R-pod Owners Forum : Reducing Trailer Weight http://www.rpod-owners.com/ This is an XML content feed of; R-pod Owners Forum : I need HELP!!! : Reducing Trailer Weight Copyright (c) 2006-2009 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Thu, 21 May 2026 04:37:08 +0000 Sat, 27 Jul 2019 11:04:32 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 9.64 360 www.rpod-owners.com/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=13031 R-pod Owners Forum http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_images/web_wiz_forums.png http://www.rpod-owners.com/ Reducing Trailer Weight : I wondered too, what dry weight... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125953#125953 Author: kansasfrogs
Subject: 13031
Posted: 27 Jul 2019 at 11:04am

I wondered too, what dry weight meant, so asked FR.  They said it was just the camper, no propane, or battery and of course no water.  Not what the dealer told me...but I have since weighed if loaded and we're fine.

]]> Sat, 27 Jul 2019 11:04:32 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125953#125953 Reducing Trailer Weight : Could have been gold bars... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125735#125735 Author: GlueGuy
Subject: 13031
Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 10:24pm

Could have been gold bars...       LOL


]]> Tue, 16 Jul 2019 22:24:10 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125735#125735 Reducing Trailer Weight : Glad to hear its not bodies http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125723#125723 Author: offgrid
Subject: 13031
Posted: 16 Jul 2019 at 6:24pm

Glad to hear its not bodies LOL]]> Tue, 16 Jul 2019 18:24:50 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125723#125723 Reducing Trailer Weight : Ha! 120 lbs total and that was... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125704#125704 Author: Jeepinator
Subject: 13031
Posted: 15 Jul 2019 at 9:56pm

[Oh, and last thing, I just gotta ask, what's in the 120lb crates and where do you keep them LOL?]

Ha!  120 lbs total and that was a very rough estimate.  I keep the crates under the slider when traveling and outside at the site.

4 gals drinking water (empty for trip home)
Small solar light
Collapsible wash bucket
One-burner propane stove with two bottles of propane
Coleman camp-stove toaster
Rope/bungees 
Hammock
2 collapsible trash/recycling baskets
Clothes pins
Rain & fleece jackets
Flip flops & water shoes
Tarp
Stove grate and propane hose for Road Trip grill
Hatchet/hammer
Sven folding saw
American flag mount (modified shower suction cup handle)
2.5 gal collapsible water container
2 Foam kneeling cushions (for picnic table)
Rain cover for the crates
Wag bag 
4 trash bags to cover removed Jeep Doors

We are moving to a Blackstone grill so the Coleman Road Trip and accessories will be gone.

We are also breaking up the gear for boon-docking or hookups so we only bring what we need. 

]]> Mon, 15 Jul 2019 21:56:12 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125704#125704 Reducing Trailer Weight : Originally posted by offgridOh,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125656#125656 Author: podwerkz
Subject: 13031
Posted: 14 Jul 2019 at 2:16pm

Originally posted by offgrid


Oh, and last thing, I just gotta ask, what's in the 120lb crates and where do you keep them LOL?


 

Bodies?

Confused


]]> Sun, 14 Jul 2019 14:16:24 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125656#125656 Reducing Trailer Weight : Originally posted by mjlrpodIf... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125647#125647 Author: offgrid
Subject: 13031
Posted: 14 Jul 2019 at 11:30am

Originally posted by mjlrpod

If we are going to talk water conservation here, i'll try to add something. I find that in a one week stay, i can stay just over 1/3 full. I think dishes is the big culprit. I do like I used to do when I tented. I fill a 7 gallon aqua-tainer with water and dish liquid. I first wipe EVERYTHING with wet ones wipeys until they look clean. Then i quickly wash them under the dishwash container (which is directly over a 5 gallon pail I dump responsibly) and lastly either a super quick rinse in the sink, or I walk to the water hook up and rinse it there. Very little water goes into the grey tanks from dishes, and NO grease or food particles. We only use bottle water as well, so no waste water goes into sinks. In a week, we will both shower twice in the camper, and sponge bath in between. If you shower at home before leaving, you never really go more than 2 days without showering. So 4 showers and a little of the rinsing are a third / third and a half of the tank.

I like your dishwashing protocol. I'd try the shower every other day thing too but my wife would make me sleep outsideLOL
]]> Sun, 14 Jul 2019 11:30:57 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125647#125647 Reducing Trailer Weight : If we are going to talk water... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125644#125644 Author: mjlrpod
Subject: 13031
Posted: 14 Jul 2019 at 11:13am

If we are going to talk water conservation here, i'll try to add something. I find that in a one week stay, i can stay just over 1/3 full. I think dishes is the big culprit. I do like I used to do when I tented. I fill a 7 gallon aqua-tainer with water and dish liquid. I first wipe EVERYTHING with wet ones wipeys until they look clean. Then i quickly wash them under the dishwash container (which is directly over a 5 gallon pail I dump responsibly) and lastly either a super quick rinse in the sink, or I walk to the water hook up and rinse it there. Very little water goes into the grey tanks from dishes, and NO grease or food particles. We only use bottle water as well, so no waste water goes into sinks. In a week, we will both shower twice in the camper, and sponge bath in between. If you shower at home before leaving, you never really go more than 2 days without showering. So 4 showers and a little of the rinsing are a third / third and a half of the tank.]]> Sun, 14 Jul 2019 11:13:52 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125644#125644 Reducing Trailer Weight : Interesting idea.What I've... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125628#125628 Author: offgrid
Subject: 13031
Posted: 14 Jul 2019 at 8:17am

Interesting idea. 

What I've done to extend boondocking time is to install an additional thermostat for the water heater, set to 105-106 degrees (the perfect shower temp for us). That way we don't waste water fiddling with the shower temp.  We wash dishes once a day having wiped the dirty dishes as well as possible immediately after use.  We use water heated on the stove with a little soap in one of the pots we need to clean anyway. Only takes a few seconds to get the little water we need warm. Then we rinse using the sink hot water tap. By the time we're done rinsing the water is coming out warm so we take our navy style showers. We are only using maybe a gallon or gallon and a half or so each showering and another gallon rinsing dishes so never run out of warm water. 

My wife and I can go a week that way on 30 gal and still take daily showers, and by myself I can go over two weeks. We do bring bottled water in a couple of 2.5 gal plastic containers for drinking and food prep so that extends the dwell time a day or two. 

As we're camping in primitive campgrounds or dispersed camping 90% of the time I always travel with my fresh water tank filled, and I do have dual GC2 batteries. I keep the trailer weight down by keeping everything else as simple and light as possible. 

I agree that for folks camping in developed campgrounds with water most of the time that its better to travel with a near empty  fresh water tank, and if there's also a dump station you don't have to be that focused on water savings. I suppose to save weight you could also rig up a water heater drain that doesn't require pulling out the anode and then fill that and the fresh tank when you get to the campground. 

]]> Sun, 14 Jul 2019 08:17:35 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125628#125628 Reducing Trailer Weight : Greetings:I've found that... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125624#125624 Author: crankster78
Subject: 13031
Posted: 14 Jul 2019 at 7:37am

Greetings:
I've found that due to the time it takes for the water to get hot in the water heater, the amount of time that you have to run the facet to get hot water,  It's easier to just heat up a large pot of water with what you need on the stove.  I'm going to turn off and drain the water heater to save some weight.  Most of the time I stay at State parks with showers, and when I dry camp, I take sponge baths.  I use a plastic dish pan to wash dishes in.  It works for me and I use less water.  I travel by myself, so this works for me.  

Crankster78
]]> Sun, 14 Jul 2019 07:37:14 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125624#125624 Reducing Trailer Weight : Originally posted by Jeepinator It’s... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125621#125621 Author: offgrid
Subject: 13031
Posted: 14 Jul 2019 at 5:12am

Originally posted by Jeepinator

It’s time for our Pod to lose some weight. She clocked in at 4,080 lbs at her first Weight Watchers meeting!  I weighed trailer and TV with WDH tensioned (9,460) then TV only (5,380) with WDH in receiver. 

The label on the trailer says “Dry Weight 2,929”. Does anyone know if this includes everything it shipped with such as the awning, spare tire, power jack etc?

This is everything I’ve identified thus far but I’m 450 lbs short minus WDH tension.

WDH Tension  ??

2nd Battery 50

WDH Brack     30

Water, Fresh 80

Clam         40

Battery Box 20

Chairs         36

Crates       120

Food         50

Cooking.          40

Tools         50

Wood blocks 20

Wood Sign 20

Grill                 40

Crock pot         15

Waffle Iron   5

Dewalt Fan   7

Clothing & 

Bedding         50

Hookup Gear 30


I only had 10 gals of water and the WDH rods and brackets. 

The 4080 should be correct for the trailer, wdh tension notwithstanding, because you first weighed the entire rig and then subtracted the TV by itself. IOW, the wdh doesn't change the total weight, only shifts some weight back and forth between the axles. 

If you want to know what's included and not included in FR's empty weight sticker take a look at the 2017 brochure here.

https://forestriverinc.com/brochures/2017/2017rpodbrochure.pdf


This lists the standard empty weight of the base trailers and on the second to last page it lists the weights of each of the factory options. Note that battery weight and specs are not included, so you need to add both batteries to your list. A single full propane cylinder is supposed to be included now,. Also, the 50 lbs of water we are all dragging around in our water heaters is not included in the dry weight, and there is probably another gallon or two in the plumbing, plus some remaining water in the gray and black tanks.  

I tried to reconcile the actual loaded weight of my 2015 179 (3740) and couldn't do it either, by about 250-300  lbs. I highly suspect that FR's empty weights are optimistic but the only way to prove that would be to empty everything back out to as delivered configuration and reweigh it and I'm too lazy to do that Embarrassed

If you can do so conveniently I'd also recommend running your rig through the scales again with the wdh not tensioned, this time getting a weight on the tow vehicle only (trailer axle off the scale). Then you can subtract your first 5380 lb TV weight from this second  tow vehicle + trailer weight to get your tongue weight. That might be more a limiting factor for your Jeep than the total trailer weight is. 

As to how much weight is on the rear axle with the wdh, the simplest way would be to just weigh the trailer axle by itself (TV off the scale) with the wdh tensioned. Note though that if the scale and roadway where the TV is when you do that aren't completely level with each other there will be a little variation as the wdh will be doing its job trying to accommodate the high or low spot under the TV rear axle. Should be a small variation though.

Short of that you can work backward to estimate the rear axle loading using this calculator. By working backward I mean that you can input your rig dimesions and weights and then adjust the tension of the hitch in the calculator until the load on the TV front axle is the same with the trailer and wdh as it is for the TV without the trailer, just like the adjustment instructions for the wdh say to set it. It's a bit of a PITA but doable. FWIW, my trailer axle came out at about 120 lbs additional from the wdh but YMMV. 

https://www.ajdesigner.com/apptrailertow/weightdistributionhitch.php

Oh, and last thing, I just gotta ask, what's in the 120lb crates and where do you keep them LOL?


]]> Sun, 14 Jul 2019 05:12:41 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125621#125621 Reducing Trailer Weight : Originally posted by Happy... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125619#125619 Author: Jeepinator
Subject: 13031
Posted: 13 Jul 2019 at 8:56pm

Originally posted by Happy Tripping

I'm not an expert but here's my 2 cents.

State parks and rv campgrounds have water and toilets so you don't have to use your trailer's. You might try the backpacker's axiom - 'When in doubt, leave it out'  (50 pounds of tools?,40 pound grill? crock pot and waffle iron?).

Whatever, you are right up against the printed gross vehicle weight rating of 5400 pounds and obviously over the vehicle's 3500 pound maximum gross trailer weight. 

That doesn't mean you can't go out and tow, BUT ...

1. Stay away from the Appalachians - Flatlands are your friend.
2. Expect shorter vehicle life because it is having to work awfully hard.
3. Go slow





Agreed!   We have to jettison some gear. 
]]> Sat, 13 Jul 2019 20:56:43 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125619#125619 Reducing Trailer Weight : Quite sure that the weight does... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125618#125618 Author: jato
Subject: 13031
Posted: 13 Jul 2019 at 8:50pm

Quite sure that the weight does not include anything for batteries or propane tank(s).  Ours is only 2400 lbs but came w/o  AC, microwave or entertainment system so that probably adds up to 150 lbs, but on the other hand I added that back by adding 2 20# propane tanks and 2 12 volt group size 24 batteries; we normally boondock.  This is on a 2011  177.]]> Sat, 13 Jul 2019 20:50:39 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125618#125618 Reducing Trailer Weight : I'm not an expert but here's... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125616#125616 Author: Happy Tripping
Subject: 13031
Posted: 13 Jul 2019 at 8:35pm

I'm not an expert but here's my 2 cents.

State parks and rv campgrounds have water and toilets so you don't have to use your trailer's. You might try the backpacker's axiom - 'When in doubt, leave it out'  (50 pounds of tools?,40 pound grill? crock pot and waffle iron?).

Whatever, you are right up against the printed gross vehicle weight rating of 5400 pounds and obviously over the vehicle's 3500 pound maximum gross trailer weight. 

That doesn't mean you can't go out and tow, BUT ...

1. Stay away from the Appalachians - Flatlands are your friend.
2. Expect shorter vehicle life because it is having to work awfully hard.
3. Go slow




]]> Sat, 13 Jul 2019 20:35:59 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125616#125616 Reducing Trailer Weight : The short answer seems to be 'no."... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125606#125606 Author: EchoGale
Subject: 13031
Posted: 13 Jul 2019 at 12:19pm

The short answer seems to be 'no." but there's a good thread on this right below labeled "dry weight."]]> Sat, 13 Jul 2019 12:19:54 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125606#125606 Reducing Trailer Weight : It’s time for our Pod... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125605#125605 Author: Jeepinator
Subject: 13031
Posted: 13 Jul 2019 at 12:16pm

It’s time for our Pod to lose some weight. She clocked in at 4,080 lbs at her first Weight Watchers meeting!  I weighed trailer and TV with WDH tensioned (9,460) then TV only (5,380) with WDH in receiver. 

The label on the trailer says “Dry Weight 2,929”. Does anyone know if this includes everything it shipped with such as the awning, spare tire, power jack etc?

This is everything I’ve identified thus far but I’m 450 lbs short minus WDH tension.

WDH Tension  ??

2nd Battery 50

WDH Brack     30

Water, Fresh 80

Clam         40

Battery Box 20

Chairs         36

Crates       120

Food         50

Cooking.          40

Tools         50

Wood blocks 20

Wood Sign 20

Grill                 40

Crock pot         15

Waffle Iron   5

Dewalt Fan   7

Clothing & 

Bedding         50

Hookup Gear 30


I only had 10 gals of water and the WDH rods and brackets. 
]]> Sat, 13 Jul 2019 12:16:02 +0000 http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13031&PID=125605#125605