Outfitting An Enclosed Cargo Trailer For E-bikes

We made it through the Celebration of Life for Steve's Dad, our beloved patriarch of the Pfundtner clan. 

He was our last living parent, now laid to rest. Family is healing and sharing the love and support from many friends and neighbors. 

We have been keeping ourselves "busy" and finding things to occupy our creative selves.

~~~~~~~~~~

Since we bought the two Lectric E-bikes (read my last blog- Our Lectric XP 3.0 E-bikes Have Arrived ) we have been tossing around some ideas on transporting them.

Most people transport E-bikes on a rack hanging off the back of their RV. But then they are subjected to the harsh elements and possibly theft.

Some people fold the bikes up and carry them in large heavy totes inside of their RV. But the bikes are 65 lb or so. The bikes would always be in the way as we try to walk up and down the aisle in our motorhome. 

Soooooo ----- you know that Steveio! He started perusing the Facebook Marketplace and ran across a super duper bargain!!! 

(doesn't he always?)

He found a really nice, lightweight, well-built enclosed cargo trailer. It's only 4 ft wide by 6 ft long, and has an extra long tongue to the front hitch. More on that later. 

A young doctor had used it to move here from Colorado and it was parked nice and neat and clean in his nice and neat and clean garage. Just what we were looking for... 

We checked it all out and made a deal. Then we went back the next morning after we robbed the bank for some cash. Lol! Actually, it's because we can only take out so much from an ATM in a 24-hour period. 

Now, this is why we needed a long tongue. Most cargo trailers have an aerodynamic pointed front end called a "V-nose". They are great for added storage area and I am sure they pull much better behind things like pickup trucks to help cut the wind.

That's not so important behind the big rectangular box of our motorhome though. 

We needed the type that's called a "bullnose" with a flatter front, with a longer tongue. We had checked with a few places about special ordering one, and it was going to be a little bit too pricey for our tastes. Steve found this used one that suited the unique need that we have. 

See that back slide out? Inside is the top pillow area half of our queen size bed. The slide extends out the back, and the middle of the bed folds down or opens up like a taco. 

If we had bikes on a rack, we would have to have the type of rack that would swing away or swing down just to be able to put out the bed at night to park and sleep somewhere. Or we would have to completely unload the bikes?? By having an enclosed trailer with a long tongue we could still safely extend the bed and still have the trailer securely locked on the hitch. This is especially handy when we are traveling through and just stopping for the night in a parking lot at a Walmart, Cracker Barrel, or a truck stop. 

So we got the trailer home and it was time to get to work on it.

Steve put on new tires, lubed the hubs and repaired a bad ground on the lights. 

If you want to watch this YouTube, I took time filming section by section of what we did and how we did it:

Another benefit, besides hauling our E-bikes, is to haul some of our additional camping gear. Our Winnebago View has a very tight margin of what is called CCC (cargo carrying capacity). We could transfer some of our heaviest items now into the trailer with the bikes. Added to that, we can haul along some extra things that we have been doing without since downsizing from the larger motorhome.

This was going to be a win-win! The Winnebago is able to tow up to 5,000 lb. This trailer is pretty lightweight, about the 650 lb range. 

So we will be easily able to load up some things and still maneuver it around by hand on a campsite. Or manually move it around in a parking lot if we do decide to unhook it during our travels.

It was very easy to unhook from the back of our Saturn and roll right into our garage. 

The axle is rated to carry 3,500 lb. We are probably only going to carry between 800 and 1,000 lb at any time.

The inside was nice and clean, but it was just plain old plywood. There were some rub marks on the walls but the wood was in really good shape. Before we built any type of hanging racks or shelves or anything, I felt it was a good idea to give it a couple coats of some thick heavy porch and floor enamel paint. 

If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you would recall that Steve does NOT like painting. This is my project!  

I chose some nice light gray paint, the same color as our steps. That way I can use the leftover to touch up our front porch next spring. It kind of looks blue in this picture but it really is gray.

It is November, and it was a little cool in the garage, so Steve set up the Mr. Buddy heater to help keep me warm. I gave it two really good coats and let it dry thoroughly in between each one. 

Once that was done, Steve started working on hanging some sturdy angle iron with pre-drilled little holes already running the length of every piece. We did a lot of measuring and double checking before we did any cutting or screwing into the frame. 

We did some measuring and figuring and decided to install some of these large utility hooks. We covered them with tubes of foam pipe insulation to pad them and keep them from rattling around or ruining the finish on our new lawn chairs.  Then we added D rings and bungees to the walls underneath the chairs to keep them secure. 

If you watch on the video, you will see that we did a little boo boo on the hanging length and then decided to go back to the drawing board and shorten up the hooks. Then we reinstalled them and it was a much better fit for the bikes standing up underneath the chairs. 

Now it was time for some shelves. I had come up with a little idea of how to secure the fronts of the bikes in a gentle non-scratching way, but yet keep them from flopping around or tipping over.

So first we used a cardboard template to make the exact shape of the interior nose of the trailer. I love templates! Steve doesn't. 

LOL! 

It worked very well. 

Yup, that worked good... Now to implement my idea!

Again, using my cardboard template, I used a hunk of this foam pipe insulation and made a U-shaped cut into my cardboard. Then I snugged it up tight around the front stem of the bike, just above the fork for the front tire. Steve had to move our headlight brackets up to a better position and this way the bikes can snug right into their little u-shaped holding "stall", just like a horse. No scratching of the paint. 

So we transferred the U-shapes onto the lower wooden shelf. Steve cut them out with the jigsaw and now it was time for me to paint again. I gave both shelves double coats and we were just about done for the day. We would let them dry overnight and get back to it the next day. 

And here it is, the final edge of the lower shelf. The shelf has a large piece of angle iron running the entire width across the trailer, bolted just ahead of where the u-shaped "stalls" are.  The shelves can carry a lot of weight, and also let the bikes nudge right into their spaces. The foam pipe insulation is glued into place with construction adhesive. 

We got both shelves bolted up into place securely on the walls and into the steel framework of the trailer. Steve used a lot of self-tapper screws to anchor everything into place. Now it was time to move some of the heavy items out of the motorhome storage compartments and put them into the trailer.

The top shelf has my Instapot pressure cooker and air fryer unit, our Blackstone flat top griddle, and Steve's electric chainsaw and charger.

The middle shelf has our Camp Chef oven, which weighs about 35 lb. Also Steve's Fire Genie pellet fire pit, and some totes full of our bicycle gear and accessories. 

We bought a heavy secure cargo net that's used for the back of a pickup truck or an SUV from O'Reilly's. We securely hooked that up to the brackets. After this picture was taken Steve decided to reverse that piece of angle iron and make it aim upwards as an extra lip edge to the shelf.

Now, on the back side of the swinging door of the cargo trailer we added some taller deep hooks. These carry our helmets, our extra bungee cords, and the blue panier bags that go on the sides of my bike.

We rearranged things a couple times and got it all organized the way that we wanted it. Then it was time to wheel the bikes up and put them right in. They snugged perfectly into place at the front stem. Then the rear tires are securely double bungee'd down to D rings that are mounted into the floor.

On the bottom level underneath the shelves we have room maybe for some potential additional batteries and maybe add solar panels to the roof of the trailer. We are not sure yet. Then we can charge the bikes and have extra lights right inside of the trailer. 

We also tossed in our extra quiet Champion dual fuel generator. It runs on either gasoline or propane. This one is quieter than the built-in propane Onan on the motorhome itself. We added a tote with some more bicycle gear and some small 1 lb cylinder propane tanks. It feels nice to not have them on board inside of the motorhome basement compartments.

Steve measured and bought the right drop hitch so the trailer travels level and tracks correctly. 

All set! 

The next thing we did after everything was tied down, was to set my GoPro camera mounted onto one of the hooks of the inside back door. We turned on the interior light and took it for a ride over some of the bumpiest roads in town. We went over three sets of railroad tracks, took a couple sharp corners, and hauled it back into the yard. 

NOTHING MOVED AT ALL! 

After we finished this all up, we looked at the calendar. It was November 12th, almost halfway through the month. Usually in Wisconsin we could be knee-deep in snow this time of year. But instead, we looked at what the weatherman was saying. He said we were going to have some warm days up into the 60° range! And some cold nights down in the '30s or '20s. But we could handle that. The motorhome was already winterized. Steve de-winterized quick as a wink and I tossed in a bunch of stuff. We were going to go up to a campground that we know is open until the end of November.

It was a great time to try out our trailer, and get to ride our E-bikes around to get more used to them. 

My next blog will be about a campground review 

and 

our week of unusually warm November camping in Wisconsin.

ON EDIT:  

WE ADDED SOLAR TO THE ROOF OF THE CARGO TRAILER:

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2024/01/solaring-up-our-cargo-trailer-for-e.html?m=0 

AND A BLUETTI POWER STATION:

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2024/01/next-step-with-our-solar-power-bluetti.html?m=0

CAMPGROUND REVIEW- Dispersed Camping in the Machickanee Forest, Oconto County, WI

Going through the motions here, trying to do some "normal" things in advance of Steve's dad's funeral planning ... Steve and family are handling funeral home and church details and attending family meetings etc. The funeral will not be until November 4th due to scheduling conflicts and delays with the pastor and family schedules. 

Since we had some free time, we decided to pop some things into the motorhome and go camping nearby.

We have always been told that our Oconto County Machickanee Forest had dispersed camping. We recently found out there were some actual sites for dispersed camping, complete with picnic tables and fire rings! This is only within 15 miles of our home... 

Previously, we only knew of one spot, but it was right near the bridge and major highway noise and it was a spot where a lot of people go to put in canoes into the Oconto River. 

Right around the corner from the launching spot, in the pretty part of the woods, there's room for five or six campers. But it's so close to the highway and the railroad tracks so you hear all of the noise. That's the only spot we ever knew about.

We decided it was time to learn more. 

So we hopped in the Saturn and just took a ride. Back deep in the Machickanee County Forest just north of Abrams, WI on Hwy 141, Turn on Timberline Rd. and there is a parking lot that is maintained by a horse riding group. Right on the edge of their parking lot is another one of the dispersed camping spaces. If you like horses and want to watch them getting loaded and unloaded from trailers all day, that would be a really nice spot to park. The kiosk there had a handout map provided by the Wisconsin Outback Riders. They are helping to maintain over 25 miles of equine trails within the Oconto County Machickanee Forest. So on this handout map they nicely show 13 campsites! 

(The little triangles are the campsites)

Upon our calling Oconto County Courthouse Parks Dept. itself asking if there was a more detailed map, the clerk there informed me that actually the dispersed camping can be anywhere within the county forest as long as you are not blocking a roadway or a trail. You just need to register and pay a $10 permit fee per night.  They cannot tell you that you can only camp in certain spots. It's just that the map that the horse group created already shows some nicely established ones. 

We drove around and actually picked out two of them that were kind of nice. All of them were empty. It was a Wednesday, and there were only about six or seven pickup trucks with horse trailers in the one lot. But they were just there for the day. Nobody was in any of the actual camping locations designated on the map. 

We drove back home and finished packing up the motorhome. I followed behind in the Saturn because it was only 15 miles. 

The one spot we chose actually had instructions on the sign to return back to that horse trailer parking lot and pay for the site in the pay post located there. That's what we did.

Later on, we found out from the courthouse lady, she would prefer you go online and just click the permit link and apply there and pay with a credit card your $10 fee. All you have to do is give the GPS coordinates of wherever you have chosen to camp. So next time we will do that. 

Keep in mind, this is all rustic camping. There are no amenities included at all, and everything you take in, you should take out with you. 

The site we chose was well off the road. The trees are just about at their peak so the color was amazing.

I tried to do a panorama view of all the beautiful colors that were surrounding us on this remote site. 

This site happened to have a picnic table and a fire ring. Not all of them do. The ground was a little soft and we could see where someone had rutted in the mud a little bit. We were careful to park on a drier section of the land.

Sadly, someone left a big mess in the fire ring. There was a lot of trash around as well as a moldy heavy rain soggy carpet cast over the campfire. We got a couple large trash bags out and cleaned up. They did leave some firewood though.  LOL 

We got the camper all set up and made a little lunch. This was such a nice quiet peaceful place. We were really going to enjoy this. It was great to get away, even when it was so close to home. 

Steve had walked around the backside of the camper and along the edge of the campsite he discovered the gory remains of a freshly killed deer carcass! Evidently some hunter had chopped off the good meat and left the rest of the carcass and the head there to rot!!! 

Ewwwwww!!!!!!!

So that is when we called over to the county courthouse to ask if they did any type of maintenance on these dispersed camping sites. That's when we found out from the courthouse gal that next time we should pay online and not at the post. She said they really don't do any type of maintenance but then I explained that it might be a poacher who had chopped up a deer and left all the remains right in the campsite. It is bow season so it could have been a bowhunter and even then, it needed to be tagged and registered at a DNR station. Chances are, whoever got the deer thought it wasn't quite big enough so they would just take the meat and leave the rest there. Then they could save their hunting tag for their next kill that might be a bigger and better trophy buck! How disgusting that they left the carcass just lay there.

So the courthouse gal said she would ask the maintenance crew if they were in the area to come and take a look. Sure enough, within 15 minutes a truck pulled into our spot!

These two very courteous workers donned some of our disposable work gloves we use for our dump station duties.  They grabbed some big bags and they picked up all of that gooey icky fresh killed carcass! How nice of them. We really didn't know for sure if anybody would come. It's nice to see that people follow through and take care of things in our little county. We really appreciate it. 

Now it was time to sit back and relax and enjoy the colors of autumn. All around the campsite it was absolutely beautiful. We spent time talking about memories with Steve's dad, and how much he loved camping too.  We felt close to him, and I think he was there enjoying our little respite away.

The sky was starting to cloud up a little bit, but for the afternoon we got to enjoy the beauty of the Northwoods of Wisconsin. The birds were singing and we just loved looking around at the colorful woods.  

Binney wandered around the campsite checking things out and sniffing around. Of course, we didn't let her anywhere near where the deer had been.  She checked out our campsite and then curled up underneath our lawn chairs to take a nap. 

Since we had driven the Saturn separately, I tossed in my spinning wheel and a basket of fleece. It was nice to take it along for setting outside and doing a little spinning in the autumn woods. Peaceful soothing and relaxing. 

By supper time, it started to cloud over completely. The weather forecast had changed from what we had initially looked at this morning. The winds were suddenly blowing in from the east and storm clouds were building.

We nixed the idea of cooking outside and decided to make supper indoors. We had planned on grilling burgers outdoors and making a big salad. Instead I had some frozen stew I had grabbed from home that I was able to reheat for a nice cozy dinner, along with our salads.

The rain started coming down, so we curled up inside on the love seat. We had to move Binney over a little bit and we clicked on the Roku stick with Steve's phone as a tethered hotspot. He has a Visible Phone from Verizon with unlimited data. Great for streaming when the signal is good.

We watched some YouTubes of Kenny of All Trades.  He is a guy in Minnesota with a pickup truck camper. He enjoys finding out of the way camping spots and dispersed camping too. We really like his weekly posts, and we have now gone all the way back to the beginning and we are binge watching him from his first video post. 

We love his gentle nature, soft-spoken voice, and beautiful scenic shots and videos he takes. He does not blast you with crazy stuff to attract viewers or macho swearing or political crap. He's just a gentle guy that enjoys the woods.

Check him out at:

 https://youtube.com/@KennyOfAllTrades?si=1VJMkd3lcnzVyXsc

Well, it rained and rained and rained all night. We were comfy and cozy in the motorhome. In the morning we woke up to a lot of outside dampness, fogged up windows, and a weather forecast of more rain all day long!

Steve got out the fixings to make a nice breakfast. I stayed in my jammies until almost 10:00 a.m.! 

Even though we have a nice well apportioned kitchen, it really is made for one person at a time. Once he gets the bacon, hash browns and toast all ready... Then it's my turn to go in and make the eggs as he steps aside.  He fired up the generator just to make toast! LOL .. What a guy. 

The more we looked around at the muddy ground, and all of the impending rain to come, we decided it might be better to vacate our dispersed camping spot.

The last thing we wanted to do was get stuck in the mud with the motorhome! Because there's no real gravel parking pad or anything, and the low lying land, it's very possible to get muddier and muddier with the impending rainfall, and making a mess if we try to drive out if we stayed any longer.

So by 2:00 p.m. we decided to pull in our slides and head on home. We managed to get out of the campsite safely with no spinning or mud ruts. The ones that were there were made by some previous people. But we sure didn't want to get stuck in them.

We headed on home and unloaded the few things we had brought along. Of course, just as we got home and settled in, The sun came out!!!! 

Go figger! 

I was almost ready to suggest going back. But then we looked to the south and the east and there were huge storm clouds coming again. No sooner had we taken that picture when it started pouring outside. We got quite a bit of rain throughout the evening and all through the night. So I guess it was better that we had come on home. 

P.S. as I am typing this in and getting ready to post, a package just came from FedEx. It is the first of five packages that we are expecting in the next few days...

Hmmm what is this?? 

These are two pannier bags that are made to go on the rack of a bike. Also two adorable little bicycle bells that secure to bike handlebars.

Wonder why we ordered those?

For a month or so now we have been investigating the possibility of buying E-bikes. Yes --- electric bikes. We met a couple on our vacation in September who had ordered a foldable set to take in their RV. They can be ridden three ways:

One. Just as a normal bicycle with normal pedaling with seven speeds.

Two. Peddling as a bicycle AND using what's called "pedal assist"  with five different levels of help from a 500 watt electric motor.

Three. With the handle bar throttle, it can be used with throttle only, no peddling, kind of like riding a little motor scooter. Especially handy on hills or just when we are too pooped out and want to throttle the rest of the way back to the camper.  

After much research and reviewing, we decided on the Lectric brand of foldable E-bikes.

Pretty cool that they fold up and can be stowed away. Many RVers use E-bikes to get around to explore areas or even dash to a store to pick up a couple things. That's why we wanted the pannier bags. We've been going over some of the other features, and we got quite a few freebie accessories with our order.

We are watching the FedEx tracking on four more boxes. Two boxes are the bikes and two boxes are the batteries. We should have everything here complete by Tuesday. Lithium Batteries are shipped separately, as they are not put on FedEx Air transportation. 

This will be a new adventure, stay tuned!