New Owner 13QBB, Newport, Oregon

[paul]

Well, we took the plunge and purchased a 13QBB , which is towed by a 2006 Honda Pilot with tow package. Three trips so far totaling ~1100 miles. Great little camper. Still figuring out all the tweaks in order to make the experience easier. Pilot tows the camper pretty well, but I do think I'm going to eventually need a bigger vehicle as the fuel economy is not the best .

Cheers
Jon

[charliem]

[quote source="/post/2851/thread" timestamp="1408714358" author="@jkakiwi"]Well, we took the plunge and purchased a 13QBB , which is towed by a 2006 Honda Pilot with tow package. Three trips so far totaling ~1100 miles. Great little camper. Still figuring out all the tweaks in order to make the experience easier. Pilot tows the camper pretty well, but I do think I'm going to eventually need a bigger vehicle as the fuel economy is not the best .

Cheers
Jon[/quote][font size="3"]Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the CL world and forum. Caution: lots of fun ahead! I towed a Forest River RPOD 172 with a 2010 4WD Pilot for a year. The RPOD had a similar weight and frontal area to your 13QBB and it worked well, including climbing mountain passes in Colorado. I wasn't the first to the top of the pass, but I got there. Just tow in 3rd gear (the little button on the shifter) and you'll be fine. A transmission fluid temperature monitor such as ScanGauge would be helpful. Larger trucks don't necessarily improve gas mileage since it takes the same amount of horsepower to pull the trailer through the air or up a hill. Larger engines just do it faster. Enjoy your camper.
[/font]

[pinstriper]

Congrats and welcome. We're heading to Lincoln city in a few days.

I think the recurring theme is that a vehicle's tow rating tells you when it is patently unsafe. That's a lot different from a comfortable tow, and it is also very easy to underestimate how much weight you are really hauling. Focusing on the factory dry weight instead of delivered with options and loaded up for your trip, and including the payload carried in the tow vehicle, is a recipe for being closer to or over your limits. And then there's terrain...