Introduce Yourself: Hello r-pod owners!

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Hello r-pod owners!

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=15169
Printed Date: 26 Aug 2025 at 9:06am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.64 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Hello r-pod owners!

Posted By: bmaddux
Subject: Hello r-pod owners!
Date Posted: 07 Mar 2022 at 6:44pm

Hello all,

My wife (Patricia) and I (Brian) are new owners of an 2017 178. We'll be pulling it with a 2013 Ford F150 EcoBoost.

I grew up camping in a Starcraft tent camper. When I was 13, my family took a 6 week vacation to see the western U.S. from Ohio. After my kids were born, my wife and I decided we needed to start camping, and tent camped for 3 summers before deciding we wanted to graduate to a tent camper. The camper itself doesn't take that long to set up or take down, but the packing of everything around it has gotten tedious. So, with our youngest off to college and busy, I've been looking at travel trailers with an eye for both weekend local trips, and maybe some big trips during the summer. My wife found our RPOD on Facebook Marketplace, being sold for a great price by a couple that found "they are van people, not travel trailer people." They gave it a try and it just wasn't for them.

Our maiden voyage will be from our home on Whidbey Island, WA, to eastern washington (almost Idaho) to see the kids at school without crashing on the couch of their apartment.

The RPOD isn't our "dream RV", but I expect to learn a lot from having it. We don't want anything big, and previously, I didn't want anything with a slide-out. Things like "are we fine with a wet bath, or do we hate it?", or "is the bed being side to side too cramped?", and "do we need more counter space?". I also will be looking at figuring out how much solar we need to be able to do some boondocking (like with Harvest Host) and can we stay within the weight limits for longer trips. And while this maybe isn't our "dream RV", we also hate to spend money on something new when what we have is working well and is reliable. So I could see us having this RPOD for years.

I look forward to being part of the group and learning from all of you and your years of experience with RPODs!

Thanks,

Brian

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2013 Ford F150 Ecoboost
2017 RPOD 178 Hood River

Replies:

Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 07 Mar 2022 at 8:33pm

Hello Brian and welcome!

I hope you have many fun adventures with your new-to-you RPod and make many great memories with it. We have enjoyed our 179 and have made long trips with it. It turns out to be the right size for us and travel. I am not sure I would want to tow a bigger TT around the country like we have with the RPod.

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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,...

http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods
Former RPod 179
Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 07 Mar 2022 at 10:12pm

Welcome Brian to your 24/7 live owners manual. You will definitely enjoy the move up from tent camping. We went from tent camping to a couple of pop-up campers. In 1982 we purchased a 4 person Rockwood pop-up and later as the family grew got a 6 person Jayco which we kept until we purchased a 177 in January 2011. What a difference, especially if you camp in the off months when sleet and cold rain are common. You will be cozy in that 178. Enjoy!

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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."

Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 08 Mar 2022 at 5:45am

Welcome Brian.

One key piece of advice if you want to keep your rpod for years. Be extremely vigilant about water leaks of any kind. Everything else is quite reasonably fixable but not significant water damage, that can send your new to you trailer to the junkyard. This isn't unique to rpods of course.

Your new to you trailer has a few years on it so if it hasn't been resealed yet it probably needs to be. Key areas to look out for include the window seals, the spoiler, and the top and bottom wall seals. It's a good idea to proactively reseal the spoiler as a minimum. Also inspect for any plumbing leaks in either the feed or drain water systems.

If you keep water out of the trailer it can last a long time. Most of the rest of the systems are pretty inexpensive to repair or replace, other than the absorption fridges, which have become very spendy. Expect to get roughly 10 years out of one if you're lucky.

When you get around to the solar feel free to post your questions here, I and others will be happy to answer them.

As for weight limits you should be fine with that tow vehicle, even boondocking. Just keep your heavy gear in the truck bed, leaving the 178 to carry water, batteries, and supplies.

You can load up for a long trip and take the rig to a scale so you know for sure. I have several posts here you can search for on how to get all the required weights and run them through a towing calculator.

Yoy might want to proactively consider an axle reinforcement if you are near the axle weight limit. Several of us have posted on this topic.

Also there are outriggers you can add to help the outer floor edges carry the wall loads. That is recommended in the 178/179 series especially if you plan to travel on rougher roads.

Enjoy your new trailer. You might find as many of us have that it is the right compromise between size and comfort and that the wet bath and crosswize bed are not really an issue for you. They weren't for my wife and I.

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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold

Posted By: Kup-Pod
Date Posted: 08 Mar 2022 at 6:41am

Again, welcome!

Your story sounds very similar to ours: we started with tents, then to a 25y.o. old tent trailer, then 10y.o. one and finally to our RPod. We've never looked back!

Our children are all in the same age bracket as yours and we've been blessed with some grandchildren as well, so it is a nice trailer to take along a couple of grandkids for a weekend here and there.

There are lots of modifications posted on this site as well, take a look and see where & how you can gain storage and functional space - even in an "efficient" trailer like a 178!

Enjoy!

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2017 RP-178
2021 F150 5.0l
"Lead me on a level path"