Good morning all,My wife & I are in the concession business. It's finally time to expand after many years. I'd like some advice on trailers, so I figured I'd come to the most knowledge people on towing them.We're looking for something that we can tow very often & navigate in tight spaces. We are completely open on size, configuration & type of trailer. We're also open on what we'll be towing with.So if you're in our position, what type of setup would you be considering? Anything you'd jump at, and anything you'd stay away from given the above info?Thank you all so much!Josh

What kind of miles do you anticipate, and do you need the tow vehicle to carry stock?

Are you taking inventory with you? If yes, how about a fifth wheel toy hauler. That would give you a place to carry inventory amd still have a decent living area. A TT would be cheaper and you con usually tow with a lighter vehicle. A fifth wheel generally has more living space for a giver on the road foot print. Fivers also tend to tow better. But they also tend to cost more. A motor home would allow you to tow a inventory trailer or a small car. Depending on how many days a year your on the road larger trailers will give you more comfortable living. Floor plans? Your choice. All I can say on that is, go play house in each one you think you would like. Pretend your making a meal, doing paper work, laundry, taking a shower or bath. Do you each fit in the toilet room? Well gou get the picture. Same for storage. We did this with our last fiver and the one we picked served us well for over 11 years. Never a regret.

We used to sell at county fairs and locations like Quartzsite. Normally we would park our 5th wheel at a nearby campground/RV park and drive to the event each day to work our booth (EZ-Up Awning and tables with merchandise). Our 5th wheel is 38Ft so it was very comfortable for end of day relaxing.At the events where we could park the 5th wheel at the site where we sold from (like Quartzsite and some of the fairs) We never had a problem getting into the site but would have to make sure we were able to get a large enough site to fit in. That meant paying more rent for the site than our usual 10X20 ft site we used at most venues where we couldn't have the RV.We already had the 5th wheel before we began selling so we didn't have a choice of an RV that was more conducive to our needs. Knowing what I do now, I would get a 25-30 Ft bumper pull toyhauler. And tow it with a full size van or suburban type vehicle. Or a pickup with a cap. The toyhauler provides room to carry all the stuff you need to setup your booth, supplies and whatever you are selling. The garage area of the toyhauler can be built up to fit your needs. The enclosed van, suburban & pickup with a cap allows additional cargo space protected from prying eyes and the elements.A 25-30Ft trailer should be small enough to allow you to park in the space you are assigned at venues where you can have the RV at your sales space.

What sort of size range are you thinking of? How much stuff do you need to carry about? Does it need to be enclosed? Is the trailer just for transport, or might you be working out of it as, say, a food trailer?If it's a lot you'll be toting around, do you have or will you get a CDL? (Basically a CDL is required if the total registered weight rating of the trailer and tow vehicle is over 26,000 pounds. RVs used for personal noncommercial purposes are exempt from this requirement, but that wouldn't apply to your use for business/commercial purposes.)Full-size vans make pretty good and capable tow vehicles for bumper-pull trailers, at least if suitably equipped, and can of course carry a good bit of stuff themselves. Often they have greater payload than pickup trucks of a similar class. Trucks might generally be a bit more maneuverable, and for large trailers a gooseneck/fifth wheel setup has some advantages that can't be had with a van. But in your shoes I suspect I might be looking for a van...or maybe a smallish box truck. It's very hard to guess without some idea of the scale of things involved.

Thanks for the replies all.The stock would either be in the tow vehicle or our support vehicle depending on what items we're selling. The issue we have is weather, and that's what we hope a trailer will solve. On too many occasions we hold onto the tent due to high winds. We work with oil & the rain getting in is also not good. We'd like to be able to work more events in the off-season (fall/winter) without weather being a physical concern (of course it's a concern for sales). The miles we'd cover would be along the I-5 corridor in Washington state. I'd anticipate under 150 miles round trip for a longer stretch. Under 80 most of the time. We'd like the long term flexibility to potentially go south for the winter as well (AZ or Southern California). We're not looking for living space at all. We may have a conversion van as an RV for sleeping, but I'm not looking to mix business with our living space (oil=messy). My inkling is that we can get away with something very small. We do both kettle corn & mini donuts. The kettle corn setup is huge, so I'm not sure how viable that will be. The donuts however could fit in something as small as a 4x8. If we added the kettle corn, we'd need at least 16x8.So...with that info in mind, let me put it this way. If you're looking to work consistently in that mileage range, how different & how much hassle would a bigger trailer compare to a smaller one in an urban setting? PS We currently have a Suburban that's been well taken care of.

sjt

Explorer

Oct 26, 2018

Trailer Advice for business

Good morning all,
My wife & I are in the concession business. It's finally time to expand after many years.

I'd like some advice on trailers, so I figured I'd come to the most knowledge people on towing them.

We're looking for something that we can tow very often & navigate in tight spaces. We are completely open on size, configuration & type of trailer. We're also open on what we'll be towing with.

So if you're in our position, what type of setup would you be considering? Anything you'd jump at, and anything you'd stay away from given the above info?

Thank you all so much!
Josh

Forum Discussion

Trailer Advice for business

21 Replies

About RV Newbies

Related Content

Travel Trailer

Trailer brake advice

Florida's Busy

My Travel Trailer Fell Down

Travel Trailer Advice