Proud Owner of New 177 and First Mods

About a year ago, I was a bit reluctant to go for the RV thing. But my wife, who spent much of her childhood RVing, convinced me to rent a 14' TT. We spent about a month touring the Pacific NW and Canadian Rockies in it and had a blast. We were both sad to return it. Since I'm a teacher, I have three months off every summer, so we can get lots of use out of a RV.

Ever since then, we've been checking out the Pods. They just seem like the ideal mix of tow-ability, space, comfort, and price for those who don't need a lot of room. We like to get out and enjoy the outdoors when we go camping, so the space in the Pods is fine for us. The wet bath is not ideal, but it's far better than relying on campground showers IMO.

We just moved to Spokane, Washington, right in the heart of everything the Pacific NW has to offer. We're less than four hours from Glacier National Park, North Cascades National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, and Banff, BC, and about six hours from Olympic National Park and Mount Hood. That's in addition to all of the national forests in Washington and Idaho (Coeur d'Alene is about 20 minutes away ). So we're pretty much in RV heaven.

I've heard from others in this forum that Blue Dog RV in Coeur d'Alene was one of the best dealers around, so we visited them. We were looking really hard at the 178s since the U-dinette gives tall guys like me (6'2") a little more room to sprawl out, but they gave us an incredible deal on a 2014 177. I personally think that they were trying to clear these out to make room for the 2015 models. And since we got a new model from them, we have a lifetime warranty on nearly everything in the Pod. That makes me feel much more at ease. We're picking it up tomorrow.

I've spent hours upon hours checking out every bit of information I can get my hands on about tips, tricks, equipment, and mods for the 177. Since the campgrounds in the national parks and forests usually don't have hookups, we'll be dry camping quite often. Neither of us sleep well in a warm room, so I just got the Yamaha 2400iSHC to run the AC. Yes, I know that it won't run much else at the same time, but we'll primarily be running it while we sleep anyway. Does anyone have an idea how long this generator can run while only powering the AC? If it can't go at least eight hours, I'll need to rig up some way of extending the fuel tank a bit. And no, the Pinellas rig for >$200 does not appeal to me. I'm kind of thinking about an adjustable 'drip' system going straight down into the fuel tank.

I've also picked up a 100 watt Renogy solar panel and charge controller that I'm going to attempt to wire into the Zamp connection at the rear of the Pod. It's my understanding that the Battery Tender cables can be used to tie into the Zamp port. Between the generator and solar panel, I think that we'll be good on electricity. We'll run the fridge exclusively on LPG unless we have hookups. I've also picked up a 30 amp surge protector to use when we are connected to shore power.

I've got a Hydroflush to use in conjunction with the Pod's black water built-in flush. I also plan to use water softener in both the black and gray tanks to keep 'stuff' from sticking to the tanks.

I also picked up lots of 'little' things that seem to be recommended often here (RhinoFlex hose and supports, fresh water Quick Fill nozzle, water regulator, dog bone for 15 amp connections, water bandit, voltmeter for checking battery status accurately, leveling blocks, Battery Tender when the Pod's in storage, etc.).

Okay, that brings me to my intended mods, which aren't many. I'll add a voltmeter with a switch (under the kitchen sink perhaps?) in order to check the battery status. I'll also put a couple of mouse pads under the water pump and wrap the inlet and outlet hoses in foam pipe insulation to quiet the pump down.

I'd like to add a shelf across the entire width of the Pod above the dining table. My wife says that she's seen people on Pinterest do this by just resting the shelf on top of the valances and securing it with 3M strips. The only thing we would put on the shelf would be some clothes, but I'm not sure if the valances can hold this much weight. I don't want to put holes into the walls if I can get around it though. Thoughts?

The other mod I intend to do quickly is to add a 12 volt socket and dual USB socket somewhere inside the Pod. I've already got the fuses and am fairly experienced with this sort of thing, but I'm not sure of the easiest location in the Pod to add these. I don't really care where they go. Ideas here would be greatly appreciated too!

Welcome aboard Will!

Welcome.  I got 8 hours almost exactly, every time.  This is with the fan set to always run, and the temperature fairly low.  After a long trip last year where we used it around 6 nights I decided to get the next larger size in the Honda line.  Larger tank which lasts about 2.5 times longer, and is quieter (not that the Yamaha is loud).  Downside is it is twice as heavy - but that's a potential benefit to prevent theft.

I modded my EF2400iSHC to take an external tank.   Was really pretty simple.  I placed a tee internally between the carb and the fuel valve.  I added a filter between the tee and the carb since Yamaha didn't. All fuel from either source passes through this filter.
I placed a marine grade fuel quick connect by Atwood through the case, this connects to the other leg of the tee.
As long as the external tank is above gen it works fine.  I may add a pump later but right now going for simple.  Note when external tank is plugged in the genset fuel selector must be OFF or the internal tank will fill from backflow.   Could add a check valve but I am going simple.   I probably spent under $50 on the whole works.

Had one problem first camping trip that we used it, did not show up during all my at home testing.
We were gone a few hours, genset was off but I smelled gas when we returned.
Apparently campground chipmunks in the NC mountains have a taste for fuel hose!  They chewed through my line from tank to genset


There were gnaw marks several places in the hose, but he quit at the first actual penetration which was small- apparently he didn't like the taste of the gas, just the hose.

Attwood connector- http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/product/universal-sprayless-connector

PS-  the Honda EU3000i also has a fuel shutoff.  Already own one of them but IMO it is too heavy for the r-pod back receiver hitch and I can't lift it by myself.

Thanks for the advice Budward! That sounds like a really simple and safe solution. I'm guessing that you added a cutoff valve to the line going to your external fuel tank for when you want to use the internal tank.

And thanks to Budward and Doug for setting me straight on the Honda 3000iu having a fuel gauge and fuel cutoff valve. I guess I was thinking about the 2000 watt model.