New FWC camper, wind fairing suggestions

[Wallowa]

My thought on my Tundra with Hawk is to use a a pair of maxtrax as the fairing - mounting this to a yakima or similar roof top tower bar system, as soon as i can find one on craigslist. This should kill two birds with one stone - a place to store maxtrax and a slightly quieter ride. Not counting on much mpg savings as the Tundra's 5.7L V8 is a gas guzzling beast.

Well, I have a Tundra with a Hawk and first thoughts on your idea was it would be very hard to stabilize Maxtraxs in front of the Hawk cab overhang...not much horizontal room in front of Hawk over the cab and secondly the Maxtraxs might be very noisy [wind] due to their design..not exactly a laminar flow item. I have Q Towers [two sets] and Yakima wind deflector....plus a low homemade rack to carry infrequently needed and light weight items.. no noticeable MPG gain and deflector only keeps some bugs and debris off the area under the Hawk overhang..but does protect the load on my rack.



Phil

 

[gaylon]

Well, I have a Tundra with a Hawk and first thoughts on your idea was it would be very hard to stabilize Maxtraxs in front of the Hawk cab overhang...not much horizontal room in front of Hawk over the cab and secondly the Maxtraxs might be very noisy [wind] due to their design..not exactly a laminar flow item. I have Q Towers [two sets] and Yakima wind deflector....plus a low homemade rack to carry infrequently needed and light weight items.. no noticeable MPG gain and deflector only keeps some bugs and debris off the area under the Hawk overhang..but does protect the load on my rack.



Phil

Do you have a pic, Phil? If not, what year is your truck?

 

[XJINTX]

Do you have a pic, Phil? If not, what year is your truck?

I'd like to see your setup too

 

[Wallowa]

Do you have a pic, Phil? If not, what year is your truck?

If someone will send me the secret to posting pics I will take a couple and post them....have tried but kept getting the images rejected..I am not computer friendly...actually not enamored with the electronic age.

'05 Tundra Access Cab w/'16 Hawk

Phil

 

[PaulT]

Phil,
This thread might help. Plus the one below it about resizing photos. http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/13441-uploading-photos-to-comments-and-gallery/

I resize photos to get under the limit, upload photo to my gallery, then reference it there. Disadvantage is that a smaller image is visible in the thread that requires clicking to get a larger image. I don't have an account on one of those sites.

Posting on an external photo site & inserting the image code into the thread results in the large images in the thread.

Paul

 

[ski3pin]

You can also insert large photos from the WTW gallery into posts. I have this gallery photo here -

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/gallery/image/17567-all-terrain-camper/

When my cursor moves over the photo it becomes a magnifying glass icon, left click to get the larger photo pop up. With the cursor over the enlarged photo, right click and then left click "copy image location"

In your post select the picture icon in the tool bar above the text box. Right click and paste the copied address into the dialog box. Click okay. The photo displays as below.

 

[gaylon]

On a 2005 access cab Tundra, the Hawk sits almost all the way up to the edge of the windshield. On a 2016, I have almost 10 inches of roof between the front of the Hawk and the windshield. I am hoping this will give me the area I need to make the maxtrax fairing work.

 

[Vic Harder]

FYI

For my 2005 Hawk's maiden voyage I built one of the v'shaped fairings that go under the cabover. It might have been effective, BUT, on my truck/camper combo the tip of the V is pretty much dead center over the roof of the truck's cab. The roof is quite flexible at this point, and the wind ended up pushing down on the roof of the cab and "boing'ng" very loudly. Removed the fairing for the rest of the trip.

Now looking to build one of the big flat things instead.

 

[ntsqd]

The question was asked of where to get HDPE plastic. Tap Plastics is one source. McMaster.com is another. I'm sure there are more, but that ought to get you started.

 

[PaulT]

The question was asked of where to get HDPE plastic. Tap Plastics is one source. McMaster.com is another. I'm sure there are more, but that ought to get you started.

West Marine & other marine supply vendors also carry HDPE. There is a lighter HDPE product that is used on boats to save weight that may be of interest.

http://www.kingplastic.com/products/king-starlite-xl/

Paul

 

[Happyjax]

You can also insert large photos from the WTW gallery into posts. I have this gallery photo here -

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/gallery/image/17567-all-terrain-camper/

When my cursor moves over the photo it becomes a magnifying glass icon, left click to get the larger photo pop up. With the cursor over the enlarged photo, right click and then left click "copy image location"

In your post select the picture icon in the tool bar above the text box. Right click and paste the copied address into the dialog box. Click okay. The photo displays as below.

Really nice pic Ski

 

[BigRanchInSky]

EDIT: Just saw Bad Habits post did not mean to duplicate.

I have to agree, I bought the camper to camp. Did the wing because of noise not mileage. IF and that is a big if, you drove far enough the tail might make a difference. Just don't think it would be worth the trouble.

One thing I have not seen except on the web are airtabs. They might be the answer need someone to test them out. Cost of kit here.

RE the Airtab discussion— I found this informative video—on vortex generation and aerodynamic drag reduction. Science!

https://youtu.be/9Whd_KnsLKE

I don't have my camper yet so someone else may confirm—the back end of a Hawk has 16.6ft of 90 degree angle corners (sides and roof) and the truck (bed sidewalls) have about 4ft of same that's 21 ft. Airtab recommends 3 per foot, so that's 63 Airtabs needed, priced at Rany's Truck Parts with shipping=$201.

My inner nerd is very tempted.

 

[DavidGraves]

I have wondered about these...anyone tried them ?

I would also like to fair in the front side corners of the camper to my truck cab,,,,,

David Graves