SS&FCN have done some real nice work here. The Internet is full of misinformation, guesses, and "my buddy says ..." stories, but very little real knowledge. This is especially troublesome to me, since I am an electrical engineer, and I didn't know the answer. I've spent hours drawing little diagrams and trying to find the issues.
The NEC is the gold standard. In its hundreds (thousands?) of pages, it covers everything about how to do electricity. SS&FCN have uncovered the parts that answer our questions. If I'm reading correctly, the important conculsions appear to be
- you DO NOT need to drive a ground rod or ground stake (thank goodness)
- you DO need to use a sufficiently-heavy three-wire extension cord, in good condition, between the generator and the trailer. A two-wire cord is absolutely forbidden.
- you SHOULD add a separate grounding wire between the generator ground lug and the trailer frame.
Thanks to you guys for straightening this out.
Bill