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boje's avatar
boje
Explorer
Aug 22, 2015

Tailgater question

Just curious if anyone travels with the Tailgater mounted to the ladder. Just purchased a ladder mount on Amazon, and feel it would be rather hard to take it off/on when traveling. Had to use another ladder to assist with the mount at the top of the ladder on the fifth wheel.
  • Us out West wrote:
    The Tailgater is portable and see no reason to mount it to a ladder or roof.

    If one wants a more permanent installation buy the Dish designed for that.

    We upgraded to the Pathway X2, another portable, and the reason for the portable is that we camp in many places where there is a tight window for seeing the 'birds' but are chances are much better than having the dish mounted on the roof or on a ladder.

    Maybe some think of security but have never heard of someone walking off with any portable especially if you take steps to deter that possibility.


    Since the Tailgater is portable why limit yourself to one method of using the device? Much easier to mount it on the ladder when view of the birds is unblocked instead of putting it out somewhere where you need to reset it after someone trips over the cable. Also a bit more difficult for it to walk away when you're away from the campsite as there is a place for a cable to secure it to the ladder.
  • The Tailgater is portable and see no reason to mount it to a ladder or roof.

    If one wants a more permanent installation buy the Dish designed for that.

    We upgraded to the Pathway X2, another portable, and the reason for the portable is that we camp in many places where there is a tight window for seeing the 'birds' but are chances are much better than having the dish mounted on the roof or on a ladder.

    Maybe some think of security but have never heard of someone walking off with any portable especially if you take steps to deter that possibility.
  • We carry ours in the basement storage area of our 5th wheel. Made a ladder mount by using an eave home mount with the bent arm (1 1/8" EMT tube). Drilled out the base plate to allow two U-Bolts (size 1/8" X 1 1/8"). Allows you to mount the Tailgater high or low on the ladder. I also carry a tripod mount that I use when I have to set it up away from the trailer.
  • One of the major advantages of the tailgator is that you can locate it anywhere your cable will reach. Attaching it to the RV negates this. If you wish to only store it there, I would think the security issue and exposure to road debris would make that unattractive. We store ours inside our B.
  • BB_TX wrote:
    Having seen the inside of the Tailgater, don't want mine shaking around up there. That and the fact we typically park in the trees probably would have to take it off more than leave it on anyway.


    If you have a towable RV, then it probably will shake up there, or more correctly it will be bouncing up and down a fair bit. If you have a MH, the ladder does not move any more than the rest of the coach.
  • You would need some way to rotate it. The handle needs to be pointing northerly.
  • Having seen the inside of the Tailgater, don't want mine shaking around up there. That and the fact we typically park in the trees probably would have to take it off more than leave it on anyway.

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