As stated above, with a 1/2 ton you are limited with your weights, but that is no reason why you should not be able to find a really nice camper that will serve you and your family for a while. I say "a while" because chances are, in 3 years or less, you'll probably be looking for a new truck and a new camper combination. A truck that is heavier and a camper that is bigger. First time buyers learn by their first purchase. It probably does not matter what you purchase, you'll be ready to trade in a few years. There's nothing wrong with that.
With that said, there are many brands of light weight trailers that would accommodate a family of 4. As with any camper, we all have to determine how much camping equipment and supplies we need for our creature comforts.
Don't necessarily limit yourself to just a hard sided travel trailer. Pop-up's Hybrids (hard sided campers with fold out tent ends), egg shaped style uni-body campers like the Scamp, or tear drop styled campers are possibilities also. Don't completely skip over the idea of getting a pop-up, or an A-liner, or even a Teardrop style camper. All of these are single axle trailers that would work quite well with your current vehicle.
You have millions of options available to you. And unfortunately, only you can finally decide what will work best for you. We can give our opinions, but at the end, the decision has to be yours.
For what it's worth, we wanted to get off the ground after tent camping for years and years. My tow vehicle was a Chevy Mini Van. It did have a V-8 engine, but the transmission was definitely not suited for towing. After talking to a couple dealers we faced the reality a pop-up camper could be towed by our van. When we finally found the pop-up we fell in love with, even it was too heavy for the mini van. Thanks goodness we had an honest dealer that told us the way it was! We ended up getting a smaller pop-up that served us for 6 years. That same mini van towed that pop-up all over this country with a family of 4 and pets too. We thought we were "king rat" with at outfit! Happy as 2 bed bugs against a warm body! We had some great times with that pop-up.
We traded the van first. After owing it for 10 years, it started having problems that were beginning to mount into more $$$ than we wanted to invest ... like windows that quit working, air conditioner that didn't cool any more, stuff like that. Transmission and engine were wonderful. We traded it for a Suburban under the original Cash for Clunkers program. From there, it was a bigger tow vehicle, then a bigger trailer, then a bigger tow vehicle and then a bigger trailer. So it went back and forth.
So what I'm saying is, bottom line, if you look at almost any single axle campers out there, they will probably work quite well for your tow vehicle and family. Just keep in mind, in about 3 years ... if you rally love this life-style, you'll begin to think, "trade!" It just happens, so plan on it some day.
Good luck in your search. Keep us posted on your progress.
