Soon to be R POD owner

Welcome and congrats on your purchase! As someone who still loves tent- and tarp-on-the-ground with good pads camping, AND our RPod, I can tell you you're going to love your RPod. Ours has made me a hybrid camper (meaning, still doing "both kinds") but with the benefit that when it comes time that tent/ground camping doesn't work for me, I'm already used to and enjoying our Pod. No decisions or wait time   Let us know when you actually get it so we can share in your excitement. 

Since owning our 177 (March 2011) we have used the following vehicles to tow: '08 Explorer, '13 Explorer, '94 F-150 and as of last fall an '11 F-150 with the 5.0 V-8.  Have not used a WDH with any of these vehicles.  Since we normally boondock we always leave with a full tank of our delicious well water.  No issues encountered over these past 8 years.  Probably a personal choice and there will be many who would never tow w/o and others like us who have never towed with one.  Again, water is a personal choice as a full tank adds close to 250 lbs and if you are going to where water is available or to a campsite where there are water hook-ups, why travel with the extra weight.  Others, like us, are used to well water and can't stomach the thought of drinking floride, chlorine, and all the other chemicals added to municipal water.   Having traveled to many third world countries, well water is the norm.  In summation, much depends on your camping style.  Do you camp where facilites like water are available or would you rather boondock, off the grid?

After moving up from a 2 man pup tent we thought we were living like kings and queens in a 4 person Rockwood pop-up.  When the family increased in size, it became a 6 person Jayco pop-up.  Then as the kids moved up in age and moved out of the home, it was time for us to downsize and spoil ourselves; the result was the purchase of our 177.  Am sure you are going to enjoy your new TT and if you have any questions or comments, the great base of members on this forum, as well as those on the FB site will be more than willing to share their expertise with you.  Enjoy and welcome.

Welcome and congratulations!  We too camped for years in a tent.  It's hard to describe how nice the difference is moving up to a Pod.  There are a lot of great things about it, but for me, having a hot shower available whenever I want one is probably the best.

There's no magic formula that I know of for whether you need a WDH.  I towed for a long time without one and never had any issues.  I finally got an E2 600 and personally, I just can't say I notice a whole lot of difference, but it does make me feel a little safer.  I think the general consensus on the forum is probably somewhere between yes, you need it, to better safe than sorry.  For weight distribution, you probably don't need a WDH with an F150 but it might be good to have anyway if you get one with integrated sway control.

Yes, you can definitely tow with the water tank full.  I don't know where the tank is on a 178, but depending on its relation to the axle, full or empty can greatly affect tongue weight, which, in turn, can have a giant impact on possible sway.  That can be counteracted by how you load other things in the Pod though.  30 gallons of water weighs 250 pounds, which isn't all that significant in terms of MPG when towing, unless you're cutting it close or get into a balance (tongue weight) issue.

Personally, it depends on where I'm going and how long it takes to get there.  Almost all campsites have some kind of access to water, at least somewhere reasonably close by, so I hardly ever tow with a full tank.  I carry 5 - 10 gallons for flushing, etc., at rest stops unless I know we'll be spending a night on the road at a Walmart or truck stop, in which case I might go with 10 - 15 gallons.

By the way, again this is a personal issue, but one of the great things about a Pod for us is the ability to spend the night at a truck stop or Walmart.  It seemed a little weird at first, but we got used to it very quickly.    It's free, it's quick and easy to get to from the interstate, and, since we don't even unhook, we're back on the road in minutes in the morning.  That can save us an hour or two compared to finding and dealing with a campground along the way.  If I have an 800 mile trip from home to my destination, that extra hour or two gets us to where we're going that much sooner!

TT