And a Podder is born - R-pod Owners Forum

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PBFM1967

Newbie

Joined: 13 Jan 2013
Location: Mississippi
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Posts: 4

Topic: And a Podder is born
Posted: 14 Jan 2013 at 8:34pm

I bought a 2013, 177 about two weeks ago and after reading post for days I have been creating storage locations all over the place.

We tent camp for two weeks every year in TN, now we'll be podding (got tired of wet tent).

Anyone have any immediate things i need to know?

dsmiths

Senior Member

Joined: 10 Oct 2011
Location: Southern Ind
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Posts: 866

Posted: 14 Jan 2013 at 8:57pm

PBFM, its so much more fun than a tent. My wife Donna was not a camper at all, so about 5 or 6 years ago I told her that if whe would go with me to Hoosier National Forest in Southern Indiana 35,000.00 acres of pristine beautiful rolling hills and fishing lakes and did'nt like it I would not ask her again. We Camped in the back of our 1st trail blazer and I cooked on the fire and the camp stove. Good old camp cooking, lean burgers, pork and beans, baked potato on the hot coals of the fire. She fell in love with the quiet of the forest. We then tent camped for a couple of years and then an RP 151 passed us on the highway, I goggled the pod and found a dealer about 40 miles from us. The rest is history, she loves it and we hike and fish, cook outside, relax. After a full day outside we watch andy griffith DVD's and then get the bobble head and its lights out. I wish I could bottle the smells and sounds of the quiet woods, I could make a fortune, I guess we all are making a fortune when we get out in the outdoors and enjoy the sounds , the flora and fanua. come on Mr Spring.

Dane and Donna Smith
2011 RP-172
2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer 4X4
lift kit
prodigy wireless brake controller

dsmiths

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Joined: 10 Oct 2011
Location: Southern Ind
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 866

Posted: 14 Jan 2013 at 9:01pm

PBFM, oopss sorry did'nt answer your question. If you have tent camped the same basics as far as food, clothing etc. The Pod really has a fair amount of storage so we load the pod with things we dont have to carry back and forth, plates, silverware, pots pans salt and pepper, all your shower stuff. games to play. DVD's for night watchin. mirror to hang on shower door. make a list of what you forgot, can opener, duct tape, camp saw. have fun. planning is have the fun.

Dane and Donna Smith
2011 RP-172
2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer 4X4
lift kit
prodigy wireless brake controller

PBFM1967

Newbie

Joined: 13 Jan 2013
Location: Mississippi
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4

Posted: 14 Jan 2013 at 9:07pm

True, I love our TN camping trips in the National Forest. We have plans to "unplug" camp within a 50 mile radius of the house at least once a month.....we'll see how that works.

PBFM1967

Newbie

Joined: 13 Jan 2013
Location: Mississippi
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4

Posted: 14 Jan 2013 at 9:13pm

The DVD/TV/RADIO runs off the battery too?

techntrek

Admin Group - pHp

Joined: 29 Jul 2009
Location: MD
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Posts: 9059

Posted: 14 Jan 2013 at 10:14pm

Welcome!

Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual

CharlieM

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Joined: 23 Nov 2012
Location: N. Colorado
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Posts: 1797

Posted: 15 Jan 2013 at 8:05am

"The DVD/TV/RADIO runs off the battery too?"

No. Unfortunately Forest River chose a unit that not only doesn't run on 12 volts, but it doesn't sound very good or or produce a usable picture. The 12 volt option would have been so cheap and so logical that it's absence amazes me.

One option is to use a small DC to AC inverter, but that adds inefficiency which adds to battery drain and adds inconvenience and complexity. The Audiovox is rated at 34 watts, which would draw 42.5 watts assuming an 80 percent efficient inverter. This translates to 3.54 amps from the 12 volt battery, which would be very bad for battery life.

We use our laptop to play CDs and DVDs if we need them. The laptop has its own battery which can be recharged when on AC, or recharged from DC with an inverter. Of course,again, the inverter adds inefficiency, but the sound , picture and portability are much better. The only use I see for the Audiovox unit is commercial AM/FM radio, but I also have a SiriusXM satellite radio on board, which does run on DC.

Charlie
Northern Colorado
OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD
PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD

P&M

Senior Member

Joined: 13 Aug 2012
Location: Spokane, WA
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Posts: 454

Posted: 15 Jan 2013 at 8:43am

Welcome! We are former campers that moved up to our Pod last October, and after 3 trips out already we are so happy we made the jump. We found that there was plenty of room in the Pod for all of our camping gear that we used to haul, with lots more room to spare.

For immediate things to do I would suggest that you take it out for a couple of one-night stays, either at a campground, in the backyard or even in the driveway if necessary. For us (we did 2 of them on back-to-back weekends) it gave us an opportunity to test everything out, make sure we knew what & how everything worked, make our list of "things to do" and "things we want" for the Pod, and just get an overall good feel for the setup & take-down processes. That helped us out immensely when it came time for our first real 4-day camping trip over Thanksgiving.

P & M ... and Comet too!
2012 171 -- The Monkey Pod
2018 Ram 2500

Keith-N-Dar View Drop Down

podders Helping podders - pHp

Joined: 03 Apr 2011
Location: Mayville, WI
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1447

Posted: 15 Jan 2013 at 10:51am

Originally posted by CharlieM

"The DVD/TV/RADIO runs off the battery too?"

No. Unfortunately Forest River chose a unit that not only doesn't run on 12 volts, but it doesn't sound very good or or produce a usable picture. The 12 volt option would have been so cheep and so logical that it's absence amazes me.

One option is to use a small DC to AC inverter, but that adds inefficiency which adds to battery drain and adds inconvenience and complexity. We use our laptop to play CDs and DVDs if we need them. The laptop has its own battery which can be recharged when on AC, or recharged from DC with an inverter. Of course,again, the inverter adds inefficiency, but the sound , picture and portability are much better. The only use I see for the Audiovox unit is commercial AM/FM radio, but I also have a SiriusXM satellite radio on board, which does run on DC.

If we had the option we would not have purchased the TV/radio.DVD. It is not important to us while camping, and we rarely have used it. It is unfortunate that it doesn't run off of DC for those who do wish to watch TV. Seems short sighted to me. I think the Antenna is powered on DC, but I may be wrong on that. I think I have seen the light on when AC is unplugged.

Keith-N-Dar
Boris & Betty (Boston Terriers)
2011 R-Pod 177
2010 Ford F-150

gnawbone

Newbie

Joined: 02 Nov 2012
Location: Sterling PA
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Posts: 20

Posted: 15 Jan 2013 at 12:54pm

We also would not have purchased the combo. It's a head knocker to say the least. How to remove it? Does it leave a hole?
we just got a 177 and haven't done anything with it except sit in it and dream about springtime. Our first outing likely will be at Promised Land State Park. Can hardly wait.
Best wishes...

2017 Toyota Sienna
2016 R-180 "the Wee Pod"