2015 White Hawk 23MBH mods

[distracto]

We recently up sized from a 2019 174BH to a 2015 23MBH and are really loving the floor plan and all the extra living space - especially the walk around queen and full sized fridge and freezer.

We bought and sold privately and due to the current Covid situation managed to sell high and buy low. Lucky us. The seller of the White Hawk had only used it a handful of times to watch their son's home games - he played for the Washington Huskies before being picked up by the CFL. The insurance sticker on it was for June 2018! They were first owners and the thing was immaculate. More trailer than they needed, but they were up sold at the dealership. Super nice people and we still keep in touch!

One thing for certain is the amount of storage in the small-ish 174BH is unbelievable - even without a front pass through. We had both trailers in the driveway for a week and them amount of stuff we pulled out of the 174BH ... it was like clowns coming out of a VW Beetle at the circus!

Unfortunately the 23MBH is pretty hurting for storage - both inside and out. This is a trade off for the floor plan and body length - which we love. There is no front pass through in this model, they changed that in subsequent models by extending a foot or so in the front and tapering the front wall. Also there is no pantry - instead they put the vanity where the pantry should be. We like this as the toilet and shower can be used separately from the sink.

These shortcomings mean time for some modifications!

 

[distracto]

First off it was time to make better use of the bedside wardrobes by adding two cheap rod mounted hanging organizers

 

[distracto]

Next thing was to make some more room under the sink. As I've found to be typical of trailers is the waste of space behind access doors. This was the case with the water pump area. The entire bottom of the cabinet was an access panel to hide the water pump and access to the fresh water fill and other plumbing.

All it took to make some usable space was to move the water pump back and keep it accessible with all the valves facing the right way for winterization and maintenance.

 

[distracto]

Following that I took some shelving from the as is section of IKEA and made some shelves in the cavernous uppers. Did some fancy dado cuts and made some room for larger items and standard plates and cups. Hard to believe there were no shelves in there in the first place...

Wife is happy now, and that makes camping that much more enjoyable!

 

[distracto]

We're heading out for a week and half in the interoir of BC with no hookups, so need to make use of some battery fans. picked up these little guys from amazon

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07TY84VQ7/
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0749M96XT/

Figured they would help move some air as there is only one 14 inch vent in the whole trailer (in the bathroom)

This being an "older" trailer, there are no USB ports, so i added a couple in the bunks to keep the fans charged. Was fairly easy little process to pop the lights off and pull the wires out of the wall. I used some low voltage T-Taps and spliced the hot and neutral to feed the plugs. The back sticks out a bit in the adjoining wardrobe-turned-pantry, but that's OK, I'll be putting a little box around the back to protect it from pulling things in and out.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07GTZ89NH/

Next step is to mount the small fans in the bunks beside the new ports.

 

[Wiscampsin]

Nice job on your mods.

 

[Rustic Eagle]

Nice job on your mods.

X2

Bob

 

[distracto]

Thanks guys, you both have done some great mods yourselves - this community is really inspirational!

Another thing I changed after our first trip was the kitchen faucet. Previous owner didn't tell me that it dripped constantly and very slowly. First trip out we put a rag in the sink to dampen the sound, but it was still aggravating.

I took apart the faucet handles and considered changing out the valves - but after reading a lot of threads here I scrapped that idea and picked up a decent quality residential faucet.

Swap out was easy enough with the factory pex, there was enough slack I didn't have to do any cutting and there's enough room below the sink that I was able to use a pull down head style faucet. I did have to cut away a bit of the under counter framing to spin the securing nut, but that's it.

 

[distracto]

The wardrobe at the rear by the bunks was the only large storage area that could serve as a pantry. We have two little girls 5 and 8 who don't need a hanging wardrobe so I added some rudimentary shelves from some plywood I had kicking around. Sanded it all down really good and screwed legs to the shelves. They aren't attached to the walls of the trailer or sides of the wardrobe, just free standing and wedged in there good.

Not the prettiest, but it'll do for now until I find matching shelving pieces from the as is sections of local stores. Those I will attach permanently once we're happy with the location and height of the shelves.

 

[distracto]

This one was a no brainer. Did this to my previous trailer and will do it to every subsequent trailer I buy! The Camco screen door crossbar. Put one on both doors, but had to cut the rear door one down a good few inches.

A beer to the person who can help me find the clear sliding screen door access with the push down release. Sliding that black panel over every time I go in and out the door is driving me nuts! It can't be as easy as using this one can it? https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00JMHGUZ6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_xVbaFbA5WAZ07

 

[distracto]

This was a great gift from a very crafty friend of mine. It's carved out of a solid piece of wood. It covers the stove burners perfectly to give us more counter space, works as a cutting board (we never will as it's far too nice to carve up), and is especially useful when turned upside down and used as a serving tray for bringing condiments, utensils, and plates of food outside.

 

[muckinfuss]

That's the one. https://www.amazon.com/Lippert-239061-Screen-Slider-Push-Down/dp/B00JMHGUZ6

We have them from the factory in our unit....they don't hit the release tho...the factory guy installed it too low.

 

[travelingjw]

Nice job on the mods. 2 suggestions. DW like the shelves that I also installed but asked for some to be adjustable for adapting from winter to summer clothes. I also (got this from the forum) installed a shoe rack below the steps. When camping we have extra space for our shoes, especially if it happens to be muddy or raining. We also love our Whitehawk.

 

[distracto]

The shelves I temporarily installed in the wardrobe-turned-pantry were to change the wardrobe into a pantry. I think once we have decided how we use it and where the tall things and where the heavy things will sit, I will make it a permanent installation. Of course, making them adjustable wouldn't be a bad idea!

I'll be updating soon with my most involved and stressful modification - adding solar to the roof.

 

[distracto]

That's the one. https://www.amazon.com/Lippert-239061-Screen-Slider-Push-Down/dp/B00JMHGUZ6

We have them from the factory in our unit....they don't hit the release tho...the factory guy installed it too low.

Installed too low? So does that mean your latch is always depressed? Or it sits underneath?

My old trailer had the clear version of what's on my door with the slide down part. So convenient, I really miss it.

Where do i send this beer?

 

[muckinfuss]

Just sits underneath. The clear plastic sprung knob misses the lever by half an inch when fully depressed. I'd move it up and all would work as intended,, but then the old holes would be visible and my OCD couldn't deal with that.

 

[distracto]

A few days ago I took the plunge and mounted two 100 watt Renogy panels to the roof. It went easier than expected, but the hardest part was squeezing the trigger on the drill to punch through the roof!

I connected the two 100 watt panels in parallel to a 30A PWM Wanderer charge controller and then to my 2x6V battery bank. I placed the panels in the front of the unit onthe curb side. This allows me to add two more across the front of the trailer with the entry coming down into the wardrobe beside the bed. My fridge vent is near the rear of the trailer which puts everything too far away from the batteries. Entry into the wardrobe is discrete and keeps the wires hidden and is a straight shot down into the outside storage where I mounted the charge controller.

I pre-drilled the holes for the z-mounts then pumped Dicor into them before screwing them down. I was only able to hit one truss, and that was at the back of the panels. I am really hoping that they will stay put against head winds when driving. One thing i regret is not using a different mounting system. Those z-mounts do not make it easy to remove the panels from them as the panels end up being bolted from the underside. Renogy makes side mounted mounts which i discovered after the install that I would have preferred https://ca.renogy.com/renogy-solar-panel-mounting-curved-z-bracket-set-of-4/

I used a weatherproof PVC junction box https://www.gescan.com/products/15-...h-x-5-inch-x-2-inch-scepter-junction-box-gray and drilled two holes to install the entry glands https://www.gescan.com/products/11-...nch-ipex-scepter-socket-weld-relief-connector.

I inserted a 3/4" piece of conduit I had laying around and used it as a raceway into the wardrobe below. I chose this method vs the Renogy entry glad I had purchased so I could access everything and I would have an entry point into the trailer for any future needs.

I played around with using the raceway at the front of the awning, but the factory installed silicone was so well done that I could only squeeze one of the 10AWG cables in to the wardrobe. It would have been a great way to get in, but it just didn't work and i didn't want to damage any wires in there as repairing them would have been a nightmare.

I am pleased with the way it has turned out - room for expansion and discrete wiring. I still have to add fuses on both sides of the controller and will most likely add a shut off on the panel side of the charge controller. My plan as well is to get the 40A Rover which is a MPPT controller before adding more panels.

I will add more pics, but this how it looked before I picked up the self leveling Dicor and did a second coat over the non sag. This picture was taken before I added the branch connectors to complete the parallel connection https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07ZCMPSFW

I am open to suggestions on the whole set up, and for securing the cables to the roof. I need to be able to remove the MC4 branch connectors at some point to add the 3rd and 4th panels so don't want anything too permanent, but also would feel better if they were secured to the roof.

 

[distracto]

Fun things that happened during the install:

1. while cleaning the roof, I leaned on the skylight and cracked it - covered it with gorilla tape until I replace it
2. rinsed off the roof and somehow water made it's way into the space between the diamond plate and inside front storage. Now the insulation is all wet and needs to be dried out somehow
3. stepped in Dicor more than once!
4. became far too comfortable drilling into the roof

 

[rohuber]

Did you use a similar method with the junction box to go from the charge controller to the batteries?

 

[distracto]

Did you use a similar method with the junction box to go from the charge controller to the batteries?

No i did not, for that wire way i drilled a 1/4 hole to run the cables through. once I get my battery temperature sensor I will run that through the same hole, as well as cables coming back into the space to feed an inverter, and then I'll use black marine grade spray foam to fill the hole.

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Here are some images showing the cables passing down from the roof to the battery (they are all sideways, i was too lazy to rotate them prior to uploading):

coming down from the roof, I put a small wafer screw on the inside of the conduit to secure it to the wall.

here are the cables now running through the bottom of the cabinet into the outside storage where the charge controller is

here is the charge controller with the cables heading down through the floor to the batteries

and here's the underside with the cables heading to the batteries

Still have a few more final touches, but it is running well so far.