Finally decided on a travel trailer: 2021 R-Pod 192

We finally made a decision. Soon (as in late next week, early the week after) this will be pulled behind my 2020 White TRD OR w/ 4.88 gears and 33" tires. ~3500 dry, and I'm putting a 2" lift and 30" 10-ply LTs on it right away. I really liked the simplicity of the RP-192 layout, and I wasn't expecting the new exterior graphics and refreshed interior colors. It's the first R-Pod that I've actually liked the looks of.

We're really looking forward to our Texas towing adventures!

 

Not a bad lookin camper

 

Looks great! Enjoy the new trailer!

 

Pretty geeked about the solar install; a GP Electric IC-2000 with 200 Ah of lithium batteries and 380w of solar panels. In a little cooler weather (seasonal or elevation) the limiting factor while boondocking should be the 30 gal. fresh water tank.

Pick it up Thursday, load it out, then Friday pull it to Fort Parker SP for the first shakedown trip.

 

Solar install is progressing very nicely. Decided on lithium batteries even though those dang things are spendy. The entire solar setup, lithium batteries included, weighs less than what comparable AGM batteries would have weighed and should give enough power to sustain us wherever we manage to drag this thing.

 

Nice job on the batteries! I want Battle Borne for my rig but need to substantially change the wiring and charge controller to accommodate. Still in research phase before picking up my crimper.

Looking good!

 

very nice ......all the comforts o home

on Ur shakedown stop at nearest Cat Scale & weigh out

will give U a definitive idea of balance

as summers go...........it will gain weight

just like U

 

Good call. I should weigh it dry and unloaded when we pick it up tomorrow, then again when we head out loaded on Friday.

 

Looks and sits really nice, and this is with water (to properly set the hitch). Solar system is dang cool. Just need the 31" tires installed then it's off to a state park for a long weekend.

 

The first pull was great. Kept it at 65 mph because the new wheels/tires aren’t on yet and I don’t trust these “Castle Rock” wheels at Texas highway speeds. We plan to get weights tomorrow during the return trip.

 

Had to stop at the Love’s on the way home today. 10,120 was where it was at; that is with me, wife, dog, full gas tank, kit for the weekend, trailer loaded out but with empty tanks.

That gives room for another 1200 lbs of stuff, which even if I’m rolling heavy, keeps me under the 11,320 GCWR rating of this truck.

I’m really happy we found a great travel trailer that was ~3500 lbs. I’d be comfortable with even a ~4000 lb trailer. More than that... well, bless your heart.

 

Congrats on your purchase!! Can't wait to hear how things go with it.

We are in the market for a smaller trailer like this. I have a few wants---1) walk around bed, either full time or murphy, 2) a dedicated couch or dinning spot, and 3) a full service dry bathroom. So far, we've been eyeballing the Geo Pros, Flagstaff micro lites (or the Rockwood comparable), the micro minnies, and this rpod model. We'll use it for 1-2 week trips. I am favoring the Geo pros as they are a bit more out of the box off roadable and boondockable. But, as you did with your rig, we can add the extra solar and battery capability after the fact too.

Thank you for your service also!

 

Your requirements sound a lot like ours. My lady has experience with a 30' travel trailer and I've spent my life tent camping. Every time my lady asked for something bigger, I just reminded her how much I want a TAXA Cricket. Her requirements were nice bed, dry bath, and dinette. We looked at NoBo, Geo Pro, Micro Minnie, and R-Pods. Heck, we even put $500 down to hold on a Micro Minnie before we moved (2 months ago). With the popularity of smaller couples campers, there are quite a few nice floor plans available without slides, which IMHO just add mechanical complexity and weight.

The R-Pods have caught my eyes for quite a few years. The newer models have really caught my eyes. In the past couple of years, they have moved to all Azdel construction, introduced some new floor plans, added larger fridges, and now in 2021, have the first exterior graphics that I actually like.

Some of the things we really appreciated during our first camping trip are:

- full size queen Murphy bed that can accommodate a 8" thick memory foam mattress. The Murphy bed makes a ton of sense in a small camper. We travel with it down, store it down, sleep in it down (of course), and fold it up during the day when we are in the trailer.
- Rear bathroom with vent makes a ton of sense as that is the way the airflow should work.
- All the utility hookups are drivers side so it's really easy to fit into tight spaces and get as much space on the door/awning side as possible.
- The GoPower "wired for solar" has wire paths that are very well laid out. Since the camper was about $6k cheaper that the Micro Minnie we were looking at we splurged and installed the GoPower Solar Elite Kit. That's a pretty amazing system (and friends and I have done some pretty impressive solar installs at Boy Scout reservations).
- The more white/grey interior versus previous year's tan/brown make it seem more spacious.
- There is way more storage than we anticipated.

We also did several immediate upgrades including:
- Solar system with lithium batteries... I could carry on about how pleased we are.
- A great low-flow shower head.
- The best mattress we could fit (8" is easily accommodated, 10" might fit).
- New tires and wheels. 31" Cooper HT3s will get installed tomorrow.
- Eaz-Lift ReCurve hitch with 800lb bars (with water we were ~700 on the tongue)
- TPMS system
- Furrion rear camera system (don't have this yet, but I found a an open deal on Amazon and didn't want ugly-ass tow mirrors on my truck)

Really looking forward to our next trip which will be a 4-hour pull to an RV resort on the beach in Port Aransas.

 

glad U had a goood experience

things done right work out fine

it was possible ...............now U KNOW!!

many miles great smiles

 

[QUOTE="campingalan, post: 24038186, member: I am favoring the Geo pros as they are a bit more out of the box off roadable and boondockable.[/QUOTE]

Sir you have committed a TW transgression. We no longer use the term “boondocking”. We must use “overlanding”. Or the youngsters’ heads will implode. You see the vacuum overcomes the integrity of the skull when the outside pressure of new information is added to the near perfect vacuum that already exists.

But to keep this on topic, I too am looking at trailers in the size range. The dry bathroom is a must for my wife.

 

I built adaptable... RV resorts, overloading, boondocking, and mooch-docking. Love it all!

There are quite a few nice designs. The dry bath and murphy bed is a really nice setup for a couples basecamp.

 

looks nice...looking at getting a small camper soon.

 

Looks great! Nice looking Tacoma too!

 

Looks much better with those 31" Cooper HT3 tires and black 16" wheels. It tows even better than it looks and is nice to have wheels/tires that are over rating for the weights and speeds we'll be traveling at.

 

Hi there EDS!! Thank you very much for the response! That is great info, for sure!!

Follow up question-- What size solar system did you end up getting? It isn't on the forefront of our acquiring a rig, but I do need to start putting some thought on how we'll tackle powering and charging a rig, i.e. a soft start system into the a/c and just use a portable generator vs a solar system. We plan to use this small couples trailer for 3-5 years (until we quit work) for 1-2 week trips. Then we'll transition to a motor home for 1-2 month trips, then back to patrol base home for 1-2 months. So, with 1-2 weeks, we'll mainly focus on exploring our state of CO, and can include UT in that range. Also, maybe can do a couple of trips to shoot out to NV, CA, or the pacific north west. So...we'll be apt to be in a more of a boondocking mode that once we start motorhoming. There is just so many great public land areas out here; may as well take advantage of it. Also, we can also focus more on the mountain areas so that we're not trying to do that as often in a bigger rig.

Have a great day!