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RE: Gulf coast things to do!
The alligator alley we've traveled is in FL. Way down in FL. Is there another one?
It’s basically an Alligator Zoo in AL. Something to do for an hour or so!
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dodge guy
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09/29/23 11:56am |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: Gulf coast things to do!
Thanks everyone. We will be down there the 10-12. We are staying at Sun Outdoors which borders the state park. We are bringing our bikes so we will be doing some riding. Sounds like we will miss the festival, which we do like to go to them. And I had seen the dauphin island, but wasn’t sure what to expect.
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dodge guy
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09/28/23 04:51pm |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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Gulf coast things to do!
Hello. We will be in AL (Orange Beach), MS (Biloxi area) and LA (New Orleans) in 2 weeks. We will be pretty much be along the water the entire time. Looking for suggestions on things to do. I’ve already got all the basics and some odd things planned. Looking for fun and different things to do.
New Orleans isn’t a problem as we will only be there for a day and a half to see the French Quarter).
Thanks.
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dodge guy
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09/26/23 10:55am |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: Reasonably decent towed vehicles for a Class A
We have a 13 Explorer that we tow. It’s 4WD but this generation of Explorer can also be towed if it were only FWD. the Ford Edge of similar years can also be towed.
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dodge guy
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09/26/23 10:48am |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: Tow haul mode
In a MH T/H should always be n whenever you start the engine. Reason being that the MH is always hauling because it’s loaded from the factory.
Provides all around better performance and fuel efficiency.
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dodge guy
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09/03/23 12:20pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: What insurance do you carry on your TOAD?
I have full coverage. But if it’s an older vehicle like say a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee with over 100k miles the. It’s not worth it to have comprehensive.
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dodge guy
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08/28/23 02:28pm |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: Towing a Jeep Cherokee
Provided it has the Active Drive II it can be flat towed. I tow an Explorer that weighs 4500 lbs, 4800 with bikes and a full tank of gas. Does very well in the mountains considering it’s weight.
I also tow a 16 Ram Hemi crew cab with a golf cart. 6200lbs total weight. Tows it very well in the flat midwest. It will never be towed in the mountains.
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dodge guy
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08/22/23 08:35pm |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: shifting on downhills
I think what Gritty is saying is, learn to drive the rig instead of having the rig’s computers drive you.
Don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve been driving since 85. I know how to drive manual transmissions and automatics. My Class A with the Tow Haul is the first I’ve had. It makes a huge difference when towing. Before this I always manually shifted my autos for down hill braking. After 38 years it’s nice to have a vehicle that will do this for me. I’m still watchful of the speed and rpm, but now I can concentrate on other aspects of driving.
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dodge guy
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08/20/23 06:01am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: shifting on downhills
Should always be in Tow/Haul! Anytime the engine is started, turn it on.
This kind of baffles me. MHs should be set up to be in Tow/Haul as the default and you should have to turn it off manually if you don't want it for some reason. Same with trucks...the trucks know if a trailer is hooked up, so if it senses one, it should go into tow/haul as the default.
My F-350, once you put it hook up the trailer and put it in tow/haul mode, it stays in it when you stop for gas etc. Then when you disconnect the trailer it asks if you want to stay in tow/haul. I don't think I'd want my truck to automatically go into it. If I'm pulling my 14' jon boat, I don't want tow/haul. On a motorhome I agree, it might as well only have tow/haul mode.
Yes, n MH’s it should be set as defaulted to always on. Why they don’t do that is behind me.
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dodge guy
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08/18/23 08:25pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: shifting on downhills
I don't know about the newer models but in previous versions that's what the tow/haul mode was for. When descending if you tapped the brakes it would downshift.Does tapping the brake cancel the cruise control?
Or would the activated cruise control initiate a downshift on its own to limit speed?
Yes, when in T/H with the cruise on it will downshift and hold the set speed.
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dodge guy
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08/18/23 08:23pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: shifting on downhills
Should always be in Tow/Haul! Anytime the engine is started, turn it on. When descending press the brake pedal. Each press of the brake will downshift the trans one gear. Don’t worry about the rpm, the computer will handle it!
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dodge guy
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08/17/23 08:05pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Camping Recommendations For Yellowstone
We stayed in Fishing bridge in 2017 with our 35ft TT and Excursion 56ft total length. They had sites that were for 45’ rigs and that’s what i reserved. When I got there navigating the roads was easy. The site that I reserved and I confirmed after I parked was for a 45’ coach. My 35 TT barely fit in the spot and that was with the back end hanging over the log that separated the sites, yes I was on the side of the site they want you to be on. I know they redid the campground since, so hopefully it is better than it was.
But even with that, I would not want to stay outside the park because of all the driving. FB is pretty centrally located and makes seeing the park more enjoyable. Imagine coming in everyday past the same scenery just to get to where you want to go?
With that said, we enjoyed the Tetons much more than Yellowstone.
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dodge guy
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08/02/23 07:45am |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: 2022 dodge ram sway issues
Curious how your dry weight dropped 600 lbs in the last post?
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dodge guy
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07/25/23 01:26pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Air Deflector Van + Cargo Trailer Fuel Improvement
FWIW, I've drafted on a bicycle behind a van, and as long as I was within about 3-4 feet of the van I was basically traveling in still air, but any further back than that, and lots of air resistance. That was up to 55 mph. That's what makes me pooh-pooh those deflectors that mount on most trucks: they're just too far away from the trailer to do much of anything, and they're at such a steep angle, they just act as another air stopper. They may throw the bugs over the top, but the wind is just going to curl back around and continue on into the front of the trailer.
IMO Maurice's air deflector looks like it would work because it ends close to the front of the trailer, and is a more gradual slope than most of those add-on wind deflectors. JMO anyway.
:R :S
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dodge guy
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07/24/23 05:53pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Air Deflector Van + Cargo Trailer Fuel Improvement
I respect you guys who have driven tens of thousands of miles! I had not seen any air deflectors that were as gradual as the one I made. I wondered how effective the short but sharp angle style is. Such as two pictures that have been posted in this thread.
If I may ask for clarification? Of the comments of little milage difference, (both your experience and from hearing others report) are most of the air deflectors of the short length and sharp angles?
Could it be possible that a long shallow angle deflector might help milage better than a short sharp angle?
Our family members also drove a Ford F150 pulling a car hauler empty except for a small cargo trailer ON the car hauler - so top of small cargo stuck up at the 9' mark. His fuel milage was much lower than with no trailers. (I had offered to make a quick "camper shell-air defelctor" out of osb ply before we left but he said his bed cover prevented that.) He got better milage on the eastbound trip when he pulled the car hauler with a kia sedan on it and another family member drove his own F150 pulling the samll cargo.
Again I say, all of my information is from the dashboard computer, so it is not scientific.
The problem is it takes some science and testing to get something proven and effective (while not perfect, our dash readout matches pretty well when we check against hand calculations). A smooth transition is important but the biggest trick is getting the back of the wing as close as possible to the front of the trailer matching the height of the trailer front. A big gap or a drop after the cab (such as with a pickup) results in difficult to predict results.
Interestingly having done 5 east/west cross country trips over the last dozen years with different rigs, I've found eastbound typically gets better fuel economy looking at my records. When I look at the individual days runs, it correlates well with the winds conditions (most common winds in the lower 48 are from west to east). For example on the current trip we are just finishing up, we averaged 9.1MPG westbound and are at 9.9MPG eastbound. Same rig, same driving speed/style and similar terrain.
There is no question that aerodynamics can help but randomly sticking a wing on will result in random results.
Are you still trying to tell us that they don’t work. Sheesh, give it up.
We have done the trips with and without. No need to be a scientist to make the comparison.
And BTW, for some reason I have always found that traveling east always got me the same mileage as traveling west, sometimes a bit less.
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dodge guy
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07/24/23 04:51am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Air Deflector Van + Cargo Trailer Fuel Improvement
"I could actually care less if you can't find the studies. If you don't believe it, don't do it. I doubt there are any truckers anywhere who have taken their wind deflectors off."
There's a very big difference between the placement of semi wind deflectors and RV wind deflectors, in fact it can be measure in feet. If you don't get the deflector close enough to the trailer, there isn't going to be much benefit. Of course if everyone agreed that they worked as well as you're suggesting, there wouldn't be a semi out there that didn't have them. But there are lots of them, so there must be a lot of delusional people out there. :)
And .5 mpg increase can be put down to many things, not the least being a unconscious desire to make sure the mileage is better, i.e., backing off just little bit, a little less acceleration, many things can show .5 mpg increase. A person could perhaps be delusional to think it has to be the results of a wind deflector. Sometimes the data is worked with to support the theory, rather than vice versa.
The lengths people will go through to make their point is ridiculous. Everyone saying that they have used one and got better mileage and you still don’t like the answer. Sorry, but they can and do work! Try it for yourself and see. But stop trying to make yourself believe it can’t happen!
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dodge guy
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07/22/23 03:17pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Air Deflector Van + Cargo Trailer Fuel Improvement
If anyone thinks that adding an air deflector DOES NOT help is delusional. Air going over a trailer vs. slamming into the top of the trailer is a real thing. How much? Can't say, but it's a reality.
How much? Got any data?
No bug splatter on the front of the trailer means the air is being moved up and over the trailer. Also the .5 mpg improvement says it works as well!
I don't see how anyone could detect that small of a difference. It would take a precise fuel consumption measuring device and identical driving conditions. I see huge difference merely due to traffic, wind direction, etc.
Well 3 years and 20k towing miles after its use shows that it works. I did the same trips big before and after and there was always that .5 difference. Sure sometimes it may have been less, sometimes a bit more but it always averaged .5 better with it.
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dodge guy
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07/21/23 01:06pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Air Deflector Van + Cargo Trailer Fuel Improvement
If anyone thinks that adding an air deflector DOES NOT help is delusional. Air going over a trailer vs. slamming into the top of the trailer is a real thing. How much? Can't say, but it's a reality.
How much? Got any data?
No bug splatter on the front of the trailer means the air is being moved up and over the trailer. Also the .5 mpg improvement says it works as well!
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dodge guy
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07/20/23 11:30pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Air Deflector Van + Cargo Trailer Fuel Improvement
When I had my TT I found an old fiberglass wind deflector on Craigslist. Modified it to bolt into the roof rails of my Excursion. I gained .5mpg with it. Now that may not seem like a lot until you are on several 3-4K mile trips, then the savings adds up. I only paid $75 for it. Another benefit was that it kept the bug splatter off the front of the trailer!
https://i.ibb.co/YWgYVVs/1-B0872-C3-F0-B8-47-E3-8-B4-E-BDFE6396588-F.png height=600
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dodge guy
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07/17/23 04:27pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Going longer
Went from a 25’ to a 28’ to a 35’ the TV also went up in size with each one. But they all towed about the same, and the longer the trailer the easier it is to back up.
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dodge guy
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07/17/23 04:23pm |
Travel Trailers
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