Hello from Colorado

[jwt355]

Wife and I just bought our first Camper. We where running a pop up before. We are now camping in style in a 2019 Kodiak Cub 176rd with off road package. Excited to be here and learn from everyone. We are completely new to this. Im now in the process of shopping for a Generator setup. We are thinking about a pair of Yamaha 2000w inverter/generators to run them in series. Also the Predators from Harbor freight are looking great as well.

Any words of advice is welcome. Thank you for having me.

James

[franktafl]

Originally Posted by jwt355

Wife and I just bought our first Camper. We where running a pop up before. We are now camping in style in a 2019 Kodiak Cub 176rd with off road package. Excited to be here and learn from everyone. We are completely new to this. Im now in the process of shopping for a Generator setup. We are thinking about a pair of Yamaha 2000w inverter/generators to run them in series. Also the Predators from Harbor freight are looking great as well.

Any words of advice is welcome. Thank you for having me.

James

Congratulations on your purchase! Welcome to the forum...

[rcharrette]

IMO I'd start with one Yamaha ( or Honda) 2000 generator. That should run everything on your camper except the AC. I originally got a Honda EU 3000 (or 4000??) years ago with the intention of running the AC on it and found I never needed it. I see your from CO as well. If it's to hot then go higher
Also, I just recently came across a thread on these: https://www.microair.net/collections...nt=30176048267

It's a "soft starter" for the AC unit. Basically it allows you to run your AC on a single 2000W generator. I have no personal experience with it but from what I've read it seems to work. If it does it's a heck of a lot cheaper ( and lighter!) than a second generator!
Enjoy your new camper.

[wildwest450]

Welcome to the site.

What does the "off road" package include?

[Thom]

Originally Posted by wildwest450

Welcome to the site.

What does the "off road" package include?

A sticker on each side of camper.

[wildwest450]

Originally Posted by Thom

A sticker on each side of camper.

Haha, must be the same as the 4 seasons package

[wahoonc]

Welcome to the forums!

Don't forget the generators lose capacity as the altitude increases. Something us near sea level dwellers don't worry about much.

My personal favorites in generators are the Champion inverter line up, with Honda and Yamaha coming in a close second.

Aaron

[rcharrette]

@wahoonc good point. When at altitude we need to keep our fridge on gas (not auto) in order to run the microwave with our 2000W Yamaha or it will overload it. Just habit now and really don't think about it

[TK on the road]

Welcome to the forums! Come visit the “cub” pages and meet others who have cubs!

[John_C]

Originally Posted by jwt355

Wife and I just bought our first Camper. We where running a pop up before. We are now camping in style in a 2019 Kodiak Cub 176rd with off road package. Excited to be here and learn from everyone. We are completely new to this. Im now in the process of shopping for a Generator setup. We are thinking about a pair of Yamaha 2000w inverter/generators to run them in series. Also the Predators from Harbor freight are looking great as well.

Any words of advice is welcome. Thank you for having me.

James

Welcome aboard James!! I've been RV'ing for a while and camping since I can remember, but I'm new to this forum and enjoy reading all the ideas and info... I dry camped quite a bit with the old TT and installed a Fantastic Fan in the ceiling (In lieu of the crappy 4-blade fan). If I opened a few windows and used it as a blower, we could usually get a fair draft going through the trailer. Just a thought... Good luck and hope to meet up at a friendly campfire sometime.

[ArmyVeteran]

Originally Posted by Thom

A sticker on each side of camper.

That is funny! But probably so true in a lot of cases.


My favorite on ours was:


"Gorilla Cage Construction"

[persistent]

Originally Posted by jwt355

Any words of advice is welcome. Thank you for having me.

James

A 176RD is great for “dry camping”. Everything in the RD runs on propane or 12 volts except the Air Conditioner and the Microwave.
I have two 31 group AGM batteries that last more than 4 days in cold weather with the furnace running. They easily last more than 6 days without the furnace running.
It is easy to extend those times with 700 to 1000 watt generator. It doesn’t take much power to fast charge using the house converter. I use a Honda 1000i. One tank of gas gets about a 90% charge in 5 hours. The generator fits in the 176RD pass through.
Of course I have not camped in the southwest in the summer. The Fantastic Vent 12 volt box fan I use would probably not be sufficient. Replacing the cheap ceiling fan with a Fantastic Vent sounds like a great idea.

[jwt355]

Thank you for all the welcomes and great ideas. I appreciate it alot. You all have given me something to think about for sure. We went ahead and went with two of the Harbor Freight Predator Generators and have been running them through their paces here lately. They seem to work very well and I did a bit of digging on them. We got them with the extended Warranties from Harbor Freight so we could trade them in if we ever have an issue.

As for the AC I Elk hunt up in some really hot places sometimes out in West Colorado and the temps can get pretty hot during the day. So wanted to make sure I was able to run the AC if it got pretty warm. Hoping the Predators do the trick. We are running them in with a Parallel Kit also purchased at HF.

I like the Vent idea and would love to hear what you installed. That sounds great. We are going out camping this weekend to give our Trailer its first experience.

Ohh the off road package stickers was awesome. This Trailer is pretty jacked up so it has high clearance and some great off road tires. Guessing maybe they all come that way based on the jokes of the stickers?

Next I have to fix our Power Outlet outside the camper. the screws came loose and lost their grip on the fiberglass so I need to figure out a way to get these reattached so that we dont have to worry about water getting back in there.

[persistent]

Originally Posted by jwt355

Ohh the off road package stickers was awesome. This Trailer is pretty jacked up so it has high clearance and some great off road tires. Guessing maybe they all come that way based on the jokes of the stickers?

Jwt355,
The Dutchman Kodiak line appears to have some serious possibly fraudulent flaws. It also has some excellent advantages. In other posts I have detailed the one fraudulent flaw regarding the “4 Seasons” sticker and advertising plus the other minor correctable design and build flaws.
The major benefit I appreciate the most is the rugged heavy duty frame and axle. My Cub has a “No Excuses” sticker that only applies to the axle. I hope I never have to test it. It also has a “Bear Cage Construction” sticker. The welded aluminum exterior cage is an excellent feature. These two features will take some time for me to evaluate because it takes road time to prove their quality. I have had my Cub for less than a year.
Most other brands of TT seem to have excessively light duty axles and wheels. TT’s are often pulled for most of their lives at or exceeding full capacity. Posts about tire and wheel failures and upgrades can be found on many RV websites. I had to upgrade wheels and tires on my previous TT due to multiple tire failures. It took me years to learn about all the tire failure causes one at a time. I don’t think I will have that problem with Kodiak Cub. (Knock on wood!)
The welded aluminum frame has the potential to be superior. Design and manufacturing practice make the difference. The Kodiak Cub has a simple box design with no bump outs or extended features and so should be good to go. I have seen some posts about other Dutchman TT’s failing around bump outs and other features.
I wish you many happy trails with your new Kodiak Cub. I also hope you will follow the Boy Scout motto when traveling with it. Be prepared.

[persistent]

You may need to change the lug nuts on the spare tire. My lug wrench would not go deep enough into the wheel recesses to extract the two cheap nuts used to hold the wheel. I replaced them with anti theft lug nuts.