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P-pod for dry camping?
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Post Options Post Options   Quote offgrid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: P-pod for dry camping?
    Posted: 24 Feb 2021 at 8:38am
Weigh your rig loaded and see. Usually very little weight ends up in the black tank. Most moves from freshwater to the gray tank from dishwashing and shower use.

Check out the RV composting toilets before you put in a portapot. They are pretty popular now especially with boon dockers. They don’t smell because they use negative pressure venting into the existing plumbing vent. The waste is separated into liquid and solids. The solids can be disposed of in the garbage and the urine is good fertilizer.
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podwerkz View Drop Down
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Posts: 966 		Post Options Post Options   Quote podwerkz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2021 at 9:22am
Never believe what's printed on the webpage or on the sticker...weigh the trailer and verify it.

Ready to roll (batteries, food, water, propane, pots and pans, clothes, etc) I bet that trailer is gonna be right at 3500 pounds with 300-500 pounds tongue weight.

Good luck.
r･pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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MarkW View Drop Down
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Posts: 54 		Post Options Post Options   Quote MarkW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2021 at 9:53am
The main point of not using the blackwater system is simplicity mostly.  I expect our typical use will be in primitive tent/small RV campgrounds with no services, pit toilets, and a hand-pumped well rather than parked out on BLM land for long periods.  And probably solids will rarely go into the porta-pottie in the first place.  Our experience on our boat is that with a good quality Thetford unit at least, it seals well when not being used and smell really isn't a problem.  Composting toilets are much more expensive, use power, and require venting so I don't think that's the best choice for us.  I expect the toilet in the RV will be mostly a bad-weather/night-time convenience when we don't want to wander down to the pit toilet.  
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Posts: 170 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Dirt Sifter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2021 at 10:01am
Originally posted by MarkW

Thanks.  I'm not too worried about weight.  It's 2825# dry and we'll be towing with empty tanks at all times.  One of my first mods is going to be to pull the toilet and replace it with a porta potty...    We've been used to tent-camping where we travel by air and have to take our gear in checked luggage -- so we do know how to travel light.  Bikes will be in or on top of the TV.  Kayak is a 40# tandem inflatable.  I may remove the air conditioner and replace with a skylight vent (Gulfstream wouldn't let us order without the AC -- too busy right now to do those kinds of custom orders, I guess).  The microwave is probably going to go into storage too.  This is the actual trailer, BTW:

https://www.mikejonesmotors.com/--xInventoryDetail?id=9817089



I for one think you've looked at things pretty closely and with your previous experience will have a good time doing what you enjoy. Be safe and all the best!
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MarkW View Drop Down
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Posts: 54 		Post Options Post Options   Quote MarkW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Mar 2021 at 5:35pm
One last reply here.  After picking up our camper near Cincinnati, we took it a couple of hours south to Red River Gorge and spent a week hiking and biking.  We towed with our Toyota Sienna with air suspension added, a Curt wireless brake controller, and friction sway control (no WD).  It got a pretty good workout first with 20 MPH winds south of Cincinnati, then with some good steep grades in the mountains, and finally with 6 hours of towing north on I-75 through several urban areas and with plenty of semis as company.  On the freeway, we towed at 65-68 and got about 13 MPG.  No white knuckle experiences.  Compared to I-75 through Ohio, northern Michigan should be a piece of cake.

We towed with empty tanks in the trailer (in fact, since it was predicted to dip below freezing a couple of nights, we never filled up with water at all -- using jugs and our pressurized insect-sprayer shower).  In place of the blackwater system, we used a porta pottie -- now permanently installed with a floorplate -- which we dumped in the vault toilet (handy because the campground had no hookups or dump station).  All in all a dry camping success even with the cold nights.  I was a bit worried the furnace blower would eat the battery, but a brief recharge every morning using jumper cables kept us topped up.  All in all a success, and Red River Gorge is highly recommended if you're anywhere in the region -- lots of really great scenery and hiking trails and not very crowded (in March anyway).
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podwerkz View Drop Down
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Posts: 966 		Post Options Post Options   Quote podwerkz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Mar 2021 at 6:01pm
I have thought about doing that also: remove the OEM toilet and seal the opening, then use a porta pottie and since it's just myself with options almost everywhere I camp, I believe that would work out well. 

The only reason I have not done that so far, is because at the LTVA's in Arizona and California, you are required to have on-board, permanently mounted, black water holding tanks of at least 10 gallon capacity if you camp more than 500 feet from one of the vault toilets. Rangers do enforce this, although I have never heard of one of them actually inspecting inside and underneath a rig for compliance. When they come around and run off the 'scofflaws' (usually tent campers or vandwellers with a portapottie or a bucket)  we end up calling these rangers 'pottie cops' (and a few other names I wont repeat here, you get the idea).... I guess SOMEONE has to do it.  

Typically I camp about 2 miles from the vault toilets, since the areas close to the facilities tend to be more crowded than I like.

So I'm still not sure that I want to make the change to my r-pod, and if I did, I would also be reducing the resale value...not sure I want to do that either.

Decisions, decisions.
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MarkW View Drop Down
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Posts: 54 		Post Options Post Options   Quote MarkW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Mar 2021 at 6:23am
So I'm still not sure that I want to make the change to my r-pod, and if I did, I would also be reducing the resale value...

I kept the original unit and stored it in the box that the porta-pottie came in.  It would take just a few minutes to take out the porta-pottie and swap the original back in (take out the 4 screws that hold down the floor plate, set the original back in place and screw on the two nuts).  The hardest part of the project was making a 1/2" shim so the floor plate would sit over the original toilet mount plate.  I didn't do anything to seal the opening to the blackwater tank because it's never been used, but that would have been easy enough too.  Or, if you have a dry bath, for temporary use, you can just set the porta-pottie on the floor of the shower to use it (which is what we did during the trip, since we picked up the trailer on the way).  Here's what it looks like now that it's mounted:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rTR5GZrmPX3Qa8w8A

I didn't know that about the LTVAs.  Something to keep in mind if we ever decide to stay in one.
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Post Options Post Options   Quote offgrid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Mar 2021 at 7:39am
MarkW, looks like you have worked hard to keep your trailer weight down, limiting or removing usage of some of the heavier features.

Can you share what your actual trailer, TV, and rig weights were relative to your TV specs are?

We've had multiple folks tow "mid size" rpods with 3500 lb rated TV's but none have shared their actual weights while doing so AFAIK. It would help our newer and prospective owners make safer decisions if they had done real world numbers to look at.
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podwerkz View Drop Down
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Posts: 966 		Post Options Post Options   Quote podwerkz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Mar 2021 at 7:40am
Removing the toilet would also make it much easier to take showers, since my 171 has a wetbath and that is another reason to get rid of it...and of course, If I did that, I'd want to remove the black tank and lighten the carriage even more, or maybe build up some type of under-floor storage bin for camp chairs and/or the awning...stuff that is kinda bulky but not that heavy. 

Yes the LTVA's do have these rules, but the normal BLM land (with no vault toilets anywhere)...well, you are kinda on your own to figure it out and buckets/portapotties are OK. So there is that.
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MarkW View Drop Down
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Posts: 54 		Post Options Post Options   Quote MarkW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Mar 2021 at 8:06am
Can you share what your actual trailer, TV, and rig weights were relative to your TV specs are?

TV is a 2018 Toyota Sienna with 4430# curb weight, 3500# tow rating and 350# max tongue weight.  GVWR is 5995#.  I've not yet had a chance to put the trailer on the scales, but dry weight spec is 2825#.  The dealer added dual 20# propane tanks and a single battery (which should be about another 150#).  We packed little in the trailer (luggage and food in coolers stayed in the TV until we reached our destination -- and the same on the way home).  While towing, the trailer should have been around 3100# with the minimal added load.
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