JJ,
I'm real glad to hear you're gonna be okay. I want to put in my two cents on the trailer subject. I bought an Aspen last year and I had the bracks factory installed. Then I bought a brake assist and did the wiring myself (I'm not much of a mechanic). When adjusting the brakes, I erred on the side of caution: i.e. I didn't over tighten the brake pads or set the brake assist too much. I figured I didn't want too much or too little braking power, but if I had to choose, I'd opt for too little. On my way back from Canada, I noticed my rear breaks were scraping. I didn't want to grind a path in the steel, so I just slowed down a bit before applying the breaks then I used only the front brakes. The trailer brakes applied the rest of the stopping power. I am a proponent of trailer brakes and I wouldn't haul one without them.
Chuck