Pictures of tow vehicles and trailers

I trust that caring people generally want to do the right (best) thing for all, as long as it does not heavily favor one user's output vs. another type of user's. It's sounding like it is dealt with differently in various campgrounds; not so much a locked in state-wide mandate.

Stephen, interesting reading on NC gray water. Should probably be printed and placed inside all RV's w/outdoor shower. I am sure most new purchasers assume the outdoor shower on their Pod means washing the dog, the kids, the dishes and the whole family outside. Wonder what the park ranger thinks (and does) when he/she sees the shower enclosure strung up on the side of the pod.

fred

Have some observations about tanks, the official R-Pod weight limit, powering the fridge, but first, 2 sentences about our latest R-Pod run:

Over a few years, I tend to feel comfortable carrying about 50% fresh water along, because the water we get at home is so pure. Even though we had H20 hookups per usual at KOAs, depending on locale, sometimes the water in some locations is a little heavy on sanitizers, or just doesn't taste as well. In those cases, I'll still hook up to camp water, using it for optional in-house showers, dishes, etc. but when that's done, if the shore water isn't so clean tasting, I'll close the camp H2O valve and pump some of our own on-board water for coffee, tea, or water for the next round of cooking. That's the scenario only if the water tastes a bit nasty from the spigot of the day.

A second reason I have for not running up the road with a nearly empty fresh water supply, is that if we end up for some reason dry camping due to an unexpected change or interruption in our road progress, for whatever reason 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯.... it's nice to feel self sufficient with good tasting water available on board. Also nice in case a driving break pullout view warrants pushing out the slider, (which on the 179 contains the dinette/fridge/micro) and having your good H20 onboard for lunch, to mix up tea or lemonade, etc. 

Still, I try to always have our black water emptied or very low when starting out, and be diligent keeping the gray water level low so as not to add extra cargo weight (beyond carrying the 50% fresh levels). Stephen pointed out that in NC the laws are harsh for letting a sink full of gray water out to absorb into a gravel or grassy camping zone while boon docking, so I will check into that. I'm currently somewhere in the middle on gray water, in line with Jcatt. The real concern is someone letting gray water puddle up in an area that interferes with a next camper's family area. And obviously, one should never let any quantity of gray water trickle down by gravity in the direction of any creek. But I also cringe at the scenario that you will be followed, accosted & zip tied for letting 2.25 gallons of shower water trickle into some grass edged with a shamble of scruffy bushes somewhere. However, if NC takes an extraordinary view of gray water control from the camping public, I will check into this, as I live in this state, and would not be the type to flaunt its laws.

With thoughts of cargo weight and our roughly 1100 limit, I have a confession to make to the forum: We once used the R-Pod for a dual cargo carrying + camping run, where we were definitely overloaded. We would remove about 6 heavy plastic bins riding on the hitch-side master bed and stack them nightly behind the trailer in 2 neat rows at each campsite. I'm quite sure that we could have been up in the 1600 # zone; perhaps greater. There was no lingering issues that ever came of that, (and we would never be in a position to carry so much cargo again... it was a pain!), but it did alter my set point from "worried & crossing fingers about the 1100" to "being a little more relaxed" about stressing about the stated limit. My conclusion? The R-Pod, if towed judiciously, and not subjected to extremely rough roads at speed or coming into corners too hot, will exhibit a good measure more composure and body integrity than the official limits that Forest River Lawyers would have you believe. Still, lighter = a better, safer experience all around and slows brake and transmission wear.

What's another weight contributor? Propane.

We kept to one standard propane tank, because (despite my early drive to get a double tank hook-up), we found that without being the slightest way conservative, we just don't use very much propane. This is true despite extensively stove cooking in the camper, and on chilly nights, letting the heater run comfortably warm for as long as wife wants on 36° summer nights in the Yukon Territories  (She is the fine cook of the rolling house.) We've done multiple strings of boon docking with chilly nights. For us, the single propane bottle sitting on the tongue does us just fine. 

Also, I am a firm believer in NOT subjecting the fridge energy draw to my tow vehicle's charging system every time I tow the vehicle a set distance, and now with some research, have completely relaxed about any nervousness of running the fridge on the road primarily using propane to do the cooling. I've noticed just how much less responsive the fridge is to 12V DC (outside of AC shore power). IMHO, leaving the cooling to an alternator charged 12V system churned out by the tow vehicle seems the least efficient way to cool your fridge, (with potentially more expensive wear and tear components in your tow vehicle engine bay). Should your bargman connector get pulled (or slightly dislodged) by road debris, (and this can happen), looking into your fridge after 3.5 hours travelling the hot asphalt with a loss of DC to the back may lead to a sad state of affairs for your food goodies. Again, just my humble opinion that propane powered fridges on the road are not unsafe, the data just doesn't support the fears.

I'm OK with shutting off the propane before re fueling the vehicle, or respecting any posted rules for entering certain tunnels, but largely, I feel propane makes the most sense, and I know a great % of experienced campers have no qualms with propane supplying refrigeration while traveling. So for us, with all this stated propane use, we're doing fine with the single factory R-Pod tank set up. Last cylinder exchange? $14.99 at Bi-Lo. That's not much $ for a long lasting fuel supply that takes care of the camp fridge while leaving the alternator to carry its normal duty load.

Final ramble: Roadrunner.... way to go on removing and replacing your own converter! That's something I feel would have not been in my comfort zone, so I was impressed. LOL on the lack of China bombs going off. In agreement with you, we received really good factory original tires that have worn well. And, in real life traffic, sometimes you have to go a few ticks over 70 to get you and your R-Pod into a safer highway position. It's nice to know our tires have that D rating. Happy also with the R-Pod as well. Don't recommend using it as a "Cargo-Pod", but it got us through a "Haul & Camp" despite the 1100 cargo limit. Tough, well-built little camper; maybe we got lucky, but totally happy with the WanderPod.

B&L Nottingham

Western NC

Towed by "BG" '10 Tundra CM