Towing 8ft wide v 7ft trailer

Congratulations on the new trailer. I hope you have many good new memories with it.

Nice! Hope you enjoy it!

Just an update - we bought a 7ft wide viking 17bh on sat. Thanks to all for taking the time to give me your thoughtful replies. It helped!

Our Evergreen I-Go is 7 ft 7 in wide. Some models are quite short. Our next TT will be 8 ft wide. We want more room each side of the bed.

My TT is 8" wide but I have a 3/4 pickup and no narrow roads to deal with. With a Traverse I would go with a 7" wide for less frontal area. A slide would be nice to open the trailer up a little.

FWIW Gulfstream makes a few lines of Ultra Lites that are 7.5 feet wide. Most of their line in 15 is going to start going to 8 foot. We had a 19 foot with slide, and just upgraded to a 26 footer with a much larger slide. Although we've only towed it home, they went with the rounded front design now, instead of the flat chiseled front. I noticed a slight decrease in drage.
I store mine in my back yard. Between roof overhang and the fence, I'm not sure that extra half foot would allow me to jockey it to where I need it (It's tight now with the longer trailer). Me, I go narrow with a slide. Best of both worlds.

Thanks for all these excellent replies. I have all but crossed 8ft'ers off my list. As i am shopping for this new TT, i realize how darn lucky i was last time around. Knowing virtually nothing, we managed to choose a tiny trailer our vehicle can tow with ease. It was truely dumb luck.

Thanks again!

My TT is 14ft long x 8ft wide. Great for two people. Tows fine with a half ton truck. Easy to park in any campground.

But, you are still towing a brick wall behind you, whether it is 7ft wide or 8 ft. wide as far as wind resistance.

It depends on your tow vehicle. Eight foot trailer has at least 15% more frontal area, often more because the two sizes are purposefully built to different heights, to address the tow vehicle frontal area issues. For some tow vehicles, particularly minivans, compact pickups, SUVs the trailer frontal area is a factor in the towing limitations.

Once past the tow vehicle issue, there is the driving part of it. An 7-foot trailer is easier to keep in a nine foot lane than an 8-foot trailer (or an 8 1/2 foot motorhome, I have one of those and try to avoid the really narrow roads). If your tow vehicle is wide enough, a narrower trailer might also be easier to see past, without mirror extensions out to ten feet.

FWIW, shopping for a small trailer for 1-2 person use, I am inclined toward an egg trailer only 6' 8" wide, barely wider than the full-size van that will pull it. That way I know if I can squeeze the van through a space, the trailer will likely make it through also.

My travel trailer (Lance 1575) is 7' wide, and my boat trailer is 8'. Much easier and safer to tow the Lance on narrow country roads than my boat trailer.

Bruce