Weight of hitch for calculating tongue weight

Ron Gratz wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
My take is to use the GVWR as your measuring stick for buying (even though your trailer could have a high Cargo rating you may never use).---

I don't know why anyone would want to penalize him/herself by purchasing a too-small trailer just so the TV could tow excess trailer payload which would never be used. The TV doesn't care how much the trailer can weigh -- it only cares how much the trailer does weigh.

I've expressed my opinions on this issue several times. This time, I'll refer you to several posts written by another ORF member. Links to them can be found here.

An example post by "John & Angela" is copied below. I agree completely with the comments.
Using the trailer's GVWR instead of the expected GVW is likely to
1) result in your buying a TV which is bigger than you need or want,
2) result in your buying a trailer which is smaller than you want and smaller than your TV can handle, and/or
3) result in your buying a trailer with a relatively small CCC which could make it more likely that you would load the trailer to 100% or more of its GVWR.

QUOTING "JOHN & ANGELA"
The problem with using GVWR instead of GVW for checking compatibility with a tow vehicle is that it can take you out of a lot of higher quality units that use higher capacity components in their suspensions, frames, axles, brakes etc. A well known quality manufacturer has a model weighing in around 6200 dry weight. The GVWR is 10,000 pounds. If one has a truck capable of towing 9000 pounds for example they would not look at the unit if they are using the GVWR as a weight instead of a rating. They would effectively choose a lesser trailer only because its rating is LOWER. A 6200 pound 25 foot trailer even with a pack rat packing it would probably never come in over about 7800 pounds. It has also been my experience that the yellow tag is fairly acurate although I am not aware that includes propane and battery as any unit I have seen come from a factory doesn't have propane or battery included. This may vary depending on how it is ordered from the factory I suppose.

Although overestimating weight is always a good idea I think it needs to be kept real. GVWR is your friend. The bigger the better. Kinda like buying a truck. Do you look for a truck with a smaller rating or a larger rating. JMHO. I think even a rookie would understand that looking for a unit with a low rating vice high could turn into a safety issue fast.
UNQUOTE

Gdetrailer wrote:
---Using the GVWR of the trailer ENSURES you will NEVER exceed the vehicles towing capacity and GIVES YOU ROOM to grow in the years to come.

Nothing is ENSURED. Too much load in the TV can cause the towing capacity to be exceeded. Exceeding the trailer's GVWR can cause the towing capacity to be exceeded.
If you believe that people are incapable of estimating and controlling how much they might load into the trailer, how can you be sure they will not load too much into the TV or into the trailer?
I choose to believe that people can make reasonable estimates and can control loading -- especially people who ask the kinds of questions being asked by the OP.

Ron

Ron while your profile says full time Rving, I seem to remember that you currently don't even own a trailer and not sure how much hands on experience you might have with TTs, but those of us that have years ... no make that decades of TT experience with multiple trailers are the ones recommending using the worst case GVWR number so you are assured as best you can of no surprises. Doing what you are advocating leaves significant IMO room for error in underestimating weights and then ending up with a less than satisfactory tow combination. Now I will add there are a few trailers that have HUGE CCCs like 4K+ and those you might use a number somewhat less than the stated trailer GVWR, but then those are generally the much bigger and heavier trailers with significant tongue wts already.

Finally as I pointed out in my prior posts here using the GVWR vs. say 900lbs less and estimating a 15% TW is only a delta of 135bs and if that is the make or break numbers then IMO you were already in trouble wt. wise. In fact that 135 probably adds less than 100 lbs to the GVW of the TV proper. You also seem to want to frame this as being penalized for using the GVWR, but I guess I view it in the frame of additional safety margin and flexibility/room to grow. I know you are a numbers and estimates guru and while you might be good at that, here I think "HANDS ON PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE" and the closest full of T-shirts trump your armchair and back of the envelope estimates .... SORRY that's just the way I see things.

Larry