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P-pod for dry camping?

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MarkW View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote MarkW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: P-pod for dry camping?
    Posted: 11 Apr 2021 at 9:20am
MarkW's comment that his data plate sticker on his trailer includes two "full" propane tanks seems inconsistent with other trailer data plates. 

If you insist:


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Post Options Post Options   Quote Pod_Geek Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 2021 at 10:20am
Originally posted by lostagain

...
  • Payload Capacity - For Trucks the amount of weight you can safely add to the bed of the truck. Your Fifth Wheels Hitch Weight or Pin Weight plus the actual weight of hitch plus any other accessories you have in the bed of the truck must not exceed the Payload Capacity amount. Confirm Payload Capacity with your vehicle’s manufacturer....
I thought truck Payload includes passengers and other miscellaneous junk (in our case coolers etc.) that might be in the cab, not just the truck bed.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote lostagain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 2021 at 10:41am
MarkW, if that's what the data plate says, then you are certainly entitled to rely on it.  It's just not real common to see dry weight include propane.  You state that you don't want to weigh your TT & TV with each trip.  I don't believe anyone is suggesting that you need to weigh for each trip.  What has been suggested is that you do a typical loading of the TT and TV and weigh it to establish a baseline weight.  For each trip, you just need to keep track of variations from your baseline, but that doesn't mean you have to go to a vehicle scale to do it.  I still don't get why it is so problematical to to a public scale one time with a typical load to get your baseline weight.  It may turn out to be exactly what your calculated weight is, but what's the harm in being sure when it comes to safety of you family and those sharing the road with you?

Pod-Geek, I got payload capacity from a trailer loading site.  I agree with you, that payload should also include everything you put inside the cab, particularly with cabs that are extended and have a lot of cargo room inside.  In our truck, for example, I have about 45 cubic feet of cargo space behind the front passenger area that we can fill with additional stuff that should be counted in the payload.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote offgrid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 2021 at 11:12am
Originally posted by MarkW



It's just not wanting or needing to go through the hassle when I already have perfectly good data to start with.  The only concern is what is loaded into the TV and trailer and that will vary somewhat from trip to trip.  But I can track and (if necessary weigh) added gear and supplies without going out to find truck scales and I'm certainly not going to hit the truck scales before every trip (though I will check the tongue weights).  I have the weight of the TT as it left the factory down to the lb.  I can work from that baseline.</span>


It's overconfidence in inadequate data then, combined with not wanting to put out the minimal effort involved in driving over to the scales, that clears things up.

My perspective, not yours. Feel free to do as you like, as I am free to disagree with you.

But please don't attempt to troll me by suggesting that I think it's necessary to weigh before every trip, including tongue weight. No one has said anything of the sort.

As podwerkz said, this is starting to become a pattern. Good luck to you.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote lostagain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 2021 at 11:55am
MarkW, the data plate you attached does not appear to be from an r-Pod, nor other FR trailers.  It appears to be a Vista Cruiser 17RWD by the Gulfstream company.  

The bottom line I hear from your posts is that your time is far too valuable to take out part of your day and weigh your loaded TT & TV to get a baseline weight.  Proper weight and balance is an issue of safety, not only for you but for all who travel on public highways.  You time is not so precious that it excuses your obligation to ensure that you do not endanger others.  I hope I am misunderstanding you.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote MarkW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 2021 at 1:57pm
MarkW, the data plate you attached does not appear to be from an r-Pod, nor other FR trailers.  It appears to be a Vista Cruiser 17RWD by the Gulfstream company.  

Oh, yes, that was the beginning of the thread/story.  I started by asking about an RPod 179 for dry camping and then later went to a dealer that had a used one for sale.  The 179 was a little beat up, though, and while I was there I wandered over to look at a Gulfstream Vintage Cruiser and ended up with a 17 footer which similar in size & weight to the 179.  The layout is like a 171 (no slide, bed in front, dinette in back, kitchen and bath in the middle, but it's wide-bodied and has a dry bath -- also an oven, a feature we kind of liked in the Lance 1575 that we'd also been eyeing.  And a full wood interior which appealed to old boat fans like us).  There's more useful info on this forum, though -- most of the owners of the same Gulfstream family buy larger 19-23ft models (the 17s are pretty rare), so I've kind of hung around.

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Post Options Post Options   Quote lostagain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 2021 at 2:23pm
I really liked the Vista Cruiser series and tried to buy a 19ERD, but the added transportation cost from the mid-west to the west pushed it out of our budget range.  I hope you enjoy the one you got.  I ended up with a FR Sonoma 167RB which is quite similar to the r-Pod 192, but a little narrower and a little lighter.  

We weighed the TT & TV when we first got it.  Now I have a pretty good baseline on what I can load and can't.  Right now we're packing for a cross-country trip, leaving soon after my wife gets her second Covid shot.  When everything is loaded, I'll double check the tongue weight, but based on the original weighing and having a pretty generous margin of error with our TV's capacity, everything should be well within specs, though I may have to make some minor adjustments to accommodate for the bars of Nevada gold and silver I've hidden in the front of the trailer, beneath the bed.  

So...., since I sold our 172, I've been an interloper on this board too.  It's filled with a lot of very helpful information that is quite useful no matter what brand you buy and a lot of generous folks who will take the time to share very helpful information they have learned over the years.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote MarkW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Apr 2021 at 12:41pm
<i>I really liked the Vista Cruiser series and tried to buy a 19ERD, but the added transportation cost from the mid-west to the west pushed it out of our budget range</i>

Yes, the 19ERD was the one we looked at a the dealer with the tired RP 179.  The 'master suite' with the walkaround queen and separate shower and toilet was definitely appealing (and the price was actually almost the same as the 17), but we wanted something a little more compact and not to have to buy a larger TV.  That Sonoma you got instead looks very nice too, though.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote MarkW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Mar 2022 at 12:35pm
I thought I'd wake this old thread up with a quick follow-up.  So to review, I initially asked about towing an r-Pod (for dry camping) with a 3500# TV (both a Toyota Sienna and a Subaru Outback XT).  After shopping, we ended up with a similar size/weight Gulfstream Vintage Cruiser 17RWD (about 2850# dry).  We finally had a chance for a major test -- about four weeks and 4400 miles from SE Michigan to the southwest (NM, AZ, UT, CO) and back.  Mountains, deserts, some gnarly dirt roads to dispersed camp sites, and it all worked out very well.  We did do dry camping - at first because of temps dropping below freezing at night and after that because it was the most practical (the small campgrounds we stayed at usually had no water or at least had no way to fill tanks and didn't allow campers to use that much water anyway).  Presumably due to the explosion in RVing, pretty much every campground that took reservations was fully booked when we checked.  But this really wasn't a problem, since we had little problem finding space at the small Forest Service and BLM campgrounds and various dispersed sites that were quieter, more beautiful (and mostly free).  This one near Kodachrome Basin was probably our favorite:



But there were lots of other beautiful ones too.  Here's the whole rig in the Organ Mountains in NM (at an actual campground):



And we did see a few R-Pods out there in the boonies as well.  Anyway, if you're wondering if you can go with a lighter tow vehicle, our experience is that it may work out fine as it has for us.  
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Post Options Post Options   Quote offgrid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Apr 2022 at 7:39am
Ok, thread is awake.

I'm certainly happy to hear that nothing bad happened, but that doesn't change my view that this is dangerous behavior. 4000 miles without a problem is nowhere near an adequate data set. In safety engineering, unsafe activities recur many times but don't redult in injury or death until they do, meaning that statistics apply.

The death rate from crashes in the US is about 1 per 100,000,000 miles. So you would need to have thousands of rigs like this on the road for years to obtain meaningful statistics. Lacking that you have to go with load capacity analysis and expert recommendations.

So to new owners or soon to be owners, please get an adequate tow vehicle and don't let wishful thinking sway you to do something unsafe. There is always someone on the internet that will tell you whatever dangerous behavior you might want to do is OK. Don't believe it.

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