30 and 31 ft. C's

I thought the same thing after ten years with a 24 foot so I bought my current one on an F550 19,000 gvwr chassis. No problem accelerating up the steepest mountains and I get around 12 mpg at 29.5 feet.

Most "newer" (our 2003 Jayco does) RV's have weight label that is supposed (which is why I say "Go Weigh It!) to state what it's "as shipped" weight is. Ours is 11,300 with GVWR of 14,000. Ours is the bargain-basement rental-fleet entry-level no-slides not-much-else 31A (32-ft long) class C. We can pack heavy and have a few hundred pounds left over on both axles.

A friend has a Jayco 31SS and it's "as shipped" is about 1,000 pounds more. If we packed it like we pack ours we'd be over GVWR.

If you want to think of an RV as a slab-on-grade house, there's a flat metal frame that the flooring goes onto, the walls mount to, etc. Our slab/frame is steel. I think some of the newer ones have substituted aluminum, and my guess would be they pick up about 500 pounds by doing that.

NCRoamer and I experience the same kind of axle weights - Front Axle nearly at Capacity. That can only be done if the Wheelbase is long enough. Ours is 218" and some newer ones are at and over 220". Again, Weigh It! If the wheelbase isn't adequate, then the Front axle will be Light (poor steering and tracking) and the Rear axle will be overloaded. I've seen this again and again. Instead of proper load distribution, the RV builder tries to hang a "walk around queen bedroom" behind the rear axle of a shorter coach. They don't put the axle farther back because they want to hide the fender wells under something like cabinets or appliances.

We just got back from a 900-mile evacuation/vacation courtesy IRMA. Towed our Frontier pickup at about 4,000 pounds. We ran about 65 mph running combined weight right at 18,000. Had to drop out of Overdrive often on the grades around Atlanta, but the power was there and MPG just a pinch below 8.

There are Class C's that big that'll do your job. Just gather the specs, actual data, and compare. See if there's enough capacity for your Crew and your Stuff.

Mine is 30' and I pull a toad. The past 3 yrs I've traveled @ 10,000 miles each summer and, loaded for a 5-6 mo trip and pulling my car, I've not had any problem with the E450 handling the load. That includes the western mountains. I have no problem with the handling either. Over time the rear air bags tend to lose a bit of air and when I start feeling truck bow waves too much, I know it's time to add some air. I always tow in tow/haul mode.

OP. Didn't you use to hail out of northern Virginia?

Our Jayco Greyhawk class C is 32' and we do have to watch the loads. Went across a CAT scale with myself and wife. RV was fully loaded for a long trip including a full pantry, fridge, and freshwater, propane and gasoline tanks. Front axle was 60 lbs. under max allowable and rear was 440 lbs. under.

Have not had any problems with the E450 being underpowered even going through the NC mountains fully loaded. Do not pull a car though. We cruise at 62-63 mph and average 8-9 mpg.

I got scaled driving a 33' into NM and was about 1,000 pounds under the GVWR of 14,500. The rig was empty of everything but gas as I was delivering to a dealer. Still, it rode well but the power wasn't there until I engaged the Tow/Haul and then it got better.