Hoppy Hitch Level
Back when we had the pop up trailer, one of our first purchases was a Hoppy hitch level:
Here's how it works...
Once the Hoppy is mounted on a horizontal surface, the trailer is leveled by independent means and the Hoppy is calibrated to read level. This completes the installation.
After choosing a parking spot simply turn the dial until the roll axis (left to right) shows level. The indicator arrow points to the low side and the numeric scale indicates the number of inches that side must be raised to level the trailer. Leveling the trailer is then just a matter of assembling a stack of blocks in front of the low side tires and pulling the trailer forward onto them.
Once the trailer is parked and detached, use the tongue jack to level the pitch axis (front to back) until that axis reads level on the Hoppy. Too easy!
Now, on the pop up there was a convenient place to mount the Hoppy. On the travel trailer, no such luck... so a platform was in order. At first I considered something permanently mounted across the A-frame, which would involve drilling holes in the trailer and fastening the platform with self tapping screws. I didn't really like that approach and, as I was mulling it over I realized this would be a perfect application of my favourite hardware... Lee Valley rare earth magnets.
After measuring the angles, cutting the board to spec, installing the magnets, painting the board and installing the Hoppy, all was complete:
The platform is easily removed... but the magnets are so strong I typically just leave it in place.
High resolution pictures of the the whole project are on my Flickr site.
Note
Our ProPride 3P hitch system places the weight distribution jacks along the part of the frame where the Hoppy hitch level sat. In response I have shortened the platform and put lipping around the front and both sides. When we're leveling the trailer it now sits on the battery box.
We used the above solution for over a year but it was never totally satisfactory, so in the summer of 2010 I bolted it to the top of the battery box, where it works very well:
