Weights and Measures

Another factor to consider is wind drag.  Traveling at 45 mph or less it probably isn't a huge factor.  Above those speeds it is huge.  Also in case of a situation where you may have to suddenly slow down or stop (deer, bear, another motorist),  will your vehicle have enough 'beef' to handle the situation at hand?

If you’re within the MCGVWR for the rig and you have functioning trailer brakes then straight line dry pavement braking should be OK. Ditto for raw hp, but because air drag will be high you will be stopping to fill that little gas tank much more often. A small tow vehicle does nothing to improve fuel economy towing, in fact it can well be worse than with a heavier TV because the smaller engine will be operating much above its most efficient rpm.

The biggest factor is weight capacity, that’s why you have to get honest actual loaded weights to compare to your specs (axles, trailer, hitch, MCGVR, tongue percent of trailer weight). If you are over anywhere not only are no longer legal but you have a dangerous rig. You can bend the frame, break an axle, or lose control in a sudden maneuver or on a slippery or irregular surface.

Many people ignore or just don’t know that they are overloaded because of the misleading way the TV and trailer specs are presented by the manufacturers. They might well be fine until the unexpected happens and then they’re not.

+1 on the fillups - we get about 14-15 mpg avg towing so that is about 180 miles to fill up....but for us that is 3 hours so we are ready to pull off.....retired not in a hurry and bathroom and strecthing pit stops more a factor

If we're going to really remote areas where there is the possibility of running out of gas, we carry a can or two of extra gas in 5 gal. metal gas cans in the truck bed.  Since or Dakota died and we got our F-150, with the improved mileage with the ecoboost and a 26 gallon tank, it's very rare to ever need to carry extra gasoline.  I don't think we'd carry gas if we had to put it in the cargo areas inside the passenger compartment of an SUV; too stinky and dangerous.

This forum is awesome! I appreciate everyone's honest and helpful suggestions/counsel. I've gone back and forth on this matter. Being retired and on a fixed income we had not planned to upgrade our TV at this time. So my plan is to load up the Terrain and the RPod with what we need for short camping trips and get it weighed. Then I'll do the math and get a feel for whether or not I'm legal. Being absolute newbies we will go to a nearby local campground in early Spring to learn all the systems in the Pod. If everything works out we'll plan some longer trips but will avoid the mountains for now. Once we upgrade the TV we'll do those trips to WV, New England and the US and Canadian Rockies as well as the west and east coasts. Thanks again.