War Eagle, it looks like your friend has sold out to the standard building style. Google Map:
Silverdome Saloon & Music Hall, Main Street, Silver Cliff, CO
Norm, speed affects your gas mileage disproportionately. That is because the drag increases as the square of the speed. At 50 mph the factor is 2500. At 60 mph it is 3600. A near 50% drag increase for a 20% speed increase.
We have recently changed to our second automatic transmission. Our first was a push button 2 speed transmission 1957 Dodge Coronet coupe with a Red Ram V8 which got all of 6 mpg.
The old knees were beginning to complain about clutching.
Hmm. I wonder if the young uns know what a coupe is?
One thing I do to check the trailer brakes is allow the rig to 'creep' when waiting at a stop light and then confirm that the trailer brakes stop it with the manual lever.
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Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.
War Eagle, it looks like your friend has sold out to the standard building style. Google Map:
Silverdome Saloon & Music Hall, Main Street, Silver Cliff, CO
Roger, What you found is another GoogleMaps blunder. The photo they show is from the other end of main street (an auto repair shop and an ice cream shop) in the sister town of Westcliffe (the two towns of Silver Cliff and Westcliffe are side-by-side, each having only a few hundred inhabitants and lots of history going back to gold mining days). I'm trying to attach a couple photos of the real Silverdome Saloon (pulled from a Google image search) - a view from the parking lot, and a view from inside of the bandstand. I hope they come through....
From a quick Google search, it looks like there are still companies out there selling geodesic dome kits! The price has gone up substantially since the 1970s' when these were relatively cheap and very popular with "flower power" hippies and the "Foxfire" back-to-nature crowd. That reminds me - what ever happened to all those Hare Krishnas that used to panhandled in the airport terminals back then? Memories....
Dale, Domes are really easy to build, we've made 6 domes of many different sizes and constructions. Basically the cost of the outer shell is really low. Give me a pile of 2x4s and some sheets of plywood and we can make one in a weekend.
We made one for a trade show that was clear lexan.
Norm,
You have the greatest ideas! I can see you now with your new camper! Call the Norm Dome! They will sale like hot cakes! You and Ginny and take your 50th honeymoon in it!
Thanks,
Carls
Norm I would be sure to praise Andy if he had in fact done the testing and experimentation. But the fine print at the bottom of the test results shows it was done by a Dr. Buckley at the Univ. of Maryland.
So what would be the coefficient of drag on a geodesic dome (pick a size) mounted on a pair of Dexter axles? You probably better calculate the aerodynamic lift, too. At interstate speeds, that dome shape just might cause lift off!
Just to set the record straight, if you own your own wind tunnel, you can design a trailer that lowers the drag of even a low-drag tow vehicle like the Honda Insight:
There was a little bit of cheating as you'll see they faired in the front wheels too, but the car-trailer combination had noticeably less drag than the car alone (sadly, I can't find those numbers now).
The trailer is, pretty clearly, designed to suit just that one tow vehicle and is connected to it by elastomeric (stretchy) panels, hence the absence of a gap.
And it is easy to be a little critical of this trailer - the headroom at the dinette is under six inches, and the dinette itself is only three feet long - but then every trailer is a compromise somewhere, right?
Trailer: 2008 20 ft Flagstaff Pop-Up (206ST) / 2005 Sienna
Posts: 1,416
Norm, have you thought about how to work around the hitch clearance issue with the Oddy? I would love to go back to a minivan if it weren't for that. I'm considering a Honda Pilot to regain at least some of the room I lost yet keep the hitch clearance.
Melissa
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Melissa in Florida
1999 Toyota Sienna XLE
So what would be the coefficient of drag on a geodesic dome (pick a size) mounted on a pair of Dexter axles? You probably better calculate the aerodynamic lift, too. At interstate speeds, that dome shape just might cause lift off!
The coefficient of drag of a half sphere is definitely less than the typical truck.
We built our first dome one labor day weekend out of 1/2 inch dowels and large washers. We were surprised after we put the last dowel in by how strong it was. Our young children could hang from it. Since it was hot, we decided to hang sheets on it to create shade using clothes pins.
We went off to play some back yard game. Suddenly the kids were all excited. We turned to see the dome literally flying across the large field, picked up by a relatively breeze. It crashed when it reached a bordering fence, spilling over the fence with some minor damage.
Norm, have you thought about how to work around the hitch clearance issue with the Oddy? I would love to go back to a minivan if it weren't for that. I'm considering a Honda Pilot to regain at least some of the room I lost yet keep the hitch clearance.
Melissa
At present it looks like the rear door easilyclears our hitch with inches to spare. I haven't checked propane tank clearance but will and let you know.
Norm, going from the manual trans CRV to an automatic trans vehicle reminds me of the first auto trans car my grandfather bought back in the 70's, a Dodge Coronet. Riding back home from picking it up at the dealership when he went to turn in his driveway he thought he was driving a standard and went to push in the clutch, but it was the brake. SUDDEN STOP !! And about the dome houses, there is one in our area that was probably built in the 70's, but my favorite house is a Futuro Home. One was just for sale on ebay, wish I could have afforded it.
We choose a dome because we had visited a large air supported structure and liked the feeling, you could see shadows of trees thru the walls. We thought about converting one into a home. With in a tear the power went down and the building came down. After that we choose the dome.
Norm, have you thought about how to work around the hitch clearance issue with the Oddy?
We have a 13' Scamp that we tow with a 2007 Odyssey. I am not sure what hitch clearance issue you are referring to. The tailgate does conveniently miss the jack and can open when the trailer is attached. The hitch is relatively low to the ground, but you can see that I had to actually go down a little to hook up to the 13' Scamp. Below is a picture of our hitch. I like how the dealership cut out a little bit of the bumper to get the hitch as high as possible. I have seen other installations that are much lower.
Norm, I hope you enjoy your Odyssey as much as we have. It has been a great vehicle for us.
Trailer: 2008 20 ft Flagstaff Pop-Up (206ST) / 2005 Sienna
Posts: 1,416
Thanks for the pic Eric this is exactly what I was referring too. The rear hatch cleared the jack and propane tank easily which was nice being able to access stuff in the rear of the van while hitched and even stand under the hatch when raining to hookup etc. My issue was with scraping the hitch/electrical connector on steep entrances into gas stations, campgrounds etc b/c the Sienna hitch was low to the ground. I'm wondering if the Oddy hitch is able to be installed higher off the ground than the Sienna hitch maybe???? Do you ever scrape yours?
Melissa
Quote:
Originally Posted by ericw
We have a 13' Scamp that we tow with a 2007 Odyssey. I am not sure what hitch clearance issue you are referring to. The tailgate does conveniently miss the jack and can open when the trailer is attached. The hitch is relatively low to the ground, but you can see that I had to actually go down a little to hook up to the 13' Scamp. Below is a picture of our hitch. I like how the dealership cut out a little bit of the bumper to get the hitch as high as possible. I have seen other installations that are much lower.
Norm, I hope you enjoy your Odyssey as much as we have. It has been a great vehicle for us.
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Melissa in Florida
1999 Toyota Sienna XLE
It looks like it could change weight distribution on the axles of the tow vehicle somewhat (shift even more of the weight to the rear axle of the TV which acts like a lever fulcrum unless one uses a weight-distributing hitch?), but I've seen longer-than-normal hitch bars that move the ball about 4" back, further away from the TV's bumper. But if you only need a couple inches more clearance to raise the tailgate past the hitch, or whatever else the tailgate might be hitting on the tongue, it might be worth checking into. Not sure what they are called. I think I remember seeing one in the accessory showroom of a mom-and-pop business that sold and serviced utility trailers.
My issue was with scraping the hitch/electrical connector on steep entrances into gas stations, campgrounds etc b/c the Sienna hitch was low to the ground. I'm wondering if the Oddy hitch is able to be installed higher off the ground than the Sienna hitch maybe???? Do you ever scrape yours?
Melissa
Melissa, I do scrape occasionally on steep entrances. It happens maybe once per 2000 miles of travel so occasionally, but not often. It does not scrape on the receiver/electrical connection that is mounted to the odyssey. It does seem to scrape on the bottom of the hitch that goes into the receiver.
I have noticed different installations on these vans. Some are higher and some are lower.
In my setup, I do not blame the Odyssey at all, but rather the Scamp 13'. It rides quite low and to keep it somewhat level you can see my hitch goes down slightly from the receiver rather than up. I think Norm who has a 16' that rides higher than the 13' will have even less of a problem.
I have also had to be careful to not overload the tongue weight. I measure it every year. These vans are not designed to take a lot of weight and too much weight makes them ride even lower. Remember that loading up the van (especially the rear of the van) is the same thing as having too much tongue weight.
We have been coast to coast with this setup and love it. I hope you have enjoyed it as well.
"Homelet" Trillium 1300
Joining in
Little Joe
Norm I would be sure to praise Andy if he had in fact done the testing and experimentation. But the fine print at the bottom of the test results shows it was done by a Dr. Buckley at the Univ. of Maryland.
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