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Old 07-15-2016, 08:53 PM   #1
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Another Repair Checked off the List.

Howdy,

The saga of the flapping fender skirt.

For your viewing and entertainment pleasure.

This is what happens when I have too much time on my hands....

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Old 07-16-2016, 12:19 AM   #2
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You really do have too much time on you hands.

I got an idea for you to ruminate on. How about real fender skirts, shink the opening and you might pick up a tenth of a mile per gallon.
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Old 07-16-2016, 12:26 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by hddecker View Post
You really do have too much time on you hands.

I got an idea for you to ruminate on. How about real fender skirts, shink the opening and you might pick up a tenth of a mile per gallon.
Might as well go with a full ground effects system!

Aaron
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Old 07-16-2016, 12:42 AM   #4
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The repair was absolutely necessary, the video, not so much. When the DW first looked at a video I made sitting in the car last winter, her response was "Have you lost your mind?" I call that a success!!

Anyway, I'd probably tear off the ground effects first time out.
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Old 07-16-2016, 05:34 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by wahoonc View Post
Might as well go with a full ground effects system!

Aaron
Aaron,

From the first time I saw the side skirts on the hiway trailers, I've been thinking if it works on them, why not my camper. I just haven't got there n my honey do list. I've been meaning to ask my trucker buddy what they are made of.

I been toying with the idea of laminating coro-plast and mounting it from the front to just ahead of the livingroom slide.

I'll try anything for improving my MPG.

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Originally Posted by thompwil View Post
The repair was absolutely necessary, the video, not so much. When the DW first looked at a video I made sitting in the car last winter, her response was "Have you lost your mind?" I call that a success!!

Anyway, I'd probably tear off the ground effects first time out.
Wasn't saying it's not a needed repair, I keep looking at the cracks above the screws and thinking one day they are going to finally let go. Never did like them cheap plastic flares, that's one of the things I liked about the Airstream. I just remember the days of how cool the big boats with the sideskirts looked floating down the hiway. Who knew they were actualy functional.

By the way did I mention, I'll try anything for improving my MPG. I've picked up a couple of miles on my empty MPG. A few simple things like a cold air intake and free flowing exhaust helped, but the biggest thing was changing my driving habits. Now I look at ways to translate that to my loaded MPG. Seems the best I can get on the loaded side is .2-.4 improvement. I'll take it, but I'm always looking for more.
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Old 07-16-2016, 05:58 AM   #6
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Sorry, I forgot.

So true and the part that kills me is there is a whole lot of money to be made off of it.

If you need someone to write form you let me know, I can rant with the best of them. I'm particularly fond of ranting about our elected officials that govern by what's "trending on social media." We got far to many of them running the country.

I find it amusing that the city fathers and mothers, will revisit an issue a month later because of the public opinion on social media fire storm.

Sorry, I'll get off my soap box.
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Old 07-16-2016, 09:45 AM   #7
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Aaron,
I keep looking at the cracks above the screws and thinking one day they are going to finally let go. Never did like them cheap plastic flares,
For sure, cheap plastic mounted on thin unsupported aluminum. After seeing it in the mirror, I watched it for a while and can’t believe it didn’t blow off.

If you come up with a way to reduce drag on these things count me in. My mileage starts dropping off big time above 60mph. I’ll lose another full mpg or better from 60 to 70mph. I guess these things are much like driving a parachute down the road. The Misses gets uncomfortable above 65 so I avoid going above that anyway, safety reasons too. We need to find somebody with a wind tunnel to test out your designs!

I don’t have any ambitions to make anything off the videos. The public couldn’t possibly be that starved for entertainment. My new phone came with a Movie Maker app that’s so easy, even I can use it. It keeps me off the streets I guess.
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Old 07-16-2016, 10:51 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by hddecker View Post
Aaron,

From the first time I saw the side skirts on the hiway trailers, I've been thinking if it works on them, why not my camper. I just haven't got there n my honey do list. I've been meaning to ask my trucker buddy what they are made of.

I been toying with the idea of laminating coro-plast and mounting it from the front to just ahead of the livingroom slide.

I'll try anything for improving my MPG.
I have seen quite a few of them, most are made of some sort of polyethylene sheet. I have seen a few coroplast, and yet others made out of injection molded plastic. A very few made of sheet metal. Most have a soft, replaceable lip on the bottom. From what I gather the MPG gain is fairly small, but when you drive a rig over 150,000 miles a year and have a few hundred of them that you are buying fuel for the gains are probably worth the cost involved.

Aaron



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Old 07-16-2016, 05:36 PM   #9
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For sure, cheap plastic mounted on thin unsupported aluminum. After seeing it in the mirror, I watched it for a while and can’t believe it didn’t blow off.

If you come up with a way to reduce drag on these things count me in. My mileage starts dropping off big time above 60mph. I’ll lose another full mpg or better from 60 to 70mph. I guess these things are much like driving a parachute down the road. The Misses gets uncomfortable above 65 so I avoid going above that anyway, safety reasons too. We need to find somebody with a wind tunnel to test out your designs!

I don’t have any ambitions to make anything off the videos. The public couldn’t possibly be that starved for entertainment. My new phone came with a Movie Maker app that’s so easy, even I can use it. It keeps me off the streets I guess.
Talk about culture shock, after years of towing an Airstream, that you don't know is back there, then moving to the brick it does feel like a parachute.

Since I've started looking at drag, I've seen a bunch of snake oil salesman selling all manor of aero gimmicks for campers. Some of them actually look like they have possibilities, but at ridiculous prices they are asking it would be hard to make them pay for themselves.

I figure if there is something that works on the 18 wheelers, then it should to be adaptable to a camper. One that really intrigues me is how effective them tailgate flaps would be at breaking the aero drag. I'd love to have access to a wind tunnel, to try some things, like a spoiler on the canopy and one on the roof of the camper.

My twisted mind works overtime, looking at adapting stuff from one application to my own use.

Here's another one that I'm interested it trying. I see the pictures folks post, showing the blowout damage, including that cheap plastic wheel opening trim. Every time I see another one I look at how that area can be hardened up. I keep getting this vision of mounting a fender from a boat trailer to the inside of the wheel-well.

I just need to get rid of the honey do list, so I can work on my I want to do list. I looked the list and see another one added, I knew it was going to be a mistake to lay a new floor in the basement, that sucker just became the whole house has to have new flooring item.
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Old 07-16-2016, 06:10 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by wahoonc View Post
I have seen quite a few of them, most are made of some sort of polyethylene sheet. I have seen a few coroplast, and yet others made out of injection molded plastic. A very few made of sheet metal. Most have a soft, replaceable lip on the bottom. From what I gather the MPG gain is fairly small, but when you drive a rig over 150,000 miles a year and have a few hundred of them that you are buying fuel for the gains are probably worth the cost involved.

Aaron



That would work for me! It gives me another wild idea, mount a metal fender inside the wheel well, then mount an old school fender skirt on the outer surface. The boat fenders go on sale every couple of months at one of my favorite auto parts stores. I can feel another coroplast job coming up.

Speaking of coroplast, I keep a piece in the back of the truck. It makes for a great "creeper" for getting under the camper or truck for on the road maintenance.
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