Trailer Upkeep

I love having my own horse trailer, truly I do. It's not cheap keeping it up though. In August I bought new tires. That was a quick $891 gone. That's the price of nearly two shows, a lot of lessons, board for a month and a half, six months of farrier work, or a lot of beet pulp. Over the weekend I bought new batteries. Between the two batteries, I shelled out $300. That too is the price of a few lessons or several pairs of new breeches.

Getting new tires in August.

I don't remember how long ago it was that I last purchased batteries, but it was at least six years ago. They were due. My trailer has living quarters which means the batteries are used primarily for "living" as opposed to just turning on the lights and fans in the horse box. For the last couple of shows, I've been relying on the generator for simple tasks like turning on the lights and running water to brush my teeth, take a shower, and flush the toilet.

There's a bathroom behind the door.

My first living quarters trailer was stolen, which is how I ended up with this one. Unlike the first trailer, this one runs on two parallel batteries which gives me the same voltage but double the power. I love the extra "juice," but it does come at a price. The batteries, as powerful as they are, only run 12 volt appliances. They can't charge my phone or laptop which is why I also carry a generator. The bonus is that the generator also charges my trailer's batteries.

Generator and two new batteries.

The thing with 12 volt appliances is that they don't work with just the generator; they need the power to come through the 12 volt batteries. This means that I have to bring the generator AND the dead batteries, and in order to turn on a light, the generator has to be running to give a charge to the dead batteries. It's a bit of a pain which is why I finally went and bought new batteries.

Solar charger.

Since I don't want to run the generator all night, the other device I use is a solar charger that my husband bought for me. I charge it at home, and then I leave it on my trailer's wheel well or some other place that gets direct sunlight most of the day. At night, I plug in my phone, and by morning it's fully charged. When I run the generator in the evening, I also recharge the solar charger.

Battery Tender

There is actually more. In order to keep my trailer's batteries charged while not in use, I employ a Battery Tender. This device charges the batteries and then maintains the charge without over charging them. I have three of them - we used to have quads, but this weekend I discovered that two of them don't seem to be working anymore. I have ordered a new, more powerful model.

Not only is maintaining a trailer expensive, it requires a lot of "supplements." When I bring the generator and the solar charger, I have to bring all sorts of cables and plug ends so that everything runs. Sometimes, I think it's an awful lot of work just to have a phone and be able to take a shower.

First World problems ...