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The Moonshine Motel - Enclosed Gooseneck "Crawler Hauler" Build

GLTHFJ60

GLTHFJ60

Stupid is as stupid does
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Member Number
1946
Messages
1,553
Loc
Durham, NC
Long story short, between my old deckover trailer and a slide-in camper that I was building, I was going to have 9-10k wrapped up in the wheeling/camping trailer setup. I got to thinking, if I had 9-10k cash, is that what I'd buy, or would I go in a different direction? Ended up doing some research and decided that I'd much rather have one thing that's both my camper and my trailer, that could also tow a car if need be. After posting a thread up on irate4x4 asking for advice on enclosed goosenecks, the decision was made. I sold my deckover for a little more than I paid for it new, scrapped the old camper, and started shopping. Big thanks to ridered3 for the advice, pictures of his setup, and other info.

https://irate4x4.com/tow-rigs-and-tr...nput-requested

Reference threads:
www.pirate4x4.com

Mobile Man-Cave Build

www.pirate4x4.com www.pirate4x4.com

Also, "Moonshine" is the name for my '87 Toyota Land Cruiser. This is what will be going inside the trailer that this build thread is about:

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I had found an enclosed gooseneck in Wisconsin that I liked, but after talking/texting with the guy a few times, he ghosted me and deleted the for-sale ad. Searched around for a few more weeks and found this enclosed gooseneck on Ebay in Daytona Beach, FL. These are pics from the ad:



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He had it backed up to a tree, so there are no good pictures of the layout, and the pictures are disorienting. This is a picture from the ramp door looking forward:




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And of the camper section forward of that partition wall:




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The original layout is roughly shown with the top portion of this mspaint picture. The bottom is what our goal is.




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So, , Rick and I went down to Daytona Beach Friday night, grabbed a hotel, and picked up the trailer Saturday morning before 8am. Cost was $8k, and comes with a Onan 6k diesel generator, 15k btu AC/heat rooftop unit, large awning, full RV plumbing system with dump on the proper side (driver's side), full 12v and 120v systems with shore hookups for water and electricity.

Trailer is a 2006 Haulmark enclosed, that this guy special ordered new in 2006. He had it outfitted for working with his general contracting business with side doors for tools, racks in the back for material and ladders, then the camper section for guys to (i guess?) live at the worksite. Generator was used as temporary power in new construction situations where power was otherwise not available. ~28' overall length, tandem 7k axles, ~8' height inside not including the dome roof, ~9.5' long goose. Pretty damn neat!!

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This trailer had been sitting in this spot for ~2 years, so we came down equipped with some tools, a grease gun, and a tire repair kit. Checked the lug nuts, greased the bearings (via bearing buddies) stuck a plug in the spare
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, aired it all up and hit the road. One of the four tires is pretty dry rotted, but surprisingly it held for the whole trip.

First stop after about an hour of driving was to check the sidewall temps and bearing temps, to see if anything was getting ready to blow. Everything checked out:


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Continued on. Scaled out right at 20k gross, which is a little nuts considering my ferd weighs about 9500# with us in it. Got a shade over 10mpg towing this back home.


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The end game in all of this:


1. Moonshine goes inside the trailer on her big boy tires.
2. While traveling to an event, or going on a road trip, we have a shower/shitter in the trailer, and can comfortably sleep in the trailer with AC/heat.
3. Once at an event, moonshine (or whatever other vehicle I want) will come out and there will be some sort of fold down table/eating area, and maybe a bed/bunk, in the space that moonshine took up.
4. I will have the ability to take the trailer by itself to an event and camp/live out of it comfortably.

To get to that end goal, we have a few tasks to complete:

1. Remove the racks/wall/cabinet, and current shower/shitter, so that Moonshine will fit.
2. Repair the siding on the trailer from where it side-swiped something. This will most likely include eliminating some of the extra side doors that the PO put in.
3. Remove the current Onan 6k generator and associated wiring/plumbing (sell it *EDIT* MAYBE KEEP IT)
4. Get moonshine inside and take some accurate measurements for vehicle positioning.
5. Design shower/shitter/kitchenette that will fit, and be usable, with Moonshine inside
6. Patch some holes in the floor from old plumbing hookups, and add vehicle tie-down points.


In addition, some general maintenance type stuff needs to be done to the trailer structure itself:
- rust in the front bottom skirting rail (non-structural)
- electric brake service
- un-fuck the trailer harness wiring, meaning running lights, brakes, 7-pin plug, etc. - everything except the brakes are functioning as expected, but it's not up to my standard
- eliminate most of the old 110v wiring inside, rewire to fit the new layout and new generator location
- wire wheel and paint some surface rust in various spots
- repair trim and door cable on ramp doos

To start us off, Laura and I gutted the trailer yesterday afternoon. Was pretty easy to do, and everything appears to be in really good shape.

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Current fuel tank+pump for Onan generator that's up in the goose, along with some misc stuff from clean-up.

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Next up, I'll get the onan generator running to test it out, so that I can remove and sell it. Anything 110v I need in this trailer will be powered via my Honda 2200i and/or shore power.

After that, Moonshine test fit
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Are you planning on running the ac without shore power? My 13.5k won’t start on my eu2000, I have to run it off a loud shifty 3300. You’re probably looking at around 3500 on startup with that 15k.
 
My buddy Nick is trying to convince me to keep the Onan HDKAS 6k Diesel Genset, since both my cruiser and my tow rig are diesel. Going to get it running and see how loud it is before making a decision. It's mounted up in the goose right next to where we'd be sleeping

I really don't see a need for us to have a 6kw generator just to run AC. Maybe instead of propane stove/water heater I should just go electric with everything? Actually this trailer does already have an electric water heater, looks like a 5 gal tank style.

Anyone have any thoughts/opinions on keeping/ditching the Onan? It doesn't seem like 6kw is enough to run a welder, perhaps an air compressor, but those are the only other things I can think of to use it for.
 
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GLTHFJ60 said:
My buddy Nick is trying to convince me to keep the Onan HDKAS 6k Diesel Genset, since both my cruiser and my tow rig are diesel. Going to get it running and see how loud it is before making a decision. It's mounted up in the goose right next to where we'd be sleeping

I really don't see a need for us to have a 6kw generator just to run AC. Maybe instead of propane stove/water heater I should just go electric with everything? Actually this trailer does already have an electric water heater, looks like a 5 gal tank style.

Anyone have any thoughts/opinions on keeping/ditching the Onan? It doesn't seem like 6kw is enough to run a welder, perhaps an air compressor, but those are the only other things I can think of to use it for.
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My thoughts. Never used an Onan, but having one fuel source for your entire setup would be sweet. But that will depend on A) how loud the 6k diesel is with it's current location; B) how big of a bed you want to put on the gooseneck (ours came with a King but swapped it for a Queen so we had more storage room for bags etc on each side of the bed); and C) if it would be possible to move it somewhere else on the trailer and build around it.
 
ridered3 said:
My thoughts. Never used an Onan, but having one fuel source for your entire setup would be sweet. But that will depend on A) how loud the 6k diesel is with it's current location; B) how big of a bed you want to put on the gooseneck (ours came with a King but swapped it for a Queen so we had more storage room for bags etc on each side of the bed); and C) if it would be possible to move it somewhere else on the trailer and build around it.
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Moving it would be interesting. There's enough space for a queen up top, with tons of storage room, so that's not a concern. Just had a thought, I could sink the generator into the floor towards the back 😏😏😏

But again, what do you find yourself using 110v stuff for when out there? 6kw seems way overkill at first glance.
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
Moving it would be interesting. There's enough space for a queen up top, with tons of storage room, so that's not a concern. Just had a thought, I could sink the generator into the floor towards the back 😏😏😏

But again, what do you find yourself using 110v stuff for when out there? 6kw seems way overkill at first glance.
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Sinking it into the floor could be an interesting project.

The only 12v item on our trailer is the water pump which was wired to a battery by the previous owner. I thought about changing it, but it was a new pump and came with a spare so will make that change at a later date.

Everything else is either 110v (lights, plug outlets, water heater, fridge/freezer, microwave, toaster oven) or 220v (AC and electric heater). We have an inverter style generator that can push up to 3700 watts and the only time we use more than 50% of that capacity is when either the ac/heat and water heater are on at the same time. Adding one of those EZStarts to the AC would help with that though.

So all that said, 6k may be overkill but if it works and isn't too loud that may just be the ticket.
 
Throw some solar panels on there and a small inverter. Its nice to be able to run small 110v stuff without having to start the gen.
 
Did some more research today and realized it's a diesel 1800rpm generator. Those are supposed to be pretty quiet.

I'll have it running by the end of the week, so we'll find out I guess.
 
I'd definitely get rid of the pos diesel generator.

Just to help you out, I'll pay for shipping to get it off your hands :flipoff2:

Most any diesel generator I've been around is quiet enough to have a conversation right next to. They also siiiiiiip fuel. You deserve a dick punch if you sell it. Figure out a good spot for it. Maybe on the truck flatbed even?

Being able to run a grinder, Sawzall, drill and even a small welder would be invaluable imo.
 
you should keep that genset. it's gonna be dumb quiet.

there's definite advantages to a built in genset.
like pulling into a truckstop parking lot, getting into the trailer, hitting a button and having heat.
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
Did some more research today and realized it's a diesel 1800rpm generator. Those are supposed to be pretty quiet.

I'll have it running by the end of the week, so we'll find out I guess.
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Well if you decide to get rid of the diesel genny, I'll make a trip up to NC to take it off your hands as an "Advisory Fee" for letting me talk trailers with you.
 
If it is too loud for your liking, maybe put it on a slide? Then you can slide it outside the trailer and close the door back. Might be easier to install some sound deading/reflectors around the genny cabinet, so you dont hear it as bad inside.
 
I guess I should have looked it up. I thought my Hobart Ironman 210 draw was higher, but looks like it's only 25a @ 230v single phase. This certainly changes things. TIL!!

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Have been plugging away at the interior the past few days. Got most of it gutted, and have started planning out an order of operations. Not looking forward to pulling the shitter 😅

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This wall has some damage from someone side swiping the trailer (or so the PO says). The skin will have to be replaced and a few of the posts straightened, but no big deal.

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Thought to take a picture of the weight slip yesterday. This was dragging it home from FL @ridered3

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Last night I began work on the generator. Someone had been in the control box before, and removed the DC breaker, putting an inline fuse in its place. I would like to find a replacement, need to figure out what was in there.

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You can see the control box top-left unbolted. Was like that when I bought it.

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Couple of wires not hooked up anywhere (dangling), inline fuse holder, not good.

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I hooked up a battery last night, holding "stop" to glow didn't light up the switch, but she cranked when the "start" switch was pressed, no problem. Pretty stoked about that. I was attempting to bleed the fuel system, then something popped in the control box (not sure what) and she wouldn't crank anymore. Ran out of time last night, so I'm going to go over the schematic to see if I can un-fuck the wiring in here, then try again.

If anyone knows what type of DC breaker would fit in the carling slot in front of this generator, let me know. I'm still searching for it.
 
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