I'm looking to buy my first LQ horse trailer. Probably a 3H w/ small LQ or weekender package. Is there a "trailers for dummies" guidebook anywhere? I'm a single female and need to know everything I don't know LOL. for instance, how to handle what batteries are what, generators, grey water, and all that fun maintenance stuff. I'm planning on using the trailer frequently on weekends for primitive camping and have been reading about gas vs propane generators. What do you actually run your lights off? can you run lights without a generator and how long will they stay on? what does your refrigerator work off? what brand of hitch is best? etc etc. where can you learn all this stuff??? 

thanks,
Donna

Your not a dummy silly! There are alot of knowledgable people on here who I am sure will help you out. If you buy your trailer at a dealer, make them show you how to do EVERYTHING, set up and tear down, hooking, unhooking. And what to do to for storage etc.

I have to say, myself as a woman, I cannot answer all of those questions, I know some of them and could figure most of it out, but tend to just let the other half handle his boy jobs;)

I know that most/some fridge's can run on propane or electric. I think in general, most people like gas generators, I know we will be buying a Honda(well 2 2000's) As far as your lights, they can run off the truck when plugged in, but that will run your truck batttery down, I know we have two batteries and a thingamagig that converts that or something. ok, I will leave that to people who dont call it a thingamagig

Good luck and I hope you find a great trailer!

Hi - I am a girl that bought a 2 horse GN LQ with 9' shortwall a year ago, for the first time.  It was used but came with the manuals... I refer to them often!  I have read a lot but go back to them when something doesn't work the way I thought it should.  I keep a binder in the trailer with all the info I will need.  I have a propane fridge that can run on electric if I were to camp at a place with RV hookups.  The furnace uses propane for heat, but needs the RV batteries to work.  I have 2 deep cell Marine batteries.  Those will run everything but the A/C for a weekend IF you are conservative.  I bought a Honda 3000 eui generator to take on endurance ride weekends. It is great but weighs 135 lbs!!  That is heavy.  I leave it in the truck bed all weekend as I can't move it mself.  I run it from there making sure there is plenty of ventilation when I am running it.  The first time I went to dump the grey and black water was scary, but I did it.  First, buy some disposal gloves for handling the hose as it's kind of gross.  Hook the hose up to the exit tube, make sure the hose is in the dump site hole securely, and pull the black water lever to open that tank and let it drain.  Pull the lever open and closed a few times to encourage it to drain completely.  Next, close the black water lever and open the grey water lever, following the same procedure.  Some RV dump sites have a hose to rinse your drain hose out with.  I did this then proceded to lift the hose and get icky water all over myself.  I mean everywhere.  I was in a hurry because there were people waiting to use the dumpsite behind me.  If you use the water to rinse your hose off, keep it away from yourself a minute to let it complete drain before trying to put it back in the holder.

Practice using your trailer at home before taking it out on a trip.  Practice starting the fridge, using the burners, the furnace, opening and closing the awning, filling the water, fill the grey water and practice "dumping" it with the hose... it is just water and you don't have to handle it with the care you do when dumping real grey and black water.  The fridge was easy for me.  Turn the selector switch to the propane symbol, hold the gas button on, press the starter button 5 times.  The indicator needle goes from left to right to the green area and that means it is working.  Once it starts working, I let off the propane button.  I made the mistake of turing it up to 5 (1 of 5) and left it there... I froze my carrots, puddings, milk, etc.  In hot weather you might need it to be higer, like 3-5 but in cold weather it does not seem to be as cold... only 1-3. 

If it is really cold when I camp, my furnace comes on several times during the night and runs the batteries down a lot...  that is where the generator comes in handy.  It will recharge my batteries through the converter in the trailer, BUT, if I run the batteries down completely, the generator will not be able to charge them.  You have to use a regular battery charger if they are dead.  The converter is just able to recharge a low or slightly low battery, at least that is the way it works on my trailer.  Let's see.  The hot water was confusing for me.  First, run the hot water tap to make sure the hot water tank is filled with water and not air.  Next, on my trailer I turn on a switch and an ignition light comes on.  When it goes out (10 seconds) , the water heater starts heating water.  Wait about 15-20 minutes and you will get hot water. 

Buy some RV toilet chemicals for the toilet.  I use the liquid kind.  Also, buy some of the pink RV anti-freeze for winter and make sure you ask the dealer to show you how to winterize the trailer.  I jsut put a cup of antifreeze in the shower, sink, toilet and keep a small radiant heater on low all winter to prevent pipes from freezing.  2 weeks ago I did an endurance ride outside of Bend Oregon and it got down to 13 degrees at night!  The furnace came on every 20 minutes and my water pump still froze!  I had to wait til the sun came out and warmed everything up before I could run the water pump for the sink or toilet.  My friend's camper had the same problem.  Not sure what I could have done to prevent that but it was okay - no damage.

Let us know how you do and what kind of trailer you buy.  Hopefully you can have the folks that sell you the trailer show you how everything works.  Take notes!

:)

"Small" That’s what we thought to.  Darn the luck we ended up with a 10' LQ in a 28 ft 8' wide 7' 6" tall aluminum trailer for our first.  And to boot it is a two horse straight with a 5 foot mid tack.  Never did I expect to go this big however after searching as you are all last winter all over the internet and basically across the country it really came down to a very few things.

Cost.   LQ amenities  Storage         Width and height

I will leave cost up to you.  That is a personal choice however make sure you touch and see what you buy.  All the internet sites are great reference but remember buyer beware is written all over the LQ world.

Amenities- again it is all dollars and cents here to.  We were lucky to get the larger fridge and if I could suggest anything in the amenity world go bigger with the fridge. Awning is a definite bigger is better too.  Don’t forget to stake it down.  Winds can rip these things off in a second.

Couch vs. Dinette.  You cannot eat or play cards on a couch; the dinette is a must over the now becoming standard couch.  I think they do this to fool us into believing it is better.

Width and height – Again dollars and sense however an 8 foot wide trailer adds an entire foot of floor space down the center of the LQ.  The height is better in the berth and our horses love the extra room they are always relaxed after a long haul and always are willing to get on.

Let me just say.  Bigger is better!  However get ready for a shock in maneuverability.  Going forward is fine it’s the backing up and bending the turns that take some time.  Just be careful and you will have a blast.

Also the main factor we were unprepared for was the tow vehicle; you can never have enough when hauling these heavy Lq’s make sure you do not exceed your vehicles GCVW (Gross Combined Vehicle Weight rating)

I am so glad to hear all your comments on the couch vs the dinette.  We struggled all winter last year over this very issue.  Although I am very happy with the dinette I will keep you comments in mind if we ever have to cross these decisions again.  Which I am sure we will......

I would have to say that all in all I do not miss the tent and can not even find one reason to go back to a tent.  (Life long AMC campers too)  We are recreational trail riders and have been camping for years with our horses.  This past season was by far the most enjoyable.  Heat, rain, bugs or cold air did not spoil our season one bit.

So no matter what you end up with for a LQ you will definitely enjoy it. 

And you get to bring ice cream :)

You aren't a dummy or you wouldn't have been wise enough to search for answers as you are. It's those who don't know enough to be open to learned who are the dummies.

I've learned a lot over the last year and most has been because of this website.

I'm in my 20's (female) and I built my own weekend package. I designed the electrical plan, but had someone do the work for me (I knew what needed to run off the batteries and what I wanted to run from the generator). For my purpose, propane wasn't necessary so I skipped that. My interior lights, exhaust fan above the shower & water pump run off the battery. My outlets inside the trailer (including what the microwave & fridge plug into) & my hot water heater use the power from my generator or shore power. Because I converted a plain 4' SW Elite into a weekend package after having a few other people look it over, I opted not to have a grey water tank (we were worried it would hang too low and I'd manage to rip it off somehow). My trailer has a sink & shower and they drain straight out through the floor. I do plan to add an attachment so if I want or need to run those into a sewer hookup (if I'm staying somewhere long-term) or into a portable grey tank, I can...I just haven't done that yet. There is a converter/charger which uses shore power (or generator power) to charge the batteries when the trailer is plugged in. I try to keep the trailer plugged in at the house so the batteries stay charged (in case I accidentally leave a light on) and I DEFINITELY plug it in a few days before going anywhere or if I come home and don't immediately unpack the fridge...don't want stuff spoiling in there.

For winterizing, I just plan to put a small ceramic heater in the trailer when temps drop. In central Texas, it isn't a regular occurance. LOL!