P-pod for dry camping?

Sigh. If you have a higher rig load rating then you have more capacity to carry weight. But if you succumb to your human tendency to add load you can consume that capacity and be back where you started or worse. And the human capability to estimate how much things weigh is not very good. Hence the need to weigh your rig fully loaded for travel. Added safety factors should be determined based on that weight, not on empty weight.

I'll say it again, my empty trailer weighed about 250-300 lbs more than the number on the sticker. I could not account for that other than simply that the sticker was wrong. You are free to assume that I used an uncalibrated scale (I didn't) or am unable to perform basic addition and subtraction (I can) and discount my statement, but others have been surprised as well. So there is indeed good reason to doubt the sticker weight, but of course you aren't really looking for a reason, you want it to just be ok so you can do what you already decided to do anyway. That is a dangerous aspect of human nature too.

I've also weighed numerous airplanes. If they haven't been weight recently they always weigh more, often substantially more, than their weight and balance data inducates, which is supposed to be carefully obtained either by direct weighing or calculated per FAA regs. Here's an aviation saying for you: airplanes and people both gain weight as they age.

So, yes you are guessing your rig weight unless you actually weigh using a calibrated scale. It's very easy to do.

Sigh again. Do you understand the difference between a monotonic and a linear function? I can say without guessing that the controllability and therefore the safety of a rig monotonically decreases as load increases. There are not going to be any weird points where the controllability goes flat or gets better as the load increases. That is magical thinking. I'd be quite surprised if it's linear however.

Well I knew you don't have a trailer with electric over hydraulic disc brakes. Those are very expensive complex systems not for the likes of mere mortals like us with little rpods or similar TT's. If you could afford such a system I doubt you would be towing a boxy TT with a little bitty SUV.

Many many people on this forum and elsewhere have had problems with their drum trailer brakes. FR uses very poor quality insulation displacement connectors which have a bad habit of going open or to a high resistance connection resulting in magnets that don't get activated or are very unbalanced. Others have had issues with their self adjustment stars either not self adjusting or getting overtightened. Others have had problems even with brand new trailers because the brakes never got properly burnished per Lippert procedures. Or warped drums or poor quality brake linings that crumble in the drums I've had some of these issues myself. Do an advanced search on this forum as see for yourself.

So I'd recommend that you check your brake operation regularly especially as you seem to intend to rely heavily on your trailer brake function. An IR thermometer is a very easy and inexpensive way to do it. You're looking for consistent temps side to side on each axle and also for no one axle on your rig to be running very hot while others are cool. Check after descending a significant grade, takes just a few seconds. But of course you already know everything is ok without checking.

Shiny new sounded like off the new dealer lot to me. My point was simply that there are many choices that allow folks to have a capable tow vehicle at an affordable price which they can use to camp comfortably utilizing all their trailer's systems. It is very unusual for a family not to want to use the systems the trailer comes with.

Vehicles last a very long time nowadays if well maintained so no reason to be afraid of buying used. I personally would never buy new unless perhaps if there was a "must have" feature of that particular vehicle which was unobtainable in the used market, like for example the vehicle to home charging capability of the new electric F15O.

As for your aviation saying, if you were involved in aviation you'd know that there are at least as many of those as there are pilots. So I hadn't heard that one. My personal favorite IMC one is about avoiding flying around in the clouds with the rocks in them.

Do you understand the difference between IMC, VMC, IFR, and VFR? Your article was about scud running. That is an activity VFR pilots engage in. The accident rate doing that is very high. It's called "VFR flight into IMC". I obtained my instrument rating largely so I would never be tempted to scud run. I can file an IFR flight plan and climb through that low cloud layer to an altitude where it's safe to fly, and usually clear of clouds. Altitude is your friend in aviation, I never fly low except when in the airport environment.

Why would you be surprised that I fly? Is there something that suggested to you that I am risk averse? Life is full of risk/reward decisions, if you take no risks and just stay home you'll probably die young from lack of excersize or brain atrophy.

So I fly myself and my wife because to us the rewards are well worth the risks. I understand and manage the risks, making sure that the aircraft and I are both properly prepared and that the weather conditions are well within our capabilities.

I do most of my own maintenance as I own an EAB aircraft, and I actually listen to what my A&P/IA/CFII tells me, who has far more experience with stuff that goes wrong with airplanes that I do, and never just charge in making the assumption that everything will be fine. I assume it's not fine unless I came prove that it is. Since your decision making indicates that you unwilling to do that I would agree with your decision that aviating to too risky for you to engage in.

I'm retired so I don't need to be anywhere at a particular hour. I'll just wait for better conditions. "Time to spare, go by air", there is another good aviation saying for you.

And btw I weigh my aircraft and don't rely on the math skills of some long dead A&P who might have made up some numbers when he did a weight and balance calc 40 years ago, or before the aircraft got that pretty paint job that wasn't accounted for. And of course I never exceed max weight and stay well below that when flying out of high density altitude fields or in IMC.

Enough banter. I think we've both made our positions and methods abundantly clear by this point. Enjoy your trailer and good luck to you.

"So there is indeed good reason to doubt the sticker weight"

Yeah he's trying to pull my tail, that's what trolls do, but his arguments are in general poorly considered or just plain silly and its easy to see through them. As I've said I have no objection to him doing whatever he wants within legal limits, and maybe not even then as long as I don't have to share the road with him. But I do feel a responsibility to help other forum readers, who may not follow these threads, to make safe decisions rather than just say to themselves that that guy is towing that great big trailer with a tiny little crossover so I'm gonna do the same.

Dont hold your breath.

My 'pod has been great, but if you want to delete appliances, I'd buy something else, or order one built without the stuff you don't want. Plus, you will sell it one day. Do you really want to pay extra and immediately reduce its value?