Gas Mileage

Originally posted by techntrek Interesting.  Usually they just say "turn off overdrive".  Never heard of having to manually handle the gears.  Have you tried to let it shift on its own?  As long as it doesn't hunt up and down a lot you should be OK.  I've found I need to manually downshift to 2nd on hills to keep mine from constantly hunting, but otherwise I let it do its own thing.

    TIDALWAVE I think that you were misled about the AC's they have all been roof mounted. We owned a I-camp for a short while with the AC unit mounted inside. I have thought about it being mounted inside the R-Pod. The problem with the I-camp it was mounted next to the bed and it made a little to much noise for sleeping. Perhaps someone who owns a Rpod without the AC unit could give a response of their MPG.      David

Never heard of that.  There was an older style A/C unit the first year which didn't have the wall thermostat, but the A/C unit was virtually identical.

This is a followup to my airflow simulation animations shown on P11 of this forum topic as suggested by several members.

I still cannot seem to get my Youtube animations to automatically connect to this forum...so
again I am posting the URL addresses...you will have to copy/paste the Youtube addresses to see the animations.

My pickup truck with a topper and a large rear airfoil attached to the rear of the Pod:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez648wa8vrw

The same set-up but with a rear spoiler attached to the rear of the truck plus a large airfoil
attached to the rear of the Pod:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmJ6gfcSj8c

I have looked at all of the simulations a few times...it appears that adding spoilers to the tow vehicle and/or spoilers/foils to the Pod does not change the flow disruption-vacuum produced by the roof A/C by more than a small amount.

I was told that originally R-Pods came with the A/C built into the interior of the Pod. I was wondering if anyone on this forum owns one and what their mileage might be compared to owners
of the new version with roof top A/C?

Originally posted by tma-333 Far from having any expertise in the measurement of air resistance, I can only rely on and relate personal experiences.  Just a month ago I was towing a full size Prowler which was 8' wide by 23 long weighing in a 4000lbs and now I am towing an RP-177  that is 6' wide,, 17' long weighing in at 3000lbs. Although accelaration with the R-Pod is better, I do feel the «air brake» as described by others when I get to the 50-55 mph range.  Evidently, the frontal area, as well as the rear for that matter would be much less.  Height is the same to within a few inches, the a/c is slightly lower profile on the R-Pod.   Also, as a new owner and newcomer to the R-POd forum, I don't know if FR gets involved with the forum, if the information is forwarded by forum moderators or if indivudual owners should all be sending their own info to FR.  I would think FR would be interested if not concerned that these kinds of customers complaints/frustrations/preoccupations are being discussed.  I know if I was in their shoes, I would want to know and would want the opportunity to respond and prove that the issue will be addressed.   At the very least, the efforts of a handfull of individual owners trying to address this issue may benefit all existing owners and future ones.  Especially if FR gets on board in a serious way to correct this issue and communicates their efforts to its owners, as we are doing.   We deserve that much!