We are so excited for our new home away from home. Meet our 2020 Forest River R-Pod 192 and learn why we thought it was the best travel trailer to match our needs.
So, as I said in my previous post, we watched thousands of hours of videos and scoured blogs, forums, and manufactures websites to find the best coach for us. Being in our 30’s and childless, we don’t a lot of the needs that I believe most manufactures cater to (just watch every video and they talk about where the grand kids will sleep and where to plug in your c-pap). Instead, our needs were more based on cleaning up after hikes, boondocking, and having separate spaces so we’re not on top of each other.
After doing our research, we narrowed it down to six models. But ultimately the R-Pod 192 won us over. Here’s why:
1. Murphy Bed & Residential Queen Bed
If you’re not familiar with RVs and travel trailers, you may not know about different bed sizes. In RVs, space needs to maximized and sometimes standard domestic/residential mattresses just do not fit. Many trailers have an RV queen (or short queen) which measures 60″x75″. The 192 has a standard (or residential) queen bed – which is the same dimensions you’d find in a bed in your home — 60″x80″. Now the 192 has a standard (or residential) queen bed – which is the same dimensions you’d find in a bed in your home, 60″x80″, but it has a folding bed.
The murphy bed allows us to have extra seating and just makes the coach feel wider. It also allows for a full walk around bed, so we don’t have to crawl over one another. The 192 is large enough to leave the bed in the down position, and the coach is fully accessible and functional.
Living on top of one another in a 200 sq ft space is hard enough – we’ll take any extra room we can get.
2. Campside Dinette & Panoramic Window
If you talk to 10 different RV’ers you’ll get 10 different opinions on diner dinette vs. u shaped dinette vs. sofa/chairs, etc. It’s really a personal preference. I plan to do a lot of work on the road and, for me, a dinette made the most sense. Also, it gives us a place to put little Frankie Sinatra‘s bed at night where he’s out of the way, and has a little cubby for sleeping.
Some dinettes are not on the campside and instead you look at your neighbor’s campsite, or just can’t actively see what’s going on at your camp. The window in the R-Pod 192 is huge, too. It provides awesome views and is also an emergency escape window.
3. Outdoor Shower & Sink
The R-Pod 192 comes with a very handy outdoor kitchen, with hose. We plan to wash most of our dishes outside when not on sewer hook ups, as well as cook outside when possible so our coach doesn’t smell like bacon all the time (not that that’s a bad thing…). The coach also has an outdoor hot/cold shower on the back. This is super important for when you have a dog so you can rinse him/her off before going in the coach. Just make sure to use camp friendly soap when you’re washing outside (I’m a big fan of CampSuds).
4. Large Refrigerator & Pantry
My husband and I both like to cook fancy camp meals, so in order to do that, we need a decently stocked fridge and pantry. We also like frozen pizza for when we’re feeling lazy. The R-Pod has a 6 cu ft gas/electric refrigerator with separate freezer – both have plenty of space for food for a good long boondocking trip. Also, it was important to use that the fridge isn’t just a 12v so it works on gas if we need it to.
The pantry has three shelves which are 24 inches deep and about 14 inches wide. This is a great storage space for all of our food needs, as well as pantry items like toilet paper, paper towel, dog food, etc.
5. Large Bathroom
For a 22 foot trailer, the R-Pod boasts a nice size bathroom. Rear baths always have a bit more room, but the R-Pod made great use of space. The shower is big enough to turn around in and because of the skylight, tall enough for my 6 foot tall husband (6’3″ with his hair) to easily shower. The bathroom also has a 4 way exhaust fan that can not only get shower moisture and smells out of the bathroom, but really cools the coach down, too. The one downside is the shower isn’t lined with tile-like material, so we do need to wipe it down after showers.
And most importantly, the bathroom has a lot of space around the potty. Hopefully we won’t be using the indoor potty often, but when we do — it’s good to have some space to do your thing.
6. Storage & Organization
The R-Pod 192 travel trailer has a TON of storage. For a little camper, they really laid it out well. There are two hanging closets, room behind each closet, and the end tables have 20″ of storage. The large pantry has three deep shelves, the storage under the dinette, the cabinets above the range and dinette, storage under the jackknife sofa, the large cabinet in the bathroom, and of course the passthrough storage under the trailer. There’s a lot of space to organize and make sure you have what you need, while keeping the coach nice and tidy.
7. Road Vac
So, I can’t say this was a make or break for us – but it’s a really cool bonus feature. A central vacuum in a travel trailer just makes sense. You have a few options, first just sweep it into the vac and you’re good. But you can also order attachment and hoses to vacuum your coach. I think this is especially important when you have a dog (not to mention two adults with a lot of head hair). I have a feeling this is going to come in handy and we’re going to be happy we have it.
8. Weight
We are pulling the R-Pod with a Jeep Gladiator Overland with tow package, which is rated to 6000lbs. We wanted a travel trailer at 4000ish or under to make sure we weren’t putting too much strain on the Jeep as well as saving a little bit more on gas. When the fresh tank is full, it’s about 250lbs plus we have our gear, food, etc. We figure if we’re under 5000lbs, we’ll be OK. While there are some lighter coaches (the Minnie Drop, the E-Pro), this extra weight on R-Pod 192 was worth it for the addition storage, larger bed, and larger fridge space.
Watch Our R-Pod Travel Trailer Video
With the exception of the camp kitchen, shower, and passthrough storage, my latest video shows you a better view of what I’ve listed above.
Let the adventure begin!
We’re really excited for our new R-Pod 192 travel trailer and we’re taking our first trip in a few days. I’ll probably learn more things I love, and some things I hate, and will share them with you as we journey along.
Have any questions about the R-Pod 192? Leave a comment with your question and I’m happy to answer it. Want to see more? You can follow along here on the blog, or onYouTube,Twitter,andInstagram.
