Cabover and Towing questions

Golden_HVAC wrote:
I would keep the hubcaps, and change out what is between them.

First take the truck to a scale. And then hitch up the boat and go back. Check the front and rear axle weights. If the rear axle only goes up by say 300 pounds (most boats do not have that much hitch weight) then forget about the WD bars, as they really don't help much on a heavy duty truck and a really light boat hitch weight. Even if the rear axle goes up by say 500 pounds, you really don't have that much weight for a 3/4 ton truck.

Now you will get down to what the truck can carry with the trailer hooked up. Say the empty curb weight is 7,700 pounds and with the trailer attached it is around 8,200. Your GVWR might be 9,000 pounds, or might be 8,600. Leaving an additional 700 - 900 or perhaps 1,200 pounds left to carry a camper. Thus the need to change everything between the hub caps.

A dually Dodge of the same year with the CTD should not be that much more expensive than trading in your current truck. Normally they will have about 400 - 500 pounds more curb weight with the ability to carry about 3,000 more pounds of cargo!

So go see the scales, and forget about a "Comfortable" cabover in a diesel 2500 series truck. They do not make them that light.

You might find a comfortable 2,000 pound cabover, but it probably will not have a refrigerator, air conditioner, or other heavy options. And probably will have a limited 15 - 18 gallon fresh water tank.

A camper with a 8' long lower section might have a 3,400 pound "Dry Weight" with only one slide out!

I had a 1972 Coachman camper back in 1992. Sold it in 95. It had a forward bath, and dinette on the passenger side. The drivers side was a 3' wide closet (same as the bathroom space) and closet door opened to close off the hallway from the rest of the camper. It was a HUGE bathroom, like nothing I have ever seen since that time. So drivers side was 3' closet, 2.5' refrigerator, stove, counter and sink by the back door. Above the dinette was a "Cabinet Bunk" that was either a cabinet or faceframe folds down into a bunk bed - so it will sleep 6 including the cabover section. It was 9' long at the floor length.

I had a sliding rear bumper. Basically brackets that bolted onto the frame on each side with a 2" receiver hitch on them. Then 4' long 2" steel and that was bolted to the bumper. I used a 12" long receiver and 12" long hitch extension. I only towed a dune buggy on a small and very light trailer, so overall it was only about 1,500 - 2,000 pounds, and less than 100' hitch weight (I could pick it up and move it).

Check your boat. If you can lift it (don't strain yourself) no need to check the weight. But don't lift so much that you take on more than say 75 - 100 pounds. You might be surprised and find out that the trailer axles are under the center of the weight, and the trailer hitch is pretty light. But if it is a huge cabin cruiser, it might not be under 500 pounds! I have not seen it, so have no idea how big it really is.

If you are really determined to use the 2500 truck to carry the camper and tow the trailer, and your weight is OK, you might want to carry heavy things like generator and ice chest in the boat, so that you put as much weight as possible in the trailer, not in the truck.

If you did not already get the brakes for the trailer, you might want to check the prices here. ETrailer.com


Good luck!

Fred.

Thanks for the reply Fred. I'm gonna have to try and make it work. Putting the things like the generator, tables, chairs, ice chest, etc into the boat is a great idea.

I am a little frustrated with trying to make this work. I have a 27' coachmen catalina travel trailer which has been great but I have never been able to tow my boat when we go camping. So right now i've go the TT for sale and starting to slowly scour the local craigslist for cabovers for sale. Looks like my first order of business is to check weights of the current setup w/o the cabover, and then i'd be able to determine a better ballpark weight for a cabover i'd need.