OK, this isn't about not having the money to buy a camping trailer.  I already have a camping trailer, but am not all that gifted when it comes to mechanical repairs and so will sell it soon enough - you'll see it on this site. 

I love to camp and ride, but the frustration of things not working (and, yes, I do have a professionally built living quarters) is wearing me out.  So, am wondering if anyone else would like to see a camping unit with gravity fed roof mounted water (nix one 12V pump and surprise water outages), in line propane hot water heater without a tank (nix cold season draining and maintenance)  hi tech ice box like the Coleman Xtreme (nix maintaining and replacing the fridge and leveling the trailer)  that sort of thing.  Is there somewhere I could order a rig custom designed for a low tech lightweight like me?  Am I alone in my desire for ease and simplicity?

Thanks for listening, and sharing your thoughts.

Shouldn't be that hard to build one.  You get the trailer, I'll help

Have a friend that has your basic set-up now except he can plug in for electric dorm fridg and lights. He wants so bad to move up to what I have now, but finances don't accomodate him at this time.

To each his own, but IMHO you might be sorry.

Oh my Gosh! This is funny. I keep thinking and dreaming of owning a small LQ with all the convienences!!! Finances don't allow for it though. I keep thinking of ways to make my camping a little more "pleasant". I would absolutely love a fridge and a hot shower. Those are the two at the top of my list. The shower being # 1 for sure!

What I would like to have installed, is a cowboy shower on the outside of my trailer. That way I could also use it to rinse my horse after a ride as she sweats like a racehorse. As for me, I could buy one of those tents for the outdoor Zodi showers. I do already have a hayrack with the water caddy that I use for a gravity fed COLD shower. Would really like to have a hot water heater and some water pressure though. I thought about having a hay pod or covered hay rack of some kind. As my water tank is really getting beat up by the sun.

Prices around here are high too. I think I remember calling a local RV person who has installed these types of things for other horsie friends. If I remember correctly, he quoted me $80-90 an hour and the cowboy shower at over $2500-

I have a small 2 horse GN with a 3' short wall that unfortunately has the tack door on the curb side.( makes for a much smaller LQ area) . It's a nice trailer but I have to be really creative on how I am going to make this work. What I really need and want is a stud partition for the front stall( for storage) A covered hayrack or hay pod thingy.( I am thinking of putting my water heater and tanks up there since there is no room any where else)And having a switch of some kind installed that would ignite the tanks and start the water heater from down below so that I don't have to climb the ladder all the time.

Any one else have pics of what they have done with a small LQ space?

One of my favorite things to do when camping is walking around and seeing what others have done creatively. Another good place to go to see stuff like this is an endurance ride or race. I have seen some of the neatest ideas there.

I will be installing a small, but thorough weekend in my trailer this winter.  I want something simple, very comfortable and repairable by me.  My thoughts are that if I install it, I can repair it, so that's plan number one - do it myself (with my family's help).

I've planned it out except for the toilet - can't decide which way to go on that one. 

Well, we have caved into the hi-tech stuff recently having purchased an 06 3/horse slant w/10' LQ which already had an electric awning (which I find I prefer the manual) & a satellite dish so we can use our Direct TV box, but my husband is handy & can fix almost anything incl replacing a fridge if need be.  But I agree with your thoughts since we have camped w/horses for 30+ years having started out with an 8' truck camper on a 1/2 T. truck that had an ice box, built in radiant heater, porta potti in closet & hand pump for water but we felt we were blessed because we had a warm, dry place to stay (that was 1975).  Truck got stolen so we went to a 3/4 T. truck an found a used 10' truck camper w/fridge, stove w/oven, radiant heater w/thermostat, & toilet/shower combination w/hot water.  I really liked having a fridge (piezo light) & the shower. We had that camper for 20 years but basically the only draw on battery was the lights & water pump, everything else propane & we also camp were we never have electric so it was great.  Eventually we got a new camper & still pretty self-sufficient except by then the heaters had to have blowers which run your batteries down pretty fast so we were very conservative setting the thermostat.  While I love my new used LQ trailer, everything is electronic - fridge needs battery or doesn't run even on propane, blowers on heater (most of my friends install a vent-free radiant to supplement), microwave vs. oven & trailer has a "fantastic fan" which really circulates the air so we don't bother with the AC & have a 1,000 watt Honda Generator which is extremely quiet.  We are considering also installing a solar panel and depending how much cold weather camping we do, may also get a vent-free heater.  It seems that since RVing of all types has become so popular & there are now many places to camp w/horses that provide sites w/elec & water, & I guess the manufacturers assume we all have electric to run everything or you need to resort to carrying a generator.  From all the years of camping, we have learned to be conservative & my husband usually runs the generator for an hour in the AM when he makes the coffee & we shower so it is doable but I agree things were much simpler in the early years before all the technology.  Not sure how I would survive if I didn't have my husband & had to pay to have everything done and nothing is built to last like it was back then!  Just my 2 cents.

You are beyond blessed indeed!  To have a partner who shares your interest AND can fix things.  WOW now that would be just spectacular!

Thanks for your input.

Eleanor

I love the atmosphere of "camping!" I don't have a LQ and don't think I ever will. I just have a 8' long wall and have insulated and nicely tongue and grooved paneled it added rope trimiming and some decent and nice looking tack rack. It keeps me warm at night and have just a "few" high tech things in it. I won't go beyond anything more. I just love the outdoor cooking in dutch oven, on campfire, coffee on the grill, stove, campfire.

Just a small bit of what I consider "high tech" convienencies (sp) that I have are:

12v fridge

Luggable Loo

Solar Shower in back of trailer, which I love and works well, I have gotten some "hot, hot, hot" water out of this!

and I do bring my laptop to map my trails and download pics after rides, and dvd player if I feel like a movie in bed is in store. (husband installed a 12v to run my goodies.)

and my stove is an antique Griswold two burner gas which I hook up to a 5 gal. propane tank.

That's my "high tech". LQ's are nice, don't get me wrong and I love browsing in them, but that's all I'll do is browse. Maybe I'm just "addicted to the dust" per say, but I love my low profile, low tech camping!

I just have insulated DR with AC also.

My extra features that I like best are my Honda generator, Thedford 465 porta potti, and coleman hot water on demand.  I have 4 deep cycles under the gooseneck that come into my trailer and end as cigarette lighters.  I can plug anything from 12 volt fans to water pump hooked up to 50 gallon plastic barrel.  Have the automatic chargers for the batteries hooked right next to them.  Each one has a battery level indicator inside, so I can just switch from battery to battery.

My low tech sink is a shelf that holds one of those blue water jugs from Walmart, with a big funnel under the shelf to catch the water hooked to a hose that runs to a second blue water jug for the waste.  Can't get much simplier than that.

I traveled with a 16' Ponderosa stock trailer and tent before that.  That trailer sure is nicer than a tent when the rain comes.

That's the spirit!  I often ponder how complicated we make things and the effect of that. 

Someone is coming to second inspect my fancy Four Star rig, and if it sells then I'll be browsing around at all the wonderful, creative and comfortable ways to live "off the grid" out there.

Less hassle - more saddle time.

Happy trails,

   Eleanor

Your system is very much like the one I plan to install.  I have a Honda 2000 generator, a Coleman Hot Water on Demand with alll accesories, and will have a large water storage tank and deep cycle marine batteries for 12 v service.

Can you tell me pretty specifically how you have the batteries set up and what pieces of equipment I need to do that?  You charge the batteries with the generator? or the truck's system?

I would then like to add 110 too, but just getting these batteries connected so that the 12 v stuff willl work will be a major accomplishment.

The batteries were installed when I bought the trailer, but can tell you how they are set up.

Right under the gooseneck, tight against the trailer, an aluminum "shelf" was welded in place the whole width of the trailer.  Then each battery has a custom welded aluminum box to hold it in place.  There are then 2 pieces of "L" shaped tread plate that covers the front and top of the batteries and bolts to the aluminum shelf on the bottom.  It totally covers the batteries, remove them is how you get to the batteries.

The two battery charges are mounted about 1' in front of the shelf, towards the hitch.  They are bolted to the inside "A" frame metal I beam that goes to the hitch.  Each charger will charge 2 batteries, with automatic shutoff.  They are 110 volt charges, with a cord connecting the two and ending at the hitch.  I plug the one cord in, and all four batteries charge.  Each battery shuts the charge off automatically when done charging.  They can be charged with the generator or  plugged into the outlet.  There is heavy 12 volt wires that run from the charger to each battery inside of a garden hose.  Each battery has a 4 bolt and wingnut posts.  They (batteries) came with one positive and negative nut and bolt, and one post.  There is then adapters that turn the post to a wingnut and bolt.

Coming off the other battery bolts, there is a hole drilled behind the batteries through the trailer right in the corner under the gooseneck.  The 12 volt wires are enclosed in a garden hose and caulked around the hole.  2 of the batteries have a 10 amp car inline fuse, and 2 batteries have a 15 amp car fuse, just in case.  The wires come in the trailer, run up to the ceiling, over the door, and are mounted right below the ceiling on the wall between DR and horse area.  Each one has a cigarette lighter outlet.  Also connected to the outlet is a battery charge level indicator also screwed to the wall.

All of my 12 volt accessories, water pump, fan, lights, etc. have a cigarette plug connected to them.  I just plug them into an outlet.  When that outlet runs out of charge I move to the next one.

I also have a heavy duty extension cord that runs from the hitch to the inside of the trailer with an outlet strip.  My air conditioner cord also runs to the hitch.  It works great with a generator.  I leave the generator in the back of the truck, and plug everything into it.  I have a 3000 generator.  But I can run my 110 fridge, AC, microwave etc. on the generator, or plug it into an electrical campsite and run everything with electric, except my lights and water pump always work on 12 volt.

Sorry long winded.  Hope it explains it.  Whoever did the work did a great job.  I know it sounds like wires running all over, but they run together and are neat and zip stripped together inside hose that acts like conduit. 

That's a great description - very easy to follow.

Thank you!!