TrailManor Owner's Forum - View Single Post - 9-day Trip to Hilton Head, SC

04-26-2013, 10:51 AM

9-day Trip to Hilton Head, SC – (THH#1: 55mph!!):

Love the commentary from fellow TMers and am looking forward to more chatter as Spring takes hold!

We just got back from a 9 day trip from south of West Palm Beach, FL to near Hilton Head Island, SC and back (approx 1000 miles) with multiple stops along the way. I have lots to talk about!

First off, 55 miles per hour!! I confess, we actually went up I95 through FL and GA at 58 mph on average. Not as good as at 55 mph, but not so bad either. People generally drive at 80 mph down here in FL and that’s a BIG difference in time in travel.

Wondering why I need to drive at 55 mph, I did a Google blog search for commentary on why 55 mph is designated although I mostly see huge RV trailers hauling down the road doing at least 70mph. Our TM model is the 33-26 with two tires on each side instead of the usual one tire per side, so it should be safer – right?

Well, no. I found a couple of what seemed to be sufficiently good explanations for keeping to 55 mph.. First problem is that the heat that is generated in a tire as it spins along the road is directly proportional to the linear speed of the vehicle/trailer; thus, if the tow vehicle is traveling at 70 mph with 15 in tires, the TM’s 14 inch tires are “running faster just to keep up” and getting hot.

Second problem is that as the trailer goes over bumps in the road, it tends to rock up and down. At higher speeds, that rocking can actually lift the front wheels of the tow vehicle slightly off the road thus leading to potential flip overs.

The positive sides of all this is that we chose to drive slow, stop and visit more places along the way, and only drive about 4 hours per day with lots of coffee to stay awake because interstate driving at 55 is so b-o-r-i-n-g!

Also a positive for us was that our miles-per-gallon was routinely 15.2, which is not that much different than when we drive at 80 in our Ford, V8, p/u without the trailer.

As for the 26 foot long (folded up) TM, it traveled beautifully. We’ve had a 24 box trailer for which we had to have sway bars and still sucked in our breath when 18 wheelers passed us! Our p/u does have the tow package, but we don’t need sway bars and don’t notice any sway at all!

Note: Best sign seen along the trip: "Used Cows For Sale."

-more to come -

04-26-2013, 10:51 AM	#1
TravlinOn Guest Posts: n/a	9-day Trip to Hilton Head, SC – (THH#1: 55mph!!): 9-day Trip to Hilton Head, SC – (THH#1: 55mph!!): Love the commentary from fellow TMers and am looking forward to more chatter as Spring takes hold! We just got back from a 9 day trip from south of West Palm Beach, FL to near Hilton Head Island, SC and back (approx 1000 miles) with multiple stops along the way. I have lots to talk about! First off, 55 miles per hour!! I confess, we actually went up I95 through FL and GA at 58 mph on average. Not as good as at 55 mph, but not so bad either. People generally drive at 80 mph down here in FL and that’s a BIG difference in time in travel. Wondering why I need to drive at 55 mph, I did a Google blog search for commentary on why 55 mph is designated although I mostly see huge RV trailers hauling down the road doing at least 70mph. Our TM model is the 33-26 with two tires on each side instead of the usual one tire per side, so it should be safer – right? Well, no. I found a couple of what seemed to be sufficiently good explanations for keeping to 55 mph.. First problem is that the heat that is generated in a tire as it spins along the road is directly proportional to the linear speed of the vehicle/trailer; thus, if the tow vehicle is traveling at 70 mph with 15 in tires, the TM’s 14 inch tires are “running faster just to keep up” and getting hot. Second problem is that as the trailer goes over bumps in the road, it tends to rock up and down. At higher speeds, that rocking can actually lift the front wheels of the tow vehicle slightly off the road thus leading to potential flip overs. The positive sides of all this is that we chose to drive slow, stop and visit more places along the way, and only drive about 4 hours per day with lots of coffee to stay awake because interstate driving at 55 is so b-o-r-i-n-g! Also a positive for us was that our miles-per-gallon was routinely 15.2, which is not that much different than when we drive at 80 in our Ford, V8, p/u without the trailer. As for the 26 foot long (folded up) TM, it traveled beautifully. We’ve had a 24 box trailer for which we had to have sway bars and still sucked in our breath when 18 wheelers passed us! Our p/u does have the tow package, but we don’t need sway bars and don’t notice any sway at all! Note: Best sign seen along the trip: "Used Cows For Sale." -more to come -