Justifying the cost of a Travel Trailer

rollindowntheroad wrote:
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Also, someone mentioned that I wouldn't find any thing I can tow with my vehicle. Well, in fact I have found several. One is the Travel Lite: Falcon FL-18RB, dry weight of 2,176 lbs.

That Falcon may be the only TT that would work if it doesn't have a hitch weight that exceeds your tow vehicles capability.

Never go by the tow rating. That's the last thing that the vehicle will ever go over.

The 2 things that will exceed the vehicles capability are the payload and the hitch rating. A 3500 lbs "LOADED" travel trailer will have to be between 2500 lbs and 3000 lbs "DRY" and even less for a "Brochure" weight that is 'optionless'.

Even at 3500 lbs, that travel trailer will have approximately 450 lbs or more of hitch weight. Most crossover SUVs (cars) are only rated for 3500 lbs tow rating and 350 lbs hitch rating. That's good for a boat or a flat trailer, not a travel trailer that has a heavier hitch weight.

Also most of those crossovers have under 1000 lbs payload which is right on your door jam on the yellow sticker stating your max cargo weight include passengers. The few crossover SUVs I've seen were around 700 - 800 lbs. After a normal size couple, you only have around 400 lbs left for everything in the SUV (tools, coolers, such) and the trailers hitch weight.

Then that 3500 lbs tow rating is based on a small frontal area which is NOT a travel trailer, that has a large frontal surface area. Factor in that Travel Trailers frontal surface area and your tow rating drops even further. Factor in a hot summer day, and drops even further. Factor in hills or mountains, drops even further. That's why the rule of thumb is not to exceed 80% of your tow rating which would be 2800 lbs "LOADED".

For a small travel trailer as a R-Pod, a midsize truck or SUV with their tow package, is the smallest tow vehicle I'd even consider.

For a vehicle with a limited 3500 lbs tow rating, I would only recommend smaller pop ups. Hek, even my Pop up is 3370 lbs! Pop Ups even have lighter tongue weights than travel trailers.

I know you don't want a pop up but maybe an A frame hard side folding trailer is more inline with the capabilities of your tow vehicle. However, my pop up and the A frames cost the same and sometimes more than some aluminum sided large travel trailers.