Having wind does help (1 Viewer)

Jan 4, 2012
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I never realized what a difference the wind makes in a motorhome.
:ROFLMAO:

Drove for 2 hours to a site in a 30 mph headwind all the way and used half a tank of fuel.
Drove back the next day with a tail wind of 30 mph and used less than half of the day before :thumb:
What with the cost of this liquid gold nowadays, will it be be better for us to now pre plan with the weather forecast (as in aviation ) as to what direction we want to go to save fuel? :Eeek:
 

gozomike

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Mar 16, 2010
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The fuel gauge may not be 100% linear but the head wind will make a big difference especially with the big frontal area of a van. Just try cycling into a wind and then with a tail wind to see the difference.
 
Aug 27, 2009
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Tuck yourself in behind a big lorry, makes a big difference, you will know when you are at the right distance as you lift your foot off the throttle.:thumb:

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OP
OP
J
Jan 4, 2012
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What about fitting a sail would that work?


That is an idea, fold it down into wind---pull it up with a tailwind--now there is a invention waiting to happen.
Car manufactures spend millions shaving .005 mpg off of a new model-- i could knock someting up that came from a ebay :thumb:
I don`t know how i would get on trying to tack accross the wind though :ROFLMAO:
 

hilldweller

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Dec 5, 2008
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What with the cost of this liquid gold nowadays, will it be be better for us to now pre plan with the weather forecast (as in aviation ) as to what direction we want to go to save fuel? :Eeek:


747 Captains ( and others ) have been doing this for many a long year.

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Geoffers

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May 13, 2011
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Tuck yourself in behind a big lorry, makes a big difference, you will know when you are at the right distance as you lift your foot off the throttle.:thumb:
Used to do this driving lorries, I should point out before fellow motorhomers try ,its not for the faint hearted! :Eeek: Its also bloody dangerous:Eeek:
 

TheBig1

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Nov 27, 2011
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many many years! since I was a kid
What about fitting a sail would that work?


with the size of some of the satellite dishes ive seen fitted to vans, I think some already use this method:ROFLMAO:
 
Feb 27, 2011
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Used to do this driving lorries, I should point out before fellow motorhomers try ,its not for the faint hearted! :Eeek: Its also bloody dangerous:Eeek:

Mythbusters covered this. Seriously scary :Eeek: Well worth a watch though.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lttgT1XZVvE[/ame]

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Feb 27, 2011
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If you don't want to watch the full video here are the results.

@ 55mph First column is the distance 1st is dry run no truck to get baseline.
Second column is the mpg
Third column is the % improvement over the baseline...

Normal: 32mpg
100ft: 35.5mpg 11%
50ft: 38.5mpg 20%
20ft: 40.5mpg 27%
10ft: 44.5mpg 39%
2ft: fuel economy dropped back a bit from the 10ft test
 

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