WHAT TO BUY

Bamaboy15 wrote:
My "Vintage" truck is one if the best tow vehicles ever built there buddy.

There are a bunch of Dodge & Chevy owners here who would argue that statement.:)

Since you are talking about leaving the trailer either permanently or for a very long time why not find somebody with the truck to do the job make the delivery pull for you.

Get yourself as big a trailer as your budget & site allows. For the money you could get something very nice that has only been slightly used.

B B 15... we need more info about your F250. What year and does it have the "Camper Package"? Having pulled a 34' 5er with a 02 F250 PSD with the extra F350 rear spring that comes with the Camper Package... it's plenty of truck. I often gross over 26K with this truck pulling an equipment goose neck trailer... usually in OD with a 3.73 axle. If it does not have the extra single rear helper spring like on a F350 you could add air bags to up the CC of your truck as that's the only difference in those years. I run 265/75/16 load range G tires good for 3415 lbs on the rear. Buy more camper than you think you need, one time. There are plenty of weight police on here and next we will hear the BS about voiding your insurance.

I would look at a park model.

Ford Tow Guides

Looking at the 2002 F250 (it has a 7.3 but I don't know what year you have) GVWR is 8,800# and cargo capacity is varies from 4x4 Crew cab of 816# to 4x2 regular cab of 2,319#. Most configurations are around 1,400# of cargo capacity. Cargo capacity includes the weight of you (if over 150#), passengers, fuel and anything else you put in the truck.

Since the 5th wheel run 15-25% pin weight (in bed of truck), averages around 20% pin weight (mines 22%)a 12,000# 5er will have a 2,400# pin weight.

Don't look at dry weights as no one pulls an empty trailer. My dry weight is around 10,500# but when loaded we are about 12,000#. Max on my 5er is around 14,000#

Starting around 2005 the tow/cargo capacities of the trucks took off. You will notice in the rating prior to 2005 that 20,000# GCVWR is the max. You can add features but the rating just stops. In 2005 that changed.

With that truck a TT might be a better option for you.

Good luck.

I bought 2011 F250 and found it could pull anything. Trouble was pin weight had to install air bags. We have a 2011 Cameo. Best built trailer weve ever owned. Its 32 ft. Long. We know we will upgrade to a longer unit in a couple of years. We want to stay with this kind of quality, so must have more truck. Last week we bought a F350 with max. Pin capacity and max tow capacity. Ive been through cheap built trailers and now quality. The difference is constant repairs or not. Be careful what you buy. A beautiful trailer can be a piece of junk.

BamaBoy15 - I agree with Donn. It's not the power of the truck's engine...it's the truck's ability to carry the heavier weight. Short of buying a bigger truck, there are a few things you could do to help carry the load - additional springs, wheels and tires rated for more weight, and airbags which will keep things level, but won't increase wt carrying capacity....or settle for a lighter 5ver.

The choice is always yours.

Good Luck

That truck can only tow about $50K worth, so save the rest.

You may want to go check out Holiday World and Camping World in Katy since these guys sell a lot of trailers and have plenty of used trailers to select from. Also these guys maybe able to recommend a camper for your proposed type of environment.

Also keeping a camper on the gulf coast exposed to the salt air will take a lot of maintenance. Washing/waxing and painting the frame will be a constant maintenance items.

I would suggest doing your homework on the maintenance part before I would pull the trigger on purchasing a camper and parking it in the salty air.

In addition I would stay away from any campers made by Keystone, but not limited to.

Bamaboy15 wrote:
My "Vintage" truck is one if the best tow vehicles ever built there buddy.

Based on your logic a 5HP outboard motor on your boat is all you need then for ocean fishing.
Never said you could not tow something. But fifth wheel towing is not about towing. But it is all about load carrying capacity. Heck a new 1500 could tow my fifth wheel. But things like tires, wheels, frames, springs, brakes would not handle the 3500 pound pin weight.
A fifth wheel is going to drop approx 20% of its loaded ready to travel weight directly over the rear axle. Add that to your trucks already load of around 3000 pounds and you can end up way overloaded in a hurry.

Another thing is more than likely we are putting this at a camp site and it will stay there for a very long time. We fish out of Port Aransas, TX and not leaving anytime soon.

We live 3 hours away so we want a camper to come and stay at when we come fish.
So not gonna be a lot of towing really. Maybe some if we move back home to Alabama but that will be years from now, due to our jobs.