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Topic ClosedNew 172 Owner

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StephenH View Drop Down
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podders Helping podders - pHp
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Joined: 29 Nov 2015
Location: Wake Forest, NC
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: New 172 Owner
    Posted: 09 Jun 2020 at 6:59pm
Welcome and congratulations! I hope you have many fun adventures and make many great memories with your RPod.

I agree with the above that what you are experiencing is increased wind resistance from the much larger frontal area of the RPod when compared with the T@B. Limit your towing speed to no more than 60 mph, as much for safety as for the better fuel mileage when you are not trying to push it faster. One other thing that will help is a wind deflector such as the Purpleline AeroPlus or the Icon AeroShield. These will help with the airflow between the vehicle and the trailer. I have one that I used with an Escape that helped. Now that I have a Frontier, it doesn't help because it sits too far forward. There are pictures of it in my mods, but I couldn't tell you which specific post or page right now. I should probably try to sell it since I don't see us going back to an SUV for towing again.
StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,...

ouR escaPOD mods
Former RPod 179
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GlueGuy View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2020 at 6:37pm
OG is right about fuel mileage. You pay more based on how hard you press the "go" pedal.

I would also suggest that you might be better off not attaching any solar panel(s) to the roof, unless you think you will always be parking your 172 in the sun. We prefer parking in the shade when we can, and so the best place to put the solar panels is where the Rpod isn't. This also eliminates the requirement to use the cute solar power connector, as you can just connect directly to the battery/ies.

Enjoy your trailer in any case!
bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2020 at 6:00pm
Fuel consumption while towing doesn't really depend on the tow vehicle. Most of the energy is consumed overcoming the aerodynamic drag of the trailer. In other words, it is what it is, the only way to improve it is to slow down. Have fun!
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lostagain View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2020 at 5:35pm
Enjoy! and Welcome!
Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
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CamFrye View Drop Down
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Joined: 09 Jun 2020
Location: Colorado
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2020 at 4:21pm
Hi all,

We recently purchased a new R Pod 172, western edition. We upsized from a T@B and are enjoying the extra space, especially the bunks. Our TV is a 2019 Subaru Ascent, which seems to do fine, except for the gas mileage.

We normally boondock, so we have already removed the microwave and TV to simplify things and add a little more storage. We will be adding rooftop solar in the next couple weeks. I haven't seen any posts on solar installs with the GoPower "wired for solar" option, but it looks fairly straightforward after removing the upper cabinet panel behind the solar controller sticker.

We'll see you out there...
2020 R Pod 172
2019 Subaru Ascent
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