RV FEATURE
Sure, you could continue to extrapolate –
travel 10,000km and you’ll pay an extra
$306. But life doesn’t really work like that –
fluctuating weather conditions, headwinds,
changing tyre pressures, and especially the
extra load that would no-doubt be in the van,
etc., would all affect fuel consumption. To
wrap it up in a neat to-the-cent package that
you could set your watch to is not realistic.
It’s also not realistic to suggest that my
figures would be replicated by your rig. In fact,
repeating this test in different weather would
probably yield slightly different figures.
This does not, however, invalidate the test. I
set out to see if towing a pop-top would be
more fuel-efficient than a full-height caravan,
and by eliminating the weight variable, I was
able to show that the lower towing profile of
a pop-top – in this case 400mm lower – did
indeed make a difference at the bowser.
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TOP OF THE POPS
Of course, the potential to save money
at the bowser is not the only reason to
consider a pop-top. These are just some
of the additional benefits…
1 Not being as tall as its caravan
equivalent, a pop-top is a good choice
for people with low carports/garage.
2 Typically, a pop-top will be a little
cheaper than the equivalent full-
height caravan.
3 Its shorter stature should make a
pop-top a better bet in heavily-treed
offroad conditions.
4 With the windows in the vinyl
gussets, pop-tops usually offer
great ventilation.