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Topic ClosedNew Member - a 173er in Maine

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movemaine View Drop Down
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Joined: 31 May 2015
Location: United States
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: New Member - a 173er in Maine
    Posted: 31 May 2015 at 10:58pm
Hi All,

I just purchased a 2010 173.  Really excited to dig into it. The interior is mint; the prior owners did nothing to it and rarely ever used it (and by rarely, I mean 3 or 4 times). Great find for me.

So now I have a couple of immediate questions. 

Living in Maine, our weather varies greatly. Additionally, my property has a lot of pine trees and the pine needles get in everything. I was thinking about buying a cover and covering the r-pod anytime it's not in use. Is this wise, or should I only cover it through the winter months? Should I cover it at all?

(cover for reference: http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Accessories-80-199-151001-00-Overdrive-Teardrop/dp/B00GZLR6XC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433127240&sr=8-1&keywords=r-pod+cover)

Secondly, the graphics are peeling and I'd like to take them all off and replace them with something interesting. Anyone have recommendations where they found large vinyl graphics for their pod?
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Leo B View Drop Down
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Joined: 13 Jan 2012
Location: Lyndonville, VT
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jun 2015 at 7:00am
Welcome to the group! We are on our second pod, we do not cover ours at all, and we leave the vent open  year round. Have never had a problem with mildew or anything.
We had problems with the decals peeling on our 171 and got replacement decals through our dealership ( Mekkelsen's in East Montpelier,VT)
Happy podding.
Leo & Melissa Bachand
2017 Ford F150
2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk
Previously owned
2015 Rpod 179
2010 Rpod 171
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jun 2015 at 11:11am
The decals on my 2010 peeled twice (front and back, the sides were fine).  I gave up the 2nd time and left it blank.
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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movemaine View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jun 2015 at 9:20pm
My worry is the pine pollen and pine needles staining the finish.

We have a pool, and I spend all summer "degunking" pine needles out of the equipment.
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Leo B View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jun 2015 at 9:24pm
I give mine a rinse now and then and use the same cleaner/polish that I use for my Harley. Works great on the decals.
They did have a lot of trouble with the decals on the 2010's.
Leo & Melissa Bachand
2017 Ford F150
2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk
Previously owned
2015 Rpod 179
2010 Rpod 171
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Joined: 22 Sep 2011
Location: Chapel Hill,NC
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Jun 2015 at 9:02pm
Hello MoveMaine,
Welcome to the group-you will find a lot of nice people here with a huge amount of knowledge.

We also have a 173-there weren't many made as far as I can tell.  we've had ours(2009 model) for about 3 years and love it.  We have used it primarily for long distance, multi-week travels throughout the US.  We have done a lot of mods to make it better and easier.

We think the 173 is a great design for just 2 people.  We took the rear jack knife sofa out and replaced it with a queen bed that folded in half.  That gave us a lot of storage under the bed and also gave us the opportunity to extend the kitchen counter top.  Now, we don't have to tear down the table/dinette each night to sleep.  The outside storage bay can be rearranged so that part is available from the inside and part from the outside-helps in keeping our stuff organized.  There are a lot of mods in a page noted below in our signature.

I hope you will come to love your 173 as much as we do.  I think the older models "may" have been a little better constructed, as we have had no problems with ours so far.

Safe travels
Vann

Vann & Laura 2015 RPod 179
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movemaine View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Jun 2015 at 10:56pm
Hi Vann,

thanks for the tips. I'll go through your mods and see what might work for us. 
I like the idea of switching the gaucho to another queen. It will be 4 of us in the camper - my wife and I, our 9 yr old and our dog. Having 'another' queen would be helpful. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jun 2015 at 6:28pm
Hello and welcome
Ina & Philip Kennedy
2011 -177
2014 GMC Z71 4x4
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jun 2015 at 1:42pm
We have found that the "new queen" in the back is much better for a lot of reasons-mainly it doesn't require changing the dinette each night, it provided more kitchen counter top space, the new foam mattresses are much better  and it offers a lot of storage underneath.  we use plastic boxes(Tucker totes) with labels for different meals(breakfast, lunch, dinner) or different things(clothes, sleeping bags, etc).

I would think that a 9 year old could sleep on the front dinette bench without having to set it up totally-just collapse the table and move the corner p[illows.  I nap there frequently as it is easy to use.

If you want to explore the removal of the futon and building a bed, let me know and I can tell you more about how we did it.  there are several pictures in our mod page that show the results.
Safe travels
Vann

Vann & Laura 2015 RPod 179
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