The Moonshine Motel (4 Viewers)

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GLTHFJ60

Rum Runnin'
SILVER Star
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Apr 18, 2005
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441
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Location
Durham, NC
Decided to start a new thread since I'm starting with a clean slate in an entirely new direction. The documentation of my failed attempt at resurrecting a 1960s camper is here:

Long story short, between my old deckover trailer and that slide-in camper, 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.


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, @SFROMAN , 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 :lol:, 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/s***ter 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/s***ter, 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/s***ter/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-**** 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 door

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 :D
 
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Sweet deal
 
Nice toy hauler, for some reason you don't see many of them around on the east coast.

Looks like a great starting point for the build.
 
She's almost fully emptied out. Will have some more to do, but for now it's good.

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Working on getting the generator up and running. Cummins Onan HDKAS, 6kw 3cyl, 1800rpm, diesel generator. Someone had been monkeying around in the control box:

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I know you’re not a big fan of Facebook, but there’s a group on there for Cargo trailer conversions, there’s a ton of really good information.

 
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Hell yes!!!!

Might have to sub-divide it. "Moonshine Motel" up front. "Club Moonshine" in the back. :cheers:
 
Got the generator running this weekend. It's way bigger than I need, but it's big enough to power a welder. Pretty neat machine.

Jury is still out if it's too loud to run overnight while we're sleeping.



Figured out the awning. The fabric is 15 years old and ripped, but it works!! Need to look into getting new fabric, or if this one can be repaired.

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Got her pulled up to the street for a test fit. Moonshine fits pretty damn well. Have ~38" of room from the front bumper to the goose to play with for shower/s***ter/kitchentte. Should be just enough.

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Empty pics:

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The white scribble on the floor is our rough layout for the wet bath/kitchentte.

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I'm having flashbacks of the trip me, you and cowboy butts Mike took up to Pennsylvania, where we slept in that 20 ft car trailer. We had the Honda generator running the AC and you woke up snuggling a wrench :rofl:

Awesome project dude! Time for a trip out West......
 
I'm having flashbacks of the trip me, you and cowboy butts Mike took up to Pennsylvania, where we slept in that 20 ft car trailer. We had the Honda generator running the AC and you woke up snuggling a wrench :rofl:

Awesome project dude! Time for a trip out West......
Right? That was such a good time.
 
Not sure what that genny is worth, but I bet you could fund 2 Honda 2200's that can run in parallel and are super quiet. That also lends portability for when you want to use it elsewhere. Exciting project bro. I see lots of adventures in your future, with some real comfort capabilities!

:beer: R

ETA - after thinking about it, you could get a lot more power for the same money and still pretty quiet in the form of a larger unit capable of 240v.
 
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I've got a honda 2200 already, and before this one came around, I was planning on using it to power the trailer. I'll also have a small 12v system for lights and whatnot, but the AC will be 120v.

I've decided I'm going to sell the onan generator. It's pretty sweet, but way bigger than I really need, and it just won't fit with the truck in. The onan is 2'x2'x3' more or less, and there isn't that much room. I don't want the generator where it is up in the goose (next to our heads), meaning the only place it *could* go is where the kitchentte will be, eliminating the kitchenette.

Just not worth it imo. The little Honda will do everything I need.

EDIT: So if anyone is interested in a Cummins Onan 6kw with ~900 hours on it, hit me up.

For a perspective, here's a layout picture. WB = wet bath, KIT = kitchenette, GEN = Onan generator. On the side wall is a representation of moonshine's wheelbase and tire size. The generator would just eat up everything on the floor.

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Could also power everyone else's camps, the espresso maker, the electric pancake and waffle makers, the disco ball, DJ system, big screen tv, and the HEPA filter, cause ya have to have fresh air
 
The solution is portals on Moonshine so you can mount the genny under her in, otherwise, unused space ;)
 
The guys on irate4x4 really don't want me to get rid of this diesel genset. They helped me come up with a solution I had not thought of before. Stay tuned.
 
Me thinks Johnny has scoped out the resale on Onan RV generators and has rightly decided it's a better idea to sell than have the overkill option. Trust me, when my 4k onan went out, I looked for a used replacement......they are not cheap.

Edit: or not :)
 

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