Camper build using old Hi-Lo

[freebeard]

The source local to me is Jerry's Building Materials. They have rattle cans and, I think, quarts and gallons. For the fancy top coats dipyourcar.com. Their tutorials are on Youtube.

A gallon ought cover the rear addition, but I don't know. They say 2,3 or 4 gallons to do a car. You could do it piecemeal but shouldn't the end goal be to have it all one color, even when it's cranked up?

Edit: I brushed a bicycle frame once and it wasn't successful. Maybe if I had thinned it but it had whiskers all over it. I think that was the dipping kind. Plasti Dip S is the sprayable formulation (it has more toners). A roller might be a good option.

[deejaaa]

i'm looking for white. need to cover my old bumper cover and not spend much. site didn't show white.

[freebeard]

Armour All has a competitive product

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne3edUf_xXI

Lowes carries it. I did my wheels with white rattle cans (the centers of the chrome wheels on the car):



The wheels on the ground will get 3-4 coats over all of black Plast Dip, age for 30 days before the tires are mounted, then get tires mounted, then the front and back faces done in Real Aluminum. All to keep from mounting the tires causing tears.

Then maybe a Pearlizer top coat.

[Hersbird]

My local Ace hardware had the white and black spray cans of plastidip.

[Hersbird]

So first 200 miles done and not as good as I hoped. I got 13.1 mpg going from 3200 feet over a 5300 ft pass and back down to 3200 on curvy back roads of western Montana. Tried to keep it a little under 65 but went faster down some open hills and slowed down to 50 going up some steeper ones. I guess that's not bad as I bet I'm over 4000 pounds maybe 5000 on the trailer with 3 adults and 3 kids in the Aspen.

[skyking]

I don't know that is not too bad. Did you do an unmodded baseline run?
That looks really great, what you have done by the way. I have been elsewhere

[Hersbird]

I did a trip with just my son in law and very little gear before any mods and got 14 but also made a run up a forest service road without the camper on that trip. Hard to tell if that would have helped or hurt mileage, it was about 20% of the overall mileage that trip.

[aerohead]

*It's hard to make a call on it.
*In February,when you brought it home we saw 15-mpg at 65-mph.Can you tell us about those trip conditions? You were running empty,maybe 7,800-lbs?
*In May,on the camping trip you were running at 55-65 mph,so the lower speeds might have influenced the 14 mpg.
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*AeroStealth had a Coleman pop-up,smaller,much lighter,but maybe similar frontal area,and he's seen in the 20s pulling that behind the Toyota Highlander,which is between the RAV4 and 4RUNNER.
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*Curves make a difference.Alex Tremulis lost 15-mpg while in curves on the raceway where he was testing the Subaru X-100 Gyronaut.
*The hills would certainly impact mpg.
*You were running 9,500-10,000 lbs.
*And your speed was higher.
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If you did every trick in the book you'd get the Cd of the rig below Cd 0.15.And you'd have a world record for mpg.It would cost enormously in time and $$$$$$$$$.
Too bad RV manufacturers are stuck in the 19th-Century.

[slowmover]

Heavy load in vehicle. Unloaded front axle is hurting you.

Find "bathroom scale method of weighing trailer to tongue " to see where you are.

Over 400-lbs will benefit from a WD hitch. These things are not about weight, per se, but weight relationships. What tow ratings mean have to be interpreted.

You are likely over the RAWR of the Dodge.

See the Nov 2014 issue of RV Lifestyle and copy Andrew Thomsons Hitch Hints column. Achieve the effect he is outlining. Verify on a scale later.

You want "equal squat" as he writes, and it MUST be as loaded for trip including passengers.

And you will not want full pressure on steer axle tires (no more than door placard number) as it will exacerbate tendency to wander.

A WD hitch with integrated anti-sway will greatly dampen tendency of trailer to wander side-side.

Trailer axle alignment, brake and bearing pre-set, plus caliper drag on tow vehicle all need to be checked.

Don't assume. Don't let bad mechanical baseline hurt you further.

[Hersbird]

Thanks for the tips on hitch weight. I did stop at one point and move some stuff from the back to the front. Everybody's suitcases and a 55# generator. That helped a lot as the road was really dippy and rough with zero shoulder but so wonderful as far as zero traffic, people, or basically any signs of mankind for mile after mile. My rear GAWR is 3714 according to the sticker but I should try and find a scale and see what I'm running actually fully loaded.
We have 13" radial trailer tires but they are only load range B and I'm running over max at 42 pounds and they look loaded. They are staying coolish as are the bearings even in full sun with 90+ degree weather.
We did better yesterday and today with yesterday running 2 fill ups of 150 miles at 14.8 gaining 750 feet but on new smooth highways, and 263 miles of 14.2 loosing 1700 feet but on the very rough and rolling area of the badlands and there was a section on that tank W/o the camper up into a winding state park that included a 13% dirt grade. Before that the trip computer was saying 15.5 but it has been running about .4 or .5 high towing. That winter supposed 15 was according to the trip computer not a fill up because it was only 15 miles or so. It was completely uploaded as well.
Today I didn't fill up yet but the computer is reading mid 14's going back up over the badlands gaining about 700 feet. We only went 130 miles or so today. Tomorrow I would get decent numbers but then after that we are going over the 10000+ foot beartooth highway into Yellowstone. Once in Yellowstone there will be 3 days if no towing which will be the real vacation for me.