Retired from the cold 9 years ago from Ottawa Ontario to enjoy the west coast.

Spent 5 years touring the west coast using our hotel Sienna. Trips included diagonal trans continental trip from BC to the panhandle of Florida. The Sienna was configured with a platform bed, and with the power sliding doors we called her our "Step Out Queen"  Unfortunately, as we grew older, the middle of night call to the "John" became inconvenient, so we are upgrading to a twin bed R-Pod RP-191. The twin configuration looks appealing, where one of us can get up for the washroom call at the middle of the night, without disturbing the other. I saw the "New" 195 layout with the walk around queen, and wish they would make a 195 twin. I think the kitchen in the back and the dinette on the slide, is a more balanced and reliable configuration. The Dry bathroom would also be much appreciated.

We have had excellent service from our 2005 Sienna, which we towed our 2 motorcycles, and other household belongings across the USA with no problems. The Sienna provides a stable, long wheelbase tow platform, when fitted with air assisted rear bags. We have towed without issue, at the full 3,500 pound rating, but of course we do have trailer brakes and controller to balance the braking to the weight being pulled. Given that the Highlander has the same engine/tranny combo, it leaves me to believe the Sienna has capacity in reserve, given the highlander is rated at 5,000 pounds. I have read many posts and other opinions, but I have traversed the continent 3 times, with the trailer close to maximum weights with no problems. Look forward to opinions on weight distribution of different floor plans, Thanks for your time. Regards, the BCProspector :)

Towing isn't really limited so much by the drivetrain, except for secondary issues like being sure you can keep the engine and tranny from overheating. Those aren't really safety issues and can be corrected with cooling add ons if you want to.  I tow with my Highlander and the power is not a problem at all, nor is engine and tranny cooling with the tow package. 

Another consideration, is your Sienna front or AWD? Front drive towing much weight can be really problematical. 

I have considered many options, and used many on line tools to determine the tow capabilities of the Sienna vs the Highlander. Have owned both, and carefully review the torque ratings of the new Toyota line, with the direct and port injection, as well as the 8 speed trannies.

The new engines advertise a higher Torque rating, but at a much higher RPM, which from my experience equates to more fuel consumption on long tow grades. 

The 12.4 inch extra wheelbase on the Sienna provides more directional stability, as well as the extra leverage to support the similar rear overhang of both vehicles.

I agree fully with your comments on ensuring you don't stress the maximum GCWR, given that the Sienna has a higher passenger and payload capacity. We actually travel with the Sienna with rear seats completely removed, and just the wife and I. We have the Sienna configured with a platform bed, and clothes storage in plastic boxes under the platform. The deep well (for the back row seating storage), also gets used for our outdoor kitchen configuration, that we use while exploring the country from our planned trailer base of operations. 

The R-Pod line doesn't provide a lot of volumetric storage, and I can appreciate the extra capacity the Sienna offers to supplement hanging space in the R-Pod line.

Look forward to the experiences of others in balancing the liquid load factors, in particular, the location of the fresh water tank.

Thanks again, "Happy Trials"

Cliff n Sue

 

tongue weight change = weight x distance from weight to axle/distance from ball to axle, with weight in front of the axle adding to tongue weight and behind the axle subtracting.

For my 179 the fresh tank is 5.7 ft in front of the axle and the gray tank is 1 ft behind the axle. The ball is 13.1 ft from the axle. A gallon of water weighs 8.34 lbs. So, filling my fresh tank adds 250 lbs of water and 250 x 5.7/13.1 = 108 lbs to the tongue. Filling the gray tank subtracts 250 X 1/13.1 = 19 lbs. So over the course of a camping trip my tongue weight drops by 127 lbs if I use up all my fresh water and add that water to the gray water tank. 

This is where the balancing act comes in, you don't want your tongue weight to be too high for your tow vehicle at the beginning of a trip or below about 10-11% of total trailer weight (that's about where you can start to get trailer sway) at the end of a trip. 

YMMV, the location of the tanks and the distance from the axle to the ball will be different for the different models. 

Hope that helps. 

Great explanation. I was crawling around under different models of R-Pod's at the dealers today, and noted the position of the fresh water, grey and black water tanks. We are waiting to see the 191 twin and 195 queen, before we pull the wallet out. 

Like the Hood River Editions extra height, giving more clearance to the dump lines.

Will continue to review other tip's in the user group, as there are so many "Happy Trials" to enjoy.

Regards

BCProspector

 

In aircraft, the reference point is usually the nose of the airplane, but it could be any convenient place.

BCProspector, one thing to consider with the new 195 is that is will be quite a nit wider than the current rPod line, probably around 88 inches vs 77. That is going to increase not only weight but frontal area which is in turn going to increase air drag and hp requirements when towing.  Towing with a relatively light  tow vehicle will place significantly more demand on the drivetrain. 

Offgrid.

Great Observation, as my toy hauler is only 6 feet wide, and I have noticed a significant impact on headwinds when travelling across the Midwest plains. The toy hauler is a 6x13 vnose, and the wide stance obviously helps with stability. I really would like the twin config 191 with a dry bath, which would fit in the current width. Like your posts about circulating the hot water in frigid environments. ;) Thanks all.

I'm with you, a dual twin is a better solution to the climbing over each other problem, unless they could use a slide to create the walk around queen space within the current width.  

I see you list a 2012 Highlander as your tow vehicle, and after reviewing the Pod lineup, and leaning towards the RP-191, we are looking to upgrade our old Sienna to another garage able tow vehicle.

We have had Highlanders in the past, and a 2012 Limited V6 4WD has caught our eye.

Any comments related to your towing experiences with the Highlander would be appreciated.

Thanks

BCProspector

The limiting factor on my rig is the tongue weight. I have dual golf cart batteries, a pretty heavy mattress topper, and travel with a full freshwater tank, so I'm around 550 on the tongue.  The 191 looks to be a little lighter overall and on the tongue than the 179 is and if you're not boondocking a lot your tongue weight will be much less of an issue. But you will still want a wdh with sway control I think. It will end up with a pretty fair level of tension on it. I have a 1200 lb one which is overkill, I'd get a 600 lb one if I didn't boondock, and I'm thinking of changing to an 800 lb one for my requirements. 

I've weighed the rig and each axle and I'm well within all the axle limits and gross combined vehicle weight rating. I've driven my rig all over the Appalachian mountains on the WV two lane roads in sun and rain and never felt stressed about it (except when I first got my used trailer and my trailer brake shoes were disintegrating and causing wheel lockup-nothing to do with the tow vehicle). Ditto with driving it out here on the OBX with pretty extreme winds from all directions. I use sport mode for engine braking whenever I'm on more than about a 7-8% grade, which puts me at about 50 mph, and I keep my speed down to 60 on the freeway anyway to save fuel and run at about 50 in high crosswinds winds, say 35 mph or more. I get about 14 mpg towing on flat ground with no wind at 60 mph. That won't change much regardless of what tow vehicle you get as long as its got a modern drivetrain. The fuel tank is just under 20 gal so I can go around 180 miles with a reasonable reserve. Three hours and I need to take a bladder break anyway. 

Overall I've very satisfied with the Highlander as a tow vehicle. Many on the forum would feel its undersized and I do agree that I wouldn't want to go any lighter for the big rPods. It works for me because the 90% of the time I'm not towing the vehicle is an ideal size for my needs and very comfortable. 

Hope that helps.

Edit: the trailer axle is NOT well within limits, its marginal, but that's the way they're made, not a tow vehicle issue. There are multiple threads on rPod axles on the forum you can search through on that if you're interested. 

$12,500