Blow-overs
Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Miscellaneous / Off-topic
Forum Discription: Pull a chair up to the campfire and chat. No religious, political or weapons talk, please.
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=4659
Printed Date: 02 May 2024 at 5:16am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.64 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Blow-overs
Posted By: yellowstonestu
Subject: Blow-overs
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2014 at 1:31pm
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Just had a friend pulling a 34 ft 5th wheel with a Ford F350 get blown over on I70 just outside of Limon,CO. Which got me to wondering if anyone has had such a catastrophic event happen to an RPod? One doesn't worry about those things until it happens to someone you know! ------------- Yellowstonestu & Bela the Vizsla 2008 Toyota FJ 2015 RPod 179 (Pod #2) |
Replies:
Posted By: kymooses
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2014 at 1:42pm
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if it's occurred i can't say i've ever seen a post about it. sorry to hear that happened to a friend of yours. hope they are all doing well after the event. ------------- https://calendar.google.com/calendar?cid=cnBvZC5zcG90dGVyQGdtYWlsLmNvbQ - RPod Rallies https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1W1foQXGtrjf8aYly1uh0b-bHPfI&hl=en_US - RPod Owner Map |
Posted By: fwunder
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2014 at 2:12pm
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Be fore warned. This is not a pretty picture. No people, but lots of podestruction. I know nothing of the circumstances, although I could guess it may have fell off a delivery truck or a tornado or such. Sorta looks like tornado geography. Nevertheless...it can happen. http://forums.motorhomemagazine.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26164026/gotomsg/26164175.cfm - http://forums.motorhomemagazine.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26164026/gotomsg/26164175.cfm fred
------------- 2014 RPod 178 => https://goo.gl/CV446f - MyMods and Buying Habits 2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6 Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks! |
Posted By: P&M
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2014 at 2:20pm
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Given the lack of personal effects within the Pod destruction itself, I'm gonna guess it happened during factory transport. Poor little Pod. Mental note ... pull over and wait out any really bad side-wind storms! ------------- P & M ... and Comet too! 2012 171 -- The Monkey Pod 2018 Ram 2500 |
Posted By: fwunder
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2014 at 2:22pm
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Yeah P&M, that was my guess too. I am shopping for a nice portable weather radio though. Just this past camping weekend we had no cell/internet service and was caught off guard a bit with some very cold and windy weather. fred ------------- 2014 RPod 178 => https://goo.gl/CV446f - MyMods and Buying Habits 2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6 Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks! |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2014 at 2:29pm
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I have seen reports, and a few pictures of many RV's blown over. Couple years ago after the Airstream Int'l up in Montana (I think), a couple owners got blown over or off the road on the way home. As far as the linked podstruction.. it has a license plate.. and I note a dish towel over a drawer pull... but not a whole lot else like sheets, sleeping bags, dishes, etc etc... possibly new owners who got "caught out" as they say. ------------- |
Posted By: yellowstonestu
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2014 at 5:11pm
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Thanks for the personal thoughts! Yes, they and their dogs are o.k. The truck is driveable and they returned home to the mtns of CO minus the brand new 5th wheel. Brand new truck bed now is rather "v" shaped on the side where the 5th wheel rolled over. ------------- Yellowstonestu & Bela the Vizsla 2008 Toyota FJ 2015 RPod 179 (Pod #2) |
Posted By: David and Danette
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2014 at 5:16pm
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R-pods have some advantage in that there is not a lot of side surface compared to most campers for the wind to push against. And the wheels being on the outside give it a little more stability. But accidents can happen the pictures are a reminder how bad it could be. Hope know one ever has to experience that and we all have many safe trips. ------------- 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: Kickstart
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2014 at 7:10pm
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The Pod was obviously being towed when wrecked.As others have stated. It was licensed, & ibyers on 6/25/12 shows the tongue of the Pod with WDH drop down brackets installed on the tongue and bent WDH bars leaning up against the wreck. The straps are used by the tow truck to help keep the wreck together on the back of the flat bed wrecker. Personal effects were probably scavenged by the owner/driver before the wreck was towed.
This is exactly how things went down for me on the summer of 1997 in the Columbia River gorge--1997 Ford f150, 1994 20' Layton TT, WDH, sway control, hungus wind gusts as we crested the rise before the river and headed down into the gorge. The trailer initially swerved towards the 200' or so drop into the gorge and then slammed into the rock wall on the other side. No major injuries, but totaled truck and trailer. I thought that I had detailed this on this site before, but if not, then somewhere else online. Don't kid yourself, under the right (wrong) conditions no WDH and sway control is gonna save your bacon. As a matter of fact, in the last 17 or so years since my accident. I've used a WDH, but no sway control. But I have paid close attention to making sure that my tow rig and trailers were a good match, my hitch weight and height were where they should be, and I never load heavy behind the trailer's axles. Keep in mind that it's a sway control, not a sway cure. If you had any sway problems before you installed your sway control, then it's still there, just pushed back in the corner waiting to bite you on the butt under those right (wrong) conditions. I don't want anyone to have to go through what we did. By the way, the new Pod replacement tows nicely, and gets about 2 mpg less than the pod did. The wife is happy, so I'm happy, even though podless. I'll probably drift away from this site, as most have done when they sell their pods, so good luck to all and tow carefully. ------------- '10 RP 175-Replaced by 2014 Kodiak 173 QBSL '12 Toyota Tundra '05 Sportster (half a Harley) Retired-We're on Beach Time! |
Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2014 at 9:48pm
You don't have to drift away....they won't kick you out. And you'll have a hard time finding another forum as helpful and welcoming as this one. I am helping set one up for the Campites, and it's beginning to work, but it's not yet like this one. But then we don't yet have the user base the Pods have and we don't have Doug (yet). So before you leave consider: your experience is still valuable, particularly to newbies. And we like to hear the experiences of others who have "moved on". ------------- 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: Camper Bob
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2014 at 9:04am
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We purchased a Sangean weather radio with AM and FM with presets. Works great. About $50. at Amazon. Safe Travels. ------------- Camper Bob and Camper Sue Gracie the Wonder Dog (12 LB. Mini Dachshund) 2013 Rpod 171HRE(ORPod) 2016 Lance 1685 2015 Nissan Pathfinder |
Posted By: fwunder
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2014 at 9:21am
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Thanks Bob. The Sangean looks like a nice unit. Once I started looking I got to considering that the Uniden or Motorola two way radio set w/weather might be nice to have. fred ------------- 2014 RPod 178 => https://goo.gl/CV446f - MyMods and Buying Habits 2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6 Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks! |
Posted By: fwunder
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2014 at 9:25am
I second what Charlie said! Don't drift away. It's old-timers (that's meant out of respect! ;)) like you guys the keep greenhorns like me from embarrassing or hurting ourselves! fred ------------- 2014 RPod 178 => https://goo.gl/CV446f - MyMods and Buying Habits 2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6 Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks! |
Posted By: David and Danette
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2014 at 10:19am
We have no place to drift to and we do not feel that separated from our past R-pod with our Vibe. They have similar features same parent company Forest River, all fiberglass exterior, same style axle with the wheels and fenders on the sides of the trailer, the floor plan we have is in some ways the same as our past r-pod 171. And the front is sort of like marwaynes r-pod  . If others would not mind I would like to invite the very few Vibe owners over from the Forest River forum to this forum. I did notice there was a post from a Vibe owner who kept his previous camper a r-pod. I guess he liked his r-pod so much he didn't want to part from it. They are not bad trailers just haven't been near as popular as the r-pods. 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: DavidW
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2014 at 10:49am
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I was actually thinking about "blow-overs" as a cool strong wind gusted from the lake at our site in Algonquin Provincial Park, ON this past week-end. Usually I like to position the R-Pod so that I wake up to a great view out the bedroom window. But I remember reading somewhere that one should take care to make sure that strong winds don't hit the R-Pod broadsides. ------------- David & Liz 2014 R-Pod 178 2019 Chevy Traverse And Lily (our 8 yr old Golden) 
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Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2014 at 11:28am
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No Camplite for me yet, lol. I do like a lot of its features.
By all means invite anyone, we won't bite. We've even considered going to a "small camper or TT" format... but that will also mean a lot of work and we're all just volunteers that happen to own pods. ------------- 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: CharlieM
Date Posted: 30 Apr 2014 at 11:39am
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I'm still holding out hope for you, Doug. Maybe someday. And I've thought about Marwayne, but he'd have to totally restock his woodshop after he donates his Pod to the Smithsonian. No wood in the Camplite .
------------- Charlie Northern Colorado OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD |