MIssion Overland Trailer Owners page

[jareda80]

Got out this weekend to test out the new electrical upgrades and get a feel for the trailer. We had nasty wind most of the weekend so the inside living space was awesome to have for getting out of the blowing sand. I definitely need to add the three sided wind screen for the stove as it really struggled in the wind.

Also, some better shots of the Front Runner rack system I modified to fit the trailer as a few were asking about it.

 

[DudeLePowSki]

Hopefully you are enjoying your new Summit, it’s definitely a big change from tent camping.

I purchased my trailer from a dealer’s inventory so wasn’t able to spec any additional electrical upgrades like you did. Mine came with a single flooded 12v deep cycle battery and no solar panels or controller. Therefore, I added the following:

2-100ah Renogy deep cycle AGM batteries (replaced the single 100ah flooded battery). This gives me twice the amp hours plus a more robust AGM battery type.

2-100W Renogy flexible solar panels (attached to the roof). I also wired in the stock Zamp plug in the front in parallel so can add a third 100W suitcase panel I have when I need to.

Renogy MPPT solar controller (a solar controller is needed when hooking up permanent solar panels that do not have a built in controller like some portable panels do).

Renogy 1000W Pure Sine Inverter (for converting 12v power to 110v to charge my e-bike, computer, etc.)

Noco GenPro 10 battery charger (permanently hooked to my batteries to keep them charged when the trailer is stored in my garage since the stock 30a RV converter does not seem to work with GFCI outlets which are required in garages. I kept tripping the GFCI outlets and thus could not charge the batteries through the 30a RV plug.)

With the solar and battery upgrade your trailer came with it sounds like you should be pretty much good to go already. You could add an inverter pretty easily if you ever think you will need 110V power. Not everyone needs an inverter for 110V power and I only will need mine occasionally if I go for longer trips with my eMTB and/or decide to work from the road for a week or two and need to charge my laptop.

Hopefully that helps!

Thank you! That is very helpful. There are so many mods on here. It's hard to make sense of it all and electricity is a foreign language to me.

Coming from tent camping/backpacking, I don't forsee the need to run any 110v appliances, so I guess we are good there. I am wondering what I can add (if anything) to view the current charge state of my batteries? Is that a thing or do you just monitor the voltage for drops below 12v and charge accordingly? Again, sorry for the dumb questions.

 

[jareda80]

Thank you! That is very helpful. There are so many mods on here. It's hard to make sense of it all and electricity is a foreign language to me.

Coming from tent camping/backpacking, I don't forsee the need to run any 110v appliances, so I guess we are good there. I am wondering what I can add (if anything) to view the current charge state of my batteries? Is that a thing or do you just monitor the voltage for drops below 12v and charge accordingly? Again, sorry for the dumb questions.

You should be able to monitor your solar status. Do you know what solar controller they used with the 180w panel or if the panel had a built in controller? Trace the solar wire from the panel and see where it goes.

With my Renogy controller I can get status from the controller itself or via the Bluetooth app.

 

[mep1811]

Out on the road.

 

[WU7X]

Mike,
How much additional water do you carry? A couple jerry cans on the rear bumper? I'd love to see a couple more pics of those three Summits in that camp!

Where did you take these pics? Beautiful spot for sure.

Dale

 

[mep1811]

Mike,
How much additional water do you carry? A couple jerry cans on the rear bumper? I'd love to see a couple more pics of those three Summits in that camp!

Where did you take these pics? Beautiful spot for sure.

Dale

I carry 10 extra gallons of water.

We were up by the North Rim of the Grand canyon.

 

[mep1811]

Still out and about in Utah.

 

[mep1811]

Camp at the Desert Valley Overlanders event in New Mexico.

0

 

[kai38]

AZ & UT trip

 

[DudeLePowSki]

Just a question about the water pump. Are you guys generally leaving the water pump on whenever using the water or do you just use it to pressurize the system when needed? We got out on our first camping trip and we crushed through the water surprisingly fast. I'm used to the blue water jugs where the limiting factor for usage is lack of water pressure.

 

[WU7X]

I only turn the pump system on when using it in camp, etc. otherwise it remains off while traveling. My tank is 37 gallons. How big is yours?

Learn to conserve water. When showering quickly hose down, shut off water, soap up from feet to head then turn water back on only long enough to rinse off. When camping alone I use baby soap so I can open my eyes when needed while showering. I also typically carry a small wash basin which I use for rinsing off dishes. Use sink for soapy water.

When returning home I’ll dump most remaining water to lighten the load.

 

[DudeLePowSki]

I only turn the pump system on when using it in camp, etc. otherwise it remains off while traveling. My tank is 37 gallons. How big is yours?

Learn to conserve water. When showering quickly hose down, shut off water, soap up from feet to head then turn water back on only long enough to rinse off. When camping alone I use baby soap so I can open my eyes when needed while showering. I also typically carry a small wash basin which I use for rinsing off dishes. Use sink for soapy water.

When returning home I’ll dump most remaining water to lighten the load.

Thanks. I think having an on demand tap bred non-chalant behavior compared to having a water jug on the side of a table. Also, I did some testing of the on-demand hot water before we left and didn't refill the tank. I didn't realize that little water pump could pump out 3 gallons per minute!

 

[mep1811]

I'll turn on the pump when I need water and shut it off when done. When I wake up, I turn the pump on. I don't dump unused water I just top off the tank when I get home.

My Truma hot water is not a on demand system and takes about 15 minutes to get hot.

 

[mep1811]

I cut off the cig plug and ran a new circuit using Anderson Pole plugs. The vertical cig plug connection was a weak point.

 

[Bubblegoose1]

Sharing a fridge tie-down option:

There are 4 metal tie-down tabs on the fridge slide at the 4 corners of the fridge. I bought a set of four 4' straps and tied down at each corner, diagonally from slide corner to the fridge carry handles. Works perfectly, and a clean looking install.