[pryan37bb]

I spent about half a day reading through this thread, some very interesting and exciting stuff going on! I just got a Ram 1500 Regular Cab with a Hemi V8, advertised 20 hmpg but mine's probably less than that because it's 4x4. I recently took it on a 1,500-mile trip starting in New York and ending in Florida with a detour in Alabama. I'd had several hundred pounds of stuff in the bed wrapped up burrito-style in a tarp. The Aerolid would've worked much better for my purposes, regarding both the cargo and fuel efficiency.

Several thoughts I had after reading the thread. First is for Bondo, Have you considered using Lexan panels spanning most of the roof part of the Aerolid for better rear visibility? One of my favorite things about the Regular Cab is that I can turn around and see so much more than in any other car I've driven, so the Aerolid would be more appealing to me, and I would imagine to others, if it restricted visibility less. I'll admit I don't know much about the materials involved, which is more expensive or harder to work with, etc.

Second is more of an open question, since several people mentioned it. The idea of extending the lid past the tailgate to further reduce the wake got me thinking about airplane wings. I've no engineering background, but I have taken several classes on aerodynamics, and I wondered if the air would be traveling too far a distance (assuming the lid extended all the way down near the level of the bumper, which would make the truck look like an airfoil; since this is most aerodynamic, this is what I assumed was meant). Would the air still stick to the surface? I would imagine air traveling that far along a sloped surface would start to separate. In that vein, I would wonder if vortex generators would fix that problem; VG's positioned near or behind the tailgate might re-energize the boundary layer while adding very little drag at most speeds.

Third is related to second, and is also for Bondo, regarding the boat-tail trailer hitch attachment. Have you done the yarn test with this new design to ensure separation isn't happening near the end? I would imagine if there's a little gap between the lid and the boat-tail, that alone might re-energize the boundary layer, so I'd be very interested to know more about the new attachment.