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Old 08-01-2017, 01:01 AM   #17 (permalink)
slowmover
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Posts: 2,442

2004 CTD - '04 DODGE RAM 2500 SLT
Team Cummins
90 day: 19.36 mpg (US)
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I looked at some of your older posts and saw I'd already asked the question about, "why build versus buy used?", previously in the trailer edge thread. (Might reference that before proceeding with this).

There's no real penalty in MPG with a CTD (Cummins Turbodiesel) with one trailer or type versus another given decent trailer aero qualities.

1) I've pulled the U-Haul 12x6x6 trailer twice over the same 700-mile roundtrip and seen 18-mpg with the combined rig just under 13k in weight.

And,

2) In the same climate & terrain (even some of the same road) pulled my 35' travel trailer and averaged 15-mpg. Combined weight is 17-18k. The rig is 63' OAL.

Solo, I average 24-mpg, and see 26/7 on occasion. This is simply setting cruise st about 1725-rpm or 58/9-mph. Same as when towing. (Truck weighs 7,940-lbs currently).

CTDs are fairly impervious to weight gains up to about 1k. Nothing at all like the penalty with gassers.

But it's a truck sure as hell overkill for a 3k trailer. In the oilfield I used a version of this truck to hotshot trailers in excess of 20k.

A one ton nearly always weighs over 6k, and it's expensive to move that mass. (Parts, component repairs, tires, etc).

Long acquaintance with all-aluminum aero trailers tells me there's no real advantage to low weight. A 6k 28' trailer isn't really any harder to move down the highway than a 4.5k 21'.

But the latter is FAR more "livable". Bigger capacities is king for RVs. For staying put and not having to run to town for supplies.

Sure, there's a limit to size vs. efficiency. But there's also a sweet spot:

A 12-13k pound combined vehicle is economical. Dead stock. (Given a turbodiesel drivetrain and motivated operator).

I'd like to recommend two things. To inform your thinking, not de-rail it.

I hate to see folks re-invent the wheel. To that end I first recommend perusal of Streamline & Silver Streak Trailer brands sales brochures from the 1960s. Some can be found on the Toms' Web Page website. There are Facebook pages with which I'm unfamiliar.

These manufacturers had Full time staff taking exquisite time to maximize space utilization. Capacities.

There are beautiful restorations of Airstream trailers available for viewing (the low end trailer of this type) over on Airstream Trailer & Motorhome Owners Community. But those renovations usually have compromises that negatively affect utility. It's very hard to get all of it right.

The space is so small that the penalty for missing the mark is huge.

I strongly favor buying used, and making sensible modifications in an overall sense (the least important RV system is the electrical . . but it's where folks go nuts today on solar electric. $$$ and questionable longevity). By overall I again reference

X people for Y nights without re-supply.

It's really the question to answer.

The truck you wish to have is now the penalty. A 3k aero trailer will not sufficiently reduce fuel burn substantially enough (over the above direction of renovation) to enable travelling greater distances on the same budget. M

Second,

Let me put this another way: rhetorically, when will circumstances "force" you from the RV to ordinary housing? Death is obvious, so is generalized paralysis (and other).

Weather (past mechanical breakdown and fire) is the most commonly cited reason. (Hail, tornadoes, extended sub-freezing, etc).

Temporary evacuation, extended, or permanent.

RV'ers (fulltimers, in that parlance) always need "an exit plan". Selling a CTD is usually easy. Selling an RV one will wait six months or more (and not at all in winter; it's an emotional purchase).

The farther advantage, therefore, of renovation versus new construction is ease of sale. There's always a buyer for the famous marques. Especially one where all systems are functional, leaks addressed, etc. Its an advantage that it's been out on the road.

As a corollary, the community (loosely) of fellow owners is not to be taken lightly. Not for practical reasons (repairs) or social.

I say all this (and more detail would append) as the choice of a CTD will likely cap MPG in the low twenties. That's as high as I'd go in guessing. It'd be impressive, but it's not 30+ as can be done with a different TV and trailer.

What I'm suggesting (context, not dissuasion) is that a quite comfortable and satisfactory road is already blazed thru the woods. You'd do it on less fuel, but all other concerns are basic to what's needed.

1) A one ton truck is a limiting factor
2) New construction usually takes years, and is fraught by compromise
3) Community of others not to be lightly dismissed
4) Eventual sale is part of ownership cost (which influences operational cost)

Fuel is usually less than 1/2 of daily expenditure. All other owner and operator costs will nearly equal it. THEN the cost of provisions and ground rent will exceed fuel on a per night basis.

A tool defines its use.

A CTD both gives and takes.

"We" usually recommend a buyer get the trailer first. It will determine the TV. By doing it the other way, the TT needs to be mated to the TV for full advantage.

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