Hi. I am

[USN Jerry]

Hi friends , It's Jerry again ...
I think I successfully attached a picture of the rig but cant see it indicated anywhere on this .

it's of the Casita , following our Ford F150 King Ranch with the BIG gas guzzler engine. we're parked in a State park in Indiana.
How small of an engine will pull these light lil'trailers out west in the BIG hills. ? also Do you ride the trailer brake, a bit, when coming down the steep grades to keep things inline ?

Maybe there's another place for all my questions. but I didn't see it indicated..

I will also attach a picture of our Sweet Boat we cruised the Caribbean on for many years. .
It is a world famous Block Island 40. this is the very first one.. a 1957 named SEAL The BI40's were the first Production FIBERGLASS sailboat.
There's much more to the story but we'll save that till we have you around the campfire some evening.
Warm regards.
Jerry & Marsha

[USN Jerry]

Hi Dave ..Thanks for the welcome and all that good news.. I do have a bunch of questions..

We have a small place in Mid-Missouri and would warmly welcome fellow F/G eegshell campers to stop by on their way through the area. not sure how to do that without opening ourselves up to all sorts of problems.. any of that happening out there in Radio land? I wonder how you keep people moving along as well as what protections dose a person have to have to prevent frivolous law suits and etc. (if you know)
Regards Jerry

[USN Jerry]

Originally Posted by Johnny M

Welcome Jerry, nice work with the hitch. Your more than welcome at our rally we host "2nd Annual Eggs on the Hiawassee River" May 18th -20th in the NE Georgia mountains. We have almost 60 eggs signed up and I think there is about 12 spots left. Lots of Casitas, Scamps, 2 Bolers, several U-Hauls, a Trillium, some Olivers & Escapes & more. Here is the link: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/c...=2017-5-18&c=1

John & Melissa

Hi J&M
Thanks for the heads up on the 2nd annual EGG thing down your way.. sounds like a good one to hit.. but it'll have to be another year.. also thanks for the kind word on the Hitch addition.
Regards
J&M

[Borrego Dave]

Originally Posted by USN Jerry

Hi friends , It's Jerry again ...
I think I successfully attached a picture of the rig but cant see it indicated anywhere on this . it's of the Casita , following our Ford F150 King Ranch with the BIG gas guzzler engine. we're parked in a State park in Indiana.
How small of an engine will pull these light lil'trailers out west in the BIG hills. ? also Do you ride the trailer brake, a bit, when coming down the steep grades to keep things inline ?
Maybe there's another place for all my questions. but I didn't see it indicated..
I will also attach a picture of our Sweet Boat we cruised the Caribbean on for many years. .
It is a world famous Block Island 40. this is the very first one.. a 1957 named SEAL The BI40's were the first Production FIBERGLASS sailboat.
There's much more to the story but we'll save that till we have you around the campfire some evening.
Warm regards.
Jerry & Marsha

Nice looking boat Jerry. Most of the boats we used to sail were sloop rigged, 32' and smaller, and a few cat rigs now and again. I agree, good fireside stories.
I'm guessing you have the 5.4 in your King. You sure won't have any problem with the grades out west. My 4.0 in the Ranger does very well even with the weight of the SD17. Just me, but if I was to upgrade to a new 150, I'd go with the smaller 2.7 Ecoboost. Others will have different opinions on that .
You don't want to hit the trailer brakes at all on down hills or any place other than if you have some sway starting. The only time I hit the manual lever is after hooking up to make sure they're working. On long down hills I try to keep it at the speed limit or less depending on the curves. If your brakes are adjusted correctly normal braking is fine.

[USN Jerry]

Thanks Dave .. these opinions are valuable to me... I have learned over years that intelligents on any subject does not come to you in your sleep.. you've got to ask questions and more importantly LISTEN to the answers.. thanks again for your response.. regards Jerry

[rdickens]

Jerry,

When we were camped at LBL last fall, our next site neighbor had an Escape 19 trailer and was towing with a Ford F150 2.7L Ecoboost. They came through the Smoky Mountains on the way to LBL and were very satisfied with the performance.

For a couple of years now, we have been towing a Scamp13 trailer with a 2014 Ford Escape FWD 2.0L Ecoboost with excellent results. (Coming back from California, we went up and over Donner Pass with the cruise control set on 60 mph and never once slowed down.)

Last fall, after the LBL trip, we were offered invoice pricing + ~$7K in incentives and rebates to purchase a 2016 Ford F-150. So, we (in accordance with Dave's recommendation ) bought a 2016 Ford F-150 XLT Supercab 4x2 2.7L Ecoboost with E-locking 3.31 axle + 20" tires + tonneau cover. Using the new F150, we completed a round trip from the Kansas City Metro to South Carolina. Towing at 60 mph, we averaged about 22.5 mpg for the trip.

This year Ford has introduced a 10-speed automatic that only seems to be available on the 3.5L Ecoboost. There is also a rumor that Ford will introduce a 3.0L EcoDiesel to their F-150 line this year. If I were making a purchase decision this year, I think that I would have to take a look at those new options as well as the 2.7L Ecoboost.

As I have mentioned in other forum posts before, I think that the engine torque at towing RPM is an important factor in both performance and economy when towing a trailer. The 10-speed automatic might help keep the engine RPMs in the "knee of the torque curve" range?

Turbocharged engines (like the Ecoboost) and diesel engines shine in the area of high torque at low RPMs.

Horsepower or Torque?
Measuring Torque and Horsepower - For towing, what's more important, horsepower or torque? | HowStuffWorks

Good luck with your decision(s)!

Ray

[Mike Magee]

Towing is a mpg equalizer, to a great degree. Switching to a smaller engine nets most people about 2 or 3 mpg gain while towing. The big fuel gain is when you're running without the trailer. And if you figure up your projected annual miles, both towing and non, you will probably find that a vehicle switch will only save you a few hundred $ per year. It doesn't pay economically to 'change horses' until you really feel like the old horse is about done in. (Of course, if you just love the new car smell, that's not an economic decision!) Have a look at this table of data we've gleaned from FGRV contributors: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...Pkw/edit#gid=0

As for your style of camping, do what you find comforting. But know that comfort levels sometimes do change with time. I know mine has. And if you choose to try true boondocking out in the middle of some national forest or BLM land, once you have a general location in mind you can feel pretty good about getting there whenever and finding a spot someplace on that piece of land. No need for reservations. People have posted such spots on https://freecampsites.net/ and some other places. You can find yourself camping all alone with no one anywhere nearby and no sounds of civilization, if that's your desire... and without a fee (but BYO W&E, bring your own water & electric). One way to ease into boondocking would be to reserve a campsite at a CG near such public land, then when you're settled into the site you can go scout the nearby land and move your trailer to the boondock site the next day. I can think of a great example of this near Glennie, Michigan where there's a nice county park with CG on a lake, and just 5-10 miles away there's plenty of NF land with dirt roads running through it.

[USN Jerry]

Thanks Mike.. I enjoyed reading your response all good info and looks a lot like what I will try.. the free campsite net is fantastic.. several places around me here in Missouri which I will be checking out between the big runs to Michigan and Arizona (summer & Winters)

As for bringing your own AC power. do many folks do the Solar and wind generators for Battery charging. We used them extensively on the Boat and converted to AC when needed but avoided that most of the time.. most ever accessory and necessity were purchased from companies which produced the Item in DC powered choice. we didn't have the problem of Tree shade out there and in the tropics the wind blows most every day at a pace stronger than you may need.
Thanks again

[rdickens]

Jerry,

Following the boat analogy, I wondered if you might enjoy the following article (& upcoming movie) about the Airstream "Land Yacht".

http://rvlife.com/alumination-a-new-film-on-airstream/

Ray

[USN Jerry]

Yes.. that looks good..