The goat and the donkey

[bandit86]

The truck, diesel with a 6 speed manual, usually averages 22-25 mpg all thanks to the Scangauge unit that reminds me to ease off the throttle. Picked up the camper last weekend and experienced 8-9 for the 2 hours home. Ouch. For some reason the easyscan was reading low by 40 percent on my last fillup, i did think 30 mpg was too nice.

First off the trailer will need a 3 inch lift kit to get the bottom out of the air passing under the truck, and some corrugated plastic sheating to cover up the aero-nightmare bottom. Thinking of a truck topper, an air dam on the truck and something to funnel air around the sharp edges of the trailer. Trailer weights 4300 empty, truck weighs 6800 empty.

[freebeard]

This was done for a pickup camper, but it shows how you can get a radiused edge without major structural changes.



The radius is supposed to be equal to or greater than 4% of the gross width, or about 4 inches with an 8 foot width.

[ennored]

Since rounding the edges was mentioned. I see these around a bit.



I've never searched for a reason/supplier/claims. But it is like what is suggested in the above drawing.

[freebeard]

That's pretty much it. On the truck or a camper there might be need for a relief for the door-swing, but the trailer doesn't have that constraint.

A sheet-metal shop could roll a 'gutter' that's 3/4-circle so that when it's bent to the curve it's spread into a half-circle section. Maybe even a length of [seamed, single-wall] stove-pipe.

Nothing across the top, and the air-conditioner [only] moved to the top of the stack on the hitch. Behind each skylight/ventilator a 'speed-bump' to reattach the flow to the roof.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by bandit86

First off the trailer will need a 3 inch lift kit to get the bottom out of the air passing under the truck.

Um, aren't we stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime here? Moving your already high roofline another 3 inches up will probably hurt you more than you gain by matching the bottom of your trailer to your truck.

I wouldn't do this unless you had some other reason for raising it, like a need for more ground clearance.

[skyking]

I'd leave the trailer low and enjoy the reduced frontal area up high.
I am thinking of active air dam and side skirts on my truck. Something I can flip a switch and raise when things get rough. I may build it so I have to get out and pin it up to save technology/money. There is a ton of bad air going under these 4x4's. If you pushed that air aside then the low trailer would not hurt so much.
Glad to see another 3rd gen on here. I just got one and have not broken above 19 MPG yet. Only one tank in so far and I suspect my entire engine is worn out. Fresh injectors may help a great deal.

[freebeard]

Something like this?

[skyking]

< Maxwell Smart> NOT exactly </Maxwell Smart>
More like 5" of clearance when down. In front and along the sides. A dream too far? A fool's folly? A bad metaphor?
You decide, here in the ecomodder zone.

[bandit86]

Originally Posted by skyking

I'd leave the trailer low and enjoy the reduced frontal area up high.
I am thinking of active air dam and side skirts on my truck. Something I can flip a switch and raise when things get rough. I may build it so I have to get out and pin it up to save technology/money. There is a ton of bad air going under these 4x4's. If you pushed that air aside then the low trailer would not hurt so much.
Glad to see another 3rd gen on here. I just got one and have not broken above 19 MPG yet. Only one tank in so far and I suspect my entire engine is worn out. Fresh injectors may help a great deal.

My injectors quit after driving 600 miles home last year. Symptoms are taking longer, more than 5 seconds to start. Didn't notice a mileage decrease, maybe an increase with brand new injectors. At 55 I can hit mid 20 for mileage, 35 inch tires drop the rpm down to about 1500. Tuner is set on performance mode.

Towing this camper home I tried different power settings on the highway, towing mode lost 1 mpg, no power another 2. Going for a short round trip I did notice 6th gear was too low for towing, the engine sounds great but im down to 8mpg cruising. I tried 5th gear which gets the rpm up higher, seems I can get into low 10s

The campers front is absolutely muddy, seems all the tire spray gets up on the camper. Id like to get some air dams on the truck, see if it helps, the bottom of the front bumper is quite high off the ground.