Steve, trailer number two is out. You are not considering all of the gear that you will be putting into your camper. Most folks figure around 1000 lbs between pots, pans, clothing, bedding, water, etc. You mention that you are in a mountainous area. You will have very poor performace when you are at your full weight rating. You already have an integrated brake controller. See if you can take whatever trailer you are considering buying for a tow and you will feel the best performace that you are going to get prior to loading it up. You will gets lots of different opinions on what is a safe weight to tow at. It is an eternal argument on this site. Also, know that when towing rating are established, they are done with a 150 lb driver in the truck and that you need to take into consideration several ratings. The first is the Gross Vehicle Weight rating of your truck. It is what your truck can safely have in it for gear, gas and passengers. When hooked up to a trailer, it also includes the tongue weight which is now on the truck. The second weight to consider is the actual weight of the camper. Typically the weight of the camper is given as the stripped down version from the factory and does not consider any optional items. The only way to determine the true weight of a camper is to actually weigh it. Most folks go to a local truck stop and have it weighed on their scale. The other rating to remember is the combined weight rating of the truck and camper together. This is the GCVWR (Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating). A lot of folks go by an 80% rule which is to only tow 80% of what your truck is rated to pull. Some feel that this is a safer weight, others feel that it is the weight that will give decent performance. You will definitely hear other opinions which will tell you it is perfectly acceptable to tow at 100% of the weight rating, but in the mountains you will most likely not be happy with the performance. You are on the right site. Make sure you get a good weight distribution hitch and keep asking questions. Do not rush into a purchase that you will regret. Best of luck and welcome to the forum.
