# New Outbacker



## Boret

Hi there!

Last year I decided to start doing Track Days in my motorcycle. It is a blast. I got myself a little utility trailer that I towed with my wife's RAV4. Got a little tent and started spending weekends at the tracks. There I found out how limiting my equipment was and looked with envious eyes the nice setups other families had. One in particular, the Outback Toy Hauler caught my eye. 
We spent the year with that setup and also crossing the US in motorcycle. The RAV4 could manage the 1000# load but wasn't the most comfortable setup. So we looked into getting a Convertible Van, that could tow better and give us a better sleeping arrangement. Everything affordable was old, smelled and had tons of miles.
At the end of 2010 we realized that we have put over 15,000 miles on the touring bike, over 10k on the RAV4 and about 3000 miles on the expensive 2010 FX35 that was sitting in the driveway all the time. After careful consideration we decided to get rid of the FX35 and use those funds for an SUV with towing capacity and some type of large enclosed trailer or Toy Hauler. We started looking at the smaller Toy Haulers and Enclose Trailers. All of them seemed very spartan, design mainly for hauling toy vs providing nice accommodation. While checking local RV dealers my wife kept looking at the Travel Trailers and told me how nice it would be to not only go to the tracks in one of those but how much fun would it be to cross the US in one. That's when I remember how much I like the Outback I saw several months before at the track. We sold the FX35 and got an Infiniti QX56 with a towing capacity of 9000# and room for 7. The rest of the $$ will get us a Toy Hauler.

With no RV experience whatsoever we start looking at different configurations and kept coming back to either the 23KRS or the 28KRS. That's when we stumble upon "Just Add Dirt"'s 2007 28KRS on this website. It looked like a great deal, with the right mods. We contacted Eric, took a look at his Outback and in a few days finalized the transaction. Eric was a pleasure to deal with, and we wish his wife a speedy recovery!

We are now the proud owners of a (new to us) 2007 Keystone Outback 28KRS.










I looked at all the numbers and the QX56 can tow it with a 15-20% margin. Used this calculator LINK. We have driven it for about 200 miles and with the WD and Sway Control hitch, Prodigy 3 break controller and airbag adjustable suspension on the QX56 it feels great. I had a couple of buddies, more knowledgeable with RVs, drive the combination and they both agree that it feels solid.

The weather is crappy in Northern VA, and we have not been able to go anywhere yet, but we are very excited with the setup. We are looking forward to our first trip and are already spending countless hours on the web researching! I have tons of questions, many have already been answer by "Just add Dirt" (Thanks Eric) but I don't want to pester with with constant phone calls so I look forward to ask the questions here and take full advantage of this great community.

Boret & Paqui


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## Joonbee

Welcome welcome. You will be satisfied with that tailer for sure. I have spent more than weeknd in the CG with it and you got a great deal form a caring "former owner". I look forward to camping near it again one day.

You will also find a few on here that get out to the track on a regular basis. I would be one of the "used to do it before the little ones came" guys, but plan to pick it up again when they are a little older. DW is only out of pregnancy 6 months and already beating me up with the " I miss my bike, when are we gonna get them back". But htats oen of the reasons I married her.









Welcome again and hopefully we can share a fire someday.

Jim

I hear there is a rally going on in Acadia National Park in Aug if you need some travel ideas.


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## Boret

Thanks Jim for the welcome! As soon as the weather gets better I am heading to the track! Can't wait, it will be great with the new setup.
I am still going over all the things I need and should get for the RV.
For now I found a great source for LED lights for the RV. For about $8 a piece I am changing the incandescent lights with banks of smd banks of 12 LEDs. At 12Watts per incandescent bulb vs 0.75 for the LED equivalent it is a no brainer. We were at the RV show last weekend and saw that the Airstreamers are outfitted with LEDs. We personally like the super white look (more modern) but I can see that other people might prefer the yellower light output of the regular bulbs.

The other area of concern is electricity. I can see us going for Parks with full hook ups most of the time, but there might be the days while traveling to the parks when that won't be possible. With the RV we got a champion 3500/4000w generator. It works and will definitely run the 13,500 A/C unit or the microwave. But it is a bit loud to run it at night. It is also a bit cumbersome at 120#. We are still a few months away from needing the A/C, but I started looking at quieter alternatives. No need to start a whole thread about Generators, but I pretty much narrow it down to the Yamaha 2400. Very quiet, lighter (70#) and probably capable of running the A/C.

I currently have a 12v Deep Cycle marine battery. I will probably get a second one. With 2 batteries and the generator we should be able to spend a whole night off the grid without much trouble. I like the 6v combos and some of the interesting solar power approaches, but that seems more useful for boon docking. Being completely new to RVing we might prefer the convenience of full hook ups until we get to be more experienced.

The 28KRS doesn't have an inverter. I found a great deal at Harbor Tools for a 2000w/4000w peak Inverter for $130. It might be a good thing to have. Not sure I want to tap into the whole system, I was just thinking of placing it in the garage area of the RV, a quick disconnect to the batteries and an extension cable to run the TV, DVD, netbook and cell phone chargers.

We want to replace the slide out queen mattress. We thought of 2 options, either a think foam topper on top of the current mattress or replacing the whole thing with a new foam mattress. Costco has the foam mattresses for $500 and we found a local shop that will sell us the Sally foam mattress for $595. The nicer tempur-pedic ones are double that price and pretty heavy!

Another change might be the faucet in the sink. It works but it is pretty close to the sink so It wont allow us to place a taller container. Can you replace it with a regular faucet from home Depot or are RV faucets different? Will probably replace the shower head.

We found a great deal on a 22 LED LCD screen at Walmart ($200). It is very light and only uses 28W of power. We matched it with a DVD with Wifi. The DVD has also access to Netflix and I was able to watch a movie off Netflix while tethering the DVD through my cell phone. Of course that was with full strength signal on the cell phone. I imagine that we wont be able to get that performance once we head West, but if we are lucky enough to have a decent WiFi signal at the RV Park we should be able to use this configuration.

I found a TV mount on Amazon for $44 that comes with 2 wall adapters so we can have the TV either inside or outside under the awning. This is the link. While on Amazon we also got an X-Chock Tire Locking Chock.

There are so many things you can get for the RV!!! Spending time on the RV online shops like AdventureRV.net yields a large basket at check out.









We also got some extra items at Walmart, like a 30ft RV extension cable, an adapter to connect the RV electric connector to a regular 110v plug, RV cleaning supplies, some plastic plates and kitchen wares, etc.

Just the planning stage is fun, I can't imagine how cool is it going to be once we get on the road. Our plan is to do a short weekend trip and write down the things that we might be missing.


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## hautevue

I don't have a 28KRS, but are you SURE there is no inverter? Every Outback about which I'm familiar has a master power panel stashed somewhere accessible, and inside that cover panel is a magic system--it has a set of 120v circuit breakers like your residence, to power the air conditioner, hot water heater, reefer, a few 120v wall sockets, usually with a Ground Fault Breaker socket in the first socket in the line from the power panel, etc. It's powered by your shore power cable.

The master power panel has another section that takes incoming 120v ac and makes 12v dc. That's the inverter.

Then it runs that dc power through a small panel with 12vdc fuses, to power lights, reefer, tv, stove igniter, ceiling exhaust fan, charge the battery(ies), and on and on. It, too, is powered by 120v shore power, but if there is no shore power (or a genset) hooked up, it takes the battery 12vdc and runs it into the 12vdc circuits. Obviously if there is no shore power, there is no charging of the batteries, and all the 12vdc circuits draw from the batteries.

So I recommend you recheck the power panel to make sure you don't have the factory installed power distribution center and inverter. "Fer sure" you'll have a circuit breaker panel, however small, to protect the 120v circuits (that's the electrical code requirement).


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## Boret

Thanks *Hautevue*!

You are right the RV has a converter to go from 110V to 12v. What it doesn't have (or at least I have not seen it) is an inverter to go from 12v to 110v. Basically a device so you can run regular 110v appliances plug to the RV sockets just taking electricity from the battery, without a shore connection. Am I making more sense now?


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## CamperAndy

Boret said:


> Thanks *Hautevue*!
> 
> You are right the RV has a converter to go from 110V to 12v. What it doesn't have (or at least I have not seen it) is an inverter to go from 12v to 110v. Basically a device so you can run regular 110v appliances plug to the RV sockets just taking electricity from the battery, without a shore connection. Am I making more sense now?


Converter and Inverter are often confused. You are correct your Outback did not come with an inverter but do not despair, none of the Outbacks or Sydney line of trailers have an inverter from the factory. That said several members here have installed them, from 175 watts to run a DVD/TV to 3000 and 4000 watt units to run the AC unit (note that that takes a lot of batteries also). Personally I installed a small one just to charge cell phones and the like.


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## Dub

Nice lookin setup! You just need to get some glossy paint and chrome rims on the trailer to turn all the heads on the highway.


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## GO WEST

If you have a power outlet (cigarette lighter type plug) in the RV you could plug a portable inverter into that and run 110v AC to power small stuff. I have one like this to use in my car to power a laptop or charge cell phones. I forget how many watts it is, but it's enough to handle most stuff. Yes, it is fun to outfit the RV, and all you are doing Boret, will make this preowned RV more "yours". Enjoy the process now; it will be even more fun when you get out there towing and camping in the spring.


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## Boret

CamperAndy said:


> If you have a power outlet (cigarette lighter type plug) in the RV you could plug a portable inverter into that and run 110v AC to power small stuff. I have one like this to use in my car to power a laptop or charge cell phones. I forget how many watts it is, but it's enough to handle most stuff. Yes, it is fun to outfit the RV, and all you are doing Boret, will make this preowned RV more "yours". Enjoy the process now; it will be even more fun when you get out there towing and camping in the spring.


There is a cigarette power outlet where the antenna amplifier switch is located, at the right side of the kitchen. I'm just not sure how much power I should pull from there. The advantage of directly connecting an after market inverter to the battery is that I can use decent gauge cable to avoid a fire hazard.

Can't wait to take it out. The only thing stopping us right now is that fact that it is winterized and if we go for a weekend now we will have to winterize it again when we return. Might have to wait until we are certain that it won't freeze at night...


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## CamperAndy

Boret said:


> There is a cigarette power outlet where the antenna amplifier switch is located, at the right side of the kitchen. I'm just not sure how much power I should pull from there. The advantage of directly connecting an after market inverter to the battery is that I can use decent gauge cable to avoid a fire hazard.


The pre wired 12 vdc outlets in the Outbacks are limited to 5 amps. They are actually smaller then the 12vdc outlets in your car.


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## Boret

Thanks CamperAndy, I was afraid of that. So I either tap into the system and retrofit the inverter, or just plug it directly to the batt.


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## Boret

There are tons of Inverters in the market. Difficult to pick one. I am thinking a 1000W to 1500W pure sine wave. I might also pick a single 150W cigarette lighter plug one for the TV. Any recommendations?

I can get a Cobra 1500W Modified Sine Wave Inverter for $99 or a XANTREX PROWATT SW1000 1000W TRUE SINEWAVE INVERTER for $250. Quite a difference in price from Modified to Pure Sine Wave...

I can only foresee using it to power TV, DVD and other electronics (Vonage, router, laptop, etc...). Some people have success with the modified sine wave.


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## BigJoeCamper

I used a 3000W xantrex inverter in my last rig. The fan on that would chew through 2-12V Deep cycle optimas in the course of one night (in addition to running heated eletric bunk mats and the furnace). It did the job, but the batteries were flat come morning. I found this model was way too big for the job. Going with a smaller ProWatt series that does True Sine Wave would be the best bet. Those even have built-in USB chargers. But don't underestimate your wattage needs. 200w goes to 500w goes to 1000w pretty quick. Beyond that you have to go to heavier, more expensive cable that is harder to route!

More to the point I suppose is my new power choice. I use a Yamaha EF3000iSEB generator that's been fitted with a tri-fuel conversion kit. The tri-fuel lets you run unleaded gasoline, propane or natural gas. I use propane exclusively in the summer via a low pressure line tapped in below the main propane regulator. The generator is extremely quiet. You can't hear it hardly at all 20 feet from the campsite. I suppose if I boxed it in with a small exhaust outlet, you wouldn't hear it at all. The built-in inverter is pure sine-wave.

The generator doubles as my emergency back-up for the house in the off-season. Good for cost justification to the missus. I can run the refigerator and a small heater off it. It ties directly into my natural gas line using a quick disconnect. Generator weighs 150lbs.


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## Boret

Thanks BigJoeCamper!

I keep going in circles with the possibilities. Any options require expending $$! I guess I have to find a good balance between power needs and the equipment that I should buy. I just don't think we will be away from shore electricity for more that 1 or 2 nights at most at a time. The way I see it, we will probably need something to holds us overnight while we are getting to a full hookup site.

As of right now I have the single 12v Deep Cycle marine battery that came with the OB. I don't recall the brand (green label). I will probably get a second battery, I have the room for it and for about $80 (Costco) it will double my capacity. The 3500W Champion will definitely serve its purpose, but at the cost of extra noise. At 120# it is a heavy generator that I can barely lift by myself. I can easily add wheels to it to make it more maneuverable, so I will probably spend the $47 to make it so.

At the very least I can do a 600W Modified Sine Wave to charge up the batteries of the cellphones and other electronics over night. The main use I can see of the Inverter is to power the TV/DVD at night for an hour or two to be able to watch a movie before we go to sleep, and top the Laptop and Ipad batteries.

A little 2000W Honda/Yamaha generator is attractive, it is light and quiet, but it won't do to run the AC. The 2400W Yamaha might be able to run the AC and at 70# it is still "small" enough to easily move around. The 3000W Honda or your Yamaha look sweet, reliable, quiet and capable of running everything without a problem, but they are not cheap.

Oh well, I will concentrate in cleaning and waxing the exterior, re tightening the screws in the OB, and making the small additions (oxygenics shower head) before I keep getting headaches trying to figure out the best electric producing combo for our needs.

One quick question, one of the supports for the bed slide out in the back, that its screwed to the OB, broke. I am not sure what these are called, it is the part where you attach the metal rails where the bed slide out rest when you pull it out. Where can I get that? I might buy extras just in case, even though I only need 1.


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## Boret

Another question, has anyone been able to "route" one of the heat vents into the bathroom? It just seems lack of foresight to place a heating vent in front of the bathroom door and to not run a bit of duct into the bathroom. Temps are extremely low right now (low 20s) so if we don't keep the bathroom door open its like a freezer in there. Maybe this is a none issue come spring and summer... but it will suck to take a shower there if the temp is low outside...


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## Just Add Dirt

Welcome to the site Salvator!

I had not seen your post until this morning or I would have provided feedback sooner. Most places will not let you run a gas generator all night even a quiet one like that champion. You can use the generator to charge your deep cycle batteries. either directly or thru the Outbacks converter/charger I would go use the latter, that way you avoid over charging. Shouldn't take but a couple hours in the day to charge a pair of trojans (6V). Be careful what power inverter you buy; I bought a Tripp lite 2500 watt off ebay, mounted it in my truck with 8ga wire direct, and when I tried the laptop it wouldn't run?? turns out it was only putting out 88VAC. I was unable to return it. I bought a 400 watt cobra that works fine. If you're "dry camping" (no shore connections) running the air conditioner all night is usually not an option, thats why I recommended getting the powered fantastic fan. Since you have to replace the cover anyway, might as well go powered and fantastic is the way to go.

Be careful about replacing the faucet(s); I think the faucets in a home, the kind sold at Home stores are a different size than the ones in a travel trailer. The distance between the centers on the hot and cold valves is shorter in the RV industry.

Missy did not like the mattress in the rear slide either, I had no problem with it; when I'm camping I could sleep on anything.

We have a couple trips planned this spring, PM me and I'll send you details; you are invited to join us.

I hope you get as much enjoyment out of the "Dirt Charriot" as we did; she's a fine Travel trailer!! I am glad she ended up with someone who will care for her as much as we did. Further, I think you'll find this group a wonderful bunch of people, anxious to help with any question you might have; There is a treasuretrove of knowledge here.

I took a portion of the proceeds and bought this








,


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## luverofpeanuts

Congrats on the new to you OB. Sounds like it came nicely set up!

My buddy bought a pure sine wave one from this outfit. Lots of good info, I thought, so I thought I'd pass it on.

http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/puresine.html


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## Jewellfamily

Boret said:


> Thanks Jim for the welcome! As soon as the weather gets better I am heading to the track! Can't wait, it will be great with the new setup.
> I am still going over all the things I need and should get for the RV.
> For now I found a great source for LED lights for the RV. For about $8 a piece I am changing the incandescent lights with banks of smd banks of 12 LEDs. At 12Watts per incandescent bulb vs 0.75 for the LED equivalent it is a no brainer. We were at the RV show last weekend and saw that the Airstreamers are outfitted with LEDs. We personally like the super white look (more modern) but I can see that other people might prefer the yellower light output of the regular bulbs.
> 
> The other area of concern is electricity. I can see us going for Parks with full hook ups most of the time, but there might be the days while traveling to the parks when that won't be possible. With the RV we got a champion 3500/4000w generator. It works and will definitely run the 13,500 A/C unit or the microwave. But it is a bit loud to run it at night. It is also a bit cumbersome at 120#. We are still a few months away from needing the A/C, but I started looking at quieter alternatives. No need to start a whole thread about Generators, but I pretty much narrow it down to the Yamaha 2400. Very quiet, lighter (70#) and probably capable of running the A/C.
> 
> I currently have a 12v Deep Cycle marine battery. I will probably get a second one. With 2 batteries and the generator we should be able to spend a whole night off the grid without much trouble. I like the 6v combos and some of the interesting solar power approaches, but that seems more useful for boon docking. Being completely new to RVing we might prefer the convenience of full hook ups until we get to be more experienced.
> 
> The 28KRS doesn't have an inverter. I found a great deal at Harbor Tools for a 2000w/4000w peak Inverter for $130. It might be a good thing to have. Not sure I want to tap into the whole system, I was just thinking of placing it in the garage area of the RV, a quick disconnect to the batteries and an extension cable to run the TV, DVD, netbook and cell phone chargers.
> 
> We want to replace the slide out queen mattress. We thought of 2 options, either a think foam topper on top of the current mattress or replacing the whole thing with a new foam mattress. Costco has the foam mattresses for $500 and we found a local shop that will sell us the Sally foam mattress for $595. The nicer tempur-pedic ones are double that price and pretty heavy!
> 
> Another change might be the faucet in the sink. It works but it is pretty close to the sink so It wont allow us to place a taller container. Can you replace it with a regular faucet from home Depot or are RV faucets different? Will probably replace the shower head.
> 
> We found a great deal on a 22 LED LCD screen at Walmart ($200). It is very light and only uses 28W of power. We matched it with a DVD with Wifi. The DVD has also access to Netflix and I was able to watch a movie off Netflix while tethering the DVD through my cell phone. Of course that was with full strength signal on the cell phone. I imagine that we wont be able to get that performance once we head West, but if we are lucky enough to have a decent WiFi signal at the RV Park we should be able to use this configuration.
> 
> I found a TV mount on Amazon for $44 that comes with 2 wall adapters so we can have the TV either inside or outside under the awning. This is the link. While on Amazon we also got an X-Chock Tire Locking Chock.
> 
> There are so many things you can get for the RV!!! Spending time on the RV online shops like AdventureRV.net yields a large basket at check out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We also got some extra items at Walmart, like a 30ft RV extension cable, an adapter to connect the RV electric connector to a regular 110v plug, RV cleaning supplies, some plastic plates and kitchen wares, etc.
> 
> Just the planning stage is fun, I can't imagine how cool is it going to be once we get on the road. Our plan is to do a short weekend trip and write down the things that we might be missing.


We bought a 2" foam topper for our mattress and I dont know if its going to be enough since its extraordianly "firm". we'll find out this spring, but there are some topics on the forum that talk about adding 3-4 inch topper, so probably will be doing that this summer after (or during) the first long stay.


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## Boret

Hey Eric, thanks for the welcome! I was wondering where you were! Now I know, getting a new ride. Sweet bike, I like the color!
I will definitely PM when we are ready to go out with the OB.

Thanks *Jewellfamily*, we might go the topper route for the mattress. Costco has a foam/gel 2.5 inch topper queen size for $140.

I bought a Deep Cycle 12v battery at Costco for $60. I might return it as it is slightly bigger than the available space for it in the tongue. From what I have read I might be better of getting a (1 | 2 | 1+2) Switch so I can run them independently or together that way one wont drain the weaker (older) one.

I am looking at cables to connect them to the switch, what gauge should I get? 4/0?

Thanks for the link *luverofpeanuts* they have a special until the 26th a 300W(500W peak) pure sine wave for $129 with free ground shipping.


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## luverofpeanuts

Boret said:


> Thanks for the link *luverofpeanuts* they have a special until the 26th a 300W(500W peak) pure sine wave for $129 with free ground shipping.


YW.. I think that's the one my buddy bought a couple years ago. He said it works great, and was a great deal for a pure sine wave...and it included two power cables... one to plug into a 12v socket...the other with alligator clips to attach directly to a battery.


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## Boret

Where can I get a replacement for the back slide out support rails latch? Local dealer? Any recommendation for a local NoVA, DC dealer? Thanks!


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## Bob in Virginia

Reines RV in Manassas sells and works on Outbacks. I think they may only work on Outbacks that they have sold, since they have so much work to do. You could also try Restless Wheels, also in Manassas.


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## Just Add Dirt

Boret said:


> Where can I get a replacement for the back slide out support rails latch? Local dealer? Any recommendation for a local NoVA, DC dealer? Thanks!


What happened to the rail latches? <BTW> they are the same as the awning latches, and are available at Camping world.

Eric


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## Boret

Ill check them both tomorrow and hopefully they can get me the part. I tried looking online but I cannot find it.
I guess as I last resort I can call Keystone and see if they can send it. Thanks *Bob*!


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## Just Add Dirt

Boret said:


> Hey Eric, thanks for the welcome! I was wondering where you were! Now I know, getting a new ride. Sweet bike, I like the color!
> I will definitely PM when we are ready to go out with the OB.
> 
> Thanks *Jewellfamily*, we might go the topper route for the mattress. Costco has a foam/gel 2.5 inch topper queen size for $140.
> 
> I bought a Deep Cycle 12v battery at Costco for $60. I might return it as it is slightly bigger than the available space for it in the tongue. From what I have read I might be better of getting a (1 | 2 | 1+2) Switch so I can run them independently or together that way one wont drain the weaker (older) one.
> 
> I am looking at cables to connect them to the switch, what gauge should I get? 4/0?
> 
> Thanks for the link *luverofpeanuts* they have a special until the 26th a 300W(500W peak) pure sine wave for $129 with free ground shipping.


Salvator:

You can use the wire I had for the Amp to hook up a 2nd battery it is actually a bigger gauge then the OEM wire; I think it's 2/0. You can also use that wire for the Inverter


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## Boret

Just Add Dirt said:


> Where can I get a replacement for the back slide out support rails latch? Local dealer? Any recommendation for a local NoVA, DC dealer? Thanks!


What happened to the rail latches? <BTW> they are the same as the awning latches, and are available at Camping world.

Eric
[/quote]

The left side of the latch, where the metal rests, broke of. Probably a combination of my inexperience and the extreme cold. It is some type of metal compound. I have the broken piece, so worst case scenario I can "glue" it. But I prefer to replace it completely with a new one. I tried to look for any type of marking to make sure I was using the right rail and left rail in the proper side... but I couldn't find any type of marking so I guess they are interchangeable.


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## Boret

I took some close up pictures of the piece that broke. I will try to get some pictures of the latch still attached to the OB.


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## Boret

Just Add Dirt said:


> Salvator:
> 
> You can use the wire I had for the Amp to hook up a 2nd battery it is actually a bigger gauge then the OEM wire; I think it's 2/0. You can also use that wire for the Inverter


I already though about doing that... wasn't sure of the gauge but it did look pretty thick, thanks for confirm it. There is enough cable there for both the switch, the battery and the inverter. I was thinking of attaching the inverter there and screw underneath the right closet in the garage area, and just run an extension cable whenever I need to power something in the back.


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## Just Add Dirt

Boret said:


> I took some close up pictures of the piece that broke. I will try to get some pictures of the latch still attached to the OB.


There was a thread here a while back about the clip for the awning and the rear slide bracket being the same, and where to get it... I'll do some research...and get back to you.

Check this part out: 
CLICK LINK


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## Boret

I took some pictures of the broken part:





































This is the same piece (not broken) on the right side










Eric, the part in the website doesn't look the same, but if it works I can replace it with it.










My concern then would be if the holes will line up and what type of screws I should use.

I also found this crack on the other side



















How should I go about repairing it?


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## Jewellfamily

Just Add Dirt said:


> Hey Eric, thanks for the welcome! I was wondering where you were! Now I know, getting a new ride. Sweet bike, I like the color!
> I will definitely PM when we are ready to go out with the OB.
> 
> Thanks *Jewellfamily*, we might go the topper route for the mattress. Costco has a foam/gel 2.5 inch topper queen size for $140.
> 
> I bought a Deep Cycle 12v battery at Costco for $60. I might return it as it is slightly bigger than the available space for it in the tongue. From what I have read I might be better of getting a (1 | 2 | 1+2) Switch so I can run them independently or together that way one wont drain the weaker (older) one.
> 
> I am looking at cables to connect them to the switch, what gauge should I get? 4/0?
> 
> Thanks for the link *luverofpeanuts* they have a special until the 26th a 300W(500W peak) pure sine wave for $129 with free ground shipping.


Salvator:

You can use the wire I had for the Amp to hook up a 2nd battery it is actually a bigger gauge then the OEM wire; I think it's 2/0. You can also use that wire for the Inverter
[/quote]
you should be able to use the same gage of wire that is leaving the battery tray to the trailer inverter. With adding a 2nd 12v battery in parallel, you are not really increasing voltage or current draw of the system , you are just adding power storage capacity.


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## Just Add Dirt

Boret said:


> I took some pictures of the broken part:
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> This is the same piece (not broken) on the right side
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> Eric, the part in the website doesn't look the same, but if it works I can replace it with it.
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> My concern then would be if the holes will line up and what type of screws I should use.
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> I also found this crack on the other side
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> How should I go about repairing it?


Salvator,
I dont remember that; and I would have, might have happened in transport while the fiberglass was real cold... I have seen threads on here about delamination and issues with that sort of problem on here before, And I don't know what to do about repairing it. Looks like something with the surface fiberglass. Just a thought; If someone got into the rear slide while the slide was in, it could have put too much stress on the latch and that panel.. at the very least I would fill it with caulk to keep moisture out of it.. 
Eric


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## Boret

Thanks Eric. Yeah, I didn't see it when we picked it up, so I am sure it happen while moving it with these low temperatures. I was thinking something stronger than silicone, maybe glue or Dicor.


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## Boret

Time flies! Its already February! Haven't had a chance to do much with the OB. I did buy a second Deep Cycle battery from Costco. With the snow and ice around these parts I have not had a chance to install it. I need to get the marine grade switch for the batteries. But in the meantime I have been able to get a few things from amazon.com I got an X-Chock, a wall mount for the LCD with 2 wall adapters (inside and outside the OB), a couple graduated levels to place outside and a Clock/Inside-outside temp digital thermometer. Itching to take the OB out!


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