Gabzs, I must not have explained it right about the water. It’s not recycling (as in dirty water), it’s re-circulating clean water IN clean water. The scenario is this: With the HWOD you either screw the pump end onto their plastic container that you’ve filled with water OR you can just use a bigger bucket and submerse the pump end into that. He actually fills an ice chest and leaves it in the trailer because it’s just a big water container.
So if you want to take a shower, you’d get wet. Then you’d normally turn off the water while you soap up so you can conserve water. Then turn it back on to rinse. Okay, the difference is, he just leaves the unit running rather than turning it on and off. But rather than waste the water as he’s soaping, etc., he just drops the shower head into the ice chest. Clean water is coming from the ice chest through the HWOD and it’s now going back into the ice chest.
All this does is allow you to take a shower without having to turn the water on and off or turn the heater on and off. Sounds like a real winner to me! Because you won’t have to re-set your temperature or anything at all. Just grab the shower nozzle any time you want, and drop it back into the water bucket in the moments here and there where you’re not using it.
If you leave your water set to a hot shower temperature, then what you’ll end up with is… the water gets warmer, naturally, because it’s being heated during the recirculation process. But that ain’t no biggie. Yeah, you waste a tiny bit of propane and battery time, but it’s negligible. You still take a fast camp shower, but this way it’s just a whole lot smoother operation. See? 
Okay, the oil changing pan sounds like a very good idea. I like its size from what you say, definitely. I assume you can plug up that drain. The only problem I see is… is the drain in the center? Because if it is, it wouldn’t work for me because I wouldn’t be able to fit the pan through the door. If it’s on a side, then I’d actually consider installing a hose onto it. You have it a lot easier, being able to take a shower right there hugged up against your trailer. Now I was also considering that, except at the side escape door. On a hot, hot day that would be MUCH preferable to inside, because the trailer’s hotter than it is outside.
Hoola hoop works great for holding the shower curtain. My inside hooks (for hay bags and cross ties) are perfectly placed for it. Also there’s a tiny hole in one of the ribs RIGHT where I need it (sheer LUCK) where a little hook bungie can fit in, and that gives it the support it needs on that side. The center side is the problem, but I took the pin that holds the chest bar shut, inserted it up high right near the ceiling, but upside down. It’ll just fall out from gravity normally, but I ran a “dummy” bungie from that to a welded on loop (for cross tie or something) just to put tension on it. That stops it from falling. Then I hook that side of the hoola hoop onto the dummy bungie cord. Hey, whatever works right? LOL.
Just packed the trailer with a fair bit of stuff, and dang if it didn’t just all end up the right size to wedge in with no play room! I’m sure going to diagram THAT out, because it rocks. My big fear is having stuff banging around underway and not know it and have Cloud freaking out. Although I must say, an escape door wasn’t latched well enough and flopped open on one ride back from a friend’s and she was fine. Anoher time I didn’t secure the pin in the back top door (2 doors on top of the ramp) and that was banging open and shut. Again, she wasn’t freaked. So I figure she’s pretty laid back, lol.
Is there any reason not to just store all your camp gear right in the trailer? I’m seriously considering just doing that all season long. The more I can be ready to just pick up and go with minimal preparation, the better. Do you happen to do that?
One thing I discovered that’s turning out to be a super cheap “investment” with high usage is… Walmart has a knockoff of the EZ-Up canopy. It also has accessories, you can buy screen panels, etc. One of the accessories is “sand bags.” About $5 for a box of four of these things, and dang, they are super handy! 10 x 10 circular with a flat bottom, made of nylon and a draw string on top. I put my collection of bungies in one, a gaggle of batteries in another, and my grooming supplies in a 3rd. I can’t for the life of me recall what I put in the 4th but it must be packed, lol. But those are just nice size bags, and thin enough nylon so they’ll contain things but not add any space.
I did buy GTD’s recommended shoe bag ($7.00) and cut the bottom two rows off so it’ll fit on the non-horse stall’s side of the center divider. I rigged the grommets with wire and bent it so I can slip it down in the teensy crack between the side padding and the divider it’s attached to. Works great! It’s like pinned right onto it with no jagged points sticking out.
Other thing I bought… Walmart has those “noodles” pool toys. Those bend in any direction you want, and they don’t crack. Good for wedging in between things that don’t quite fit snug enough not to slide around. Can also cut them to size for padding. Some of them are round, but others are six-sided so there are flat surfaces.
I’m also finding those tall white buckets that are sold in paint section (also horse supplements come in them) – reeeeeeeally handy! You wouldn’t want to jump on them, but that’s what I use as a mounting block. Also works to sit on when organizing stuff in the trailer. Also a pretty manageable 5-gallon bucket for horse wter assuming nothing toxic came in it. They’re about 14 inches tall. If you leave your mounting block out (once you’re on horse) and someone does happen along who’s not overly honest, while they may take off with a mounting block, I doubt they’d have a lot of interest in a bucket.
Best thing I ever did was have a body guy weld on latches for locking the trailer. It didn’t come with locks, but I can now padlock it and leave a little more expensive stuff in it. (No cap on truck ;-(
Well, I will sure check at our True Value for the strong magnetic hooks. The ones I bought at Wally World are crap. Breathe on them and they fall off.
The Sterelite drawers. Well, I bought SIX units, lol. Hey, they’re ugly colors (except I’m used to them and they’re so ugly that they’re camp) – they were on sale for $12 or something each. A green frame that holds the 2 drawers, and the drawers are actually bins with handles on both sides if you pull them out (a deep pink). But dang those things are handy!!! I seriously thought about stacking them but they dont’ lock into stacked position and I really wouldn’t want that thing tumbling down. Could probably secure it at least on the wood which goes half way up the stall side. But it’s the top I’d want to secure and that’s steel. It could be worth welding a loop on for, but then if you want to haul a horse, it’s just one more thing s/he could bang onto. But maybe a very flat kind of loop. Sure would be nice to have four up!!!
Suffice to say – we all must bow to Mother Nature’s whims. Also suffice to say many of us have been in the same boat. I rode 100 miles in a nor’easter. Wanna talk about wet? How about the ice and sleet mixed with the rain?? I learned a lot about what to take that STAYED dry, and how to dry what got wet. I learned what equipment was worth it’s weight in gold (the small one-can propane heaters) and what should have stayed home (the English oil-skin foul weather coat. Foul weather my a$$ - what a piece of expensive useless clothing).
You can keep a ball of Florsheims in a plastic bag in your safety equipment box (the box with the hammer and screwdrivers and pliers). Guaranteed Florsheims will keep soft and pliable for several centuries. It gets harder when it gets cold, but will soften up very quickly in the sun or near heat.
