What kind of camper do you have?

Just picked this Coleman lx 2155bh. Pulled great with taco and Reese WD hitch. Can’t wait to use it!

 

Nice! Looks comfortable

 

I have a Rockwood A194HW, but have it up for sale... I'm picking up a brand spanking new RPod 176 on Friday.

 

Is the Rpos bigger or smaller? Most Rockwoods I’ve seen are pretty large.

 

They're teardrop shaped, but you can stand in them. They tend to have a dinette that converts to a bed, inside kitchen, and tall enough to stand in.

 

R pods are cool I’ve been in a couple I meant is the Rpod bigger or smaller than the Rockwood. Good mornings mf James. I just texted Christie we need to get a trip planned. I’m going to drop the TM off before we head to the beach to get the ac warranted now to decide if it’s also a good time to do the solar and batteries. It’d be a whole lot easier decision if I didn’t have this roof replacement still hanging over us to get done

 

My rPod 180 has both a queen bed And a full dry bath. We love it.

 

There are a couple different sizes and lenghts. The Rockwood should be a bit bigger due to the non tear drop design difference. The bathroom is a bit tight for my liking but works great regardless.

 

Good afternoon MF Chris!.

Gotcha on the size comparison. My apologies for misunderstanding the question.

Yes, trip! Just remember that we can easily get Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Friday's off for Beth are difficult to get.

I'd get the dual batteries first, they'll get you a long weekend out and just charge them up when you get home. When our batteries were new we could get four days in the woods before needing any charging. That's running the fridge, lights, fan and water pump.

You can always hook up a car charger to the inverter in the truck if you're desperate to charge the trailer batteries. Or you can borrow my gennie

Do the solar after you get a decent roof over your head.

 

1994 Casita. 16' so pulls easy and has everyth ik ng in it you need. Can lay the bed out 2 different configurations, toilet shower, stove, sink, fridge, ac and a heater. Took a long time to find one in South Dakota but well worth the wait.

 

Taking it in to get ac warranted next week leaving it there until we get back from the beach so webit the bullet and batteries and solar going in while it’s there

 

You brought up some good comparison points and comparisons about the details are why it's difficult to find the "perfect" trailer.

One bad thing about the earlier years Micro Minnie's (I have a 2017 1706fb) is earlier models had a tankless water heater. I haven't had a tankless, but I heard bad things about them, heard people went to great lengths to replace them. Winnebago ditched the tankless in 2016 I believe.

1706fb has the furnace ducted into the bathroom, that's very nice. R-pod a thing I didn't like was the furnace blasts under the bed and that's it, inefficient way to distribute heat.

However, I've done this before, buy a magnet mount heavy-duty deflector like this https://www.lowes.com/pd/Accord-3-5...tic-Mount-Plastic-Floor-Air-Deflector/3260347

Beware, some of these are thin plastic and will melt when used with an RV furnace, been there done that. Lowes had the 'heavy-duty' deflector next to the thinner one. I first bought the thinner one not knowing the difference, it slowly melted. Not catastrophically, but not workable in an RV.

Bought the thicker version, worked great. Bought some stronger magnets to compensate for the stronger RV furnace fan, helped a lot to distribute the furnace heat around the interior.

 

I like the rPod because it is only 6.5 ft wide and is easier to see around with a smaller TV than a standard 8ft wide travel trailer. (The small Winnies are also 6.5 ft wide I believe.)

I had my '89 Coleman pop up for 15 years and enjoyed it but the whole tent trailer thing started to bug me after a while.

Pros of a tent trailer:
* Light weight and easy to tow. I towed mine with a 2002 4 cyl Tacoma X-Cab and got about 17 mpg on the road. Hills were another story! (My pop up weighed about 1,500 lbs wet, which doesn't seem like much but it did weigh the truck down on the hills.)
* Small size while towing, (mine had a 10ft box), but when you open it up it is about the same size inside as a 24 ft trailer.
* Easy to see over the top of when looking out your rear view mirror (as long as you don't have a roof-mounted AC.)
* Nice and airy if it's hot outside. Just unzip all the windows.
* Inexpensive (I bought my '89 Coleman in 2003 for $2,400 and it was in really good shape having only one previous owner.)

Cons of a tent trailer (my Coleman Sequoia specifically):
* No fridge. It got old after a while always looking for block ice for the ice box.
* No furnace
* NO BATHROOM!!!! (I added a porta potty to save the long-night treks to the campground rest room, but still no shower.) That's what baby wipes are for!!!
* Cold if the weather is not warm outside.
* NOISY!!! The dogs would always bark if they heard voices / people outside, and people could hear us inside talking.This was a problem late at night.
* A MAJOR PAIN to set up / take down in the rain. (The canvas leaks in the rain, or at least mine did). Plus, when setting up / tearing down in the rain stuff inside gets wet when you move the canvas on and off the beds. (We kept tarps over the mattresses for just this reason. It worked well.)
* You have to unhitch to set it up, because the front bed pulls out beyond the length of the tongue. If you're only staying one night this is a pain. (If you have a low truck without a shell you might be able to pull the front bed over the truck bed. I always had a shell.)
* Setting up and tearing down takes 15 to 20 minutes but gets old after a while, especially if you are on a long trip and only staying one night at a time. Plus, you get dirty crawling under to set the stabilizer jacks.
* IMPOSSIBLE TO USE COVERTLY!!!!! We did a 500 mile drive from Arkansas to Tennessee and ended up sleeping in the tent trailer in a Walmart parking lot with the big RVs (Circle up the wagons!) It's pretty obvious that you're camping.

I liked my Coleman and have lots of good memories, but the solid-wall travel trailers are SO MUCH EASIER!!!
Especially now that I'm getting older the thought of setting up that tent trailer makes me shudder.

Tent trailers are great for a warm climate especially if you're staying in one place for several days. And you have plenty of ice!

(I know that some pop ups are more modern and have propane fridges / furnaces and small bathrooms and even AC, but mine did not.)

 

Well, the A-frame is pretty large, it's not really the size that I didn't like too much. I like the idea of the a-frame, but in my experience with it, it's a bit of a PITA to me. Not a lot of storage (5 small drawers, a couple larger cubbies and one decent sized drawer under the oven)... have to stand funny to shower in it, but it's doable. The problem I had with mine was more floorplan than anything.

The RPod means I don't have to pop it up, which isn't too difficult, but I could see it becoming difficult if I keep the camper long term. The RPod I'm getting has a bunk bed (2 beds) and the dinette can convert to a bed. So I don't have to convert the dinette, then convert it back when I sleep. My head brushes the vent fan in the bathroom, but I don't have to bend over like I do in the a-frame. Overall, the RPod is actually slightly shorter (18' 4" compared to 18' 10").

 

Good tip, on my model, the furnace is under the rear dinette, the beds are up front. I'm wondering if one could replace the water heater with a Truma unit, and then set up some ducts for the heat, then ditch the original furnace. Of course, those Truma heaters are EXPENSIVE...

 

Look them up, their all the same just different lenghts.

 

Looking to purchase an Equalizer WDH. My rPod is a little under 4,000 lbs wet. The brochure lists the tongue weight for the 180 as 340 lbs, but there is some question if that includes the weight of the battery (64 lbs), full propane take (approx 37 lbs), and power tongue jack (24 lbs). People on the rPod forums have suggested both the 400/4000 model and the 600/6000 model. I don't want to load up the trailer axel too much with a bigger weight distributing hitch than I need, because the rPod is a single-axel trailer. On the other hand, I would like to have a bit of leeway on the tongue weight.

I talked with the local trailer hitch shop and told him that etrailer.com wanted an EXACT tongue weight before they could make a recommendation. I estimated a little over 400 lbs so they suggested the 600/6000. I told the hitch shop owner that my PreRunner only dropped an inch when I hitched up the rPod and he was shocked. He said that the tongue weight must not be that much so he thought I should go with the smaller 400/4000. Should I take the trailer to the local truck stop and have the tongue weighed to be certain?

Mostly I want the 4-point sway control that the Equalizer offers, and I also want to better distribute the weight so my rear tires are not being overloaded. I figured that even one inch lowered in the back would still affect my headlights, and I don't want people flashing high beams at me like when I had my tent trailer on my 2002 5-lug four cylinder.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

Yeah your best bet is to load it up like you would for a trip and hot a truck stop and get the weight of your rig and camper together then rig only. This way you can subtract you'd rigs weight and know exactly how much your camper is.

 

6'3" inside height. 20' long.