the back, and measure the tongue weight again, it will be less.

Yes in an ideal world you load the weight over the axles. That's not going to happen here. Which means the only other options I have are to ensure that the I'm within my weight ratings and keep the tongue weight within the range I'm comfortable with. Too light and the trailer will sway. Too much and I'll overload the truck and have handling issues.

I know next to nothing about RVs, but have been towing trailers most of my adult life.
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Old 01-19-2025, 06:58 PM   #11
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If my brother was a welder and I wanted to mount 600 LB of battery, I'd him to make me a custom rack under the trailer, just in front of the axles. Something that goes in between the frame members and mounts similar to the water tanks. Something that I could raise and lower with a floor jack (or two) so I can easily install and remove it as a completed unit.
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Old 01-19-2025, 07:04 PM   #12
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Also check the CCC and make sure that battery weight plus the solar, plus that big inverter, and everything else you want or bring won’t overload the trailer.
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Old 01-19-2025, 07:50 PM   #13
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Putting a lot of weight on the tongue AND the rear bumper produces what I refer to as a "barbell effect" (there is a technical name for it but I do not know what it is). While it will take a bit of effort to start trailer sway, the effect of the extreme weight both front and rear, will cause the sway to continue, long after it should have stopped.

In physics, the "barbell effect" refers to a phenomenon where, when analyzing a system with distributed weight like a barbell, the most significant impact on its stability or behavior comes from the weights at the extreme ends (like the plates on a barbell), while the middle section (the bar itself) has a relatively smaller influence, causing a disproportionate effect on the overall system; essentially, the extremes matter more than the middle ground

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Old 01-26-2025, 06:12 PM   #14
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I would say you should load the trailer down like you’re going on a 5-8 day camping trip (or whatever exceeds your normal trip by a couple of days) with full propane tanks, full waste water tanks, and how much water in your fresh tank you think you'd have at the end of the trip. Then get your axle weights and see what else (if anything) you can handle according to the ratings on the truck and trailer. THEN start thinking about where/how to mount them (personally I’d just get a propane generator and extra propane tank and haul those in the bed of the truck. I know you don't want a generator. I'm assuming you'd be able to get replacement batteries for free when these wear out, or are willing to pay for replacements with the amount of work that may be involved for your plan).
.
As far as what else to do, I believe other's have mentioned check tire age, repack wheel bearings, check/adjust brakes, and roof/siding sealant. May want to sanitize your freshwater tank and flush your waste tanks while you're at it. Check propane tank age so you're not caught off-guard when you go to get them filled (they might not be original to trailer). There's lots of accessories and consumables you may want to get if you don't have them from your pop-up trailer days... new poop dump hose and a couple boxes of nitrile gloves, blow out fitting for your fresh water plumbing for winterizing, water heater anode rod, spare fuses/light bulbs, ice packs for the fridge/freezer when travelling (assuming you don't have a 12v fridge and don't like towing with propane/fridge turned on), wheel chocks and lego block leveling thingies, those dry-z-air doohickies if you don't use the trailer in winter, etc. Dunno what of those you would have from your off-road trailer with rooftop pop-up.
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