New Podders and our Shakedown cruise |
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Dagi
Newbie Joined: 03 Sep 2013 Location: Seattle, WA Online Status: Offline Posts: 3 |
Topic: New Podders and our Shakedown cruise Posted: 01 Oct 2013 at 3:56pm |
Hi everyone!
After months of lurking, reading and enjoying all of the information on this board I thought it time to finally post and introduce myself! Sorry in advance for the long post! My beautiful wife Joni and I live in the Pacific NW, and we recently purchased a 181g. This is our first trailer of any kind and we've spent the last three weeks excited to take the Rpod out and put it through its paces! We planned our trip for last weekend (9/27 - 9/30) to Ocean City State Park on the WA coast. For anyone that lives in WA you'll note that those dates coincide with three bruising storms that came ashore Sat/Sun/Mon. Each storm contained at least 2+ inches of rain and 50+ MPH wind! By the time we got to the campground on Friday afternoon it was too wet/windy to put up the R-Dome, which is probably a good thing since I've never done it before, so we hunkered down inside with our two furry children (Callie 60 lbs, Bear 35 lbs) and listened to the rain. After a walk on the beach in Storm #1 on Saturday, we dried the kids off and spent time inside organizing. For dinner Joni made a pasta dish and we had wine and beer while watching Mad Men (Season 3). Sunday we drove into Ocean Shores and spent some time on the beach watching the incredible surf that 60 mph winds kick up and learned that dogs don't care if it's stormy or not - they just want to run on the beach. Sunday night we had soup and figured out how to use the convection microwave by making cookies. Joni then whipped me in Scrabble and we drank more wine and beer while we watched more Mad Men as Storm #2 really picked up speed. Monday morning there was a brief break in the storms, so we dried out everything as much as possible, hooked up and headed back to Seattle. On the way we ran into the teeth of Storm #3 that produced incredible amounts of rain/wind as we drove up I-5. I put an Andersen anti-sway hitch on my Pathfinder when we purchased the Rpod and I have to say THANK GOODNESS I DID. The amount of standing water I plowed through and the huge gusts of winds that hit us from the side made the pod wiggle, but then it would settle down and stay behind me. I am reticent to test the same conditions out without any type of WDH/anti-sway so to me the Andersen will always be the reason that drive wasn't as terrifying as it could've been. Only two downsides to the whole trip: 1) The furnace worked for about 5 min and then wouldn't come back on at all. Luckily I had thrown a ceramic heater in the pod before we left so we had good heat. I need someone to look at that because without that ceramic heater the trip would've been miserable. 2) I hit the gate when we got back home pulling a little bit of the trim on the front up. I hammered it back into place, but I need to find caulk to reseal it. Anyone have any ideas on what kind of sealant FR uses? What did we learn? 1) The Rpod will never be any smaller than it is over three nights with no Rdome and standing water all around it. It was still perfectly comfortable for the four of us. 2) The Pathfinder is a perfect match for the 181g. 14.2 MPG over ~250 miles of towing in heavy wind/rain. 3) Every pod needs a name and we let the trip provide one for ours. Our pod is now known as The Ark Pod! Chris and Joni |
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9062 |
Posted: 01 Oct 2013 at 5:45pm |
Welcome. People in travel trailers sometimes say "welcome to the dark side, we have cookies".
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Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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kymooses
Senior Member Joined: 01 Aug 2010 Location: Louisville, Ky Online Status: Offline Posts: 1807 |
Posted: 01 Oct 2013 at 8:02pm |
Always thrilled to have another 181g owner in the midst!!
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Craneman
Senior Member Joined: 12 May 2013 Location: Tokeland,wa Online Status: Offline Posts: 387 |
Posted: 01 Oct 2013 at 8:37pm |
We were just south of you in tokeland wa, nasty weather but dry and warm in our house. We are takeing the pod to auburn this week for recall work. And maybe a couple of days wandering.
M. Moe
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Jo and Gary, 2010-174,2011 F150
Jo and Gary 2010 174 2011 Ford 150 |
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Goose
Senior Member Joined: 24 Sep 2010 Location: Arizona Online Status: Offline Posts: 672 |
Posted: 01 Oct 2013 at 9:17pm |
Welcome!!!!! Goose
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Mother Goose's Caboose..2011 RP171..07 Grand Cherokee
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P&M
Senior Member Joined: 13 Aug 2012 Location: Spokane, WA Online Status: Offline Posts: 454 |
Posted: 02 Oct 2013 at 8:56am |
Welcome and congrats on your Pod purchase! Nice weather to break it in on, huh?
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P & M ... and Comet too!
2012 171 -- The Monkey Pod 2018 Ram 2500 |
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Camper Bob
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 26 Sep 2011 Location: Portland Oregon Online Status: Offline Posts: 913 |
Posted: 02 Oct 2013 at 10:49am |
Welcome. Maybe you can join us next year for our Roundup. This past August in Seaside Oregon, we had 34 campers, of which 23 were Pods and the rest were other Forest River products, and a total of 74 people. All had a great time. Watch this forum for updates to next years Roundup. Might also consider replacing that mattress. Read all the posts. Safe Travels.
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Camper Bob and Camper Sue
Gracie the Wonder Dog (12 LB. Mini Dachshund) 2013 Rpod 171HRE(ORPod) 2016 Lance 1685 2015 Nissan Pathfinder |
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Kickstart
Senior Member Joined: 20 Sep 2010 Location: Ocean Shores, W Online Status: Offline Posts: 267 |
Posted: 02 Oct 2013 at 12:56pm |
And Moe, if you're going to the infamous Poulsbo RV in Auburn, they took about 5 hours to do ours last fall. We took a looong lunch! Poulsbo did a nice job with the recall stuff though-no holes in the roof and ran the wires under the plastic side strip. Hopefully they've increased their install speed. It's a long drive out and back for us beach bums just to get this done!
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'10 RP 175-Replaced by 2014 Kodiak 173 QBSL
'12 Toyota Tundra '05 Sportster (half a Harley) Retired-We're on Beach Time! |
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Craneman
Senior Member Joined: 12 May 2013 Location: Tokeland,wa Online Status: Offline Posts: 387 |
Posted: 02 Oct 2013 at 3:30pm |
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Jo and Gary, 2010-174,2011 F150
Jo and Gary 2010 174 2011 Ford 150 |
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Row pod
Newbie Joined: 03 Sep 2013 Location: Corvallis, OR Online Status: Offline Posts: 7 |
Posted: 02 Oct 2013 at 4:13pm |
We are also newbies. Sally and Libby. We are competitive master rowers so have to pick between our toys, 2 single shells or 2 kayaks. Have had the 182G since August. Pull vehicle is a 2006 Ford Expedition 5.4L. I haven't figured out how to post a post, but figured out how to reply.
We stopped by the Round Up in Sea side and talked with a few of the Podders who were in camp. We spent some time at Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon mid September. Great lake for kayaking and/or rowing. Also miles of biking trails. Would have gone more often but couldn't get reservations (we are still picky about having water/electricity) I have also learned that out heater won't work. It runs, but blows out only cold air and then only runs for 4 minutes. Will schedule service after our next Pod adventure which is next week somewhere Central/Southern Oregon Coast. Couple of questions for Podders out there. 1. Are stabilizer bars necessary with such a heavy TV? 2. At the moment the Pod is outside (have a big boat I need to sell, wrong season) being that we live in Oregon and it rains during the winter is it best to try and find a cover (any recommendations?) or Throw a tarp over but not fully enclose? 3. Has anyone designed an awning for overnight trips? Will post pictures when I figure out how. |
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