HI All,
Just discovered this site and all I can say is "WOW" Thumbs up to all of you and your incredible MPGs. I've always loved cars that had high performance and low fuel consumption. My classic example was back in the early 80's comparing the 911 to the Corvette. I went for the 911! Race car when I wanted and still hit 30+ cruising down I-95 to Florida!
But my current ride, 02' F250 crewcab long bed (22ft stem to stern) 4x4 7.3l diesel isn't in anyway a sports car but it is an incredible towing machine. I routinely get 16 when towing my 26ft MacGregor sailboat, about 2200lb total trailer weight and the truck bed loaded. 16 is on I-95 south of WDC, north through PA, NY and up to Maine I get about 15. Not towing about 17-19. Oh and I never exceed 65mph, the momentum of this rig just scares the hell out of me should anything go wrong
Question: I have a tall ARE cap, which is nice but not absolutely needed. I'm sure there is a huge suction back there since the rear of the truck looks like a 7ft high, 6 ft wide vertical wall.
Any thoughts on switching to a simple bed cover? Up to this point I've kinda thought the cap gets the air over the front of the boat and helps the mpg while towing.
The bow of the boat is about 2 ft higher then the tailgate. I wouldn't mind optimizing the aero for towing since better than 50% of the time it is towing.
Thanks
Ed