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Old 04-04-2015, 09:56 AM   #1
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V-nose cuts wind drag on mpg

Hello everyone interested. I thought I would post my personal experience on the debate of whether or not having an aerodynamic V nose actually helps with towing mpg. Now that I have had my new Windjammer V-nose for one year and hand calculated my mpg since I purchased my truck new I have determined that the wind resistance is a significant factor vs weight while towing; Here is my experience comparing my last three trailers with the same tow vehicle same conditions, mostly to east TN, VA, NC. There were several 700 mile round trip mile trips to the beach with each camper. I live in north AL. Towing 58-62 mph consistently.

2008 Fleetwood Niagra highwall pop up 20ft; 3800 lbs. avg 12-13.5 mpg
2012 Jayco x 21M Hybrid (full flat front) 22.4ft 5400 lbs. avg 8.5-10.5
2014 Rockwood Windjammer V-nose 34.5ft 8300 lbs avg 8.8-10.3 mpg

The weight differences are fairly substantial between each trailer and while the mpg reflect this, the last two are not significantly different. You can look at my signature profile below to see my current set-up. No mods to the power train...all stock! My sweet spot on Windjammer seems to be right at 61 mph.
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Old 04-05-2015, 09:37 AM   #2
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Interesting comparisons !!

Surprisingly you didn't get much better fuel mileage with the pop-up. I towed a 2720 Trailmanor with a similar truck setup (5.4L, 3.73s, F150) to yours, and averaged ~15.3 mpg in the 2 years that I had it.

Pushing all of that air out of the way digs deep into fuel mileage, regardless of the front design, although I would think the V front should help a bit. 1 of the reasons we bought our Surveyor is that it had a nice "rake" to the front end, which seemed to me would allow air to flow better.

On a 400+ trip (each way) last week, we got 9.9 mpg going, and 10.8 mpg coming back.....according to our ScanGauge II, which I have synced pretty close to the actual fuel mileage of the truck. The only difference was we did about 1/3 of the trip coming back on 2 lane roads at 55 mph instead of all 65 mpg interstate driving. Even with the multiple stop lights we encountered on the 2 lane roads, the ScanGauge indicated a 11.6 mpg at the end of that road. The rest of the trip at 65 mph dropped the overall to 10.8 mpg. Speed hurts fuel mileage !!
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Old 04-06-2015, 07:37 PM   #3
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Well, the V-nosed trailer is heavier. The extra weight does affect mileage because we can't always drive the same speed due to traffic, hills, etc. Accelerating that weight takes energy. Air drag increases with the square of speed. The air drag at 30 mph doesn't double when we reach 60, it quadruples. At 90 mph it is 9 times higher than at 30. So, it appears that the V does indeed help some since the numbers are close for a much heavier trailer. The squared-off backs of our trailers are as much or more to blame for much of the excess drag. Truckers are catching on to this these days. They are using some contraptions that smooth that aft airflow down a bit. As many miles as they drive, a 2% mileage increase is probably worth it...


Safe travels...
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Old 04-06-2015, 07:51 PM   #4
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I like the fact that my pop up has a lower profile when towing. I can imagine that the non-HW pop ups get even better MPG.

When looking at the HTT's this fall I was amazed at how tall they seemed. It is not surprising that MPG suffers with a huge wind sail behind you.
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