Buying a travel trailer
time getting a small travel trailer need small and light to tow behind a Chevy equinox but have to have self contained wet bath to live at ynp for work! Looking at the 07 funfinder x139 but someone ...
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Isn't the tow rating for a Chevy Equinox only 1500lbs? If so, My opinion is to stay under 900lbs dry weight. After the 300lbs or so of personal gear in it totaling 1200lbs, your Chevy won't last long and you'll feel like your in a horror movie on mountain roads.
The Feds throw the book at vehicles over the weight limit. If in a wreck and not even your fault, the lawyers love roasting overloaded drivers and usually win. Best to keep it legal. Hope this helps.
TravelingDream wrote:… The Feds throw the book at vehicles over the weight limit. If in a wreck and not even your fault, the lawyers love roasting overloaded drivers and usually win. Best to keep it legal. Hope this helps.
This is patently false. There is no law in the US or Ca. for recreational towing over the weight limit except in BC Canada. Further, no one, ever, has been able to provide proof of a successful lawsuit for same. And why would they bother, all they need to do is prove the obvious, “failed to stop in time”, instead.
nickthehunter, Grit_dog - Its illegal in every state. Only exception are a few jurisdictions such as private property.. I'm surprised you guys don't know this. Fine is only $100 in most states, but most cops won't let you proceed since overloaded conditions are unsafe. Camper is towed to an impound lot until you get the weight down or get a bigger rig to tow it properly. These laws aren't only for big rigs, its for all vehicles. Be safe guys.
TravelingDream wrote:nickthehunter, Grit_dog - Its illegal in every state. Only exception are a few jurisdictions such as private property.. I'm surprised you guys don't know this. Fine is only $100 in most states, but most cops won't let you proceed since overloaded conditions are unsafe. Camper is towed to an impound lot until you get the weight down or get a bigger rig to tow it properly. These laws aren't only for big rigs, its for all vehicles. Be safe guys.
There are a few things wrong with your post. And I only persist in pointing these out because you are leading people astray. And I am not advocating for exceeding your vehicles tow limits, I am simply stating it is not illegal to do so (except as noted below).
The "overweight" fines in Ohio you are referencing are commonly called the "bridge law", look it up. "In general", what the bridge law says is the weight on an axle can not exceed 17,000 lbs. per axle. What your table refers to, is the fine for exceeding that 17,000 lbs by 0 - 2000 lbs., 2,001 - 5,000 lbs., etc. Now if you are towing an RV with 17,000+ lbs. on any one axle you got one hell of an RV.
The second part of your statement "Here's what can happen if you exceed tow capacity" is pretty sound advice. But the statement you circled is flat out wrong with the exception of British Columbia, CA. One basic problem is the wording "towing capacity" without defining just what that means. Does it mean GVWR, GAWR, Gross weight, max tongue weight, max payload, etc. In any event maybe the article was written by someone in BC; or maybe he was referring to trucking, we don't know cause you provided no links.
So here is your challenge, if you persist in insisting I am wrong provide a section and code number for a "state" law (or better yet a link) that says its illegal to exceed your "towing capacity" for recreational towing (and I am not referring to "bridge law", which is virtually impossible to exceed by recreational towing). And I'd like to point out, there is a difference between "recreational" towing and "commercial" towing.
actualy there is a law in every state and provence, let us not get confused between the law and weather it is enforced or not. generaly if your unit is in good condition and your attitude is good when you get pulled over you'll get a try to be a little lighter next time.. in BC I only know of two private vehicles with rv's that have been ticketed (could be more) and they were grosly overloaded to the point where the bumpers were almost hitting the ground (not realy but you know what I mean)
in the trafic acts there are multiple tickets they "can" give to overloaded rv'ers, the key word is can. also you can be pulled over by Comercial vehicl safter and scalled if they decide it warents it. my cousin did get a ticket for being over weight with his 5th wheel in Alberta. the rcmp held him untill comercial safty brought their moble scales down and he cought a ticket for being 300 lbs over his rear axel weight.
the things is they are enforced so rarely that we don't think there is rules, just try towing a boat behind your 5th wheel into BC, if you make it to kamloops I'll buy you a beer haha
