That there, Clark, is an aaarrr veeee

shawn

shawn

running dog lackey of the oppressor class
Administrator
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
Location
Raleigh, NC
We finally brought home our new trailer on Friday night. We got it used from a guy down near Lumberton.

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It's a 2004 36ft Haulmark with two 7k axles. It's got about 18ft of living quarters in the front (counting the neck) and 18ft of garage in the back. Onboard generator, A/C, two-way fridge, microwave, etc.

First order of business was to replace the coupler on the trailer. The latch on the original was damaged and wouldn't lock anymore. So I ordered this self-latching one:

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I ordered it from AdventureRV in TN. Price was about $200 shipped.

The latch is spring-loaded so that it closes automatically. There's also a release cable that runs back to the landing gear so that I can unhook it without having to climb in and out of the bed. I still have to get up there for the safety chains and light connector, but there's less back and forth this way.

The next thing to fix was the wiring. Honestly, that's usually the first thing you end up fixing on any trailer, new or used. Haulmark is no better than others in this respect... every bit of wiring on the trailer was done with Scotchlocks.

After hooking up the trailer for the first time on Friday afternoon, I hopped in the truck, looked down at the brake controller and... nothing. No brakes. "NC", not connected. After doing some initial troubleshooting, I pull the cover off the trailer junction box and find this:

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Sure enough, the scotchlocks on the trailer wiring had corroded and weren't making a connection. I did a quick repair to get us home, then took care of the problem for good on Saturday morning.

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I still need to crawl up under the trailer and redo the brake wire connections at each tire.
 
Oh, we also stopped at the scales on the way home.

Tow rig is a 2003 4wd Dodge diesel quad cab. 3/8s tank of fuel, and the baby and me
in the cab. Trailer was empty and dry except for most of a 33# propane tank.

Steer: 4800
Drive: 6360
Trailer: 7620

Total: 18780

So, basically maxed out on the rears (3195/ea). That drive axle weight will go down with a rig in the trailer, but it'll go back up once the fridge is stocked and there's water in the tanks. I think I might be shopping for new truck tires sooner rather than later.
 
I don't know how she's going to top this next year, but I'm anxious to find out. ;)

And yeah, I took those stupid 5er rails out and installed a B&W right after the Marion race.
 
Here's the interior:

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There's a wet bath behind that door next to the kitchen. It'll sleep about four up front, depending on how short two of those people are. Somebody could sleep in the floor, too.

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braxton357 said:
But, what will you put in the back??
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Dunno yet.

When I first started looking at these, I was hunting for one that my Bronco would fit in. Problem is... the trailer would have to be pretty damn big. The Bronco *might* fit in a trailer that was +1ft extra tall *if* it could back in... and if the rear tires fit between the trailer wheel tubs.

If it wouldn't fit between the tubs, it would have to go on top of them... and that means a trailer that's +1.5ft or +2ft extra tall. Oh, and it would have to be at least 40ft long, too. Maybe a 44ft.

I decided I wanted a trailer that was as small as possible and still had the capacity to carry a small rig in the back. 36ft is about the best you can do and still have a separate camper.

So, I'm on the lookout for a little beater rig. Something super cheap and kinda reliable... so, probably not a Jeep. :flipoff2:
 
RZR XP would be my choice for the back or even 2 of em :D



Nice trailer/aarrrrr veeee! Bri and I are looking for something, prob by Feb and most likely going with a diesel pusher. That darn F350 is cramped with wife, 2 kids, and a 115lb dog :)
 
rockcity said:
RZR XP would be my choice for the back or even 2 of em :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought the same thing... until I realized that one RZR costs more than I spent for the whole trailer. :lol:

I hear you on the cab size, though... right now, Sara goes on one side in the back, one dog gets the rest of the back seat, then the other dog goes in front between Cyd and I.

It.... kinda works.
 
Just a quick update. Cyd got the camper all cleaned up and started stocking it.

I added some Firestone Ride-Rites under the back of the Dodge. Mine doesn't have the big dual-rate overloads, so the air bags should help with the weight. New tires should be here this week.

Took a quick look at the brakes and bearings on the trailer. They could use some new brake shoes, but I may wait until the fall and replace everything but the spindle.

Ordered a pair of wheels for spare tires. They showed up yesterday along with two MaxxAir vent covers, potable water hose, sewer dump hose, breakaway battery, etc. The battery and Maxxair covers are installed. I'll get some photos of the covers. They're pretty sweet.

Not sure where the spare tires are going to go long-term. The trailer doesn't have much space under the floor for storage... and the only places I could build a storage box, I couldn't access once it was loaded. Thinking the tires may go mounted high on the inside walls of the garage.

Got to build a new battery box and finish a rewiring project this weekend.
 
Oh, it's got a huge awning on the PS side already. It's about 20ft long with a checkered flag pattern on it. :lol:

That reminds me, though. I need to roll it out and clean it.
 
Made an awesome discovery this morning.

This camper is one of the ones where you never have to empty the grey water tank.

That's because all the grey water pours out onto the floor under the sink.

So that's nice. Now I've gotta stop at Lowe's on the way to SC.
 
NICE!!! I'd love to have something like that! Sounds like you stole it, if you got it for less than the price of an RZR. I'd trade you an EB for it, but that wouldn't help you out much, would it :D
 
braxton357 said:
So uh, lets see the bulletized list of things that need to be fixed after the maiden voyage.
Click to expand...


Geebus.

I did fix the grey water pipe on Friday night.

  • Then it rained. Turns out, the roof leaks like a sieve. Partly my fault... I noticed the sewer vent boot was broken, but figured if it leaked, it would leak into the shower. It does leak, and it doesn't leak into the shower.
  • On Saturday, the genset quit. Looks like a broken linkage on the carburetor. I'm going to try to repair it this week, then order a replacement linkage if the fix works. Also need to fix the pull cord that I broke and figure out why the electric start has never worked.
  • The shitter plumbing also seems to be messed up. It works, but it doesn't empty very well. I need to take a good look at this.

The trailer has two separate fresh water tanks. I only filled the small one, and we had plenty left over after Cyd and I both showered. So that's good news.

Also, when the generator died on Saturday afternoon, the trailer turned into a 12k pound paperweight. It got hot inside pretty quickly.

I originally thought I'd put a door between the garage and living quarters and let the A/C from the camper drift into the back. Now I'm thinking it would be better to have a second A/C unit in the garage for redundancy. Not sure what I think about the generator yet, but it needs to be 99% reliable also. I don't want to spend the money right now for a nice new one, so I'll have to see what I can do to make this one last.

I'll say this much, though... using the crapper on Saturday afternoon with the A/C blasting was worth every fawking penny we paid for the trailer. Packing up on Saturday night was nice, too.
 
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