Category Archives: Camper Upgrades

45 Gallon Fresh Water Transfer Setup

Camper Upgrades,

One of the more popular articles here is the Fresh Water Transfer Methods; I posted over a year ago. These worked fine for our Starcraft and Fleetwood tent trailers, which had 20 and 26 gallon capacities (including the water heater).

Our Milan is a different animal. It has 100 gallons of fresh water capacity, plus the water heater. Not having to replenish the water has been a camping pleasure. We have gone up to two weeks without the need to add water.

But eventually on one of our long trips, we are going to run out of water. The small capacity solutions we have used in the past aren’t going to be convenient. So I went searching for a new solution.

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ProPride Trailer Hitch 1,000 mile Update

Camper Upgrades, ,
ProPride Pin Point Projection Hitch on our rig.
ProPride Pin Point Projection Hitch on our rig.

I discussed the installation of our ProPride hitch in the post, How much trailer can you tow — part 3.

We have now towed our trailer over 1,000 miles with the ProPride hitch. This has included driving in sustained 30 MPH crosswinds, some freeway travel, and several trips, most of which are around 100 miles round trip. One trip was 450 miles. We also have been subjected to big rigs passing us at high speeds. With all of this in mind, I thought I would share my impressions.

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State of Charge: Your Camper/RV May Be Killing Your Battery Bank

Camper Upgrades, Camping, Solar,

THIS MAY BE CONTROVERSIAL

If you own a camper or other recreational vehicle, it probably has a battery or two or at least is set up for a battery.

If you want to utilize a battery in your RV, battery selection is paramount and probably more important is the proper charging settings.

Now if you only camp in campgrounds with umbilical cords to the power grid, you don’t need a battery bank. But I will suggest that you are missing a lot by “camping” in these virtual parking lots. Get thee out into the more wild areas where there is no electric grid. It is called camping, you know – not Parking.

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Lighting Solutions for Your Camper

Camper Upgrades, , ,

If you don’t camp in full service campgrounds (I hope you don’t) then you are forced to power your camper with a 12 volt battery bank. You may have charging solutions such as solar (preferred) or maybe a generator (I hope not — too noisy).

Milan 2013-10-05 -01415

Camping off the electrical grid requires monitoring your power consumption and in most cases conserving energy to some degree. Most campers come with automotive-type incandescent bulbs, which aren’t very efficient and are power hogs.

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