The 8000 Onan is a variable speed pure sine wave generator and it gets hot! Mine has ventilation all around it (water cooled) and it still shuts down running 3 ACs if I'm not moving because it throttles up to keep up. I don't think that space on the Redwood could take the heat.

Atom - I agree. My 6500 has not shut down for overheat however as I do not believe the small space is adequate I leave the bay door open regardless of the season. I also frequently check for nests that get built near the upper area of the gen. I want every cooling advantage. A diesel gen could require auxiliary cooling fans and additional structural considerations. A check of the diesel gen's cooling spec's could also be helpful. I mentioned the line frequency issue as our Fisher Paykel dishwasher is line frequency sensitive which I found out one day when the park's power went out and changed over to our gen. The dishwasher would not run at 57 HZ. After a Fisher Paykel technician checked everything, replaced all printed circuit boards, pump, heater and incoming wiring harness (he worked closely with a FP engineer via phone) they declared my dishwasher had to be replaced. They agreed to replace the unit at no cost. While awaiting the install date I decided to check the line frequency. Being a picky person I grabbed the Onan maintenance manual and frequency meter and adjusted the frequency from 57 HZ to 60 HZ. Dishwasher started right up. I called FP, passed along my discovery and since all the major components had been replaced I declined the planned replacement. They extended the warranty as if I had a new dishwasher so it was a win-win. It has worked great since and to boot the replacement parts and programming were the latest and greatest from FP. In the military the diesel gens powered missile launch equipment which were very frequency sensitive. The gens had to maintain +/- 2 HZ from 400 HZ at 416 VAC, 3-phase and at times running connected in parallel to one or more other 60,000 W gens. Maintaining that tight spec kept me busy both on the electrical controls side and diesel engine side. There were times I pulled the pan and head of those large diesel engines in the middle of know where to do a rod, cylinder sleeve or ring repair or the repair a malfunctioning fuel injector or fuel injector pump. Those were the good ole days! The synchronizing was, of all things done manually. The sync breaker had to be thrown within the same upper or lower half cycle of 400 HZ (0.0025 seconds) or both gen power distribution centers would explode destroying both and not good news for the person holding onto the breaker. I of course made it fine but heard some horror stories of others not so lucky. Really took concentration to hit the right moment (aided by two light bulbs) regardless of what was happening around us. The diesel gen project is doable and could require both sides of the bay while relocating the batteries to the storage area. Sounds like a great project. I would have a concern how much design slop is in the hitch pin support structure as the tongue weight and overall GVWR could be iffy. Having an under carriage similar to your Class A under his fifth wheel would certainly be helpful. Just saying.

The 8000 Onan is a variable speed pure sine wave generator and it gets hot! Mine has ventilation all around it (water cooled) and it still shuts down running 3 ACs if I'm not moving because it throttles up to keep up. I don't think that space on the Redwood could take the heat.

Thanks for that information. That is an avenue I have not looked at. If heat is an issue, I could install fans to the outside. I suspect that might cause noise issues so again, that would have to be looked at.

I'm still heavily in favor of the diesel. The physical size and weight of the 6000 and 8000 seem to be the same (although I am not sure I understand why). The benefits outweigh the cons...

I'll check with Onan and solicit an opinion about heat. That would be a big concern.

I've previously asked Redwood. They state that they have never tried that but reinforcing would be required. I don't have an issue with that.

Thanks again for pointing that one out.

Atom - I agree. My 6500 has not shut down for overheat however as I do not believe the small space is adequate I leave the bay door open regardless of the season. I also frequently check for nests that get built near the upper area of the gen. I want every cooling advantage. A diesel gen could require auxiliary cooling fans and additional structural considerations. A check of the diesel gen's cooling spec's could also be helpful. I mentioned the line frequency issue as our Fisher Paykel dishwasher is line frequency sensitive which I found out one day when the park's power went out and changed over to our gen. The dishwasher would not run at 57 HZ. After a Fisher Paykel technician checked everything, replaced all printed circuit boards, pump, heater and incoming wiring harness (he worked closely with a FP engineer via phone) they declared my dishwasher had to be replaced. They agreed to replace the unit at no cost. While awaiting the install date I decided to check the line frequency. Being a picky person I grabbed the Onan maintenance manual and frequency meter and adjusted the frequency from 57 HZ to 60 HZ. Dishwasher started right up. I called FP, passed along my discovery and since all the major components had been replaced I declined the planned replacement. They extended the warranty as if I had a new dishwasher so it was a win-win. It has worked great since and to boot the replacement parts and programming were the latest and greatest from FP. In the military the diesel gens powered missile launch equipment which were very frequency sensitive. The gens had to maintain +/- 2 HZ from 400 HZ at 416 VAC, 3-phase and at times running connected in parallel to one or more other 60,000 W gens. Maintaining that tight spec kept me busy both on the electrical controls side and diesel engine side. There were times I pulled the pan and head of those large diesel engines in the middle of know where to do a rod, cylinder sleeve or ring repair or the repair a malfunctioning fuel injector or fuel injector pump. Those were the good ole days! The synchronizing was, of all things done manually. The sync breaker had to be thrown within the same upper or lower half cycle of 400 HZ (0.0025 seconds) or both gen power distribution centers would explode destroying both and not good news for the person holding onto the breaker. I of course made it fine but heard some horror stories of others not so lucky. Really took concentration to hit the right moment (aided by two light bulbs) regardless of what was happening around us. The diesel gen project is doable and could require both sides of the bay while relocating the batteries to the storage area. Sounds like a great project. I would have a concern how much design slop is in the hitch pin support structure as the tongue weight and overall GVWR could be iffy. Having an under carriage similar to your Class A under his fifth wheel would certainly be helpful. Just saying.

Thanks for your input. I think the issues can be easily overcome.

I haven't run the numbers just yet, but this will increase the pin weight. If the Gen weighs 420 lbs, I am estimating the pin weight might increase 300-350 lbs. The rest will transfer to the rig. I still have plenty of margin to carry that.

The generators are used often in Motorhomes. I've not heard of any major concerns there so if it fits and the heat is manageable, then unless there is something else I'm overlooking, it should work.

Thanks again.

Charge time totally depends on battery chemistry.....

You also have to design a location/size/weight of a fuel tank with fuel, more pin weight. The 40# pound propane bottles are heavy to fill & put back into the tray, but they can be removed to fill, what about the diesel tank. In order for the diesel to run the same time as it would on 1 40# bottle, how big of diesel fuel tank will be required.

Lifting full 40#'s is a bear wrestle. Only need to lift about two bottles per year as a weekender. I also had twin 40's on my previous FR Sierra (36 ft. TT). Got caught in a non-forecasted blizzard one winter while weekending and hunkered down. The twin 40's really saved the day.