Towing Help...(I know another one)

I say that if you are that confused and conerned about it, there is a reason. My opinion is that it's not a good combination. I wouldn't go through putting more money into your truck to pull that trailer. Find a lighter trailer or get a bigger truck. I would opt for the lighter/smaller trailer. As someone mentioned, get something thats in the gross weight of what the dry weight of that trailer is. Don't think you have to get a trailer all decked out. Start small and move up. We started off with a pop up in 2000. There was 3 of us at first, but then we had another child a year later. Still very comfortable. Was something that we could pull with the Explorer we had. Enjoyed many trips in it. In 2010, we decided to get a TT. Didn't have a truck to pull it with. We put the cart in front of the horse, so to speak. We bought the trailer we thought we wanted and needed. We bought a Keystone Sprinter 31BH. Loved it. Had plenty of room. Our one child living at home had her own room with 4 bunks in it. WE just new we needed it because she would have friends coming with us. In the 3 years we had it, not one friend. One time, a couple nieces spent the night with us, but they were already staying in a cabin in the park. They just slept there to be with our daughter. Needless to say, we had to buy an F250 to pull the trailer that had a gross weight of 11k lbs! Dry weight was less than 8k, but we figured we were at the 10k lb range when towing. To get the truck, we had to trade in my wifes mini van. So we traded in a minivan that got around 20mpg in on a truck that got less than 12mpg not towing and around 8mpg towing. The truck hardly got driven. My wife works from home and she would drive it to take our daughter to the bus stop. In the winter the truck would idle with the heater going. The gas guage crept down. In 3 years, we had less than 25,000 miles on the truck. Most of our trips ended up being at the beach 4 hrs away. So we got an idea. Take the TT and store it at a campground at the beach (Myrtle Beach, SC) for the same price we were paying to store it home. We traded in the truck for a new explorer for my wife. Twice the gas mielage of the truck. We would drive it or my little Toyota Yaris commuter car (37mpg). And we did it. It was great. We would make the reservations and the campground would have the TT on site for us when we got there. We set it up and close it up when done. They would come get it and put it back in storage for no additional cost. So then we decided to get a used pop up to take to the mountains, since we are much closer to the mountains. I found one for $2000 and bought it. Got it home and started doing a lot of airing out (people used mothballs in it). Never got the chance to use it when we decided on the Class C. Which we knew was a better fit for us. And something that we were able to figure out over the years of what would be best for us. And I can honestly say that in the year of owning it, it's been the best decision for us. But it took time and figuring out exactly what was a good fit after using it. We never had the towing worries. But I can say its much easier to drive a 31' model class C (about 33' total length) and pull my yaris on a tow dolly, than it was to drive a 20'+ truck with a TT was at 35' (bumper to hitch). Much easier to maneuver and park.

So I say, start smaller than what you think you need or what you can pull. Grow with it over a couple years. Don't worry about what you can do in it. Worry about what you can do outside of it and where you can take it. You will be spending most of your time out of it. You will only be in it at night and maybe bad weather. Our deal breaker was that our bedroom had to be seperate with a door on it from the daughter. We are in our 40's and still enjoy our alone time. lol

30' trailer and 20' truck gets you at 50' really fast. Camping spots and choices of them will be harder to find. We learned that too with the TT.