Baby toy haulers. Yay or nay

Ah, back on the generator side of things. For a real toy hauler, get a Honda EU7000 and you won't have to worry about what is running. Capable of backing up the important stuff at your house if there is a power outage. Sell it for 75% of what you paid 10 years from now. If that is too rich, go with at least a Yamaha EF 4500. Or do what others said above and mess with fueling, lugging, maintaining and setting up two generators. Only problem I have had on my 10 year old EF3000 is a rotted starter cord (electric start still worked fine).

 

The new Onan 4500 has been popular out here. Surprised to not see it mentioned.

 

We got the Catalina Trailblazer 19'. We picked it up just before everything got cancelled this Spring, so the only use its had was a quick day trip to Roebling.

I already have a 2000 watt Champion Inverter Generator that I've been pretty happy with. I was hoping to get a larger generator and not have to make room for 2 of them. Those big Hondas are nice but are well over what I have in the budget.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm leaning towards a 3500 watt unit. I guess during the hot seasons, inwould have to bring both generators but could limit it to one once the weather cools off. I've been eyeing up the Champion Dual Fuel. Anyone have experience with it? It seems to have favorable reviews and I've had good luck with my 2000w model.

 

Ah, didn't get to look at the Catalinas because no dealerships around me carry me them.

If I recall I skipped the Champion and the Costco Firman because of the fuel tank size. I know the Firman for sure has a smaller tank, can't remember on the Champion. The HF/Northern Tool 3500's have a pretty good size tank. For $600-$700 they are a great buy. Only thing I wish it had was a remote start option.

I've never seen an Onan as a portable gen, only as built ins. A lot of these toy haulers(mine included) don't have a spot for a built in unfortunately. I do like running the quiet portable inverter generator while sleeping at night so don't mind not having a built in.

 

Predator 3500 inverter. Cheap, Honda quiet, and I’ve run my toy hauler A/c and a set of warms at the same time no problem.

 

That is a nice new layout. Good to see the Adrenaline expanding, there was only one when we were looking last year. Like 2Blu said though the tongue will be pretty heavy for a relatively short trailer.

 

We had just the opposite experience...it died on us two race weekends in a row after being fine for 2-3 weekends. I didn't buy it to work on it and hope it works...returned for a full refund. Bought a Honda Eu3000is and have never looked back...flawless.

 

Picked this up a week or so ago. 2016 Wolf Pup 17rp. Seems pretty well built and a lot more comfortable to sleep in at the track than my current trailer. Big plus to me was being able to climb in and fall asleep without unloading the bikes if I had to. Already put new 10 ply tires on, new brakes, and bearings. The old ones looked fine but the grease was runny and it’s cheap insurance in my book. Fixing some neglected stuff and doing some mods for more storage and I’ll be ready to go! Also taking off the stickers.

 

Absolutely can't go wrong with the big ass Honda/Yamaha generator and run everything off of that. Couple of problems with that though: Expensive, and all your eggs in one basket. Very high buy in price, and in the rare event something goes wrong with it, you're left with nothing. I ended up with my current setup by chance, but I love using just the HF Predator 3500 for the toy hauler only, and using my little Yamaha 2k unit for tire warmer duty. A 3500 generator is NOT enough to run anything more than 1 set of warmers, a 13.5 BTU A/C, and the refrig. Anything else and you WILL have the occasional breaker trip/genny over load shut down. The 3500 doesn't shut off when it gets over loaded, so if you're not listening for the A/C, your tire warmers could have been off for 20-30min (if you're doing registration, between sessions, whatever) and not even know it. If it's just me for that weekend and the temps are reasonable enough that I know I'll never turn on the A/C, I'll just use the 3500 for warmer duty as well and not bother pulling out the little genny.

My setup: 13.5 BTU A/C, 1 set of tire warmers, 1,000 watt microwave.

A/C unit on, tire warmers, small electronics (fan/cell charger/etc): OK
A/C unit and microwave: OK
A/C unit, microwave, and tire warmers: No go. You will overload the genny
A/C unit, small electronics, and 2 sets of warmers: Right there on the edge...and given the right situation (tires are stone cold and using maximum wattage from warmers or whatever), you'll overload the genny.

Or, you just use the 3500 for hauler duties only, and use a second genny ONLY for tire warmers.

The 3500 just running the hauler will run the A/C, microwave, and your normal electronics all day. Granted, if you had a EU7000, never a problem, ever. Hell, you could even "sell" power to your buddy and just ask him to keep gas in generator...but of course a bigger load just means you'll be using more gas.

Or, you can buy the 3500 genny, shit, you could buy two of them, for under $1500 with tax. Mine has 400+ hours and going strong. So it might only have 80-90% of the life span that a Honda offers...big fucking deal. I could buy 3 of em and still be ahead.

Biggest thing with the 3500 genny is keeping that exhaust screen clean. Every oil change, unscrew that access panel, take out the 1 8mm bolt holding it on, and use brake cleaner and spray out that screen. Mine plugged up around the 300 hour mark and had no idea until the generator wouldn't run because the exhaust was plugged up. It does help it run quieter, so just don't yank it out.

 

+1 @Wheel Bearing

When we had our Toyhauler it had a 5-5500 watt built in generator that could power everything. 99% of the time, I would use a Yamaha 2000 or 2400 (2 bikes) to power the warmers. The generator in the Toyhauler was just used for running the A/C, microwave, fridge, etc.

I figured it might save some gas that way, but I also liked to see the generator and the warmers and be able to easily control everything when Tyler went on and off the track. Plus the little Yamaha is super quiet and the trailer genset was a little louder.

 

In my old hauler with a 5500 as well, it wasn't the generator output that I would be concerned with. These modern haulers are fucking built cheap...and some of them have under sized wiring throughout. So if you're trying to pull a set (or 2, for 2 bikes) of tire warmer juice through the toy hauler outlet on the outside, that's more than likely on the same circuit as the interior outlets...ehhhhhh. I'd be careful. Again, had some problems where I had overloaded that circuit and popped the breaker, only to come back to the pit and see the tire warmers not on with no idea how long the breaker had been popped. They are only 15amp circuits. Set of warmers draws about 6-8 amps (depending on brand, this is just generalities). If you were running two sets of warmers...it takes one extra little fan running inside to pop that circuit.

If you're serious about the weekend (big race/Moto A event/etc), no substitute...tire warmers get their own little genny. Zero chance of the toy hauler giving you any interference with tire warmer operation.

 

I just picked one up. Obviously haven’t used them at the track but it ran my A/C and microwave at the same time (fridge was on gas at that moment). I really like the remote start too.

And speaking of trailers... just made a trip from OH to NorCal. Pretty much fully loaded. I tow with ‘16 F-150 3.5 Ecoboost. The trailer is the XLR Hyper Lite 27HFS. With a properly set up W/D hitch I had plenty of capacity on my drive axle with the trailer weight being just shy of 8k pounds. For the most part I had no issues towing it. Gas mileage sucked going against wind in NM but in some of the flatter spots in NV I saw it climb to 10-11 mpg. I wasn’t exactly flying averaging 65mph. You definitely feel the trailer especially in crosswinds, but I didn’t have any “oh shit” moments. There was one time when the trucks sway control kicked in while coming down a steep grade with a big semi passing me. I’d say that was a proper test of the truck/trailer combo and for me, with daily driving and occasional track trips, no need to upgrade to a 3/4 ton... although it would be very nice.

 

Nice man. I could go with a smaller TH but i'm looking at being able to get the SxS in too.

So far, I've been to Holmans, Paul Sherry, Colerain RV, Couchs RV, Delightful Days (walton), drove to the old Tom Raper RV in Richmond IN today. The storms were hitting about then and the gates were closed so i couldn't just browse the lot. I didn't feel like going into the actual Tom Raper/Camping World dealership and being dragged around in a golf cart to look at the units.

Maybe i need a Class C or A instead, since i already have a trailer for the bikes/track, and an open trailer for the RZR. sigh.

I think i would be happy with an $8000, 15 yr old TH off of FB marketplace to be honest.

 

Soul searching my friend? That would be pretty awesome. The drive to Salt Lake City in '09 was an awesome experience....except for Nebraska.

 

I wish. My work made me relocate. But it’s still a good move. Went the southern route though

 

Forest River's new Ibex series...they have a couple toy hauler floorplans. This is the small one but, damn, it's a pig. It'll fit a two seat SxS, might fit a four seat and maybe a bike in front, too.
19QTH

 

Spec-wise, that looks like it would be a really good match to my 2010 Sequoia, and I like the layout. I hope the 30 gallon fresh water tank is a misprint though. I’d like to have at least 50.

 

When I used to use our camper with it's 60-ish gal fresh tank, it was camped at a site with a questionable water supply. How was I gonna refresh the supply w/o draggin' the trailer off the lot?

Hello, Tractor Supply.
I picked up a couple 30gal potable water tanks. If I were to do it again, I'd get the ones in the link below...a bit smaller and perhaps the shape is more conducive to manhandling.
(Mine are barrel-shaped and a bit of a challenge to handle/maneuver high enough to gravity feed the trailer's tank. I was balancing them on the pickup's bed rail. I coulda bought a pump for 'em, tho'.
They didn't have these smaller, square ones in stock when I needed water. )

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/buyers-products-26-gallon-domed-storage-tank?cm_vc=-10005
Pricey, but I'm bettin' not inconvenient to use.

 

Yea, 30 gallons is pretty restrictive beyond a single person if you're wanting to do some true boondocking and don't have immediate access to a fresh water source.