TT Gas Milage
We are beginning to look at travel trailers. One consideration is the cost of towing the unit. With the Middle East situation and with the government saying that our highways are seriously underfund...
Forum Discussion
Yep. Take it from someone with a very small hard sided TT -- 10 or 11 mpg, depending on which way the wind blows. Pop-ups get much better mileage.
But you have to put a price on the camping experience -- with a hard sided TT, setup is easier. Insulation is far superior (we do a lot of cold weather camping). It is much quieter (campgrounds can be noisy). Some campgrounds do not allow pop ups because of bears. Rain can be a problem for popups.
On the third hand, a pop up is more like real camping than RVing -- you are much more in touch with the natural setting, rather than being isolated inside a big plastic box. I am ok with my plastic box because we are outside most of the time, anyway.
So you have to figure out what a popup will save you in gas and then put a value on a hard sided TT. Let's say you take three trips a year of a thousand miles each way, or six thousand miles of towing. With a TT at 10 mpg, that's 600 gallons, at $4 per, or $2400. With a pop up, you might get 15 mpg. That's 400 gallons, or $1600. So you have spent an extra $800 on gas.
The next question is how many nights of camping does that represent. If you camp 40 nights a year, that is an extra $20 per night. Not trivial, but for me, it would be worth it. If I had a pop up, I probably would not camp in the snow and the rain as much as I now do.
But you have to put a price on the camping experience -- with a hard sided TT, setup is easier. Insulation is far superior (we do a lot of cold weather camping). It is much quieter (campgrounds can be noisy). Some campgrounds do not allow pop ups because of bears. Rain can be a problem for popups.
On the third hand, a pop up is more like real camping than RVing -- you are much more in touch with the natural setting, rather than being isolated inside a big plastic box. I am ok with my plastic box because we are outside most of the time, anyway.
So you have to figure out what a popup will save you in gas and then put a value on a hard sided TT. Let's say you take three trips a year of a thousand miles each way, or six thousand miles of towing. With a TT at 10 mpg, that's 600 gallons, at $4 per, or $2400. With a pop up, you might get 15 mpg. That's 400 gallons, or $1600. So you have spent an extra $800 on gas.
The next question is how many nights of camping does that represent. If you camp 40 nights a year, that is an extra $20 per night. Not trivial, but for me, it would be worth it. If I had a pop up, I probably would not camp in the snow and the rain as much as I now do.
