Towinng with a full tank?

I just brought my new 176 home to NM from AR where I bought it and I had them almost fill the fresh tank before I left, not knowing where I would be each night.  I have a RAM 1500 Quad cab 4X2 with 5.7 hemi and I did not lack for power, but I did notice a little tail wag at times, so I kept tightening the sway bar to help it.  I do not have a WD hitch and don't need one with this truck as it doesn't even notice the tongue weight, but I didn't realize until I got home that the FW tank was behind the axel.  Such a bad design.  They should never have done that on any of their Pods, and why they did it on some and not on others is beyond me.  They use three 30 gallon tanks, all the same physical size between the frame rails and could have arranged them any way they wanted to, so why choose to put the 300 lbs behind the axel?  I was thinking about taking off the spare tire and mounting a small generator to the trailer hitch, but now I'm rethinking that and thinking about getting rid of the spare tire too.  Besides, all your outside storage is also behind the axel so they are really building problem on top of problem with this setup.

Originally posted by lostagain Spydie, we had forward bunks in our 172 with no windows.  We bought the trailer used and didn't really want or need the upper bunk so we took it out, leaving the part by the head as a shelf.  Now we have room for a window on one side, but I'm still thinking of using marine portholes like the one I put in my door.  If you want opening windows in the bunk area, these might be a solution.  They don't come with screens, but you can buy porthole screens at a marine supply or on Amazon.   You could put in portholes on each side though 2 vertically mounted portholes (one for each bunk) may look a little strange.  But when it comes to comfort, aesthetics are overruled by function.  The porthole we put in the door lets in a surprising amount of air and the screen door keeps the bugs out when both are closed.

Originally posted by lostagain Here is the Amazon http where I got the porthole I put in my door.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CJK3VKE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If you put in portholes, you need to make sure the flange is deep enough to accommodate the wall thickness.  For the door, the flange was perfect and it has been problem free.  My recollection is that the flange is about 2" but that's something you need to check to be sure as the walls are also 2"" thick so your margin of error is not much.  I was able to confirm the door thickness before cutting by removing part of the lock set.   If you would like to see the door mounted porthole I put in, p.m. me and we can figure out how I can send you a picture.  I still haven't set up a public website picture account which you need to post pictures here.

I would think it would rain in just like our sliding side windows do when it rains.  The advantage of the sliding windows is they allow more air flow when you have a nice breeze than the crank-up ones do, but the bad part is, you can't go away and leave them open because if it rains, it pours inside.  For now I'm going to put a 12v plug in the bunk areas so we can run a 12v fan on us when we don't have A/C, but that's not nice cooler outside air like a window would provide.  Haven't located a crank-out like I'm looking for yet, and it may never happen.  Forest River was very Remiss in not putting windows in the bed area.  I think they used to because I saw some older Pods with bunk beds and a window at the head of the bed, but I suppose it was a huge cost savings to not have to put two-four more windows in it.

Sorry, Kos, just trying to respond to a new person's questions.