Mounting or carrying a Generator on Whitehawk

[Sniggles]

Hi there fellow Whitehawk owners. We will soon be taking our maiden trip, although our Whitehawk is a 2015 we haven't had a chance to take it out do to illness.
That being said it is. 24rbs Whitehawk ultra light. We wish to do some boon-docking on this month and a half trip. We purchase a 4400w generator and are wondering of a safe way to carry it on the travel trailer. We know we can carry it in the back to the pickup truck. But the tail gate doesn't lay down flat with the trailer hitched do to the power jack. Therefore would not be able to remove it from truck bed.

[Camper_bob]

I see 2 real options:

1) Have a welder mount a hitch receiver the the FRAME on the rear of the trailer (NOT THE BUMPER) and attach a "stinger" that can carry the genny. Strap/lock it all down and you're good to go. Disadvantage is removal of tongue weight by adding significant weight to the very back of the trailer. Advantage is it should be really close to your shore power connection.

2) Purchase a longer hitch bar so that the trailer sits out away from the truck a bit so that you can let the tailgate down. This is what I did when I replaced my WDH. I got a longer bar with more drop and now the tailgate clears easily. My selection of bar was specifically for this purpose.

A third option is to just deal with the genny being in the truck while the trailer is attached.

A fourth option might be to try to turn the tongue jack 90 degrees to give the tailgate enough clearance. If you're close, this could work. I didn't want to drill and tap new mounting holes in my A-frame, so I didn't choose this option, but in my case, it could've worked.

You can also get a rack to mount the genny over the tanks on the tongue, but I don't think that would work well with a genny that size (4400w). You would have a HECK of a time getting it up there. But for a lightweight 2000w inverter generator, this is a very elegant solution IMO.

[Subaru297]

Why not just leave it in the box of the truck and run it from there. I used to do that. It was quieter in the box as well.

Cheers

[RoyBraddy]

I guess you have checked out what to expect running the generator at public camp grounds... I always run into all kinds of different restrictions running a generator on-site...

I suspect your 4400WATT Generator is going to be one of those contractor $400-$500 type generators which is going to be very loud when being used.

Some restriction run times were 8AM to 10AM and then again from 4PM to 8PM that evening. Other places were 8AM to 8PM... No where did I ever find you could run a generator at the public camp grounds between 8PM at night and 8Am the next morning.

Usually camping at Dispersed camping location mainly out West you can run the generator anytime you want to. Not many dispersed camping locations here on the East side the US...

Of course on private property it is up to the grounds owner when it is allowed...

This made me beef-up my battery bank, upgraded to smart mode charging, and replace all 12VDC light to LEDs... Having the battery bank large enough to satisfy our appliances we wanted to be able to run including the Home Entertainment so that the battery bank would not get below the 50% charge state until 8AM the next morning. Then we could run the generator with the shore power power cable connected to recharge the batteries back up to their 90% charge state in a three hour run period so we can do all of this all over again the next day/night off the batteries.

In my case this did not include Air Conditioning or High Wattage Microwave etc...

For me adding solar panels just reduced the amount of time I would have to run the generator when first starting the re-charge cycle when high DC currents are involved... Once the DC Currents tapered down then you could just let the high sun charge the batteries will you are in high sun.

This is what I went through to be able to camp OFF-GRID with my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer setup...

Having the larger motorhome or large RV trailers is a different situation I reckon... I do know I have been to several camp grounds and hear the big motorhomes and Class A running their generator whenever they wanted to. I guess there may be a double standard here haha... having built-in generator probably hides the fact pretty good... Is the diesel motor running or the generator perhaps haha...

Just some things to think about before dumping bunch of monies into the project...

Everyone wants to install their generators haha...

Roy Ken

[Bassdogs]

Originally Posted by Sniggles

Hi there fellow Whitehawk owners. We will soon be taking our maiden trip, although our Whitehawk is a 2015 we haven't had a chance to take it out do to illness.
That being said it is. 24rbs Whitehawk ultra light. We wish to do some boon-docking on this month and a half trip. We purchase a 4400w generator and are wondering of a safe way to carry it on the travel trailer. We know we can carry it in the back to the pickup truck. But the tail gate doesn't lay down flat with the trailer hitched do to the power jack. Therefore would not be able to remove it from truck bed.

Return the 4400 genny [too loud and too heavy] and spend the bucks to get a good 2000 W inverter. Too much has already been written on this subject to get back into all the stuff, but there is no reasonable answer to your ??. Too much weight for the back of the TT. Too much weight to get in and out of your truck bed. Too loud to be anywhere near another camper and your group will have to wear ear plugs.

[havnfun]

I agree with what they said. In my 27' TT, I bought 2 - 2000w generators that I keep in the back of the TV. Usually only use one to recharge batteries but I use 2 if I need to run the A/C which is hardly ever. Each gen only weighs about 47 lbs. or so and are easy to move around. Mostly I just leave them secured in the TV bed, I pull one out to run it to recharge the batteries.

Happy RVing,
Jeff

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Subaru297

Why not just leave it in the box of the truck and run it from there. I used to do that. It was quieter in the box as well.

Cheers

This is what I do too. The only times we use it are when we're out on the road for an overnighter en route, or possibly while "dispersed" (but we haven't had the opportunity to do that yet). The few times I've run it in the truck bed, it's been fine, so I don't worry too much about it, and yes, it is MUCH quieter in the bed of the truck.

If we did more boondocking, and money was not an issue, I would definitely pick up two of the 2000W inverters with a parallel cable for the reasons already mentioned by previous posters. I would also seriously consider adding a robust solar system. But we never do that, so the cost isn't worth it for us at this point. In fact, we so rarely use the genny with the TT that even putting on a hitch receiver to carry my stinger with the generator tied down to it is not worth it.

[cariboocreek]

I have a pair of Honda 2000 inverter generators run in parallel. Runs my ac and everything else. Each generator only weighs 50 pounds so easy to move them around. The bonus is that if I only need one then I only have to move one. No permanent mods need to be made to the camper.

Downside is they are not cheap.

[sennister]

This is what we are going with.

Trailer Tray A-Frame Cargo Carrier - Stromberg Carlson CC-255 - Cargo Carriers - Camping World

We have a Yamaha 3000is (inverter) that we use while boondocking. I agree that getting it up there is going to be the hard part. I'm not worried about it. I have a John Deere tractor with a front end loader so that is how I move that generator now or the bigger Yamaha 6600 we use for the house. The plan is to leave it up there while camping. That introduces my only real concern which is refueling it. This weekend was the first boondocking and we just used the tractor to put it in the back of my Father in Law's 1 ton GMC since they were at the same site next to us. It gave me a chance to see real world consumption and for a 3 night trip I will need to refuel it once. Before getting the shelf I want to hit the CAT Scales and see where I am at with weight and I want to work out an electric transfer pump for fueling it up. Another concern some have pointed out is if vibration and noise will be an issue with it right next to the bedroom. At night our gen powered everything we needed in eco mode and being an inverter type it is really quiet in this mode. Not sure how much we would run the AC. Maybe just in fan mode but I didn't test it to see if that would kick it up from eco mode.

[Nighthawk 96]

Welcome to the JOF. 2 2000 watt generators is the way to go.

Lots of threads on this forum and on others about this.

[DanNJanice]

Yes, you can carry the genny inside the trailer. We used to do this all the time. Just make sure you leave some ventilation while you drive.

[dewey02]

Originally Posted by sennister

This is what we are going with.

Trailer Tray A-Frame Cargo Carrier - Stromberg Carlson CC-255 - Cargo Carriers - Camping World

We have a Yamaha 3000is (inverter) that we use while boondocking. I agree that getting it up there is going to be the hard part. I'm not worried about it. I have a John Deere tractor with a front end loader so that is how I move that generator now or the bigger Yamaha 6600 we use for the house. The plan is to leave it up there while camping. That introduces my only real concern which is refueling it. This weekend was the first boondocking and we just used the tractor to put it in the back of my Father in Law's 1 ton GMC since they were at the same site next to us. It gave me a chance to see real world consumption and for a 3 night trip I will need to refuel it once. Before getting the shelf I want to hit the CAT Scales and see where I am at with weight and I want to work out an electric transfer pump for fueling it up. Another concern some have pointed out is if vibration and noise will be an issue with it right next to the bedroom. At night our gen powered everything we needed in eco mode and being an inverter type it is really quiet in this mode. Not sure how much we would run the AC. Maybe just in fan mode but I didn't test it to see if that would kick it up from eco mode.

X2

[swheele]

I got these, reviews are as good as the honda plus it comes with the parallel cables!


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