Changing battery location to lower tongue weight.

[reeman]

The original single axle Winnie Drop trailer is a beast when it comes to achieving sensible balance. As are many teeter totter designed single axle travel trailers.

Like all single axle trailers getting the best weight distribution is a challenge to say the least.

Our tongue weight is too high because of the battery location. This unfortunately also limits us to only carrying one propane tank which is a disadvantage off grid.

Here is a pick of the original Winnie Drop 1780 floor plan and a possible safe and secure relocation space for the AGMs. The big question is can the trailer then be modified to vent the chosen space and how best to do it?

Anyone here with experience moving batteries other than lithiums on this type of trailer? and are there battery mounts available for the project that can be screwed to a wood floor or will I need to have them constructed out of metal or weld some up myself? OR go to a wrecker yard and grab them off a pair of old a size 24 battery mounts of old wrecked pickup trucks.

It seems that the original layout plan of the Winnie Drop trailers was to not have batteries on the hitch frame so just perhaps the placement was originally conceived to be behind the small bathroom on the 1780 floor plan.

The problem is venting any possible gas escape, today's sealed AGMs are not as much of an issue if properly secured and monitored. Other more advanced fiberglass designs have slide out battery mounts that go inside the trailer in a safe manner with some venting to the outside and even battery heating for the very best of the all season trailers. Bigfoot here in Canada does make trailers that are all season with the option of internal battery.

I see no reason why this model of the original Winnie Drop 1780 cannot also be redone to have the batteries in a more sensible location than overloading the A frame hitch. This modification would free up the extremely small space available to make two twenty pound propane tanks possible on the frame at least just one thirty pound, which for us would be a real bonus off grid to say the least.

The picture below shows where the batteries could easily be moved if the trailer wiring is reconfigured properly.

Putting the batteries under the dinette/bed just behind the front of the trailer seems to be a bad idea as that would not make much of a difference and put even more strain on the longest part of the trailer frame connection right behind the tow A frame while going over bumps.

ALSO and most importantly the trailer is stock 200 lbs heavier on the slide out side than it is on the door side so it seems that the original design only makes sense if the the majority of the cargo of batteries is on the door side closer to the real left wheel. This picture says it all as it was the one sent out to promote the trailer directly from Winnebago to the advertisers.

I marked up in red lines the possible relocation sites for a pair of size 24 AGMs that weigh in at appx. 150 lbs and will need at least 15 lbs of framing and extra wiring to relocate to a better location than sticking them on the small 3500 lb rated tow frame that the trailer is OEM spec.

This modification is next years upgrade to this unit and if the finances are good will be to lithium batteries and a new inverter electric system that is capable of lithium charging. OR somehow rewiring things to completely bypass the old FLA charging setup that came stock on the trailer when it was originally built.