Anyone experienced with R.Pods? - Fiberglass RV
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Old 11-06-2013, 05:19 PM   #1
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Name: Abbey
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North Carolina
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Anyone experienced with R.Pods?

My husband and I are evaluating R.Pods.
We've never owned an RV before but we thought it would be fun to go camping / visiting with our 2 small dogs.
I'm an avid camper and love it. Not so much with the Mr so hence the RV.

If anyone has ever owned one of these, we'd appreciate:

- Good or bad experiences with this manufacturer / product
- comments on a particular model
- any competing products?

Please share any stories!
Thx, signed new forum member, Ms. Abbey
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Old 11-06-2013, 05:43 PM   #2
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Hi Abby and welcome!


We are primarily moulded fiberglass trailers here on this site. I'm sure as big as r pods are I'm sure there is an owners group that would beable to better answer your questions.

Best of luck!
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All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.... J.R.R. Tolkien
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Old 11-06-2013, 06:25 PM   #3
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Forest River is a pretty decent mfr. But like any stick built trailer, the R-Pod has seams that can leak and laminated walls that can delaminate if water intrudes. Also, despite its appearance of roundedness, I've read comments by R-Pod owners saying that their fuel economy isn't much different from a more boxy trailer... 11 to 12 mpg is common.

Competing products? Well, we on FGRV can name a number of trailers that we think are far superior in construction! Scamp, Casita, Eggcamper, and Lil Snoozy are some brands you might look at. They are only sold factory-direct, but you can ask the factory for names and locations of owners in your area who are happy to show off theirs. These trailers are made out of 2 sections of molded fiberglass which are then fiberglassed together to create one solid structure. The resulting trailer body is durable, long-lasting, and attractive. Plus the rounded edges reduce the frontal area, so most owners report mpg numbers around 14 to 17.
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Old 11-06-2013, 08:42 PM   #4
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Been in thousands of rv's, owned several. The one thing that stuck out for me with the R-pod was the off gassing! It was really bad in my opinion. I have been in a lot of newer/new Rv's and that was honestly the worst!

The one's I was in, weren't brand new off the line. Had been in the show room floor for 5 or 6 months! Just really weird to me! So of course I had to walk through everyone to see if it was just the few trailers on the show room floor. Nope, it was everyone I walked through!
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Old 11-06-2013, 08:58 PM   #5
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Name: Madalyn
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When I was first looking for a travel trailer, I also looked at the R Pod and the TAB. I found this forum and the Casita Club forum and became hooked on the fiberglass trailers. We also debated new versus used and my husband solved that issue as he bought me a 2011 Liberty Deluxe (Casita) for our 32nd Anniversary and I am in love with it. I noticed you are also in North Carolina as are we, we are located in Goldsboro. If you would like to see a Casita in person, you are more than welcome to come look at ours.
If you want a long lasting camper that holds it's value and is simple to maintain, buy a molded fiberglass camper!
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Old 11-06-2013, 09:23 PM   #6
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Check out ParkLiner they are in North Carolina...they seem to be getting their act together and really make a nicely laid out caravan with ample storage and a queen sized bed!
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Old 11-06-2013, 09:45 PM   #7
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I seem to recall that somebody here had an R-Pod and sold it to get a molded fiberglass.
For about the same price you can get a nicely equipped molded fiberglass trailer.
Those that own brand "X" will promote their brand since that's the one they decided to get. I think you should look at several brands, and decide what would work for you. I do recommend that you stick with molded fiberglass, NOTE: MOLDED... There's lots of trailers that will bill themselvs as "fiberglass" trailers. They still stick construction with fiberglass and ? panels. Our molded fiberglass trailers all fiberglass. Molded fiberglass trailers last a lot longer and hold their value. There are plus and minuses to each and every brand so it's best to look at as many as you can before purchasing. Look at the rallies section on this site and try to get to one or more to look at the different brands.
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Old 11-06-2013, 10:16 PM   #8
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Yup on the rpod

I have experimented with many different trailers. Had an road for over a year. Very roomy inside, nicer inside than my fiberglass trailers, roomier. Nicer kitchen, slide out gives more space.

Felt like it was incredibly flimsy. Didn't feel like it had substance. The tv/DVD was located right over the bed. The person on the inside could do some serious head knocking. The tv was too tiny to view, never worked.

The trailer is very low to the ground. Felt heavy. Didn't tow as apeasy as my fiberglass ones

They don't retain value like fiberglass trailers.

Ruth
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Old 11-06-2013, 10:30 PM   #9
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I find it funny that many of us take the same track to getting a camper and home in on pretty much the same type of trailer over time and research. We wanted out of the pop-up and started to consider hard sided lightweights like the A-liner and another brand I can't remember. We always liked the Airstreams and thought we would try getting the lightest one but found it wasn't very light, and they were pricey. Then we saw an R-pod parked at the camper place on the way to work. My wife begged me to look at it and I knew if we did we might just settle so I resisted hoping to find something that would better match our needs. I wanted quality, durability and low weight, plus something that would last and not go out of style. Looking online I didn't think the R-pod covered those bases very well. In the meantime while researching Airstreams we bumped by complete chance into Scamps and Casitas. Never saw or really noticed what fiberglass campers were until that point. We quickly gravitated to them over Airstreams as our tow vehicles could handle the weight. We began searching hard for either one and ended up with a Scamp and couldn't be happier.

A close friend ended up getting one of the R-pods and they are very happy with it and we did tour it recently. R-pods are nice, roomy, well laid out. Drawbacks I saw were they are heavier starting at around 2200lbs and up, don't seem to be built for the long term, and are much wider on the wheel base width making it harder to store. Not sure but they are also a bit taller even without A/C. My Scamp (no A/C) fits under my 8' tall garage door if I take the air out of the tires which is a big plus for me. In some cases R-pods are superior but overall I don't think I would have been as happy going that route.

If Scamps and Casita type campers didn't exist we would have gotten an R-pod but in hind site the best thing I did was not let my wife in one before we really looked around to find what was the best fit.
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Old 11-07-2013, 01:05 AM   #10
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Might try asking on rv.net in the travel trailer forum.
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Old 11-07-2013, 06:43 AM   #11
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Fiberglass RV - View Profile: Phil 4500 bought one after his Trillium was side swiped by a truck. He has since moved on to another trailer. You might want to ask him by PM
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Old 11-07-2013, 10:12 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman View Post
I seem to recall that somebody here had an R-Pod and sold it to get a molded fiberglass.
.
Byron I recall reading the same here.

I have a friend who recently considered R-Pods when they sold their small older fiberglass trailers and were in the market for a bit larger trailer. They at the end of the day opted not to get the R-Pod as they were concerned with the build quality compared to their previous all fiberglass trailer.

As someone mentioned already one of the big things that would concern me is the big depreciation in value that they seem to have in a very short time.
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Old 11-07-2013, 10:27 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ms Abbey View Post
My husband and I are evaluating R.Pods.
We've never owned an RV before but we thought it would be fun to go camping / visiting with our 2 small dogs.
I'm an avid camper and love it. Not so much with the Mr so hence the RV.

If anyone has ever owned one of these, we'd appreciate:

- Good or bad experiences with this manufacturer / product
- comments on a particular model
- any competing products?

Please share any stories!
Thx, signed new forum member, Ms. Abbey
ParkLiner is in Gibsonville NC, and for 2100#s, comes with a queen sized bed and flush toilet, as well as AC, heat, hot water, 2 burner stove, etc. Very easy to pull, and has 6'5" of headroom to boot.

If you don't want to go the 7 pin RV plug road, you could head south to St. Matthews, SC and take a look at the Lil Snoozy. They also come with a queen size bed in a small lightweight trailer. They only need a 4 pin flat connector, same as you'd use for a small boat or utility trailer, easy to do. They have hydraulic brakes.

Best of luck!

Frank
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Old 11-07-2013, 01:18 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman View Post
I seem to recall that somebody here had an R-Pod and sold it to get a molded fiberglass.
I have a friend who owned several 16' Scamps, and sold them and bought an R-pod; but this guy is a "serial trailer collector."
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Old 11-07-2013, 06:07 PM   #15
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I've climbed through a bunco of different models at RV shows, and was not impressed with the build quality. In addition, they have very limited storage, and, of course, lots of seams that will likely develop leaks...
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