I recently stopped in Conway, SC at the Glendinning Company. They make the water-hose and electric-cord reels. This coach seemed to have a rather short 50-amp shore power cord – about 30 feet was all! The cord is controlled by an RLC model Cablemaster (shown here) and our cord coils into a round, open top “drum” about 18” across and about 18” tall.
We got a 50-foot replacement cord so we could literally reach around the rear end of the coach and plug in on the passenger side when needed. Glendinning said this size drum could hold even more cord so that, when reeling it in, when the drum is filled with one layer of coil (the side of the drum filled with one thickness of cord coiled against the drum wall), using your hand, you simply give the cord a light push down in the center (while the cord is coming in) and it will automatically start a second ring of coils inside that first (or outer) ring! So, the same size drum will hold nearly double the length of cord usually stored in it. Plus, it will coil and store in a round drum or square space.
Also, you need one complete coil to remain in the bottom of the drum even when fully extended. This initial coil provides the “memory” so the remainder will coil correctly when reeled in. So, with this “memory” coil, you consume about 5-feet of cord that is unusable. Adjust your rear plastic “stop” to ensure this coil is not moved.
We also wipe the dirt off when stowing the cord and with the momentary switch (you have to manually hold the switch in to activate it), this can be a handful (pun intended).
Cords will eventually start to “slip.” It was also explained to me by the Glendinning folks that now they have slightly bigger pinch rollers on their Cablemaster but they said the real culprit is that the cord itself actually gets a tiny bit smaller due to over-use and the resulting “nesting” or “tightening” of the multiple wiring strands inside the cord cover. Makes sense.
This was all news to me and I hope it will be helpful to you.