Found the build sheet to my TT. I was looking at the brochure that shows a "dry weight base features only" of 4740 lbs.Well, wow how fast it all adds up. Now I know why people see a brochure and don't have enough truck when they buy a TT. I guess it would be wise to go by the gross weight when matching to a TV, in my case it's 7000.After the factory installed items it gained almost 1000 lbs. Now add 54 gallons of water (450lbs) plus propane (60). All your personal stuff, food, linens, tools and peripherals I'm right at 7000.

The dry weight of my Dutchmen 25 ft is listed as 5004 lbs and 450 lbs on the tongue. Across the CAT scales, loaded for the road, the TT weighs 6200 to 6600 lbs depending on how much stuff I have to have with me. The tongue weight is 750 to 800 lbs. The tongue weight eats up my F-150 TV max cargo pretty quickly.My TT's max gross weight is 7500 lbs so it has more capacity then I need. The TV however does not.It looks like your numbers are right on.

The coffee maker is listed 10 lbs. Is the base of it made out of lead?

BC_Explorer wrote:The coffee maker is listed 10 lbs. Is the base of it made out of lead?Yeah some of that is off.The microwave is more than 20 lbs and the door is not 70. Maybe they flipped that. Dry tongue weight is listed at 463 lbs. The propane and water tank are up front so that number could be more like 1000.

Ya, some of that isn't right. But yes never go by the dry weight. I always say to add approx 12-1500 lbs to the dry weight. Gives a more realistic number to go by if you can't get it weighed before you buy.I'm 2k lbs more than what the dry weight is loaded for a trip.

marcsbigfoot20b27 wrote:Found the build sheet to my TT. I was looking at the brochure that shows a "dry weight base features only" of 4740 lbs.Well, wow how fast it all adds up. Now I know why people see a brochure and don't have enough truck when they buy a TT. I guess it would be wise to go by the gross weight when matching to a TV, in my case it's 7000.After the factory installed items it gained almost 1000 lbs.Back many years ago when your trailer was built it wasn't unusual at all for manufacturers to play it pretty loose with correctly listing a trailer's actual dry weight but these days all you have to do is ignore any advertised weight claims and look at the weight sticker affixed to the front street side of the trailer which will provide that particular unit's actual dry weight as it left the factory or CCC from which you can determine it's actual dry weight. Here's mine, which shows an actual UVW of just 280 lbs more than it's advertised brochure weight.Without a V.I.N. being displayed on that build sheet I wouldn't regard it as being necessarily accurate for your particular unit.I also would never "go by the gross weight" - i.e. GVWR ... sure, in a case where CCC is quite limited, say 1000 lbs or less, chances are pretty good GVW will end up being close to the trailer's GVWR but in a case where CCC is beyond generous, say 3000 lbs, there's no way any reasonable person could load that much into any trailer and have it's GVW come anywhere near close to it's GVWR. If in doubt, don't rely on a build sheet that may or may not be accurate, go weigh the darned thing ... then you'll know what you're dealing with. ;)

Dry weight published vs real weight | Good Sam Community

34 Replies

dodge_guy
Explorer II
Feb 20, 2017
Ya, some of that isn't right. But yes never go by the dry weight. I always say to add approx 12-1500 lbs to the dry weight. Gives a more realistic number to go by if you can't get it weighed before you buy.

I'm 2k lbs more than what the dry weight is loaded for a trip.
marcsbigfoot20b
Explorer
Feb 20, 2017
BC_Explorer wrote:
The coffee maker is listed 10 lbs. Is the base of it made out of lead?

Yeah some of that is off.
The microwave is more than 20 lbs and the door is not 70. Maybe they flipped that.
Dry tongue weight is listed at 463 lbs. The propane and water tank are up front so that number could be more like 1000.
BC_Explorer
Explorer
Feb 20, 2017
The coffee maker is listed 10 lbs. Is the base of it made out of lead?
rbpru
Explorer II
Feb 20, 2017
The dry weight of my Dutchmen 25 ft is listed as 5004 lbs and 450 lbs on the tongue.

Across the CAT scales, loaded for the road, the TT weighs 6200 to 6600 lbs depending on how much stuff I have to have with me. The tongue weight is 750 to 800 lbs.

The tongue weight eats up my F-150 TV max cargo pretty quickly.

My TT's max gross weight is 7500 lbs so it has more capacity then I need. The TV however does not.

It looks like your numbers are right on.

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Dry weight published vs real weight

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