Tear Drop accessories and repairs

[luddite]

Hi all,

My wife and I purchased a custom teardrop last fall and have only recently begun using it frequently. After several uses there a couple of areas for which we are looking for advice.

Repairs/Necessities:

When towing the trailer home from Colorado we drove through a rain storm and when we stopped for the night to camp, we found our bed was wet. The guy who made our teardrop suspects water entered from the door hinge area and pooled at the bottom. he suggested we extend our "gutters" to wrap around the front of the doors. I don't have the machinery to do this myself, any ideas of places in the Puget Sound Region who can make this modification?

We would also like to mount a spare tire in the front. I haven't seen any other tear drops with a mounted spare. Is this not a good idea? Should we carry a spare soemwhere else?

Accessories

We got a "basic" 2-door 5x10 model as we didn't want all the bells and whistles of TVs, DVD players, etc. However we were thinking of running some minor "appliances" (e.g. coffee maker) and had a question about power inverters. How large of a power inverter should we get? I was thinking of a 1500-2300 watt (most appliances use between 800-1400 watts); will this suffice? Also, how much of a draw on the battery will this wattage pull? We typically camp in unimproved areas are rely solely on battery power.

Hitching

We hitch our TD to a Honda CR-V using a 2" ball (I know, we need more power, but it's all we have for now). Should we padlock the hitch when the TD is hooked up or is it ok to just hitch it and attach the tow chains? Also, when we leave the TD and take the car (e.g. to go hiking(. When we leave the TD unattended we padlock the hitch so someone can't "help themselves" to the TD; is there a better way to secure the TD?

We love our TD and want to get it up and running 100%; any help of the above questions would be greatly appreicated.

[madjack]

1) Grant Whipp at Lil Bear has some nice rain gutters that would work...
2) a coffee maker is not a minor appliance...most pull from 10A to 15A @120vac...that is 100A to 150A @12vdc...getta one burner gas stove andda percolator..
3) Northern Tools and others sell a spare mount that attaches to the tongue or you could figure a way to attach it under the tear...I carry a plug kit and a couple of cans of Fix-A-Flat and keep my fingers crossed...
4) the hitch should always be pinned or locked to prevent accidental opening...Master Lock sells a really slick hitch lock setup...
madjack

p.s....so where's the pics..........MJ

[tonyj]

p.s....so where's the pics..........MJ

Going by his screen name, you may be expecting too much.

Wait a minute, he's using a computer. Would that be a techno-luddite?

[madjack]

drip edge molding
spare tire carrier
hitch locks

[madjack]

p.s....so where's the pics..........MJ

Going by his screen name, you may be expecting too much.

Wait a minute, he's using a computer. Would that be a techno-luddite?

...perzactely .............................................

[Miriam C.]

The easiest way to use 120vac is to get a power strip that is GFCI protected and has a breaker. This will allow you to use regular household appliances.

One of the things you can do about the door is run a strip of water resistant material behind the hinge or some weather stripping.