First TT - Looking for Opinions on Model
Hello, I am looking into purchasing our first TT. The wife, two boys (6 & 11), and I have been tent camping for years, but we'd like to move up to a trailer now. Plans include weekends and occasional ...
Forum Discussion
lanerd wrote:
Without knowing exactly what the tow vehicle will be, will make any inputs here almost redundant.
Do NOT get fooled by the towing capacity advertisements of the truck manufactures....it is just a selling gimmick. Concentrate on the tow vehicle's payload capacity, RAWR, and its GVWR. Those are the important figures that will determine how much trailer you can tow. You will max out one, if not all, of these ratings looooong before you max the advertised tow capacity.
In my opinion, the truck's payload is the most important figure. That is the amount of weight you can put in and/or on the truck including the trailer's tongue weight and hitch system. You can pretty much figure around 12% to 15% of the trailer's GVWR for the tongue weight. Subtract that from the truck's payload rating and see what is left for you, passengers, equipment, tools, and everything else you plan on taking with you.
Good luck in your quest and please do keep us informed of your decisions. Lots of very experienced people here to help you out along the way.
Ron
Did you actually read the post in its entirety? He is planning to tow it 30 miles and have it sit at a lake. He really does not even need to own a tow vehicle with that type of planned use. He could pay some to tow it from the dealer to the lake.
A friend sailed a 3,000 lb. sailboat and used a VW beetle with its 40 HP engine to move it from the storage yard to the boat ramp. It was all he needed over a period of many years.
