How do people handle this? 

?Buy anothr tube, one of levelling Dicor?

I noticed that FR uses some black pasty caulking on the sides and rear portion of the spoiler, it's also the same I see along the windows and other sealed areas. Does anyone know what type of caulking that is?

I ask because it does not appear to be regular silicone, it remains soft and a little tacky. There was big blobs of it along the sides of the spoiler. In one of my old jobs we used a putty we called "monkey $hit" to seal off openings and other holes for wires, etc. but that wasn't meant to be permanent. This reminds me of that stuff.

Be careful with silicone caulk. It leaves a residue that can be hard to remove if/when you need to retreat the area.

Enternabond on the damn spoiler works great.... I used this to prep the area...

https://www.amazon.com/EternaBond-Ounce-EC-1-EternaClean-Cleaner-14/dp/B004LF3HQO/ref=pd_sbs_263_t_0/133-6389112-3865726?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B004LF3HQO&pd_rd_r=1b45f954-8b10-4d6e-9e54-913001811beb&pd_rd_w=EvUcy&pd_rd_wg=87k6j&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=B972G3S5PYQWMGYKY3DB&psc=1&refRID=B972G3S5PYQWMGYKY3DB

Post Script.

Oh, yeah the recall, for a while FR didn't put proper clearance lights on the r-Pods.  They got busted and had to go back and retrofit them; clearance lights on the fenders and the 3 red lights above the back window.  They added the spoiler to hold the three red rear lights.  The spoiler was soft vinyl and caulk would not adhere to it, making sealing it a challenge.  It was fastened to the roof with screws that were certain to start leaking.  I tried adding 3M 5200 caulk but only wasted my money.  Then I found Eternabond and put that on.... problem solved.  It'll probably still be on the trailer when it goes to the big rv park in the sky.

I was wondering the purpose of the spoiler at all and if it is worth causing more holes in the roof.. My opinion is no. It would be nice to see what's under there but I'm not taking it apart unless there is a problem.

When I get the time I will probably get the Eternabond and do it so I won't have to deal with it later. Right now I have recently re-coated all the Dicor and I siliconed over the screws on the back of the spoiler since that's all plastic.

I was wondering if I should try it with one continuous piece of tape, or do the sides separately and then have one long piece on the roof overlap the side pieces. I don't think the bottom side of the spoiler should be or needs to be sealed off.

How did you lay the Eternabond tape on your spoiler? One piece or 3 sections, etc.? AND...

Did you also Eternabond around the edges of the roof vent and other parts up there? 

I wasn't sure if it was workable enough to start at the bottom left side of the spoiler then lay it up and over the top of the roof then continue around to the bottom of the right side in one continuous piece. Would that cause wrinkles in the corners maybe? So cutting it in pieces gives smoother surfaces?

Thanks @lostagain that's what I plan to do. I measured it today and I can get by with 10'. I can buy a 4" X 10 foot roll. The spoiler is about 6 feet long and about 1 foot wide, so 8 feet plus a little for overlap.

From the side of the spoiler to the edge there's only about 2 inches so I'll have to cut a strip in half lengthwise. Is that what you did?

Just pulled the trigger on some black Eternabond tape. Lostagain - I was looking at your photo of the white spoiler on your R-Pod. The black one on my camper seems a lot beefier. It's made of hard plastic. Was the older version a soft rubber or something? I'm still going to tape it as a preventative measure because you can see the Dicor caulking in my photo, I don't like how the front edge of the spoiler creates a channel for water to collect in.

I am glad you found some black Eternabond tape.  I think you'll be real happy with the repair.  It looks, from your foto, that you have a metal strip across the aft side of the spoiler to hold it flat.  That shouldn't need any tape and it's probably best to leave it open.  On the vinyl one I had, the gaps were as big as 1/4" even with screws (leak potential) every 2"  which is probably why I put tape across the bottom too.  

If I put an 8 foot extension ladder alongside, my short arms keep me from reaching the center of the spoiler. I am not going to come from above, that looks like a good way to do a nosedive onto the pavement below. A long ladder from behind past the spare tire looks unstable and might still involve a long reach.

So, ... ?

I can envision the meeting room when they first presented this design at FR...was it the Three Stooges making the presentation? Of course it was, and nobody with a brain spoke up and said "but isn't that going to be prone to leaks? because they probably would have been fired for speaking up.

But I went onto the roof many times with my light as a feather 210# body and never fell through completing lots of different projects.  Just slither around like a snake instead of concentrating all your weight in one place.

As for silicone caulk, the older and grumpier I get, the more I despise that stuff.  There are better caulks and sealants that don't have all the headaches.

Our new trailer conveniently provides a ladder to climb up onto the roof.  I suspect, but don't know for sure, that it's framed in 2x2, but it could be aluminum since FR has been using more and more of it these days.  In any event they don't say keep off the roof and since they provided the ladder, I guess it's ok to go up there, but not when it's wet or icy.

Agreed. I'm not going to sweat over it, just venting...LOL This is actually a great training unit to learn how to repair and maintain campers! So far I have used it only a few times but feel like I have learned enough to fix and repair lots of different campers since they all share the same materials, appliances and have similar systems. I used to work on boats so I'm used to things constantly breaking and needing maintenance..."a blue hole in the water you throw money in to..." 

I am afraid that this sort of response is very destructive. Dissecting the sentences ...

1. Yes, I know I can hire someone (well duh).

2.It is my decision (ditto - duh)

3. People offered solutions. Yes and I'm glad they did (duh), and the one about the special ladder was especially valuable.

4."Sadly, no one ... etc" - Hello, the fact that I can't easily reach the center is why I asked for suggestions in the first place. Eternabond is great IF I can reach the center. (Duh)

I am wasting my time about this matter because if this sort of response becomes general, a lot of the value of this forum will be lost. 

I am now taking a 'leave of absence' from this forum. I MAY return in 6 months or so, to see if the tone has improved, but probably won't.

I can touch it, but not reach it well enough to lay the tape down straight and roll it down with sufficient pressure to apply it properly. I did put Eternabond on my spoiler but I had to get up on the roof to do it. If that's any consolation... 

What you have to be careful about is leaning aft from forward of the spoiler.  It's easy to slip if you go too far.  

Yup I got on the roof. I just used a step ladder beside it (not touching it) to get up there. I move around on my knees and keep my weight spread around. I made sure the main entry door on the trailer stayed closed in case that frame adds strength to the roof when the door is closed. No damage that I can see, hear, or feel happening when I was up there. 

I also went up there when I first bought it to clean and re-caulk all the Dicor. That was before I read all the posts here about not going up on the roof, LOL. How else is the average Joe going to re-caulk it properly? 

I don't know what they use at the RV places, but I have never seen a scaffolding system or anything at the local places here that allows them to work on the roof without getting up there. If you can reach it from the side using a ladder, sure, but for some things you're going to have to get up there.

Does anyone have pictures of a scaffolding system while in use working on RVs they can post here? Let's put this thing to rest. And I don't mean what "might work", or some aluminum ladder that makes an L shape (but still puts the weight on the roof),  I mean an industry standard scaffolding that is used throughout the RV industry to work on roofs where the worker and no weight touches the roof. I'd like to see that. Because where I live, we have lots of mom and pop RV places and I can guarantee they don't use anything like that.

I don't think FR would ever advise getting up on the roof out of liability for people falling off or for any other possible damage. So far my experience has been the only warranty they give with these things is pretty much the "over the curb" warranty. Drive it over the curb and it's yours...

I took my ladder with a cushion "bungyed" to the upper 2/3 of the ladder to cushion the weight of the ladder and myself against the rear of the R-Pod.  After I set it up, I tied off the bottom ladder rung to the bumper of the R-Pod to prevent the ladder from sliding out from under me due to the extreme angle.  Worked great.

All R-Pods are not created the same.  Your newer model appears to have an expanse of flat roof which makes it easier to work from as opposed to my RP-172 roof which is substantially curved at the rear.  I thought about going up and on the roof, but decided it wasn't worth it for me. Thanks to Lost Again for turning me on to this thread and thanks for the photo of the Eternabond fix.

Will do!

Lost, that is a good question and I don't have a definitive answer.  I have never even considered weight distribution standards. I have used the Pod-172 only 2 times and didn't notice any problems.  

On the tongue I have 2 house batteries, a propane Tank, and an anti sway & weight distribution system.  In the forward compartment where the bunk beds are located, the prior owners have converted those areas to storage compartments.  My guess is that the weight distribution proportion is closer to 50-50.

The prior owner put over 20 thousand miles on the pod with just their two North American tours.  They never mentioned any issues.  Thanks for bring this up. I will give it some more thought.

EDIT:  I just looked at the 172 setup and I would be willing to bet that the bumper rig weighs roughly the same as one of those house batteries so that the stock manufacturing  weigh proportions presumably 60-40, aren't compromised.  However, I will nix the idea of possibly adding a gang box.

I think perhaps Confucius is causing confusion in this case. 

So, the moral of the story (see, I brought that back around to moral codes) don't load a bunch of heavy stuff on the rear bumper. Not only can you throw your balance way off and get too low a tongue weight, but even if you compensate for that with stuff on the tongue you will be over-stressing the frame of the rpod. Like a kid's teeter totter with two big adults on it, it might be in perfect balance right up to the point where it breaks in the middle. And there's also a thing called high polar moment of inertia (think sway) that can happen too. 

Since most RVers aren't physicists, the industry uses the 60-40 rule of thumb to give us  a general idea of TT loading best practices.  I have not yet experienced traveling at 60 MPH and being passed by a tractor trailer traveling at 85 MPH.  When that happens, I may reconsider this issue.

I have been passed by semis doing well over 80 here on I-81 in SW VA, btw, happens pretty often. Things can get interesting....

+1

That is one reason I opted to purchase both the Hayes Sway-Master and a Hensley Cub hitch. The Hensley Cub is way overkill for the RPod, but having had one accident, I am taking the belt and suspenders approach.

Since I plod along at 55mph I have had plenty of semi's pass me going really fast.  I can't say they were going 80 because I don't carry some kind of speed radar, but I can say it was way faster than my travel.  And I've had this happen in windy conditions too.  Certainly, I could feel the wind hitting my TV/TT, but it was nothing of consequence and certainly not enough to cause a control problem.

If you are driving on the edge of the limits of your TV, carrying too much weight that is poorly balanced, and driving too fast for the circumstances, then you are at serious risk of a control problem.  If you pay attention to weight and balance, don't overload your rig, use a WHD where appropriate, and keep your speed to 60 or less, the probability of a load/balance accident is relatively low.  As has often been suggested in the pages of this forum, nothing is without risk.  It's a question of risk management.

So back to the spoiler sealing issue, I'm not really sure if leaving it on is worth the bother.  You need the clearance lights it holds, but there are other ways to skin that cat.  I doubt the spoiler really improves the aerodynamics of the trailer.

We have had at least one rpod owned by someone on this forum where the frame failed at the axle location. So they can break, no question. I've done the stress calcs and I'll be generous and say that the frames are not over engineered.  If you were to assume that anywhere aft of the axle was equally good to place load, with no regard for the distance to the axle, then that would certainly exacerbate the likelihood of that kind of failure happening. That's pretty obvious, and most owners know not to hang heavy stuff way out there. 

LA, you have done the smart and prudent thing and measured your tongue and trailer weight accurately, one time. Once you have done that there isn't any need to repeat the process unless you make significant changes to your trailer or its loading. Barring coming across those gold bars camping in the CA gold country sometime your loading for the next trip isn't going to be much different from the last one. I don't check mine each time either. 

Its the same with flying, the FAA says you are supposed to do a weight and balance calc every time you fly but if you are loaded with the same ppl and stuff in the same seats and places there is no reason other than regulations. So pilots don't do it. They at most just keep the same w&b sheet in the plane so they can show it to the FAA inspector if they get ramp checked. 

I know for sure that some of the semis roll along I81 here at well over 80 because they handily pass me in my Prius while I'm cruising in the high 70's. Not all, but many do. I81 has more tractor trailer rigs than street cars on it most of the time. If your fore/aft trailer balance is good you will get a very noticeable buffet but not a wag. 

My guess is that the spoiler does a little to reduce drag but it would need to be larger to be really effective. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it is larger on the newer rpods. 

Good point on the broken frame, OG.  I forgot about that one.  Was there ever a cause determined?  Was it from overloading fore and aft of the axle, or from something as mundane as mid-west salt corrosion?  How do those bridges stay standing back there?  Some look like the rust is the only thing holding them up.

If it were up to me, I'd pay truck drivers by the hour not the mile, so they wouldn't be pushed to drive way, way too fast.  But that's another issue for another forum and has nothing to do with spoilers.

Doesn't the spoiler wind deflection push the back of the trailer down, i.e. more "weight" aft of the axle?  True their so small it's probably inconsequential, but what's the point of putting them on in the first place.  Kind of like the fins on a 1957 DeSoto.  

When I did the stress calc on it I assumed uniform loading in the trailer and 3500 lbs axle load and got a safety factor of less than 2. That's really not enough considering bump loading. Really it could happen to any of us if we were heavily loaded and hit a good big pothole, especially if that load was hanging off the rear bumper and not uniformly distributed. 

I did some searching and came up with two things:

1. They can help with increasing attached air flow.

2. They do increase drag.

The caveat is that the wind tunnel testing I saw was on a race car being modified for aerodynamics. They were testing a lot of other modifications as well. OTOH, there are other opinions that while they may increase drag a bit, they do significantly decrease wind buffeting and increase stability, especially when being passed by the big rigs. That in itself might be very helpful. As for the appearance, they can be painted. Trying to color-match the RPod though might be difficult.

It looks like vortex generators can improve the wind turbulence problem.  The question remains which shapes work best for a travel trailer and are they really worth the cost, especially given the limited use of trailers.  For a semi-tractor/trailer on the road nearly every day at highway speeds, the savings in fuel may make it cost effective in a few months.  For a travel trailer, they may get brittle and break or fall off long before you've gotten your money's worth.  

One has to assume that Forest River did the design calculations to at least meet min. safety standards and that the TT is balanced correctly. The  R-POD 172 only weighs 2113 pounds and is presumably proportioned at 60-40 at the axle rear and with 10 to 15 percent being tongue weight.  My add on rear bumper minus the weight of the stock bumper probably doesn't exceed the weight of a fifty pound additional house battery mounted near the tongue of the TT.  If it does exceed it, the difference is insignificant.

The GVWR is 3179 pounds.  I highly doubt that I add more than a 100 pounds to the POD in personal items while traveling.

As was said by others, the real safety variables for us are speed and  the occasional very poor (dangerous) highway infrastructure.

That being said, the 172 is probably in the best shape as far as the frame and axle goes as it is a light rPod. The failures have all been in the heavier trailers in the series I believe. OTOH, 172's are one of the ones that has exhibited sway. It will most likely occur when the black and gray tanks are full as they are both behind the axle. Loading additional weight on the rear won't help that. Like I said, you can do what you want but my recommendation remains to verify your actual tongue weight percent under worst case aft loading conditions and be sure you're over the magic 10% number. 

Actually, on the 2011 R-POD both the black and gray tanks are located forward of the axle.  The fresh water tank is located aft of the axle.   However, I understand the concept you are putting forth.

You obviously know your stuff.  Thanks for the education. 

Originally posted by lostagain Our 172 had the black and gray tanks aft of the axle and fresh forward.  It's something you have to keep in mind when practicing the Zen of trailer balancing.  Gallon containers of drinking water help serve as moveable ballast and can be easily refilled if need be.

Hmmm..........what year R-172?

 Intuitively, predicated on our discussion here, I would  think that having the black and gray forward would do more to balance the TT along the 60-40 ratio than having them in the back.

That's the problem: the intuitive approach doesn't really work.

Once you know the actual tongue weight under one loading condition, the math is pretty easy for any load you add or remove. Like this: