itsjustjer wrote:
twodownzero wrote:
itsjustjer wrote:
I guess an easier way to put it would be:
We have a total of 820 lbs of payload left after everything.
What is a good bunkhouse floor plan with a hitch weight we can safely accommodate?
If you are going to use a 1/2 ton tow vehicle, you should be looking at lightweight 25' travel trailers at the most. Minimizing hitch weight to prevent overloading your tow vehicle is a recipe for disaster. It will make the trailer inherently unstable and it'll be especially unsafe on a vehicle with passenger tires.
Fortunately there are a gazillion lightweight 25 footers out there with empty weights quite a bit lighter than the model you're looking at, so you should have no problem finding one that will be light enough to solve your problem.
Or do what I'd do and buy a 3/4 ton Suburban.
Thanks for the info on the 25 footers. I’ll narrow down to them and see what kind of floor plans they offer.
I feel like I should clarify my original post to inform that I’m not trying to manipulate the hitch weight, but find one that is built/configured by the manufacturer to have as close to 10% hitch weight as possible. One camper with a 5k dry weight has a 500lb hitch weight (when dry) and another 5k camper has an 750 hitch weight (when dry). So that tells me the manufacturer built that 750 hitch weight camper with more weight toward the front obviously. Both 5k lbs, but one has 250lbs more payload on the truck before you even load it up. The disparity only gets greater as the loaded weight of the camper gets greater. What I’m asking in my original post is if anyone knows of a camper that (by design of the manufacturer) has as good of (or better) hitch weight ratio than the 272BHS. Not looking for ways to lighten or misappropriate the weight in a way that was not designed by the manufacturer.
You don't want to be "as close to 10% as possible." In reality, you want to be "at least 10%, and preferably considerably more than that," especially if you're towing with a 1/2 ton vehicle.
When I tow my flatbed car trailer, I pull the car as far forward as I can to maximize tongue weight. The more, the merrier! Unless your Suburban is overloaded as a result, there's no such thing as too much tongue weight. The 10% should be viewed as an absolute bare minimum number. Ideally, you want more than that.
Tongue weight = stability. Get as much of it as you can, use a WD hitch, and make your trailer as stable pulling as it can get.
