Sue and I have had our 5x8 Diamond in the Rough for a little over 2 years now. In the summer we manage to get away to Awenda Park a couple of times in the summer and take a longer trip in the fall, when the kids are back in school and everything is less crowded. Last year we spent over 3 weeks traveling around the east coast and are heading back again . It got pretty chilly near the end of September but we stayed warm and dry, although we had to use a small space heater a couple of times. We found the walls pretty cold at times like that so I've put closed cell foam from an old sleeping pad along the headboard end with double sided tape and a carpet runner along the wooden walls between them and the mattress and about 6 inches above. It makes quite a difference.
We use an 8x10 pop up shelter over the back half of the trailer in the rain so we can use the galley without it getting wet. I have a portable solar panel to charge the battery and a waterproof Noco plug installed on the front of the box to plug in external power with the lid closed. I also have a Noco Genius on board charger and a 1500 watt inverter. Once after driving in heavy rain I found water inside the box so I tightened the lid down by adjusting the latches and that seems to have solved that problem. I recommend you buy one of the
trays for the front box from Lowes. They're a bit pricey but worth it.
One tip I'd like to share with you is to put your ice inside a dry bag in the cooler. We use a Woods 10 litre size. You still get some moisture from condensation but the melting ice is kept contained in the bag. It keeps your food from getting waterlogged.
Hi David:
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your input and ideas. I love the picture with the lighthouse in the background. We would love to use it in our next calendar if you wouldn't mind.
Hi Steve. You're welcome to use the picture. Can you download it from here or should I send you a copy?
I can download it from here. Where is it ? I'll add it to the picture...
Cape George, Nova Scotia
👍 Nice
Hi David,
We have the Diamond in the Rough as well. We had a 12V/AC cooler that sucked energy so we had trouble being off the grid. When we were on the grid we had to leave the lid open to accommodate the cord or try and shut it and hope we didn't pinch the cord to much. We did not have solar which we plan on adding (portable solar panel not sure what size yet).
I like your modification for electric power. I to plan on putting in the plug for easier hook up to the power grid. I also want to put in a charger. Which version of the Noco Genius did you use? Liked the cooler tip as well.
Hi Gord, I use the NOCO GenM1 charger. I got it on sale at Canadian Tire. The NOCO plug is available on Amazon.ca. I recently hooked up the NOCO plug to a power bar in the front box so that as well as having the charger and trailer powered I can charge up a couple of cell phones or tablets at the same time when we're plugged in. We seemed to go through a lot of ice this year in the heat, even though I'd added some extra closed cell foam inside the cooler. We have a good MEC soft sided cooler so next year I'm going to put that one inside the blue one and see how that works. It just means we won't keep as much stuff in there, and we usually have too much anyway. I was wondering how well the 12v coolers work so appreciate your comments.
Thanks for the information. I will look for one on sale as well. Do you have the Noco Gen M1 connect to the battery via your Noco Plug?
@Gord Morrow The power bar plugs into the female end from the NOCO plug, and the Gen M1 and trailer power cords plug into the power bar. Then when you're connected to power the battery charges and you have power at the trailer outlets. The GenM1 acts like a battery maintainer too so you can leave it powered on. If the battery is discharged a lot and its not raining I leave the box lid open in case gases build up, although it's unlikely because it charges at a low rate.
Here's a few more mods you might like. A small box shelf above each door to hold our glasses etc at night, and I wired a 12v outlet into the interior
light fixture (the piece of wood is there to hide the 2 holes left when I turned the light around to face the other way and only used 2 mounting holes). Also a shelf under the galley shelf to hold a couple of dishes so we don't have to keep getting them out of the cupboard.
I like the idea of the plate holder and your little shelve. Great for keys, wallets, flashlight etc.
one of the reasons we decided to set up a forum is to get different ideas from everyone to make camping that much better. thanks for your contributions guys...