shorter vs longer on a long trip

rfryer wrote:
The length isn’t going to make much difference in mileage, as said air resistance is the culprit. The weight comes into play when starting from a dead stop and especially if you’re climbing mountains, then you will notice the difference. I like small because they’re much more maneuverable and the ease of driving scenic roads and finding camp sites. And I don’t like reservations or planning which gas station, parking lot, etc. I can get into. So if I had the option of reselling the shorter TT for the same money I’d choose it. But then I pull a 16’ TT so I'm bias.

I own a 26' TT that is 30' over all length and a 17' TH that is 21' over all length. The weight is about the same of both TT. There is very little difference towing mpg. I agree with what rfryer said on maneuverable.

I towed our 31' TT to Oregon and back (LA) and found that 55mph got considerable better mileage than 65. I also found that head wind or tail wind was a big decider. Slow down and enjoy your rom.
Cork

I had a 17' Wilderness TT years ago. It weighed around 3,000 lbs. I towed
it with a 350 Suburban and only got 9.5 - 10 mpg. So I would say...no,
you won't save any fuel money.

Brian

Shorter is better in an emergency .
I tow a 7200 # GVW trailer with a 9200 # GVW diesel pickup .
A diesel pickup weighs about 400 # more on the front axle than the same 2500 gas pickup .
We have 4wd and that adds more weight on the front axle than a 2wd pickup .
I had 2 longer RV's before settling on a 21T Komfort .
It tows much nicer especially in side winds than the longer / higher TY .
Because the weight behind the trailer axle is uncontrolled it works on the lever principle to move the Tow vehicle around .
That is a reason that commercial trucks have their axles at the ends of the trailers .
In a critical situation such as going too fast into an unexpected curve the shorter trailer always has a better chance of not going off the road .
Too many folks find that out by towing a 9200#gvw trailer with a 7200# gvw tow vehicle .
The longer trailer looks tempting parked at the RV show when we are buying .
If everybody did a towing demo of their prospective trailer purchase then there would be more shorter trailers I believe .

I would agree with others here. I don't have experience with a TT but when we went to a much larger 5th wheel we saw about 10% increase in fuel consumption. In my opinion not enough to worry about.

Mr. Bo and others are correct. We had a 32-foot TT with a relatively aerodynamic front end and now have a 24-foot less streamlined rig. The weight and other factors are about the same. Mileage with the 32-footer was about 1 mpg better (10.5 vs. 9.5).

I agree with the others: the main reason for your mileage is wind resistance, and nearly all of that is the frontal area of the trailer. You will get nothing worthwhile going shorter in length. But you could get a lot by going shorter in height.

Something like a TrailManor or Hi-Lo would be worthwhile.

I've had occasion to tow a car on a dolly at just about the same weight and only a very little shorter overall than my TT. I got 18+ mpg dragging the car and average 14 dragging the full-height/full-width TT. That's almost 29% improvement in mpg for the better wind resistance.

You asked about any other differences. We had a family get together at a beautiful campground along a lake. My brother's 34 foot trailer had a very hard time maneuvering and getting into his space. The rest of us had rigs in the 20 to 25 foot range, and had little problems getting around.

That's a lot of `ifs' being able to sell a rig for what you paid for it. I'd rather camp in something I am familiar with and forget about the mileage.

I have a 32' trailer that weights 10,000 lbs & I get between 10 to 11 mpg...I don't think the length of the trailer will matter.