ouR escaPOD mods

Well, I need to remedy an oversight. I thought I had posted a picture of the battery cut-off switch here. I had posted it elsewhere instead. Here it is:

I had previously mounted a Stromberg-Carlson cargo carrier with the view toward carrying a generator. I purchased a Generac iX2000, which is sufficient to run most of what I need on the R-Pod, including the AC. It is rated at 2000 running Watts and 2200 surge Watts. So far, I have only tested it, and it ran the AC. Unfortunately, the convection microwave must pull one huge surge of power when the microwave part tries to start. The Generac can't run it. 

However, I still want to carry it, so I had to figure out how to tie it down and then how to protect it. For tie-downs, I got some cargo tie-down brackets and attached them to the platform. For one of them, I could use one of the existing bolts for the front leg. For the rest, I drilled and used stainless steel bolts with washers and nylock nuts. This will not make it impossible to steal, just inconvenient. A ratcheting strap and a bicycle lock complete the mount.



Of course, I did not want to leave my nice, shiny generator out in the sun and rain. I also wanted to protect it while traveling from road dirt and rain. Enter a plastic bin from Wal-Mart. It got inverted with a few holes drilled in the rim to drain water (got to keep from creating a mosquito breeding pond). Some bungee cords keep it in place.



We tested this on our most recent trip from North Carolina to western New York State and return. It rode well with no issues and the generator stayed clean and dry.

My next project will be to move the spare tire so I can mount a small platform in order to carry my spare propane tank and a gasoline container outside of the R-Pod and TV.

Dana,

The Stromberg-Carlson Trailer Tray specifications are on the eTrailer web site. The weight of the tray is 65 lbs. The generator would be additional, but that would vary by what generator you purchase. The cover was simply a household plastic bin (Sterilite)  with a separate lid. I don't have a part number for it. I simply chose one that would have sufficient length, width, and depth to cover the generator. I do not use the lid that came with it. I do need to modify it a little since it has an indentation in the bottom (now top) that holds water. I will take a heat gun and carefully heat and mold it to create a couple of drain channels. I don't want to make holes to drain it as it would defeat the purpose of keeping the generator dry.

With the tire and old tire carrier out of the way, I now could mount a Curt Cargo Carrier. The virtue of this model is that the shank is the right size for the hitch receiver on the rear of the R-Pod. It also comes with an adapter so it can be used on 2" receivers, so if I want to use it with my Escape, I can do so without having to purchase additional adapters.

It arrived in pieces. The instructions were straight-forward, so I assembled it. The only part that could be tricky is in making sure that the two base pieces are installed so that the tops of them are flush with the shank. There were complaints in the reviews about holes in the wrong places. I can only assume that those people had the base pieces upside-down. For me, everything lined up and assembly was pretty quick. This model comes with a threaded hole in the shank. The "pin" that goes into the shank is a threaded bolt for part and a longer unthreaded section, presumably to help line up the holes. The threads tighten the shank into the receiver so that it cannot shift. There is a spring clip for the hole on the end, but with the bolt tightened, it really does not do much. A lock could be put through through for security. The last step was to tighten the bolt that was already there to lock the spare carrier so that it would not shift. This, however, went into a second hole. While it would help ensure that the shank could not come out of the hitch, since there was a hole there, it really did not do much good for stabilizing the carrier. The Curt supplied pin/bolt did a good job of making the carrier so that it did not rattle or shift.

The carrier, once installed got a part sheet of polyurethane sealed Lauan plywood to help hold a propane tank and a small bin in which was a gasoline container along with a bottle of Stabil to be used as needed. On the part of the rack without the plywood was a larger bin (Rubbermaid Action Packer) in which was the BBQ grill, awning and slide-out cover fabric and track pins, and our 30A electrical cord along with the Camco circuit analyzer/surge protector. A bicycle lock secured the propane tank and Action Packer. The gasoline bin was not locked, but everything was cinched down with ratcheting straps or other cinch straps. The pictures will show these.





The purpose of the rack is primarily so that I don't have to carry either Propane or Gasoline inside either the R-Pod or our Escape. The total weight on the back is well under FR's stated 150 lb limit. The spare tire rode well in its new location, and the luggage rack on the back was a great addition. Unfortunately, it is a little too short to carry the poles for our awning. We still carry those inside the R-Pod in a bag my wife had made years ago to carry a tent and poles. It is a little short, so she has promised to make one more suited for the length of the awning poles.

Edit: To anticipate what some may be thinking, even though we hit some serious bumps on our trip, the luggage carrier did not sag or shift. The contents rode securely. and the whole arrangement proved to be quite useful.

The rope I sewed into the top side and the fabric with it slide into the keder rail. I have to work it around the rain gutter spout on the end and into the "C" shaped section. Once I get it started, my wife pulls on the rope while I continue to feed the fabric into the track until it is in place. Then I adjust the other end to get it around the spout. This is done before extending the slide-out.

I'll try to get a close-up picture, but I won't be putting the cover on for a while since we don't have any trips planned. The rail is essentially the same as that on the other side, except it is smaller. In the meantime, if you right-click one of the pictures, you should be able to save it to your computer. Then use your image viewing program to open the picture and zoom in on it. You should be able to get a pretty clear view of the end.