New travel trailer for my daughter..

kennyd63 wrote:

I believe she called the dealer to find out what was her towing limit? She has a 12 passenger Chevy van I don't recall the size of the engine. But the dealer told her that the van it's rated at 10,000 lbs for towing.

She will also need to know the Payload rating for her specific van. That figure is vital, not the marketing number about pulling 10,000 lbs (which is likely for an empty van with a 160 lb driver behind the wheel).

Take the Payload rating and subtract the total weight of all the bodies and gear expected to be inside the van while they tow. What's left is what is available as Tongue Weight for the trailer. Multiply that Tongue Weight figure by 10 and that will be close to the absolute max camping-ready weight of the trailer you'll be able to pull.

We have a Shadow Cruiser that actually has light wood. Some dark fabric, but light cabinetry.
Sorry, I could only find pictures of the interior with the kids (and dog). Light cabinets and medium toned floor.


It is a quad bunk, and last summer my 6'0" nephew slept on the bunks. So those four can accommodate larger children. The table can sleep two smaller children and the couch could sleep another two smaller children. Still have the master for mom and dad too! ;)

Opie431 wrote:
In theory our old Keystone Outback sleeps ten but it does not live ten.

Are some of her children old enough to sleep in a tent while the younger ones sleep inside?

It's a camper. It is not supposed to live 10, only sleep ten.
With ours. the only time there are 10 in it, is when we go to bed. The rest of the time, we are out side. Campers are for sleeping. Not living
MOP, and I'm sticking to it. If I wanted to stay in the camper, I'd just stay home.

Ford and Chevy 3/4 and 1-ton passenger vans are usually GVWR just under 10,000 pounds, and at least 8600 (there are different GVWR options to meet licensing quirks of different states). A 12 passenger, not extended, is usually about 5800-6200 pounds empty, so there is typically 3000 pounds load carrying to cover passengers, gear, and hitch weight.

The advertised "tow rating" is a bit tricker because both manufacturers come up with that one as something on the order of GCWR - Empty Weight. So what you are carrying can cut into what you can tow. E.G. 10,000 pound tow rating might be from a 16,000 GCWR; thus if one loads the van to 9000 pounds, then it can tow only 7000, not 10,000.

My 12 passenger E-350 as an example. 5.4 V-8, GCWR is 13,000 and tow rating is advertised at 6700 pounds. Empty weight is just over 6200 pounds (a bit less now that I've taken out the back seat). GVWR is 9600. That means I can carry 3300 pounds, or tow 6700 pounds, but I can't do both at the same time. If the van is fully loaded (including tongue weight) what it can tow is down to 13,000 - 9600, or 3400 pounds. That's a heavy pop-up or a really lightweight small TT. The latter is what I intend to tow.

It has been a while since I have checked the numbers on the Express van, but I think that GCWR is 16,000 with the 6.0, 13,000 with the 4.8. That lets the (5200 pounds empty) cargo van have a 10,000 pound rating, but the Express passenger van with seats and rear air conditioning will be about a thousand pounds heavier, empty. If it is the long wheelbase van, add another 400-500 pounds to the empty weight.

My Passport is the same basic layout everyone has been posting. 6280 dry.
Weighed for 5 days of camping full tanks it was 7480.

We really like it. It has been great! Tow really easy!

BubbaChris wrote:

wing_zealot wrote:

SoundGuy wrote:

kennyd63 wrote:
I will really appreciate any input form you folks.

Start with their tow vehicle details ... kinda pointless for others to make suggestions when they have no idea as to what their TV is capable of towing. :@

The OP asked for suggestions on what would sleep 9, is a senior member, and been on this forum for over 3 years. Why do you want to think no one knows what they are doing? Seems to me it is pointless to post something that doesn't answer the question that was asked.

Maybe once the find a trailer they like that sleeps 9 they'll figure out what they need for a tow vehicle. That's the way I would do it.

Um, Senior Member is just based on number of posts. It doesn't indicate any level of expertise. In fact, the OP seems quite comfortable asking for input on a variety of subjects.

So I'm with Sound Guy on believing it is smart to get info about the daughter's TV before making TT suggestions. With 9 people to transport, even a 350 series full sized van is likely to run out of payload capacity.

BubbaChris - You are totally right. Senior Member is based on # of post. And yes, I do not know it all. That is why I am asking the good folks in this forum for advise because I am not an expert.

I stumbled on the Fun Finder F-301KIBH last night which has a floorplan like what others have mentioned. She could leave the small dinette in the bunk area set up as a permanent bunk and have two kids share the double bunk. So that's 5 kids taken care of in the bunkhouse. The adults in the queen or if she's got a toddler, perhaps a toddler in the queen with them. Then fold down the couch for the last one or two kids.

Dry weight on the FunFinder is 7495. And the cabinets were on the lighter side for the current model year at least.

Another option is something with opposing BH slides. There are not as many brands offering this:



She will want to stay near 7k dry.

I have always liked this quad bunk floorplan with a little more space for parents. With 7 kids, she may prefer the 4 bunks over the bunk slide and outdoor kitchen.

Unless I missed it, you didn't mention what size your dau and family were looking for and what their tow vehicle, etc is. I, too, like the toy hauler idea. Do some custom work to add bunks or make a big sleeping bag area. Change as needed.

Totally agree on the dark colors + some that are just plain ugly. When we toured the FR plant where our ROO was built, the Nat'l Sales Manager for ROO and Micro Lites took us through. I sort of jokingly - sort of - asked him if they had to search far and wide for someone who could choose THE most awful fabrics and bedspreads to use in these things. Don't think it was the first time he'd had that questions, but he sorta laughed and showed us what was coming for '10 or whenever. They were much more mid-range, natural colors, more outdoorsy without being "camo" and I told him I thought a huge improvement. As it happened, our 2013 Rocky must have been one of the first made with leftover fabric and it was my favorite of all. Totally agree that colors now are too dark, too formal looking, some just dreadful. In our ROO, we had a choice of 2 - blue or green. I hated the blue with a passion. Wasn't gonna have it, wanted the green. One thing and another, we ended up with blue and it was much better in person that the "glow in the dark" blue as it appeared in the brochure. I grew to rather like it - still would have preferred the pretty textured sorta mossy green - and we had oak cabinets which helped with the light and bright. Maybe it'll cycle back.

kennyd63 wrote:

APT wrote:
There are at least 20 brands offering a variation of this floorplan that could work:



What does your daughter plan to tow this RV with?

I believe she called the dealer to find out what was her towing limit? She has a 12 passenger Chevy van I don't recall the size of the engine. But the dealer told her that the van it's rated at 10,000 lbs for towing.

Just to give you an idea of weights, mine with this floor plan, packed for camping with empty water tanks has a 7920# trailer axle weight with 1208# tongue weight. Of course this is for my trailer, so it may be different based on manufacturer.