I want to introduce myself!

[lighthouse4bears]

Hello everyone;

My moniker is "Bear" and you are welcome to call me that. Those that don't know me call me Barry. I live in the Fort Collins, Colorado area, north of Denver by 70 miles and south of Cheyenne by about 25.

I am an absolute infant in the RV world and am studying as much as I can.

I would also like to add my apologies at the long post. It may be too long for some.

I go to gun shows every weekend as a vendor and I am spending thousands a month on hotels. I thought I would cut that down a bit by getting a TT.

What I am looking at is a 2006 Jay Flight 28RLS at a dealer. I am going to pull it behind my 2003 Eddie Bauer Expedition with 5.4. It is also a 4X4.

I thought I would tell you what I am doing, in preparation, so those of you who desire to correct the errors of my ways could, and I encourage you to do so, please.

I tried scouring the Forums last night for a few hours, but I did not find the information I was looking for, at least not relatively easy, or I did not find the correct search criteria that would lead me to the answers, so I humbly ask for your help and guidance.

I am preparing to purchase a brake controller and am considering the Tekonsha P3. I will install it myself since the wiring harness is in place, and I really do not want to pay the dealer $250 for the installation. (That price is reasonable, compared to other dealers in the area, but too much to me, so I will do it myself.)

I am looking at a WD hitch with sway stabilization, because sometimes I encounter strong crosswinds and need to remain safe. (Coming home from Casper back in February, we encountered 60 mph crosswinds.) The dealer has a Reese, which looks good, but installed, they want almost a thousand dollars, so I am looking for a less expensive way. I am not cheap, but I am frugal. I am trying to also determine the correct size and I am thinking I need about a 1000# unit. I have asked the dealer, but all I am hearing is a sales pitch. Since I am a salesman for a living, I am sensitive to this stuff.

Next I am seeking the owners manual for the TT so I can learn what is suppose to come with the trailer, then I will know what I am missing, and need to get.

I will normally be parked in the guns show parking lot, so it will be like dry camping, I suppose, and if I want electricity for running the AC all night, I will need a genset, or two small ones coupled.

I will need access to high speed internet, so I can do sales research, and I am thinking of satellite dish for this. Any suggestions?

Finally, when I started my first business a few decades ago, an advisor told me that it is not what I don't know that gets me in trouble, it is what I don't know that I don't know! So what am I missing?

Thanks for welcoming me to the group and helping me here, and I will do my best to share what I learn with everyone.

By the way, in my research on the internet, I study economics, politics, religion, military events, natural phenomena, and history, so that by knowing the past, I can more accurately predict the future. I need all of that because I am an economic consultant selling physical precious metals.

Best regards,
Bear

[dewey02]

Welcome to the forum! And that was quite and introduction.
I have no answers for you, but I'm sure you will find answers from others here.
It is a good bunch of folks who try to help.

[lighthouse4bears]

Was it too short? Or was it TMI? (too much information)

[Hattie]

Originally Posted by lighthouse4bears

I will need access to high speed internet, so I can do sales research, and I am thinking of satellite dish for this. Any suggestions?

Check-out the telework thread for LOTS more information about conducting business from your rig. We use our TT not only for fun get-aways, but DH attends various workshops / trainings and we have much more fun (and save $$) staying in the TT, and since I'm a teleworker already - my boss doesn't care if I'm in my home office or working from the TT so long as I'm able to use the computer and VoIP phone (e.g., have high-speed connectivity).

[WVDusty]

The P3 brake controller is great. As for the hitch. This is not a good place to try and save money,buy the good one now. Think about the cost of your truck and travel trailer. A good hitch is the difference between a good towing experience and a white knuckle towing experience good luck and welcome to the group.

[lighthouse4bears]

To Hattie;
I know what you mean. To cut expenses, I have Magicjacks for my VoIP, one each for my three business phones, and one for the house. I carry them in my laptop bag so they are everywhere I am, and accessible as long as I have high speed internet. They also send notices to my phone, so I am always connected where ever I have my phone.

To WV Dusty;

Thanks for your reply. What I am considering is a Camco EAZ Lift Elite 1000# unit with sway control, probably a left and right sway control. If this is a cheap or poor quality unit, I would like to know. When I read the poll on WD Hitches, it had good reviews. Sometimes it depends on what I find, even if on Craigslist. I do not intend to go with poor quality, safety is paramount.

[Jagiven]

Congratulations on the thought of a TT.

Brake controller. The Tekonsha P3 is a good controller, and yes they are easy to install as they are plug and play. Usually the hardest part is finding somewhere physically to mount it to.

WDH, get a good one. The two that I like are Reese Dual Cam and Equalizer E4. Both have integrated sway controls. Personally, unless you have access to big tools, it may be well worth paying to have them set up the hitch. Equalizer for example requires some of the bolts to be tightened to 600 foot/pounds of torque. That requires a very large wrench, the dealer set mine up in front of me, and the guy had a 4-5 foot loon torque wrench with a very large socket on it. He had to take it apart a few times to get the TT and TV setup right.

Parking lot power; what do you want for power, will determine what you can get by with. Two batteries and LED light bulb replacements will get you a long way. But if you need to run and charge laptops, television, and AC then a generator will be required. In CG most people like the Hondas and Yamahas as they are good generators run quieter than other cheaper brands, they also have cleaner power signal, which is easier on modern electronics. Potential issue with generators, they can grow feet and wonder off, never to be seen again. To run the AC you will need a bigger generator, or two running in parallel.

Owner’s manual: Just contact Jayco with the vin number and they will send you an electronic copy, no charge.

Internet: there are some people doing some interesting internet access things, do a little more research. I would advise posting a specific question to that subject, so you can capture those people’s attention.

What you do not know; TT’s have speed rated tires of 65 mph, so keep your speed down unless you want to change tires on the side of the road, and do body repairs as blowout usually damage the weak fenders.

Good Luck.

[Mustang65]

Welcome to JOF!!! A lot of GREAT people here to help you out.

If you scroll down to Hatti's post and click on the link, you will find a few different options form 3G/4G cell phone options, and Wi-Fi extenders. To give you a "BALLPARK" idea as to how much power it takes to run my setup, the other night I was in the TT, working on the TT's Wi-Fi router and extender. I was running only off the TT's batteries (to lazy to plug in the shore power cable, the TT is parked next to the house). I had the inverter on, the TT's Wi-Fi router was on on, Wi-Fi extender was on (connected to the home LAN), 3LED's, 2 laptops plugged in, and the Wi-Fi camera that is mounted to the rear of the trailer. It was drawing 9.7 Amps from the battery. This is almost a total figure except both laptop batteries were 100% charge when I started so it was just powering the laptops.

To me this is not an issue as I have SOLAR on the TT and the next day by 2PM the batteries were sitting fully charged, but if you do not have Shore Power or SOLAR (expensive), you will have to have the generator running all day long (chained up) while you work, so you can provide power for your daytime needs and supply power to recharge your batteries from the previous evenings use.

The first thing you will need to do is sit down and do some serious calculations as to how much power you will need and base your battery Ah total selection on that. But you need to be able to charge what ever you decide on.. like a "Catch 22"..

Just my thoughts,

Don

[sask934]

Welcome to the forum..

[namusmc65]

Welcome to the forum. When you say you are a vendor, just what are you selling? Be careful storing anything precious in a travel trailer. Very easy to break into. Perhaps you have a big dog? Good luck with your search. You can find lots of different areas here with answers to a lot of your questions, just have to do a little looking around. If you are selling guns, do you have a link to a website, etc???

[Jmooney]

P3. Good choice

Reese WDH is a good selection, but I agree with above, let the pro do that part

Generators - will need pretty big one to run an AC unit all day, and at altitude, the gen set will be less efficient, so larger wattage is needed. Most AC units will draw upwards of 15 amps to start. I have a 3000w Genset with high altitude jets and it still Boggs down quite a bit

If you concerned about quiet, plan on some big $.

[lighthouse4bears]

Thank you for the replies and help to all who have responded.

In regards to what I am selling, my primary is gold and silver bullion coins. I do not sell guns as a dealer. I do not want the headaches of the federal licensing.

Secondary is knife sharpeners that are so good that my barber bought one because my straight razor is sharper than his, and I can carry mine in my back pocket. I do serrations and scissors too!

So how do the two find compatibility? Some shows will not let me in with gold and silver, so the knife sharpeners get me in and then I sell the bullion. It also helps to get people to stop at my table.

The valuable stuff is almost always with me. There are no intentions to leave it anyplace that can be dismantled by a battery operated Sawzall.

If you care to know more, I will be happy to discuss my products and reasons in private e-mails. This forum is not the place to advertise, if you know what I mean. No sense getting kicked out before I even get here.

[fielro]

Welcome to the forum....