old sailors - new podders
Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Introduce Yourself
Forum Discription: New Members - tell us about yourself and your r-pod
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=4398
Printed Date: 17 May 2025 at 1:37am
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Topic: old sailors - new podders
Posted By: Bred Flink
Subject: old sailors - new podders
Date Posted: 09 Feb 2014 at 11:52pm
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We purchased a 2014 Model 178 Hood River at Calgary RV show and plan to take delivery mid march. Our maiden trip will be over the Rocky Mountains to Vancouver Island, last week of March. We'll camp on the far west coast of the island on a desolate beach, with a view toward Japan. We've been following this website for several months and had decided about a year ago to make the leap from camping on 25' and 22' sailboats. We look forward to sleeping on a camper bed that we anticipate, will move less than a sailboat bed. Sailing season is painfully short in this part of the world, we hope to camp about 9 months of the year. Will keep the sailboat, but relax Rpod style when the weather doesn't cooperate. Couple of questions: Will a Honda Ridgeline truck with a 5,000LB tow capacity need sway bars or equalizer hitch? We have some solar stuff from the sailboat, would like to know what solar arrays and specs work best with Rpods. About 90% of our camping will be off-grid. Will never use the A/C or the M/W. Our 178 has a 20,000 BTU heater. Any insight into this thing? Is it efficient, effective, noisy, safe? Regards ------------- Sailing and camping Western Canada and US-NW |
Replies:
Posted By: bodie55
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2014 at 12:58am
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Welcome! We have a 5000lb tow capacity with our f-150. We are very happy to have the E2 hitch (600/6000) with sway bars as added security. Makes driving in windy terrain a bit less nerve racking. You'll find a variety of views on this subject. We went with the idea of added safety - maybe overkill but better safe than not. As for the furnace, we used it dry camping a bit last summer in the mountains on chilly nights. Works fine but the fan is noisy. It kept us toasty. Just be sure to keep the area under the bed clear where the vent is. This winter we camped with hookups and used a small electric heater/fan, which worked suprisingly well, but this will only serve us when on shore power. The furnace should be fine if you can sleep through the fan kicking on durning the night. Look forward to hearing what solar solution you come up with. It's a future project for us but we're not too knowledgable on the subject. The green aspect is appealing vs buying a generator for dry camping. ------------- Bay Area Crew 2013 178 Beach Pod F-150 SuperCrew ...sempre in viaggio sul mare... |
Posted By: David and Danette
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2014 at 7:00am
Welcome to the forum there are a few sailors on this forum including myself. We just sold our r-pod and bought a Vibe, the new owner of our r-pod model 171 has a Honda Ridgeline for a TV. We towed our r-pod with a Ram 1500 and used a WDH it helps in keeping everything steady. Sort of like a sailboat with the sails up compared to them down  . The furnace is noisy but it heats up the r-pod quickly. David and Danette
------------- 2018 Vista Cruiser 19BFD (2018- 2012 Vibe 6503 (2014-2019) 2009 r-pod 171 (2009-2014) Middle Tn 2014 Ram 1500 Quad cab |
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2014 at 7:48am
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Welcome to the group! ------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2014 at 8:56am
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Welcome to the group from another sailor and Honda owner. We ended our sailing with a 25 ft sloop, but we've been boat-less for many years. More trouble than it was worth down here in hurricane land. We towed our 172 Pod with a 2010 Honda Pilot 4WD which is essentially the Ridgeline. We had the 600/6000 E2 WDH and it was definitely needed. With dual propane tanks and dual batteries on the tongue the weight adds up. Even without these add-ons the E2 is a great benefit. It smooths out the porpoising and lets you and the Honda forget the Pod is back there. I wouldn't be without it. But note: The gas gauge will not forget the Pod's back there  ------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2014 at 10:20am
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Welcome. For long-term off-grid camping you should look into the Olympian Wave 3. Silent and no electric use. The built-in heater is a propane and electric hog - along with the deafening roar as it runs. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual 
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Posted By: Thinkcooper
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2014 at 10:35am
| Welcome to the new podder club, we just joined as well. I've got a silent little propane heater called the Buddy from Mr. Heater that puts out great heat from either a 1 pound portable propane cylinder, or can be plumbed with a hose into an existing propane system. Throws fantastic amounts of heat below 8000' elevation, and is very quiet. Our previous camping rig was exclusively heated by this set-up. We'll be augmenting the noisy furnace with our Buddy. |
Posted By: Thinkcooper
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2014 at 10:44am
The Olympic Wave 3 looks really cool. Similar to the Buddy. Good to know!
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