Boondocker so far

[kjohn73]

I bought my little 197 last Spring and have only used it for boon docking thus far. I have used it for gopher shooting out in the southwest part of Saskatchewan and 2 nights in Manitoba. I have two batteries on the TT and two in my old Suburban. I carry a couple of extra jugs of water, and I'm set.

The 197 pulls nice, so I don't need a locomotive engine in the truck.

Last summer, I pulled it up to northwestern Sask. to my wife's cabin. I thought I might stay overnight at Big River, so I pulled in to the CG. The first "TT" I saw was an older motorhome. There was so much "furniture" and other "items" on the lawn, it looked like a yard sale. I just went around the circle nice and slow and went back out to the highway and kept going 'til I got just north of Green Lake where I pulled in to a Dept. of Highways gravel stockpile yard, and pulled behind a big pile.

I have also "booned" at a Wal-Mart in Saskatoon and at Canadian Tire in Melfort. Works good for beginners, as a short stroll to the supply post is often needed.

I look forward to using it more this year. In fact, unless the weather turns really bad, I am going to take it to Swift Current this Friday and stay in it for a couple of nights. I help a dealer at gun shows and he snores so bad that I can't stay in the same room!:hihi: I just might continue on and head down into my gopher country and check things out.

[Quahog]

Four batteries ought to keep you going for a while... are they 12V or 6V on the TT?

[kjohn73]

They are all 12's. The two in the Sub are top quality vehicle batteries, and in the TT one is a new RV and one a new battery I bought for an electric fishing motor. If I was to go on an extended booner, I also have a 4000/3000 Champion generator. I have a cut-off in the Sub, so I can at least have one in reserve.

[Quahog]

Just today I replaced my single 12V with two 6Vs. I'm adding a switch so I can shut the batteries out or add another/another pair in later. Like you, I carry around a 12V trolling battery that can do quite nicely in a pinch as a backup.

[kjohn73]

I am currently docked in my part-time boss' gravel pit a few miles out of town. I had some rifles to sight in, so hooked on with my old Sub and here I am. I am using a laptop plugged into a 75w inverter which is plugged into the TV power plug above the fridge. I also have a MiFi dooey plugged in. Seems to work okay.

It is quiet here. Last night I heard coyotes, an owl, fox, and a loon. Just when I went to bed, a nice bunch of cattle came by for a look, sniffing around.

[RoyBraddy]

Dont know how you are running your batteries but alot of folks will go with the game plan to run everything they want to have available to them from the battery banks and then just re-charge the batteries the next morning for 2-3 hours by connecting the 30A Trailer Shore Power cable directly to the generator using a RV30A-15A adapter. This only requires the use of the generator for about 2-3 hours each day.

This method doesn't come easy but is much more easy on the ears and other campers by not having to listen to the loud generator 24/7.

This method requires having a smart-mode converter/charger, larger battery cables, at least two (four is better) batteries, inverter, lights converted to LEDs, and be able to re-charge the batteries using a generator each day. If you install solar panels you wont then need the generator as much after that.

We have been doing camping off the power grid for a few years now and its kinda neat to just see the OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer sitting way back in the woods next to stream with extension cords coming from the trailer running a box fan or whatever sitting on a picnic table and a bunch of outside lights shinning up in the trees... No other sounds involved... We can run just about everything aboard the trailer except the Air Conditioner or maybe the high wattage Microwave. If you want to run those those then you have to run the trailer off the generator and listen to the noise.

This just another approach to camping off the power grid. We love it... The squirrels and the deer like to watch Johnny Carson on full blown high def HDTV too you know...

[RoyBraddy]

QUAHOG - look into those BLUE SEA 9001E four position high quality four position battery switches. They are perfect for 12VDC switching with the OFF-BAT1-BOTH-BAT2 positions. I have two banks of the two each batteries connected up using three of these switches and I can use one or all four batteries by just operating switches. They also great for using same length battery cables junction points for getting equal loads around the batteries. Switch them to off and all batteries are disconnected. Never have to remove a cable...

I have Ham Radios involved when I am out camping so I can isolate one battery bank to just use with the radio setups and not have to drain down the trailer batteries... Having all these standard battery stubs everywhere makes it easy to add the fuse blocks, current taps, etc every connected with a standard battery cable with ring terminals.

[Quahog]

Hey Roy - that is the switch I went with. Details here:

http://www.jaycoowners.com/showthrea...oolbox+battery

[kjohn73]

A bit of an update: We traded the 2008 197 for a 2012 197. Big, big difference in floor plan, plus a pull-out! I let the two battery setup go with the 2008, so I will make up a new two battery system for the new one. I can't imagine running the batteries down with normal use for one or two days. I use the cut-off on the old Sub, but even with three good batteries, I will be fine. As far as charging goes, I haven't stayed in one place longer than two nights, so the truck does the job.

I am going to likely change the interior light bulbs to LED, once I find a source at reasonable prices.

[Chakara]

RoyBraddy has a killer setup. Mine is similar, but in a bigger trailer while running less stuff. Also, we don't use television or even radio when camping - although we could.

The key is looking at what you want to use, how many amps at 12V DC those uses draw, and then design you system to it.

My blog/write up is in my signature. It has a lot of links to the places I used to learn what I needed to set my trailer up for me.

-Chak