First let me begin by saying that I know absolutely NOTHING about travel trailers. I've always been lucky enough to have a place to stay, so it has never been something that I've been forced to learn that much about. Needless to say, I'm now in the market for one (assuming I can afford it) and was curious about a few things.

I know they can be self-sustaining, but I will be on a lease that does not have running water or electricity. I know that most trailers will have a fresh water tank, but it doesn't sound as though it holds all that much. Do you typically bring extra water? And, in regards to electricity, are most people relying on generators or are people hovering towards new alternatives such as solar power?

I'm also looking for something small (tiny), but I don't like the idea of a wetbath, but I do want some type of a bathroom. Any suggestions?

I had a large polly tank with a 12 volt pump on it that I used to carry water to my lease and then pump it into the storage tank on the trailer when needed. Always ran a generator for the a/c unless the weather was cool enough to not need it. That was back in the good ole days before we had water and electric installed.

You don't need a lot of water or electricity to deer hunt. Especially if you're not worried about a bath.

I'd suggest a popup if you want a tiny one. Decent ones can be had on the cheap, and you lose practically nothing to depreciation if you decide to sell. Deep cycle battery with a solar charger will keep enough juice to run 12v lights, furnace(if it has a blower) and water pump. Propane system should run the stove, maybe a fridge and maybe a furnace. The only thing you need 110v power for would be an a/c if you need it. Then you'd need a generator. If you don't have a furnace, you can always pickup one of those little Mr Heaters that runs off 1lb disposables. That would keep you fairly warm and comfortable.

I wouldn't leave water in the tank if it freezes a lot where you hunt. Better off just toting in 5-10 gallon jugs a trip and running your gray water on the ground. Also, if you want tiny I'd avoid a potty inside. One more thing to clean and smell up your camper, better off going with an outhouse of some sort.

Downside to a popup is I'm pretty sure they all leak when it rains. If you stepup to 18-25 footish travel trailer you can get a lot more comfort. It's going to cost more, but a good one will keep you drier and warmer. I don't mind sitting in a freezing [censored] outhouse at 5am and have done it plenty - but it sure is nice to go in a heated bathroom and not worry about a spider or varmint getting a hold of your business.......

we found a used Morgan building that someone was selling back when we hunted Newton County. It had insulated walls and a shingle roof. Even had a small window unit. We added a generator, a heater, a set of bunkbeds, and a futon. 3 of us made due with weekends like that. Using water from small totes for cooking and sponge baths worked fine. We also had an outhouse (a porto-john with the tank removed set over a hole in the ground)

Has anyone tried solar power on an RV? I see there are kits out there, but I don't know if it'd be a good investment.

Most of those kits will only serve to trickle charge an RV battery. The solar panels are generally not large enough to recharge and sustain the batteries while in use. Those solar panel kits are intended to keep the batteries tendered while the RV is in storage.

A better option is to run two 6 volt golf cart batteries in series (as opposed to parallel) to obtain 12 volts. Cart batteries will last longer than the typical pair of 12 volt deep cycle RV/Marine batteries.

You can plug into your vehicle and let it run for a couple of hours to charge up the batteries. The alternator will do the charging.

Make sure you have a good quality inverter on the trailer.

I would say just do yourself a favor and get a generator. They arnt that expensive maintenance isnt that bad and you can make them pretty quiet. Pluss I hate relying on bateries.

matt

Chalet, cool rig. Dont see many of those. With that green paint I had to look twice. Thought it was a custom set up. LOL

rent the generator @ RSC.

Buy my travel trailer, it runs off a 3500 watt generator for 24hrs and sleeps 6...pm for details

Before I had electriciry on a lease I had some flourscent lights rigged up in the trailer that I equiped with 12VDC ballast. You can run those things for a long time on a deep cycle battery as they draw very little from the battery and two three footers will put off a lot of light. Just take the battery home with you and charge between trips. I also had a lead on the trailer that I could attach to my truck battery if I needed to in order to recharge the battery for the lights or to just run the lights off of the truck. Pretty easy and cheap solution.

Mike