3,500 max tow capacity.

tibbitts wrote:
When you say "working my way down south and back", where are you traveling to/from? Honestly for a 2 week trip, 4 weeks a year - just use motels. Are you doing some specific activities on these trips that makes an RV appealing?Paul

OP Quote: "In our pursuit of fine tuning our snowbird lifestyle"

Average length of stay of a Snowbird is around 4 months.

Average per month CG rate = $400 x 4 = $1,600.00
120 days in one of the 'now rundown', 'bed bug infested', chain motels at $100 a night = $12,000.00

That's why! :B
Not to mention that IS why we bought an RV.

When you say "working my way down south and back", where are you traveling to/from? Honestly for a 2 week trip, 4 weeks a year - just use motels. Are you doing some specific activities on these trips that makes an RV appealing?

Paul

steeleshark wrote:
You can also look at the full range of popups. You will get more room with it. You could even potential get a highwall if you look at the weight closely.

If it was me I would find it very hard to go from a motorhome to a popup. Especially in cold or rainy weather.

You can also look at the full range of popups. You will get more room with it. You could even potential get a highwall if you look at the weight closely.

As others have already stated, several of the smaller 'molded fiberglass' trailers have a GVWR of 3,500. I have a 17' Casita Spirit Deluxe at that weight, but I tow it with a Dodge Dakota that has a tow rating of 6,500. Most will say that you want the max trailer weight to be 80% of the vehicle's tow rating because you'll be putting stuff in the tow vehicle too.

My Casita works very well for me as a solo full-timer, but it all comes down to what you two are comfortable with.

Casita and Scamp would actually be extreamly viable choices. There are many many many people successfully towing these small trailers with minivans and similar vehicles.

Thanks.

Jeremiah

ChooChooMan74 wrote:
3500 tops will be hard to find. And, if your vehicle is only rated to tow that, I bet a big box on wheels that is as aerodynamic as a brick, will bog you down.

I also found that interesting in 'my' search for a lighweight trailer. IMHO it is THE hardest RV to find to fit your needs.
You walk in and tell them 3,500lbs max 20 ft and they say ya you and ten thousand other people are looking for the same thing!

They do make the small ones, they made them lighter but by god they were nothing but big 'tall' flat front end box cut off versions of the larger ones...just itching to get behind a small TV and give it problems trying to drag it's high profile around.

I bet if anyone wanted to be the next millionaire on TV all they would have to do is design a light, short TT that actually had an aerodynamic front end so it could BE towed behind the small tow vehicle which it was supposed to be designed for.

I towed a friends v-nose horse trailer full of horses and to my surprise there is a marked difference pulling one of those versus a flat tall front end of a TT. For what ever 'that' info is worth!!:B

If you can find a HYBRID type trailer with the beds that fold down from the outside will give the most free space inside the trailer. You won't have to walk around the bed in this case.

Check some of those out in the 18-22 foot lengths with your specs in mind... JAYCO has good site showing floorplans and specs of all of their various sizes on one page...

3500LBS max towing really will narrow down the choices. My OFF-ROAD POPUP shown in my signature block is 4200LBS loaded down.

Roy Ken

Any 3500 pound tow rated vehicle has other restrictions like a 350 pounds receiver limit and frontal area limits. I doubt you will be happy with the towing experience of any high walled RV.

John&Joey wrote:
For all of the input to this point. THANK YOU. It saves me a lot of time in researching.

The post that RockHill made on SUV's was pretty much my gut feeling on what would happen. At this point I'm attempting to decide if we even have the option of a small TT with the Highlander.

Well, the option certainly exists.

If you are referring to the comments on short wheel base TV's, yes this is something to be aware of and concerned about. Of course longer wheelbase's are always better than short. However, this generally is felt with longer trailers and its most often related to lateral stability, which comes down to soft touring tires not made for higher loads…"squirming".

While my tail wag was not severe towing the travel trailer, I did know right away I needed to make a change. I upgrading to very stiff sidewall tires that do not squirm at all and this ELIMINTED the issue. High winds, semi's, overpass/underpass abrupt wind changes...the TV is VERY solid and stable.

Now, that’s my experience with a 23' trailer and a 109" wheel base, and that’s on the extreme end of all things. Others towing with the mid-size SUV's (including the Highlander) have not experience the tail wag dog issue, as most are pulling 20' or less travel trailers without issue.

Good luck in finding the right combo for you and the wife.