New and trying to learn

Welcome!!!

The biggest issue you will hve with the Explorer is the available payload of the vehicle. There is a yellow sticker in the drivers door jamb that states "Passengers and cargo not to exceed XXX(X)lbs". This amount is the max rated payload for YOUR vehicle. The weight of all passengers, any accessories added to the vehicle (step bars, bed liner in trucks, hd floor mats, etc), any coolers or firewood, bikes, the wdh (weight distribution hitch) AND the trailers tw (tongue weigh)t!!!

What are the specs of the trailer? The manufactures "brochure" dry tw does not include the propane tank(s) or battery weight on the tongue. Not sure if that has 1 or 2 propane tanks: 2-20lb tanks and a battery are about 120lbs, so maybe about 85lbs for 1-20lb tank and a battery.

For a safe, stable tow you will want around 12-15% of the loaded trailer weight to be tw. Meaning if you placed a scale under the tongue, a 5klb trailer would have between 600lbs-750lbs of tw. This varies some between trailer models (some like more tw, some tow fine with a little less) and of course, how you pack the trailer. So to help figure out if you have a tv (tow vehicle) that is capable for the trailer you have picked, a lot of rv'ers suggest to use 13% of the trailers gvwr to estimate the loaded tw. Example: GVWR=5klbs, estimated tw= 650lbs toward the Explorer's payload, plus all the passenger and cargo weight to see if the tv will safely tow the trailer.

Post all the #'s of the trailer you are looking at, your aproximate total family weight, the yellow sticker payload of the Explorer, and we will try to do our best to help you.

The thing to remember comcerning the Explorer's payload, your 4 kids are going to continue to grow, making the available payload for the tw even less. While this trailer may be ok now (pending the all the info being posted), in a couple yrs or so the Explorer may be overloaded.

Welcome to theforum. Check the numbers as previously described. See my signiture as to what we tow and with what. Run load leveler bars. You should be well wthin specs. Take lots of pics and make some great memories. Best of luck and welcome

Ok, thank you for the fast responses and help!! I will call rv dealer and get all the numbers as well as look at the explorer when my husband gets home from work (its his car). And I'll try the calculations and post back when I know what they all are.

Welcome to the amazing world of RV camping! We camped for 30 years in a Coleman pop up which was very lightweight but nowadays you want an Ultralight to pull with your Explorer which are more secure and way more luxurious! I would highly recommend a Keystone Bullet Ultralight travel trailer. I just purchased a new 2014 Bullet 285RLS Ultralite TT (30 ft long) last year and we love it! Top quality, luxurious interior, loaded with features and ours only weighs 5500 lbs. However, that would exceed your Explorer capabilities but you can find smaller Bullets that would be in the 3500-4300 lb range that I believe will be OK for your Explorer. Take a look on Keystone's official site at the Bullet 230BHS which is 4370 lbs! It sleeps 6 with queen bed, 2 bunks and a dinette that sleeps 2 little ones.. and is gorgeous! Think it would work for the sixe of your family and your Explorer weight limits. You don't want to buy a 19 ft TT for a family of 6.. You will get tired of how cramped it is real fast! Not to mention, in a few years,when your kids are teenagers, they don't want to sleep on the floor! Find a Keystone dealer in your area With that many kids you of course want the bunk house version and they have several. Check out their website for models and check the weight specs after you determine the total tow capacity of your truck. We did a lot of looking and found the Bullet to be loaded with quality and amenities but still a true Ultralight. You will find a lot of other happy Bullet owners on this site! Feel free to ask me any questions you have about the Bullet if you are interested. we have used ours only twice for 10 nights camping but not a single component has malfunctioned! That is amazing as complex as these new TT's are! Happy hunting!

Had a chance to look up the specs of the Nano 193BHS (maybe this years model??? Are you looking at a 2015 by chance?).

Dry hitch: 406
Dry trailer weight:3370
Gvwr: 4600

Most add about 1klbs to their trailer, so we will just use the gvwr to estimate the tw. Looks like that trailer has 1-20lb tank and a battery, so at least (approx) 85lbs additional on the tongue.

406 round to 400 for easy math!!! :)
TW- 12%= 480lbs to possibly 15%= 600lbs. With the dry tw and propane tank/ battery being about 490lbs before loading the trailer, I would probably suggest using at least 550-600lbs for the tw toward the Explorers available payload to try to be safe.
Now add ~100lbs for a wdh (some are a little lighter, the family weight, any iPods, iPads, books, etc they may have in the truck, and try to estimate it he weight you will carry in the back (cooler(s), firewood, tools for a tire change, etc....

And now compare that total to the yellow sticker in the drivers door jamb.

As mentioned, get a good wdh!!! Reese HP Dual Cam, Reese SC, and Equal-I-Zer 4 way systems are very good, moderately priced!!! The Anderson seems to have a growing following. BUT, from what I understand it only works on lighter tw trailers (should be ok there!), and certain couplers (trailer coupler that secures the trailer to the ball) it will not work with. So do your homework on the Anderson.

Post back with the yellow sticker number, and family/ estimated cargo weight and we can help more!!!

Good luck!!!

It says on the yellow sticker on the door of the explorer that the combined passenger weight and cargo is not to exceed 1593 lbs.

Our family currently weighs 500lbs. (we are not very large people in general, I'm short).

What is a wdh?

And I think the maximum the explorer can tow is 5000 lbs, but I don't know where I got that number from. But it is sticking in my brain.

We are primarily looking at the trailer as a place to sleep.....we have been in tents and I do not care for them, honestly. Too loud when you are near train tracks or a highway and when it's chilly, I really hate leaving that warm sleeping bag. (it was 35 overnight the last night we camped....brrrrr.....).

OH, model year, I believe was a 2015. Although, if we wait until spring, it could very likely be a 2016 instead.

Did you see my post on the Bullet Ultralites? check it out! We LOVE ours!

I did look at the bullets....I'm concerned those are too heavy? Once we load it up, wouldn't it cross over higher than we can safely tow? The models that have sleeping for 6, it seems. I'm looking at the east floorplans, since we are in IL.