NC Hauler wrote:
Really don't understand why anyone would want to base pinweight on "empty" or "dry" weight, you might possibly tow it like that one time...from dealership to one's home to fill it up.
The 20% would really put on in the ball park...AND, I'd use the 5er's GVW to figure, not an empty or dry weight...that would give one a much more accurate "ball park" of where to start looking for what size TV one needs.
Eveyone loads differently...someone with a trailer like mine where it's just the wife and myself and two boxers would load it differently and it would probably weigh less than someone with an identical 5er and a family of 5, mom, dad and three teenagers...(it's going to be heavier)...Someone out for a weekend is going to load lighter than a "full timer" towing all over the US...there are a LOT of variables.
The SCALE IS THE BEST CALCULATOR....BUT, if one is trying to "figure" or get in the "ball park" on what TV they need to tow a 5er with, then 20%-to 25% of the 5er's GVW is going to get you into the "right TV" area
My 5er, "empty" is just a little over 14,000#..can be loaded up with another 2,950# for a GCW of 16,950#...a lot of territory to play with.
I agree with you wholeheartedly - dry weight is fictional and shouldn't be used for planning. However, my usage of the dry weights was simply to establish a percentage. My camper's dry percentage (dry hitch / dry weight) is 16% and it's loaded weight (scaled pin / scaled weight) is 18%. You can ballpark the load.
I was hoping to come up with a utility to help estimate actual weights better than just throwing out 20%-25%, especially in that my camper is apparently the oddity in being < 20%.
BUT- it's seeming to be an exercise in futility in that there is a lot of variability in how heavily people load and how heavily that effects the pin weight percentage.
I offer both the dry percentage calculator and a simple 20-25% calculator on the page now because of that.
I also hear you on GVWR. I think each person needs to make an accurate assessment of what kind of packer they are. With 3,000+ pounds of CCC, even I'd be hard-pressed to fill it up (and let me tell you- we're *over packers*). I recommend GVWR on the site, but also give the "standard line about 1,000-2,000 pounds over dry weights is "average"".
