Changes & mods during our trip to Alaska

I originally wrote this last fall(?) but didn't post it at that time. I decided to post it without editing:

More changes

Even after beginning our trip we continued making changes as we went. Many were prompted by learning about improvements others had made to their R-Pods.

• The stove-top cover. We use the stove very seldom. So it is mostly an obstacle in the middle of the counter top next to the sink. Others have found ingenious ways to cover it with a surface that is more useful. Our solution is a very plain cutting board from Wally-world, that is the perfect size to just cover the stove. We agonized about how to support it on the counter-top and above the stove and again the solution is pretty simple if not especially attractive. I bought a 1x2 board and screwed pieces of it to the cutting board on all four sides so it fits snugly on top of the stove. The knobs have to be removed and stored elsewhere, but it's secure and removable. We learned to store it elsewhere while underway when it bounced onto the floor on a bumpy piece of road.
• I bought a 'torpedo' level. I kept the level in the tow vehicle where I could quickly grab it when we arrived at a campsite and the trailer was where we wanted it. The first thing to do is level the trailer from side to side, and it's easiest to put the level on the side of the trailer to decide how many leveling pads are required. Once leveled we're ready to chock the wheels! Then, placing the level on the trailer frame by the tongue jack would get the fore-and-aft level 'close enough'. Using it on the counter-top would get even closer.
• I used the wrench provided to manually lower and raise the stabilizer jacks only one time before deciding to find a better way. It turns out a 3/4 in socket will work, and I had recently bought a cordless drill/impact driver set. With an 3/8in drive socket adapter, the impact wrench works great even if it's very, very loud. The drill also works and isn't as loud. I eventually used white lithium grease spray on the stabilizers which made them work much easier and quieter.   
• "Command" brand hooks. We used these several places in the trailer and tow vehicle, trying to organize things. Sometimes it worked pretty well, sometimes not so much. We found a stainless steel Command brand basket that is secured to the wall behind the sink. It helps organize things well, but we didn't quite trust it to leave stuff in it while underway. The nice thing about the "Command" items is that the "sticky" part is removable!
• Bathroom door mirror. We bought a large mirror and mounted it on the door using hollow wall anchors and the plastic clips. They weren't adequate and even after using bigger hollow wall anchors it wasn't satisfactory. Since then we got a larger mirror(to cover all the holes) that hangs from the top of the door and used velcro style Command strips to secure it on the door. Maybe it will work better. 
• We turned the dinette table. After seeing that some people modify their table by cutting it shorter, We decided to just turn ours. Then we moved it on the table legs so it was more evenly located over the seats. It worked pretty well, and just the small additional room made getting around each other in the aisle much easier too! The strap that secures the table underway had to be moved also.
• The bottom hinged door on the electric panel/converter would fall open if it was just barely touched. A piece of tape worked wonders. 
• Padding for the dinette and bed Sitting on the dinette cushions longer than about 10 seconds becomes uncomfortable. We thought some sort of cushioning would help. In our motor home, we cut up a closed-cell sleeping pad for under the cushions. Instead, we thought we'd try the interlocking floor tiles like they sell for playroom floors. We put them under the dinette cushions and the bed. They didn't help the dinette much so we've since then cut up sleeping pads and put them in the cushions. That seems better but we haven't yet used them to really know. 

Getting ready

More mods and purchases

Based on our experience with several RVs in the past, we wanted to do several things before our first trip.
So we bought:

• A 25 ft drinking water hose to fill the fresh water tank
• A fancy two part (10ft each) hose for dumping the holding tanks. The trailer came with a hose for this purpose, but it's just barely usable and not really adequate. The fancy one has an elbow to a threaded connector that goes in the campsite dump fitting.
• "Store-bought" leveling pads (instead of the 2x10 boards I used with the motor homes)  
• Plastic wheel chocks 
• A little 'carpet' piece for the outside step makes it seem less slippery and it may help keep some dirt out.
• We have a small entrance mat that fits OK just inside the door. It probably does more to keep some dirt out.

We also got a small wire shelf(Rubbermaid?) for inside the cupboard over the sink. A tension rod helps control items on the shelf.

Storage

Knowing that storage is always a problem in an RV, and our small trailer doesn't have lots of storage, we bought several plastic storage boxes to help organize things. Two clear plastic underbed storage boxes went one on top of the other, well, under the bed in the area reached from inside. Three Rubbermaid Roughneck storage totes (10 gal from Home Depot?) worked very well in the pass-through storage. One held tools, 30 amp cord, 20 amp extension, adapters, cable-tv coax, etc. Another had the holding tank drain hoses with fittings. The third had the fresh water hose, an awning tarp, outdoor carpet, poly tarp, etc. These three totes fit in the pass-through storage like they were made for that purpose. Smaller totes held additional tools like the drill and impact wrench I used for the stabilizer jacks. The leveling pads, wheel chocks and a small step-stool also fit in the storage area.

Almost as important as storage is being able to access the storage. The R-Pod has the very common single thin plywood cover/seat over the dinette storage. A large hole makes it easier to remove, but it's a bit of a hassle. It's a little less hassle with a piano hinge in the cover/seat so we cut it, reinforced the edges with 1x2 scraps, and installed the hinge. Now, the 'backrest' cushion must still be removed, but the seat cushion can be leaned up and left on the non-opening side of the hinged cover while accessing the storage area. I eventually did the same with the much smaller storage area on the other side of the dinette.

Mods

Modifications to our R-Pod

Most modifications are for convenience, but some are necessary or nearly so. These are what we did before leaving on our first trip.

CPAP machine

I have Sleep Apnea and a CPAP(Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine was prescribed for me. Basically, I breath air at higher pressure through my nose while I sleep. The machine I use while traveling is about half the size of a shoe box and runs on either 110V AC or 12V DC. The R-Pod has a 110V AC outlet by the bed but there was no 12V DC outlet in the trailer, despite all the lights, the vent fan, furnace, refrigerator, radio, etc. all being 12V DC. So, I needed two things, a place to put the machine and a 12V DC outlet, near the bed. I put a small shelf on the sidewall where it wouldn't be in the way while sleeping. Ideally the 12V DC outlet would be on or near the shelf, but I wanted to conceal the wiring and would have needed to get into the space under the bed. I didn't have time to do that, so I put the outlet on the cabinetry under the refrigerator. The wire runs from an unused circuit on the electrical panel through the cabinetry( cupboards and drawers ) to the mounting location. It required drilling a number of holes through partitions. I might have routed the new wire along the existing wiring in the back of the cabinets, but I couldn't see a way to do it at the time.

Towing requirements

Towing safely is a requirement so we had the dealer provide us with an equalizing hitch(referred to as a Weight Distributing Hitch or WDH) and an electric brake controller. Our tow vehicle(TV) is about 4500 lbs with a little over 6000 lb GVWR. It's rated to tow 5000 lbs. The R-Pod is almost 2500 lbs(empty) with a 900 lb additional weight capacity. It's not as if we only wanted to tow the trailer a couple hundred miles at a time. We were planning to visit Alaska! And, I didn't want to experience the kind of problem that towing a heavy trailer behind a relatively light vehicle might impose. So we got a WDH.
Trailer brakes are important too. The dealer suggested that Michigan doesn't require brakes on trailers under 3000 lbs. I told him I had experience towing over hills/mountains and I wanted to have brakes. The trailer has brakes on the axle, and the GVWR for the trailer is over 3000 lbs, so I don't know why we had that discussion. The brake controller installation wasn't without issues that have more to do with the TV than the trailer, so I'll talk about that elsewhere.

The WDH is an Equal-i-zer; I believe it is the 400/4000 lb model. It requires installation paying attention to the trailer and TV. It was noisy, but lubrication on the friction surfaces improved that. They sell a special lubricant for the purpose, but I used automotive grease. The sockets were overly tight as delivered but much better after I understood they are supposed to be only 45 ft-lbs. I raised the equalizing bars and it seemed to be better. I still want to raise the hitch ball to see if that improves it more, but the bolts are supposed to be tightened much more than the capacity of my torque wrench, so I haven't yet done it.

The brake controller is a Tekonsha Voyager 9030. It has a manual actuator switch, but using it proved to create problems with the TV, so I didn't use it at all after the second day of our 6 week trip. I made several 'adjustments' to it for a while, but it seemed to work very well. It actually locked up the trailer brakes on two occasions when I tried to brake very hard. One was on encountering a deer on the road!

Second Propane tank

The trailer comes with one tank. It seems to me that having the furnace shut off in the middle of the night and having to manually switch the propane from one bottle to the other isn't so bad. Running out and being without for a day or so isn't acceptable. Two are really required and the dealer set it up to use a second bottle that I already had. We did empty one bottle during the trip, which surprised me because I didn't think we were using that much.

Two more initial purchases

We bought two more items before leaving the dealer, a screen for the two vents from the furnace, and a tube to assist filling the water tank. The screen keeps bugs and critters out of the vents. Recalling the mess from having mice in the furnace of our motor home made the screen an easy sale. And knowing that filling the fresh water tank with clean water is important, the tube that attaches to the hose and is inserted into the tank was needed too. 

What's an R-Pod?

It's a travel trailer made by Forest River RV. They make several different R-Pod models between 18 and 20 feet. Most have slide-outs that increase the interior space considerably.



 We have the RP171, the smallest and lightest model. It has many features in common with much larger RVs and is quite adequate for our needs.

New R-Pod Owners!

We became R-Pod owners in July. Some time ago, we decided to visit Alaska since it was the last state we hadn't at least driven through and we're celebrating major birthdays and an anniversary this year. We also recently purchased a 4x4 capable of taking us places many don't get to visit. After much debate about tents, small motor homes, and fifth wheels, we decided a small travel trailer, that our 4x4 can tow, was what we wanted.

We are in Mid-Michigan near Lansing and found our RP-171 at a local dealer. They said it was "last year's model", but it's a 2017. Because it's small and weighs less than 2500 lbs(empty), but has a "queen" bed, it's just what we wanted.

July 7, 2017

So, we brought it home on July 7th and left for Alaska on the 18th. Before leaving we made two "mods" to accommodate my CPAP: a shelf over the bed and a 12V outlet to power it when "dry camping". We also had axle risers, a second LP tank, an Equal-i-zer hitch, and a brake controller installed by the dealer.

We towed it 10,000 miles in July and August over all kinds of pavement as well as occasional unpaved roads with no problems. There were perhaps 4-6 locations where we were more than one night and two of those were campgrounds we chose to visit again on the return trip.

Kusawa Lake campsite

We've really enjoyed our R-Pod during the short time we've had it, and we're looking forward to enjoying it much more!

Wendell and Kathi