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Topic ClosedCaulking the 'spoiler'
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Posts: 144 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Caulking the 'spoiler'
    Posted: 20 Jul 2020 at 8:26am
Murphy's Law  "Too much Caulking on the Spoiler will lift your rear end" Cry
Happy Traveling,
Tom
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Posts: 6288 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2020 at 7:54am
+1
That is one reason I opted to purchase both the Hayes Sway-Master and a Hensley Cub hitch. The Hensley Cub is way overkill for the RPod, but having had one accident, I am taking the belt and suspenders approach.
StephenH
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2020 at 7:14am
60/40 when uniformly loading a utility trailer is one thing, but for a travel trailer where you don't have control over the permanently mounted stuff, industry practice is to keep your tongue weight between 10 and 15%. You can measure that at a public scale or with a Sherline pretty easily, you don't have to be a physicist. Up to you what you choose to do of course. 

I have been passed by semis doing well over 80 here on I-81 in SW VA, btw, happens pretty often. Things can get interesting....
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Phil from Maine View Drop Down
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Posts: 19 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2020 at 6:26am
Originally posted by offgrid

Originally posted by lostagain

If 40% is aft of the axle and 60% forward, with 10% - to 15% on the tongue, the ying and yang are in balance and the universe is at peace.


I think perhaps Confucius is causing confusion in this case. Tongue

Unless you've cut your rpod in half at the axle and weighed both pieces there is no good way to know how much weight is behind the axle vs in front. And, it wouldn't matter anyway. I could load my rpod to give me 10% on the tongue with 60% of the weight either in front of or behind the axle. just depends on how far either side of the axle I put it. 

A couple hundred years after Confucius was working on the yin/yang thing a guy named Archimedes nailed rPod loading perfectly. Its a lever (or teeter totter if you prefer) with the fulcrum at the axle. Just like on a teeter you can put something that weighs half as much twice as far from the fulcrum and get the same result. Weight is not what creates the balance, torque (moment) is.  

So, the moral of the story (see, I brought that back around to moral codes) don't load a bunch of heavy stuff on the rear bumper. Not only can you throw your balance way off and get too low a tongue weight, but even if you compensate for that with stuff on the tongue you will be over-stressing the frame of the rpod. Like a kid's teeter totter with two big adults on it, it might be in perfect balance right up to the point where it breaks in the middle. And there's also a thing called high polar moment of inertia (think sway) that can happen too. 
Since most RVers aren't physicists, the industry uses the 60-40 rule of thumb to give us  a general idea of TT loading best practices.  I have not yet experienced traveling at 60 MPH and being passed by a tractor trailer traveling at 85 MPH.  When that happens, I may reconsider this issue.
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Phil from Maine View Drop Down
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Posts: 19 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2020 at 6:10am
Originally posted by offgrid

Originally posted by lostagain

If 40% is aft of the axle and 60% forward, with 10% - to 15% on the tongue, the ying and yang are in balance and the universe is at peace.


I think perhaps Confucius is causing confusion in this case. Tongue

Unless you've cut your rpod in half at the axle and weighed both pieces there is no good way to know how much weight is behind the axle vs in front. And, it wouldn't matter anyway. I could load my rpod to give me 10% on the tongue with 60% of the weight either in front of or behind the axle. just depends on how far either side of the axle I put it. 

A couple hundred years after Confucius was working on the yin/yang thing a guy named Archimedes nailed rPod loading perfectly. Its a lever (or teeter totter if you prefer) with the fulcrum at the axle. Just like on a teeter you can put something that weighs half as much twice as far from the fulcrum and get the same result. Weight is not what creates the balance, torque (moment) is.  

So, the moral of the story (see, I brought that back around to moral codes) don't load a bunch of heavy stuff on the rear bumper. Not only can you throw your balance way off and get too low a tongue weight, but even if you compensate for that with stuff on the tongue you will be over-stressing the frame of the rpod. Like a kid's teeter totter with two big adults on it, it might be in perfect balance right up to the point where it breaks in the middle. And there's also a thing called high polar moment of inertia (think sway) that can happen too. 
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Phil from Maine View Drop Down
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Posts: 19 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2020 at 6:10am
Originally posted by offgrid

Originally posted by lostagain

If 40% is aft of the axle and 60% forward, with 10% - to 15% on the tongue, the ying and yang are in balance and the universe is at peace.


I think perhaps Confucius is causing confusion in this case. Tongue

Unless you've cut your rpod in half at the axle and weighed both pieces there is no good way to know how much weight is behind the axle vs in front. And, it wouldn't matter anyway. I could load my rpod to give me 10% on the tongue with 60% of the weight either in front of or behind the axle. just depends on how far either side of the axle I put it. 

A couple hundred years after Confucius was working on the yin/yang thing a guy named Archimedes nailed rPod loading perfectly. Its a lever (or teeter totter if you prefer) with the fulcrum at the axle. Just like on a teeter you can put something that weighs half as much twice as far from the fulcrum and get the same result. Weight is not what creates the balance, torque (moment) is.  
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2020 at 5:58am
Originally posted by lostagain

If 40% is aft of the axle and 60% forward, with 10% - to 15% on the tongue, the ying and yang are in balance and the universe is at peace.


I think perhaps Confucius is causing confusion in this case. Tongue

Unless you've cut your rpod in half at the axle and weighed both pieces there is no good way to know how much weight is behind the axle vs in front. And, it wouldn't matter anyway. I could load my rpod to give me 10% on the tongue with 60% of the weight either in front of or behind the axle. just depends on how far either side of the axle I put it. 

A couple hundred years after Confucius was working on the yin/yang thing a guy named Archimedes nailed rPod loading perfectly. Its a lever (or teeter totter if you prefer) with the fulcrum at the axle. Just like on a teeter you can put something that weighs half as much twice as far from the fulcrum and get the same result. Weight is not what creates the balance, torque (moment) is.  

So, the moral of the story (see, I brought that back around to moral codes) don't load a bunch of heavy stuff on the rear bumper. Not only can you throw your balance way off and get too low a tongue weight, but even if you compensate for that with stuff on the tongue you will be over-stressing the frame of the rpod. Like a kid's teeter totter with two big adults on it, it might be in perfect balance right up to the point where it breaks in the middle. And there's also a thing called high polar moment of inertia (think sway) that can happen too. 
1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
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lostagain View Drop Down
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Posts: 2587 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Jul 2020 at 7:23pm
If 40% is aft of the axle and 60% forward, with 10% - to 15% on the tongue, the ying and yang are in balance and the universe is at peace.
Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Jul 2020 at 7:06pm
I'm not understanding the 60/40 and 50/50 weight distribution reference? The weight distribution should be between 90% axle/10% tongue and 85% axle/15% tongue. You can definitely get sway if the tongue weight goes below around 10-11%. The weight distribution hitch should be considered as part of the tow vehicle not the trailer. 
1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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Phil from Maine View Drop Down
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Posts: 19 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Jul 2020 at 6:25pm
Originally posted by lostagain

Phil, how do you manage the extra weight in the back of your trailer with the bumper rack?  Are you still able to keep an approximate 60/40 distribution with at least 10% on the tongue?

Lost, that is a good question and I don't have a definitive answer.  I have never even considered weight distribution standards. I have used the Pod-172 only 2 times and didn't notice any problems.  

On the tongue I have 2 house batteries, a propane Tank, and an anti sway & weight distribution system.  In the forward compartment where the bunk beds are located, the prior owners have converted those areas to storage compartments.  My guess is that the weight distribution proportion is closer to 50-50.

The prior owner put over 20 thousand miles on the pod with just their two North American tours.  They never mentioned any issues.  Thanks for bring this up. I will give it some more thought.

EDIT:  I just looked at the 172 setup and I would be willing to bet that the bumper rig weighs roughly the same as one of those house batteries so that the stock manufacturing  weigh proportions presumably 60-40, aren't compromised.  However, I will nix the idea of possibly adding a gang box.
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