Family of 4, looking for smaller trailer

Boomerweps wrote:
I know it would be a PITA to make a bed everyday, like a Murphy bed but....
My wife's biggest complaint about our TT is the east west bed. Somebody gets stuffed up front against the wall and has to crawl over the other for nighttime BR breaks and in the morning neither gets to sleep in easy. It is a major pain to make the bed with three sides against a wall.
Note that TT names are usually the floor plan size, overall length is 5' or so longer. My 16BHS is about 21' long overall.
Do look at small toyhaulers. Lots more play space for kids during bad weather.
Single axles are cheaper. Dual axles would better accommodate a growing family with much more cargo capacity. Semi-ignore dryweight specs. Plan on getting closer to the TT GTWR once you load it up for camping. Your tongue weight will be 13-15% of that. Your truck has to have the cargo capacity (yellow sticker) to carry everything (including 100# WDH), everyone, and tongue weight. That is usually the weight limit reached first.

Making up beds for evening and then turning them back into dinette and couch every day became a huge drag to us. It got to the point that we eventually left everything as beds and ate and lounged outdoors even in high heat and rain. At that time our DD was 3 yrs of age and needed naps through the day..

Our wishlist quickly became a queen bed in a separate "bedroom" with a separate bunk for DD.. Could not find that combination in anything less than 30ft.

Ended up finding a well used 26ft TT that needed total gutting.. I was able to fit a queen bed in a separate bedroom with real doors, galley kitchen, a full sized couch which could fold out to make a full size bed and a twin bunk over top of the couch which could be folded up and out of the way.

The couch doubles as dining seating with a expandable table that folds into the wall when not needed. Overall much nicer layout and very roomy considering the trailer does not have any slides (intentionally did not want slides).

The only downside with our master bedroom is the bed had to be elevated high enough to maximize the space in the front where the front wall angles come together and you can only access one side and the end of the bed.. Pretty much made the bed a high platform but it is nice to have a real wall with a real door and not a flimsy curtain.

Took a lot of noodling to fit everything from our wishlist in but we did it.

Personally, I would avoid the single axle trailers if possible, two axle trailers tend to tow nicer.

I would agree on ignoring the dry weight, concentrate on the GVWR which is the max weight rating of the trailer. It is too easy to get caught up in the supersize mentality which tends to leave folks counting the potato chips they can take with them.

YES, I am aware that SOME trailers have a huge cargo weight rating, meaning the empty weight is low and they can upsize to a larger trailer.. This can turn into a rather dangerous game of chicken in a hurry because the larger the trailer the more stuff you can stuff into it!

Using the trailers GVWR helps you stay well below the max ratings of your tow vehicle even if you fill the trailer to the brim.

Newer vehicles will have a YELLOW STICKER on the drivers door or door post.. That IS the max amount of cargo your vehicle can safely carry..

Your trailer tongue becomes "cargo" of the tow vehicle and ideally should be no less then 10% up to 15% of the trailer weight when loaded however for BEST towing stability MORE tongue weight is better so shoot for as close as 15% as possible..

A word of warning, many "1/2 ton" trucks on dealer lots are light on available cargo cargo weight by default (800 lbs - 1,200 lbs). To get higher cargo weights the truck must be properly configured with additional "payload options" and you typically need to order those higher payload combinations. Trim level, engine size, gear ratio, cab size, bed length, 4x4 options all can take away available cargo of the vehicle.

Make sure you check the YELLOW STICKER for the highest cargo weight available before buying the tow vehicle..