Power outlets in cargo

[Tom Webber]

Does anyone own a 2006 Monterey that has 110 outlets in any of the cargo compartments?  Did the coach come from the factory that way or did you have them added later?  If they were factory installed was it an option?
I can not find any outlets in any of my cargo areas. I would like one so I could power some ground lights.

[Joel Ashley]

Ours came from the factory with an outlet or two in the main bay with coax as well, so a TV or other device could be hooked up on the patio area. 

The brochure for a 2005, as displayed in the club's Coach Assist section, implies the 'O5 had it as an option, and that's likely true for '06 as well.  So ours had them optional, but the factory built plenty of Montereys that year with options as incentive for sales.  Not that many people actually custom order them anyway from the factory or a dealer, so yeah, the rigs can vary a lot according to what the factory decides to throw onboard at additional cost, or perhaps as part of a special sales incentive package like ours had.

http://beaveramb.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2005-monterey.pdf

Joel

[Tom Webber]

Do you consider the main cargo area to be the one that goes through from one side to the other?

[Russ Mann]

Our Monterey came with 120VAC outlets as Joel described in the through bay (with slide out tray) just in front of the grey and black water waste tanks on the curb side. There is also another duplex outlet behind the built in vacuum which I use with a thermal switch to turn on a 60 watt light bulb near the valves to keep them from freezing.

[Joel Ashley]

Do you consider the main cargo area to be the one that goes through from one side to the other?

Yes, pretty much as Russ described.  Our coach is short, and the big bay doesn't go all the way across, side to side in its entirety, except for a 15" or 18" wide area open to the street side via the wet bay.  Its slide obviously only rolls in the curb direction, but the narrow thru opening is still handy sometimes.  Our "whole house" Dirt Devil vacuum base hangs in there, and I'd forgotten its outlet hides there too, as Russ notes.  Also, If you have an ice maker/dispenser on the fridge, it will have its own circuit outlet independent of the fridge's, behind the fridge outside access door.

I reckon how many potentially useable outlets there are depends on what options came on your particular coach, and which among them can be temporarily hijacked for unintended uses.  Extending a circuit to your bay can be tricky, if like mine many tappable outlets are in slideouts that move.  If you have a vacuum like ours that's not in a slide, at first thought I'd think it relatively easy to splice into it and run over to the curb side and mount an outlet.  Just be aware of total potential amp draw on that breaker, etc.

Joel