Need a power solution for my Boler

[FormerShasta]

Hi all,

I have a 79 Boler I just picked up. I have specific power questions, and I'm hoping for some advice.

I just put in 2 new 6 volt golf cart batteries to replace the 12v marine that was in there. Planning on doing a fair amount of boondocking, so I went with that solution.

I realized that the previous owner had yanked out the converter, so I have no way of charging the battery without getting an external unit. I only have an on switch to run AC outlets when plugged into shore power.

Here's what I want to do (and I'll probably have someone install a lot of it, as I'm still a newbie with electric):

1) Come up with an onboard solution to charge the battery. I assume this is a converter.
2) Convert the 4 pin to 7 pin so I can charge while driving (planning longer trips this summer). There is actually a cut off cable poking out of the front, so this was once a 7 pin rig I guess.
3) I want to install an inverter, as we have some things we want to charge daily (phones, a battery charger for my son's cochlear implants) and occasionally like laptops.
4) In the meantime, I need to purchase an external charger to top off these new batteries before each trip. I live in California, so I can't buy just any charger, as they have some new regulations. Would the local Auto Zone have what I need?
5) Would also like to switch AC outlets to DC while boondocking, as there are already a decent amount of them (this is not a need, but a want)

I found this thing after a bunch of searching. I can't tell if it would solve all of my problems at once or not.

1000W TRUE SINE INVERTER WITH 40A BATTERY CHARGER UL 458 CSA - 80140

Thanks in advance.

[David B.]

Your trailer sounds a lot like the 13' Scamp we just sold. If you click on our avatar and go to albums, all of our mods show up. Our converter was bad, so I removed it. I used a smart charger mounted under the bed/dinette that we purchased from "Batteries Plus" to keep the battery charged while on shore power (which was really rare while camping). It was mostly used when the Scamp was stored in the garage. We charged from the tow vehicle using the 7 prong round plug, and a 100 watt solar panel mounted to the front of the trailer. This set-up worked great for us, and we really put it to the test when we twice traveled 60 plus days/nights from Arizona, up the coast of California, Oregon, Washington, over to northern Idaho, and caught Yellowstone & Colorado on our way back, with only being connected to shore power a couple of days. We never got below 12.2 volts at our lowest point on our single group 27 battery. Of note we had a 12 volt Danfoss compressor style NovaKool refrigerator on 24/7 during that time.
Hope this helps, and good luck.
Dave & Paula

[FormerShasta]

Thanks Dave, I'll look into a smart charger as a first step.