V nose VS flat front wheeled fishhouse – Difference in Towing milage and other ?

My buddy purchased a Wheeled fish house a few weeks ago ( Flat front ). After picking it up and making a 100 or so mile drive home with it, he noticed that his gas mileage seemed to go way down while towing it home. HIS on board mileage had us at like 18 MPH going to pick up the fish house and after resetting for the trip home it was down to only about 11-12 MPH. I know wind direction and speed can be a big factor. Just curious If all things being equal what you all think the Mileage difference should be between driving while not towing a house, Towing with a Flat front fish house, and towing with a V nose fish house. If the mileage is much better with a V nose front , this got me to thinking there probably was someplace that makes and sells a after market V to add to a existing fish house or enclosed trailer. After doing a little online search, I cant seem to find anyplace that does something like that. I’m sure a person could make something to do the job if it makes much of a difference.

Flat nose kills millage. That’s why they started making v nose.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Flat nose kills millage. That’s why they started making v nose.

So how much difference is there in Mileage? Are we talking a 2% difference or a 25% difference?

I get 10mpg pulling mine and mine is a v front. I wouldn’t worry about it and having a v front is not going to save you that much. Look at all the campers on the road most of them are not a v front.

My last house was about #5,000 with a V. With a 5.0 F150 tow package you’d have to be going down hill to get above single digit mpg towing. 6.2 gas F350 was 10-11mpg. Can’t say I noticed much difference pulling a friends older one with flat front. You’ll probably get at least .10000009 mpg more with a V than a flat nose. No data of course but I wouldn’t doubt if having a topper on the truck or not was just as much of a difference. If it was a trailer being pulled all over the country maybe it would add up.

As far as how bad it kills your gas millage depends on what you have for an engine. My ecoboost would average 22 MPG and with a 16’ flat nose enclosed trailer empty would get 12 MPG. I went back to a 5.3L v8 that gets 18 MPG and with the same empty trailer I get 14.5 MPG. Your MPG when towing has a lot to do with the low end torque of the engine.

Edit: Both trucks had the same size bed with the same size cab option and tonneau cover. Pulled around the same speeds.
My brother’s Duramax, tool box with open bed gets 16 MPG and with the same trailer got 15 MPG. (if he remembers correctly)

To sum up MPG loss with the same trailer:
Turbo v6 loss 10 MPG, 45.5% loss
Naturally aspirated v8 loss 3.5 MPG, 19.5% loss
Duramax diesel loss less than 1 MPG, less than 5% loss

Speed is a bigger factor than V vs. flat.

There are several other factors to consider, topper vs no topper, distance between bumper and front of the trailer, width and height difference between truck and trailer, air temp.
But overall keeping speeds 50-60 burns way less than all the fellas trying to tow at 70-75.

It sure would be nice to see a real comparison done by mythbusters standards and not a buddy who has a friend that knows a guy stories.

mark-bruzek wrote:

It sure would be nice to see a real comparison done by mythbusters standards and not a buddy who has a friend that knows a guy stories.

Come on that’s where the most accurate information comes from, everyone knows that.

Your are correct on the speed thing, best mileage I ever got which I never check towing its just to depressing, was coming back from Red in a snow storm when the I could not go over 60mph

mark-bruzek wrote:

It sure would be nice to see a real comparison done by mythbusters standards and not a buddy who has a friend that knows a guy stories.

I was thinking the same thing. Like this myth. Still see guys remove the tailgate to get better mileage!

Do you get better gas mileage with the tailgate down MythBusters?
The Result: Driving with the tailgate down increases the drag and thus is less fuel efficient than driving with the tailgate up. The closed tailgate creates a vortex in the bed of the truck that allows for smoother flow of air than when the tailgate is down and the vortex is dispersed. This myth is busted.

-J.

Personally I don’t think you will gain much with a v-nose.
Another question. Does a flat front tow better(less sway) than a V? I have been told that by a couple people.

I agree 100% with the speed is the biggest factor. As an example I have a 8.5’X12′ enclosed snowmobile trailer that is flat in the front but angled back. It isn’t that heavy. I think about 2200lbs with two snowmobiles in it. I have pulled it with two Ram 3500’s one with a diesel and the other with a 6.4 gas. If conditions won’t allow speeds over 60mph the diesel would get about 15mpg, and the gas 14mpg. If I am able to pull at my normal 70+mph the diesel drops to 10-11mpg, and the gas to about 8-9mpg. Those trailers grab so much wind at higher speeds it is crazy. As an example of this a few years ago I pulled a flatbed trailer back from Chicago. On the way down empty the diesel ran 20mpg. On the way back the load was a low profile and total weight for load and trailer was 13,000lbs. I averaged 17.5mpg. Weight would become a bigger factor though if you were climbing a lot of hills, but the trip from Chicago isn’t too bad for changing elevation.

mark-bruzek wrote:

Speed is a bigger factor than V vs. flat.

There are several other factors to consider, topper vs no topper, distance between bumper and front of the trailer, width and height difference between truck and trailer, air temp.
But overall keeping speeds 50-60 burns way less than all the fellas trying to tow at 70-75.

It sure would be nice to see a real comparison done by mythbusters standards and not a buddy who has a friend that knows a guy stories.

Driving habits (speed, acceleration rate) are the biggest factor to fuel mileage whether you’re driving without towing or whether you are towing a loaded goose neck trailer. I don’t think the V vs. Flat front would offer a discernible difference over time. Slowing down from 65mph while towing to 60mph would make a bigger difference.

buckybadger wrote:

Driving habits (speed, acceleration rate) are the biggest factor to fuel mileage whether you’re driving without towing or whether you are towing a loaded goose neck trailer. I don’t think the V vs. Flat front would offer a discernible difference over time. Slowing down from 65mph while towing to 60mph would make a bigger difference.

X2 bucky!

The v front cuts wind as the flat nose creates a stopping force. That’s why most over the road truckers have wind screens to divert air flow above the trailer. I’ve had both style enclose trailers and there is a definite difference in fuel millage. Of course driving habits are key, that should be a obvious. That same tow vehicle will get less millage with a flat front over a v nose. It’s not going to drop you 10mpgs but it will drop it.
A loaded goose neck is a bad example unless that gooseneck has a cargo container on it. It will get less millage then if it had flat stock steel of the same weight.
Speed is of importance. But if both loads were going 60 mph the flack stock loaded trailer will get better then the empty cargo container