Trailer weight vs. towing capacity
If my SUV's towing capacity is 6000 pounds, what should be my safe trailer dry weight?
Forum Discussion
I'm with Terryallen and atreis on this. Planning around GVWR is way to ensure you have "enough" tow vehicle when starting from scratch, I'll certainly agree to that, but when you've already got a tow vehicle and you're looking in to "how much trailer can I tow" I think selecting by GVWR is wrong. While I may have only towed my TT at it's yellow sticker weight once on the day I brought it home, I will never add 2500 lbs of stuff to that number to reach the GVWR. I think adding 1000-1500 lbs to the trailer's yellow sticker weight is a much more realistic way to estimate how much that trailer will weigh when fully loaded with water and ready to camp.
Now ignoring the vehicle's max rated towing capacity and basing your trailer selection on the vehicle's remaining cargo carrying capacity? That I'm totally in agreement with. You will run out of weight carrying capacity long before you hit the vehicle's max rated towing capacity. So for the OP, find out how much cargo carrying capacity your SUV has remaining after you factor in everything/everyone's weight and gear that you'll be carrying in the vehicle. This number is how much capacity you have left for trailer tongue weight. Let's say it's 500 lbs. Now since a TT's tongue weight should be 12-15% of its total weight, take 500 / 0.15 = 3333 lbs. That's the max weight of your loaded trailer. That's a low weight for a TT, so since it's a small one that means probably a small fresh water tank as well so use the smaller 1000 lbs of gear and water estimate and subtract that from 3333 for 2333 lbs. So in this example, you would be shopping for a camper with a dry weight of no more than 2333 lbs. If you never plan on towing with a full water tank, you can reduce the 1000 lb gear and water weight by your tank capacity + water heater capacity times 8 lb/gallon for density of water. But I recommend never leaving home without a full water tank!
Now ignoring the vehicle's max rated towing capacity and basing your trailer selection on the vehicle's remaining cargo carrying capacity? That I'm totally in agreement with. You will run out of weight carrying capacity long before you hit the vehicle's max rated towing capacity. So for the OP, find out how much cargo carrying capacity your SUV has remaining after you factor in everything/everyone's weight and gear that you'll be carrying in the vehicle. This number is how much capacity you have left for trailer tongue weight. Let's say it's 500 lbs. Now since a TT's tongue weight should be 12-15% of its total weight, take 500 / 0.15 = 3333 lbs. That's the max weight of your loaded trailer. That's a low weight for a TT, so since it's a small one that means probably a small fresh water tank as well so use the smaller 1000 lbs of gear and water estimate and subtract that from 3333 for 2333 lbs. So in this example, you would be shopping for a camper with a dry weight of no more than 2333 lbs. If you never plan on towing with a full water tank, you can reduce the 1000 lb gear and water weight by your tank capacity + water heater capacity times 8 lb/gallon for density of water. But I recommend never leaving home without a full water tank!
