1civilengr
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Chris
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2021
- Threads
- 13
- Messages
- 55
- Reaction score
- 89
- Location
- Lynchburg VA
- Vehicles
- 2025 R1T MAX Pack, Honda Prologue EV
- Occupation
- Retired Civil Engineer
- Thread starter
- #1
Hey Folks!
We just got back from a 3 week camping trip using our new R1T towing our 23' Airstream trailer, and I had a few first impressions to share for anyone interested.
Note that we began this trip less than a week after getting the new truck, so there were many things that I had to figure out on the fly!
First off, I had to install & set up my weight distribution hitch (Progress Equal-i-zer) for the truck. Turns out that the drop bar wasn't long enough for this set up, so we started off with the trailer slightly off level. It also seemed that the truck adjusted it's level on it's own (I had it manually set to Standard height). Not perfect, but good enough to tow as far as the Airstream dealer in Richmond to get a new drop bar (I also needed a replacement water inlet valve from Airstream, so we were going there anyway).
The truck towed fine, reporting the trailer weight as 6,500 lbs (which is about right), but it alerted me that automatic braking wasn't available while towing. It also alerted me that regenerative braking was not available! This didn't seem right, but not having towed with this truck before, I accepted this. Obviously, our range was pretty low (I think around 0.9 mi/kWh). We also noticed that the trip routing wasn't working right - which was an issue now that we needed to charge! When we got to the Airstream dealer, I called Rivian tech support, and they had me reboot the truck. Once it booted back up, everything was fine! Tech support said this will fix about 90% of computer problems with the truck. Now that I had regen braking, towing range increased to ~ 1.25 mi/kWh. Still not great, but significantly better!
We had to drop the trailer in order to connect to a Tesla charger at a Sheetz, but couldn't get the charger to connect (we will try again with Tesla at some other time). Ended up charging at a local Ford dealership, which was kinda cool - the sales manager came out and welcomed us and had questions about the Rivian.
Once we were at our campground, I discovered that the 50amp breaker would only charge a few hours before tripping or getting excessively hot. In hindsight this is not surprising, since these breakers lead a rough life - being used like light switches isn't what breakers are made for! I eventually found that I could set the Rivian to charge at 22 amps max and charge up with no problem. This was fine, since the truck was sitting there all day anyway.
At one campground (Newport News Park), the pedestals had double 30A breakers, but no 50A. Camping World had a double 30A-to-single 50A plug that worked fine for these pedestals.
Overall, we were very pleased with our experience using the Rivian on the ~1,100 mile trek! It is very comfortable, easy to get in & out of (we installed running boards from Real Wheels EV). It has an amazing amount of very usable storage (too much sometimes - it made it hard for a disorganized person like myself to find the stuff I had stowed away!) I don't have a toneau cover - we have ordered the topper from Autofitpro, and are awaiting delivery. Having a topper will help keep everything out of the rain and more organized.
Glad to answer any questions anyone may have!
We just got back from a 3 week camping trip using our new R1T towing our 23' Airstream trailer, and I had a few first impressions to share for anyone interested.
Note that we began this trip less than a week after getting the new truck, so there were many things that I had to figure out on the fly!
First off, I had to install & set up my weight distribution hitch (Progress Equal-i-zer) for the truck. Turns out that the drop bar wasn't long enough for this set up, so we started off with the trailer slightly off level. It also seemed that the truck adjusted it's level on it's own (I had it manually set to Standard height). Not perfect, but good enough to tow as far as the Airstream dealer in Richmond to get a new drop bar (I also needed a replacement water inlet valve from Airstream, so we were going there anyway).
The truck towed fine, reporting the trailer weight as 6,500 lbs (which is about right), but it alerted me that automatic braking wasn't available while towing. It also alerted me that regenerative braking was not available! This didn't seem right, but not having towed with this truck before, I accepted this. Obviously, our range was pretty low (I think around 0.9 mi/kWh). We also noticed that the trip routing wasn't working right - which was an issue now that we needed to charge! When we got to the Airstream dealer, I called Rivian tech support, and they had me reboot the truck. Once it booted back up, everything was fine! Tech support said this will fix about 90% of computer problems with the truck. Now that I had regen braking, towing range increased to ~ 1.25 mi/kWh. Still not great, but significantly better!
We had to drop the trailer in order to connect to a Tesla charger at a Sheetz, but couldn't get the charger to connect (we will try again with Tesla at some other time). Ended up charging at a local Ford dealership, which was kinda cool - the sales manager came out and welcomed us and had questions about the Rivian.
Once we were at our campground, I discovered that the 50amp breaker would only charge a few hours before tripping or getting excessively hot. In hindsight this is not surprising, since these breakers lead a rough life - being used like light switches isn't what breakers are made for! I eventually found that I could set the Rivian to charge at 22 amps max and charge up with no problem. This was fine, since the truck was sitting there all day anyway.
At one campground (Newport News Park), the pedestals had double 30A breakers, but no 50A. Camping World had a double 30A-to-single 50A plug that worked fine for these pedestals.
Overall, we were very pleased with our experience using the Rivian on the ~1,100 mile trek! It is very comfortable, easy to get in & out of (we installed running boards from Real Wheels EV). It has an amazing amount of very usable storage (too much sometimes - it made it hard for a disorganized person like myself to find the stuff I had stowed away!) I don't have a toneau cover - we have ordered the topper from Autofitpro, and are awaiting delivery. Having a topper will help keep everything out of the rain and more organized.
Glad to answer any questions anyone may have!
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