Originally posted by sgordytn
Hopefully we will be picking up our new 2021 193 later this month.
To paint the complete picture here, I have never towed anything really other than a small 4' x 8' trailer with a small pickup.
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All
that being said... I would appreciate/love any advice regarding the
R-Pod, the truck, or anything else you feel lead to advice us on.
Thank you in advance! |
Originally posted by sgordytn
Why are two 6-Volt batteries better than 12 Volts?
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Welcome! What part of TN are you in?
Spiffing up the truck to get it ready is very good.
Towing a roughly 4500 pound 193 will be a lot different than the 4' x 8' you've been towing. Start to pay attention to big truck drivers and the way they drive. They are smooth, steady and gentle. You can view it a little like driving in snow; manage your energy so you never have too much (too fast) or too little (too much power needed to climb). Be smooth with brakes, steering and throttle. Leave lots of room to the vehicle in front. If the wind is up or gusty, go slower because speed adds energy to a sway, if it starts. there is a lot of sail area from the side of any RV. Talk to your dealer about a weight distributing hitch and sway control. I find my simple sway control bar to be a big comfort, and enough. I bought and installed a rear camera; it's the bomb! I can watch traffic behind and it helps parking. I opted for an inertia based brake controller so I'd (hopefully) have to fool with it less while driving.
Once you get your 'Pod, take it to some scales and weigh the whole rig. Get front axle weight, rear axle weight and 'Pod axle weight, then get just the truck weight. From that you can calculate tongue weight. I'll give you a spreadsheet I made that you can modify for your 193 so you can easily calculate what your tongue weight is after you add "stuff" to the trailer.
Except for the higher resistance supplied by the connector cable between the 2 batteries, two 6V batteries (2 x 3 cells) in series is identical to a single 12V (6 cells in series) battery of equal A-Hr capacity and construction. It turns out there is a 6V golf cart battery that easily fits on the battery rack, thus the recommendation. Two 6V batteries would weigh less individually, but the bottom line is you are just making a DIY 12V "battery".
------------- John
'16 R-Pod 180
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