Considering GVWR of trailer with high carrying capacity
(Sorry if this ends up being a duplicate. I thought I posted it but when I checked back it wasn't posted, so I'm trying again.)
The condensed version of the question is: is it bad to have a trailer whose GVWR is higher than you can legally and/or safley tow, even if it has the same dry weight as other trailers with GVWRs you’re OK with (just due to having a much larger carrying capacity)? Details below.
My family is in the market for a new travel trailer, and one problem we're running into in deciding what we want is figuring out what we can safely and legally tow. Specifically, we're unsure if we need to consider a trailer's GVWR when deciding if it fits within our GCWR, or if we should consider what it actually weighs when we end up loading it up and taking it to the scales. A lot of advice seems to suggest we always consider the trailer's GVWR, but this has led to some confusion on our part.
The main cause for confusion is the fact that some trailers have carrying capacities in the low 1000s of lbs, while others have carrying capacities in the 3000lb range, and everything in between. We've looked at some trailers that have greater GVWR than heaver models, and it seems strange to disregard a lighter trailer simply because the maximum possible load is higher. If two trailers have identical dry weights, and we load them up identically, but one is rated to safely carry 2000lbs more than the other, if anything I'd think I'd feel MORE comfortable towing the one that has that extra capacity since the axles and frame would be well under their rated load instead of strained to the max.
Case in point: my current favorite trailer is the Forest River Salem Hyper-Lyte 29BHHL (link). Dry weight is 6273lbs, but with 3172lb carrying capacity the GVWR is ~9445lbs. That GVWR plus our tow vehicle’s curb weight alone almost maxes out our 16000lb GCWR, before even considering the weight of our family, pets, etc. in the tow vehicle. However, we’ve considered other trailers with a similar dry weight but which only have ~1500lb carrying capacity. If we consider that load, the weight would be at 7773, which is much more reasonable for our tow vehicle (Yukon XL 2500). That case leaves us with 1813lbs GCWR after considering the tow vehicle and loaded trailer, and assuming 12.5% tongue weight of ~970lbs that leaves us with ~1230lbs of payload, which is in the range we’re comfortable with. Safety-wise, I’d say this trailer is as good if not better than similar trailers with the same dry weight but lower GVWR. Legally, though, is there a problem with this situation?
The condensed version of the question is: is it bad to have a trailer whose GVWR is higher than you can legally and/or safley tow, even if it has the same dry weight as other trailers with GVWRs you’re OK with (just due to having a much larger carrying capacity)? Details below.
My family is in the market for a new travel trailer, and one problem we're running into in deciding what we want is figuring out what we can safely and legally tow. Specifically, we're unsure if we need to consider a trailer's GVWR when deciding if it fits within our GCWR, or if we should consider what it actually weighs when we end up loading it up and taking it to the scales. A lot of advice seems to suggest we always consider the trailer's GVWR, but this has led to some confusion on our part.
The main cause for confusion is the fact that some trailers have carrying capacities in the low 1000s of lbs, while others have carrying capacities in the 3000lb range, and everything in between. We've looked at some trailers that have greater GVWR than heaver models, and it seems strange to disregard a lighter trailer simply because the maximum possible load is higher. If two trailers have identical dry weights, and we load them up identically, but one is rated to safely carry 2000lbs more than the other, if anything I'd think I'd feel MORE comfortable towing the one that has that extra capacity since the axles and frame would be well under their rated load instead of strained to the max.
Case in point: my current favorite trailer is the Forest River Salem Hyper-Lyte 29BHHL (link). Dry weight is 6273lbs, but with 3172lb carrying capacity the GVWR is ~9445lbs. That GVWR plus our tow vehicle’s curb weight alone almost maxes out our 16000lb GCWR, before even considering the weight of our family, pets, etc. in the tow vehicle. However, we’ve considered other trailers with a similar dry weight but which only have ~1500lb carrying capacity. If we consider that load, the weight would be at 7773, which is much more reasonable for our tow vehicle (Yukon XL 2500). That case leaves us with 1813lbs GCWR after considering the tow vehicle and loaded trailer, and assuming 12.5% tongue weight of ~970lbs that leaves us with ~1230lbs of payload, which is in the range we’re comfortable with. Safety-wise, I’d say this trailer is as good if not better than similar trailers with the same dry weight but lower GVWR. Legally, though, is there a problem with this situation?
