7x14 H&H Cargo trailer Toy Hauler conversion

[pchast]

I'm wondering what size wire you used on your panel junctions
and the final lead to the controler?

Thanks.

[cornfused]

I have a pair of 12ga wire running from each pair of panels if that makes sense. (That way if I change my mind, I can still wire them back as series parallel from inside the trailer) Once inside the trailer the two pair of 12ga wires merge in parallel to a single 50amp breaker. Then a run of 8ga to the charge controller. Then from the charge controller to the battery there is another 50amp breaker and more 8ga wire.

I chose most of the wire sizes because I knew they would handle the current of the panels and I had it sitting around, so I didn't have to buy more wire.

[cornfused]

I know a few of the people on here are some fair weather people, so I figured I'd throw these up here to show that mine gets used year round. Also it shows off how well my exterior lights work at assisting backing the trailer up at night.

I also added an electric tongue jack to the front of the trailer an it makes it a whole lot nicer to hook up to and level for camping.

[Gonefishin]

Did you get a chance to tow your boat behind the trailer "ball to ball" as you designed? How did that work out? I still want a hitch on the rear of mine for my drift boat, but haven't sprung for it yet, and not sure I want to tow a "wobbly" behind the trailer.

[cornfused]

Nope, I haven't had the chance to try it yet. The trip I had planned fell through and I got too busy the rest of the summer. I ended up only using my boat for one week in July this year

[Rocky5000100]

Those lights look like they are a big help!

[hankaye]

Gonefishin, Howdy;

Did you get a chance to tow your boat behind the trailer "ball to ball" as you designed? How did that work out? I still want a hitch on the rear of mine for my drift boat, but haven't sprung for it yet, and not sure I want to tow a "wobbly" behind the trailer.

You might want to check on the laws governing the double towing. Generally it's restricted to
only behind 5th wheel type RVs. Here's a link that may or may not be helpful, depending on what
you find... http://towingworld.com/towinglaws.cfm

hank

[Gonefishin]

Gonefishin, Howdy;

Did you get a chance to tow your boat behind the trailer "ball to ball" as you designed? How did that work out? I still want a hitch on the rear of mine for my drift boat, but haven't sprung for it yet, and not sure I want to tow a "wobbly" behind the trailer.

You might want to check on the laws governing the double towing. Generally it's restricted to
only behind 5th wheel type RVs. Here's a link that may or may not be helpful, depending on what
you find... http://towingworld.com/towinglaws.cfm

hank

Thanks Hank. Its legal around my parts. We do it all the time with two drift boats towed in tandem to make river launches and shuttles more efficient. But those are trips of 30 miles or less, at speeds of about 50 mph tops, with little other traffic. I would only do it for very short trips close to home anyway, as I just don't think its safe for high-speed interstate driving, long trips, or in the high winds SW Wyoming and vicinity is so well known for. A hitch on my CT would get much more use as a bike rack attachment for me, as I use a bicycle/dirt bike for my own river shuttles when fishing solo.

I live at a major national recreation area that gets flooded with campers, trailers, fifth wheels, jet skis, boats, and every other kind of play toy you can think up. I see ball-mount travel trailers connected to boats with only ball connections every week, and some of them are well over 20 feet, both camper and boat! I wouldn't do it.

[cornfused]

A couple updates. I've now logged about 14,000 miles pulling this trailer around the two years I've had it, mostly down interstates. Around 10k I noticed my wheel bearings had started to loosen up, so I re-adjusted them and they seem to be doing great. (I'm still on the original brakes) I also noticed that the tires on the rear axle wear a little faster than the fronts so I started to rotate the tires on the trailer including the spare to keep even tire wear. I will probably have to put new tires on it sometime this year. This will be the first time I've ever had to replace trailer tires from wearing them out and not from getting old.

This weekend my Camco Air vent cover bit the dust and is now along side the road somewhere. For those interested it only lasted about a year. After about 6 months I noticed it was loosening up from the cheap installation hardware and I re attached it with some good lock-nuts. I noticed then it was starting to get a lot of small cracks in the plastic and figured it's days might be numbered.

The solar has been working great. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of charge I can get now that summer is rolling around and the sun will be at a better angle. Since they are flat on the roof I'm not getting the greatest efficiency (probably 25% this winter), but I knew that going into it and sized it accordingly. Ideally for my altitude I should have them at something like a 45degree angle for year round mounting if that means anything to you. Even so it's still enough to keep my mini-fridge/freezer going 24/7 if I need it and keep my technology charged up.