They get heavy quick and mine's only 4600lbs empty 7700lbs GVWR and around 6500-7000lbs loaded. It's so tall, I actually thought about one of those air deflectors for the roof of my truck but don't tow it enough to make it worth it.
Crosswinds are the most difficult up here in the mountains.
Funny you talk about the air deflectors. My neighbor that I talk about so much with the 3500 Dmax and a 35' 5th wheel just bought one in May. His truck gets every drop of fuel logged because he is self employed, commercial mower. He insisted on one and I had my doubts. I have a degree in Aerospace so I had a gut feeling the majority of the drag is on the back of the camper, not the front.
Anyway we fitted it a week before a trip to Florida in June. We did so because he wanted me to weld up a custom mount for bikes from its frame and also a bracket to hold a 5HP outboard motor for his Inflatable Zodiac.
Without the camper on for the week prior his MPG dropped 4 mpg. Yes, 4 mpg or 20% plus. He could not believe it so when he got back he left it on for a tank with the same results.
While towing the 35' 5th Wheel he lost 1 mpg. He has driven this route to property they have in Florida over 15 times with this camper and truck combo and has gotten just shy of 12 mpg, something like 11.8 mpg average. He was just able to squeak out 11 mpg with the deflector. He still likes it because it keeps the bugs off the front of the camper but other than that its a waste.
My take on it with the truck empty it creates such a wake behind the truck its all drag from that wake that is killing the MPG's, not its physical size. Same thing with the camper on. Its creating more wake where as without it there would be smoother more laminar flow from the windshield to the camper.
My guess is also his long bed truck is the worst combo. A short bed truck would do better with the camper and wing since there is less area between the two for this wake to form. If you look at a semi they are very closely coupled.
Long story short, at its cost its a waste of money even if it yielded a 15% gain for the average person who tows 500 mile a year. Its only benefit is it keeps the bugs off. It takes 2 men and 30 minutes to install and 2 to remove, cost a bunch, and is just a plain pain in the arse. Oh yea, its ugly as heck also.
Chris
