Not So Newbie Anymore - Event Date: 12 Aug 2013

We did quell our worst worry and that was the ability of our 2007 Toyota Tacoma to adequately tow our new camper.  It pulled our Aliner nicely even through steep mountains, but it was over a thousand pounds less than the R-pod.  As it turned out the Taco pulled the RP177 just fine as long as we did not use the truck's overdrive feature.  Using overdrive in hills made it too shifty, constantly downshifting to lower gears.  Otherwise, we did very nicely averaging 15 mpg at an average of 60 mph.  Oh yeah, our Tacoma has the four-cylinder 2.7 engine, and yes, I did add an external transmission oil cooler to the front of the radiator.

The best ride, economy, and stability seemed to be when the Taco and camper were completely level with each other.  For us the ball height needed to be exactly 18 inches from the ground (our R-pod has the risers) and it made a straight line from one end of the rig to the other on a level surface.  The dealer recommended and installed a friction sway bar unit which seemed to do the job.  In all the driving, even in gusty wind did we ever experience any sway going down the highway.

Thanks to this forum I learned a few tricks and incorporated them into our new R-pod with some modifications and a few more mods of our own.  Here's some you might like:

1. We added a closet, wire type shelf over the dinette table which was very easy.  The lightweight shelf simply rests on the venetian blind valances over the two side windows.  I used one fastener at the front of the camper wall to stop the shelf from moving when travelling.  The best part about the wire shelf was it did not disrupt the lighting over the table and kept our dry food stuff from our two shelties.  It also made a good place to store our clothes, etc. ready for the next day--a good clutter preventer.

3. I read where some R-pod owners made covers for their stove tops for extra counter space and I did, too, but made mine from a lexxan cutting board by simply screwing door stoppers for legs on each corner of the board.  The white lexxan and white legs made it look professionally made for the camper, and with the rubber feet could even be left over the stove top when travelling.

4. An inexpensive 15" X 19" wall mirror worked very nicely on the outside bathroom door and it even came with the hardware to install it.  For good measure when putting it up I used a little liquid silicone in the center between the door and mirror back to insure it would not move around in the clips.  I don't think it is going anywhere on the roughest of roads.

5. The loop on the shower hose had to go.  Never could figure why it was there in the first place.  All it did was stop me and my wife from rinsing the parts of our bodies that needing rinsing the most.  Anyway, to utilize the holes already in the wall I installed a wire-style soap dish which not only holds a bar of soap but our toothbrushes and razors, too.  On the wall between the mesh, bag-type shelves I installed a (matching with the soap dish) vertical toilet paper holder.  Life is good now in our R-pod.

We added a few more mods not mentioned here but I can see my post is getting a little wordy.  Hopefully I will hear from some of you the nifty little things you did with your R-pod.  Even though we don't consider ourselves total newbies anymore, we are always open for new ideas.

I forgot to mention I added stiffeners to the rear leaf springs on the Tacoma which stopped the sag when the R-pod is hitched.  The great part is, with the Taco, I can easily reach over the bed sides to retrieve items out of the back unlike the full size pickup truck beds, and the gas mileage is 25-27 mpg average when not towing.

I think eventually all the blinds will have to go in our Pod, especially the one at the end of the bed. A couple of the slats are already bent from hitting my head on them when laying down.  Then, too, they are a pain when trying to watch the little TV as you have a tendency to prop your head up on pillows which are then against the blinds.  My wife says she would eventually like to make curtains to replace them.

Tom & Gloria

Port Charlotte, FL

2013 - 177 Pod, 2007 Taco TV