CUT IT OFF AT THE MOUSE HOLE

2016-10-20

The trailer comes with a fairly long shore power cable. One small problem with it is that it goes through the wall of the trailer through what is lovingly referred to as a 'mouse hole'. You open a hatch and pull out as much cord as you need then close the hatch back down and the wire gets past the hatch through a small opening. It's not overly likely, but supposedly a mouse could crawl along the wire and get into the trailer. Mice...maybe not...spiders...much better chance. Another small problem is that all of that wire, and it's pretty hefty wire, has to be pushed back into the compartment with all of the other electrical wiring. One slip of a loop and it could take out a number of circuits. I also wasn't too comfortable about shoving a bunch of wet wire into a compartment full of electricity if I had to pack up in the rain.

I bought ParkPower conversion kit and it came with everything needed to replace the mouse hole and turn the shore power cable into more of an extension cord that plugs into a sealed outlet on the outside of the trailer. All you had to do was...gulp...chop the cable off and rewire it. Cutting through the cable was a little scary. Once you start cutting it's too late to go back. The instructions weren't terrible and everything was sized for the gauge of wiring the shore power cable was made of.

This is where the cable was stuffed into. Those were all of the wires that were getting pushed around by the cable. After the conversion there was no more stuffing and quite a bit of breathing room.

The mouse hole was held in with screws that were, of course, mostly stripped. It's a popular theme with this trailer. Someone needs to turn down the clutch on their electric screwdrivers. I used bolts. They don't strip. The kit comes with a plug end that goes on the cable that was cut off and that mates with this outlet.

Done. I covered the whole thing in silicone caulk while I was putting it together. I'll go back and clean up the excess after it is all cured. I coiled up the cable, put it in a small cardboard box and stashed it in the starboard wheel well storage area with the inverter. Now that I have this outlet thing I may get creative and split the one power cord into two smaller ones. It's pretty long. I have yet to camp where I have hookups.

2018-03-03