Just Purchased New Rpod 171 - R-pod Owners Forum

Originally posted by jato

As many have mentioned before me, it is always good to have more power with your TV when pulling. Weight is one thing, wind resistance is often overlooked and when you look at the numbers, you are pushing a lot of wind by the sheer size of the front area of the pod. Towing over relatively flat areas won't be any problem but I would want more power in my TV if I plan on towing through mountainous areas like what you will encounter out West.

Yes, there is a lot of wind resistance along with the weight being towed. The Hood River Edition of my Rpod 171 is 4 inches higher adding about 4% to the cross sectional area of the camper. That might reduce the fuel mileage by a similar percentage. I'm sure that going over the Siskiyou mountains on my first trip (to the Golden State Star Party) will be in lower gears in the slow truck lane. But my rig does have the larger radiator and transmission cooler. I'll just keep the speed down and watch the coolant temperature. The air conditioning can be switched off if necessary.

Someone on this forum mentioned a great feature of Google Earth that helps in planning an Rpod trip in the mountains - route elevation profile. The steps are as follows:

Click the "Get Directions" button in the left panel.
Type in starting location and destination in the two boxes.
Click the other (blue) "Get Directions" button in the left panel.
On the map right click on the travel route shown and choose "Show Elevation Profile".

This displays a profile of the route. You can point the cursor at any point on the profile to display the elevation and road grade at that point. There is a corresponding arrow pointing to the map location of the point in the profile.

Using this tool I see there are several grades in my route that will test the tow vehicle's capability:

South of Ashland, Oregon on Interstate 5 going from 2200 ft. to 4385 ft. (Siskiyou Summit), 7-1/2 miles at around 5.5% grade. Coming down the other side into California is a longer but less steep grade to be ascended on the trip home.
From the junction with Interstate 5 on Hwy. 89 at Mount Shasta City, California going from 3460 ft. to 4440 ft., 4-1/2 miles at 4% grade.
East of McArthur, California on Hwy. 299 going from 3325 ft. to 4595 ft., 5-1/2 miles at 4.5% grade.

There are numerous other short grades to be traversed. But those three are the worst.

So now in preparation I'm continuing to learn how to used the appliances in the Rpod 171 and coming up with a packing list for the trip. My Spreadsheet for Rpod & Tow Vehicle Loading has been most useful in determining how to load the camp trailer and tow vehicle. Today I determined that my 185 watt, 36 volt solar panel will not fit on the queen bed when traveling. It just can't be maneuvered into that space without running into the walls or ceiling. So it will ride on the dinette area bed in travel position. The panel can be secured using the nylon strap that is normally used to secure the table when not folded down.

Since I'll be camping without AC power hookup, the solar panel's 13 amp charge current will come in handy. That should keep the Fantastic vent fan operating during the heat of the day and power my telescope at night. I'll parallel connect my portable 100 amp-hour deep cycle battery with the Rpod's battery. While the amp-hour capacities of these batteries are different, their voltages under charge will be the same. Each will accept its share of the current at that voltage. Both batteries are flooded cell, deep-cycle. The Morningstar SS-MPPT-5L charge controller being used is a maximum power-point tracking design. This harvests more total energy than the cheaper pulse-width modulating designs. The maximum power point is at around 36.5 volts, with the controller converting the voltage to between 12 and 14.7 volts, depending on the battery's state of charge.

I was pleased to learn that all of the lights, Fantastic Fan, water pump and Jensen entertainment system function on 12 volts. Of course the refrigerator will run on propane. It all should work well dry camping with solar power. I'll keep you posted as to how my trip turns out.