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Old 11-30-2002, 09:39 PM   #21
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That was fast!

:wave Wow, Dena. You got your pictures up quickly! Thanks for getting to it before leaving town!

There's that free-standing dining table that can be easily moved outdoors!

Dena, you mentioned before that these are ''before'' pictures. Are you looking into making any modifications? (Or should I save that question until you get back?)

Have a good trip!



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Old 11-30-2002, 09:48 PM   #22
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'Before' Pics

The Lite House Trailer for Two was barely used, but the outside needs a lot of cleaning and polishing (the pics don't show the grunginess too well) ... the curtains are ugly ... and I need to otherwise cozy up the interior.

And now I'm absolutely going to turn off this fool computer and get packed for my trip!

Thanks for all --

I'll be back in touch in a few weeks, I think.



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Old 11-30-2002, 10:04 PM   #23
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Great little unit:cool



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Old 11-30-2002, 11:12 PM   #24
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Very cute rig Dena...I know you will enjoy it. Someone in my neighborhood brought home a small fiberglass rig sort of like yours this weekend (rear door)...Was built by a company that used to do van conversions (Merry Miler)...Yours looks in MUCH better shape! Hope to hear more about your trailer:r

Craig & Diane
1987 Dayton U Haul



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Old 12-15-2002, 06:35 PM   #25
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Lite-house brochure...

Hope I'm not entering that part of the conversation too late - but a suggestion:

How about scanning the literature and posting the scans? Wouldn't fit as a normal on-line photo (too small to read probably), but it would be a cool thing to have available.

Mike



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Old 12-29-2002, 12:57 PM   #26
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Lite House info

Okay gang, I am getting the brochures together to send to Dena. (Sorry it's taken so long, Dena. They'll be in the mail tomorrow!)

Mike Watters, you have a good idea there, as soon as Michael gives us the go ahead. (It won't work to post the brochures to the regular forums. As you say, they wouldn't be legible at 500 pixels high.)

Meanwhile, here's a sales pitch from the brochure that is informative:

Quote:
''Motor Matters'' By Ray V. Dickinson

''LITE'' CAMPING TRAILER IDEAL FOR SMALL CARS

Rich Hastings, of Rio Rancho NM, has come up with a new family of lightweight camping trailers which he appropriately calls LiTE HOUSE®. The idea came to him while camping with his family in Yellowstone Park in 1990. ''Camped next to us was a retired couple with a Toyota Corolla'' he says. ''They slept in their dome tent, and awoke cold and aching from the hard ground. I wondered why there were no trailers light enough for small cars to tow easily.''

He had in mind something that was dry and windproof with solid walls, more security than fabric pop-up trailers, and with a large comfortable bed. The trailers had to be easy to care for, and able to be towed by small cars like Saturns, Escorts, Civics, or even the little Suzuki Sidekick sport-utility. ''I wanted a trailer almost any vehicle could tow,'' said Hastings.

A self-described ''nuts and bolts guy'' with a degree in automotive technology, he had a
lot to learn about strong, lightweight, trailer construction. Months of design research and development were assisted by helpful counsel from many business and industrial experts. He also utilized several government programs aiding small businesses, even getting the Los Alamos lab to do a ''finite element analysis'' of his project. The upshot: New Mexico's only recreation vehicle manufacturer went into production in August, 1994.

The simplest, lightest weight LiTE HOUSE® model is named Base Camp™. ''You use your existing cooking and camping equipment. This is a rugged mobile cabin,'' Hastings says. Base Camp™ weighs in at only 770 pounds, and the price is under $ 4700 (plus options).

At a lean 950 pounds, the top-of-the-line model called Trailer-for-Two™ is very well equipped at a starting price of $6496. If loaded with lots of extras like an awning, powered roof vent fan, catalytic heater, and solar powered battery charger, it runs about $ 7500.

Looking at the outside of a LiTE HOUSE® trailer, it is hard to imagine it can harbor a queen-size bed (63'' x 78'') and still allow standing space in the galley area. Daytime use sees the bed reassembled into a large U-shaped seating area, with a convenient free standing table you can also take outside. The comparative spaciousness (despite the trim exterior dimensions of only 12'-6'' long, 7'-4'' high, and 5'-8'' wide) stems from several things, including the slim half-inch thick walls, and the non-square interior (it is wider at the waistline). Outward visibility is excellent, with views all around through the sliding glass side windows, and a picture window. Cozy certainly, but no claustrophobia here.

Body construction is smooth molded fiberglass with a gel-coated exterior, molded in two tubs, then joined at the waist. Insulation comes from a foil-and-air-bubble sandwich. The interior wall covering is a non-woven acrylic that is thick, soft on the eyes, and soft to the touch. Not only are the trailers weather proof and draft free, they're as peaceful and quiet as a library.

Interior ''cabinetry'' is also molded fiberglass. Storage (about twelve cubic feet total) is mostly under the seats, with additional space inside the kitchen cabinets. Camping gear and provisions are intentionally stored low so that the low center of gravity is not compromised.

Both trailer models were specifically designed to be the same width as today's sub-compact cars, so no special towing mirrors are needed. A longer than usual tongue makes extremely tight turns a cinch, while the light hitch weight makes an unhooked trailer easily maneuverable by one person.

The Trailer-for-Two™ has a standard built-in ice box which holds 35 pounds of ice, or an optional portable, 3 way powered refrigerator. On hot summer days, it has excellent interior ventilation, especially with the optional roof vent fan. And, for those who live in tropical climates, there is even an optional air conditioner mounted in the front wall of the trailer. That keeps the weight low, and reduces wind resistance.

This small company has a mission to fill a specific niche market, and resist any pressure to lose sight of that. ''If people need to have more space, more amenities, there are plenty of other companies making bigger RVs,'' Hastings says. ''We want to meet the needs of our target group, not change the target.''

The buyers are from two distinctly different groups. Some have been lifelong tent campers and want to move up to the security, comfort and weather protection of a solid-wall trailer. Others have grown weary of the expensive excesses of larger RVs.


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Old 12-29-2002, 03:00 PM   #27
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Litehouse

You sold me, I'll take one. Can I get it yellow?:)



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Old 12-29-2002, 03:32 PM   #28
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Thank you, Mary.

We did finally have a few days warm enough so I could wash off the exterior grunge -- and I am scrounging around for decorating ideas. I became enamored of the lace curtains I saw on another thread here, but then the modern-ish variegated upholstery would be all wrong.

:chin



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Old 12-29-2002, 04:52 PM   #29
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Buttercups

Quote:
Originally posted by JJ

Can I get it yellow?:)
Sorry, JJ. I'm pretty sure they only came in white. You know you wouldn't want to part with Surfy, anyway! :angel



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Old 12-29-2002, 10:55 PM   #30
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Lite House

[quote]Orginally posted by Mary F

Well I did find my sales brochures. The Base Camp model was the one we looked at. They also had one they called Trailer-for-Two, and for 1997 they were introducing their Grand Camp.

According the NM Secretary of State's incorporation records, the last year the company owed incorporation taxes was 1997. Presumably that's when they went out of business. They lasted officially from 1992-1997.



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Old 01-02-2003, 11:32 AM   #31
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Brochures

Thanks so much, Mary -- I got the brochure copies today. I still hope that a source for owners manual will show up sometime!

I am really a 'mechanical moron' (all that stuff was hubby's department) -- so I don't even really know what questions to ask.

The electrical connector on my car's trailer hitch is 4 plugs straight across -- the trailer's plug is round, with 9 holes. My son-in-law temporarily taped/wired a 4-hole plug to allow him to tow it down here ... but I need to fix this permanently. Is the 9-plug connector pretty standard? Where would I go to have one put on my car? Would that be an expensive proposition?

Thanks for any advice/insight.
:helpme



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Old 01-02-2003, 12:33 PM   #32
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Dena, one of the best trailer wiring places to go to to have it done is UHaul, as they do them all the time to the cars/trucks of folks renting trailers. The Flat4 and Round7 (aka Bargman) connectors are indeed standard.

What I did on my truck was take my original Flat4 receptacle and put a Flat4 plug into it, then wired the plug to the new Round7 receptacle -- that way, if I want to tow a trailer with Flat4, I still have a place to connect it.

Wiring diagrams and color codes at:

http://www.marksrv.com/wiring.htm

Pete and Rats



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Old 01-02-2003, 01:15 PM   #33
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Good Idea

UHaul's a good idea, Pete. When I went to plug in my '89 the first time to my other tow vehicle, it was too short (hadn't even thought about it as it fit husband's truck). I called U-Haul and they made an 'extension' for me in just a few minutes.

When I went to pick it up I ask them if I could bring it back if it didn't work. He just smiled and said ''Sure. But it'll work, I promise. We do this all the time.'' And, of course, it did.



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Old 01-02-2003, 05:48 PM   #34
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BTW, UHaul also sells and installs trailer hitch receivers. I had one done on my ex-wife's Saturn once (1,000lb tow limit).

Pete and Rats



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Old 01-04-2003, 01:04 PM   #35
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Quote:
Orginally posted by Dena Foster

Is the 9-plug connector pretty standard?
Hi Dena. Happy New Year!

As Pete says, most of our trailers have 7 pin connectors. I remember the Lite House salesman was very ''proud'' of their trailers having both the amber and the red turn signal lights. (I assume this is why your Lite House has a 9 pin connector instead of a 7 pin.)

Hopefully, your local U-Haul trailer-hitch guys will know what to do with a 9 pin connector...

:wave Wish I could be more help!



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Old 01-05-2003, 07:12 AM   #36
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9-pin connector, etc.

This weekend my son-in-law has been here visiting for the first time since he towed the LiteHouse (with my Dodge Caravan) here in November (I bought it from his father in Virginia), and I'm learning a bit more about this issue.

It turns out that he had brought the van to U-Haul up there, but they didn't have a clue about 9-pin connectors -- and that's when he got busy with electrical tape, etc.

I'll call the 'local' U-Haul hitch folks (all 50+ miles away!) tomorrow to see if they are more helpful than the VA ones.



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Old 01-05-2003, 08:02 AM   #37
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9 way connectors

Dena:

<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3e1854ebaf3c014807-1.jpg/>

A larger view

<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3e1872a64f6b99waydiagram.jpg/>



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Old 01-11-2003, 03:45 PM   #38
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Thought y'all would like to know...

I showed the picture of this trailer to Alane, and pointed out that it only weighs 770 pounds.

Thought y'all would be entertained at her reaction...



...she said, ''Yes, well, our ice chest only weighs 5 pounds, and we can't live in that, either.''



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Old 01-11-2003, 05:34 PM   #39
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can't live in it.

You have some work cut out for you, Eric, before Alane will find the trailer she will be happy with. maybe a Big Bigfoot.



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Old 01-12-2003, 09:20 PM   #40
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Jana Journeycake wrote:

''You have some work cut out for you, Eric, before Alane will find the trailer she will be happy with. maybe a Big Bigfoot.''

Well, she's not that extreme. She basically feels that unless we are dragging along a full bathroom, a real mattress, and enough floor space for us to walk past each other (basically, a 16-footer), we should save our money and keep sleeping in the pickup. I can see her point.

I was actually wondering if she would ever warm up to the idea of having an RV at all, since her experience of RVs has been mainly shaped by her parents' 36-foot Class A (not a lifestyle she cared to emulate). For my part, although I think small trailers are neat, I wouldn't even consider buying one if I were still single.

I have, however, wondered how much we could simplify and still have basic comfort. Could a trailer be light enough to be towed on the River Road at Big Bend N.P. (which is usually in better shape than the Park Service lets on)? They greatly discourage, if they do not ban outright, the use of trailers there.

That's where I'm coming from. The LiteHouse probably is too small for the both of us, but it does appeal to the minimalist in me.



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