TT Weight limits: theory and reality
There are a ton of threads here regarding the proper matching of TV and TT. Based on what I learned here, I made a very expensive decision to upgrade my brand new 1/2 ton to a 1 ton TV so that I would...
Forum Discussion
This is a little bit like preaching to the choir. What I have read in this and other threads goes something like this:
"I tow only x thousand miles a year and my truck is my daily driver. I can't see losing fuel economy and driving an oversized truck just to tow on my vacations."
There is a certain amount of logic there. I, for one, can't afford to buy a 50-60k truck just to tow my camper. My neighbor has done exactly that. He has a big diesel just to tow his 5th wheel. The rest of the time he drives an economy car.
The point here is that if you are in the position of needing your truck as a daily driver and you can't afford to take a truck big enough for your TT, you "need" to rationalize the decision to use the lighter truck as a TV. I know I spent a lot of days mulling this over before pulling the trigger on the bigger truck. My decision was based on this reasoning:
If I want to tow my camper and I really want to keep the one I have, then I have to provide a safe way to tow it. I could have decided to take the hit on trading the new trailer and buying a smaller, lighter one. I suspect it would have cost me more than upgrading the truck, but I could have done that and kept the F150 which my wife likes much better than the F350. We discussed that option. We decided that we both really like the floor plan of our camper and we had an amazing time dragging it around the region. Are there consequences to this decision? Of course there are. We get 3mpg less on the daily drive and the fuel is about 60 cents more expensive. This will cost us a few hundred dollars more a year. As for the size, well she drives it to work and we often take it shopping and out to dinner. But I drive a Mustang and we take it into the city and on adventures that don't require the size of the truck.
Around here, pickups are very common and heavy duty models are all over the place. So we aren't out of place when we take the truck. The operating cost difference is just the fuel. We have a maintenance contract and extended warranty on the truck so we have no concerns about the more expensive maintenance that the diesel needs (DEF and lots more oil). The fuel cost difference is about the same as one payment on the trailer. That's not such a big deal over the course of a year. The truck cost about 10k more than the F150 and we took a couple of thousand dollars loss on the trade. Offsetting that, we got a huge reduction in interest on the truck loan. I figure that we break even on the trade over the course of the loan.
My point is that RV'ing is not necessarily a bargain way to travel. Yes, you can save a lot if you don't have a lot of capital costs (trailer, etc.). But if you buy new and you aren't replacing an older RV, it isn't a cheap decision. If I add up all of the annual costs of owning the camper and the TV, I know that I could go to similar places and spend less on a really good hotel. Offsetting that is that there are no hotels where we have been camping and we love having a "mobile vacation house" that is all set up wherever we travel.
So, maybe ignorance is an excuse for overloading a TV...but is ignorance forgivable in this case? I don't think so. If someone decides to buy something as big and expensive as a TT, shouldn't they do the homework to assure they will be safe? I know the answer to that...consider how little most boat owners know about their expensive toys.
End of rant.
"I tow only x thousand miles a year and my truck is my daily driver. I can't see losing fuel economy and driving an oversized truck just to tow on my vacations."
There is a certain amount of logic there. I, for one, can't afford to buy a 50-60k truck just to tow my camper. My neighbor has done exactly that. He has a big diesel just to tow his 5th wheel. The rest of the time he drives an economy car.
The point here is that if you are in the position of needing your truck as a daily driver and you can't afford to take a truck big enough for your TT, you "need" to rationalize the decision to use the lighter truck as a TV. I know I spent a lot of days mulling this over before pulling the trigger on the bigger truck. My decision was based on this reasoning:
If I want to tow my camper and I really want to keep the one I have, then I have to provide a safe way to tow it. I could have decided to take the hit on trading the new trailer and buying a smaller, lighter one. I suspect it would have cost me more than upgrading the truck, but I could have done that and kept the F150 which my wife likes much better than the F350. We discussed that option. We decided that we both really like the floor plan of our camper and we had an amazing time dragging it around the region. Are there consequences to this decision? Of course there are. We get 3mpg less on the daily drive and the fuel is about 60 cents more expensive. This will cost us a few hundred dollars more a year. As for the size, well she drives it to work and we often take it shopping and out to dinner. But I drive a Mustang and we take it into the city and on adventures that don't require the size of the truck.
Around here, pickups are very common and heavy duty models are all over the place. So we aren't out of place when we take the truck. The operating cost difference is just the fuel. We have a maintenance contract and extended warranty on the truck so we have no concerns about the more expensive maintenance that the diesel needs (DEF and lots more oil). The fuel cost difference is about the same as one payment on the trailer. That's not such a big deal over the course of a year. The truck cost about 10k more than the F150 and we took a couple of thousand dollars loss on the trade. Offsetting that, we got a huge reduction in interest on the truck loan. I figure that we break even on the trade over the course of the loan.
My point is that RV'ing is not necessarily a bargain way to travel. Yes, you can save a lot if you don't have a lot of capital costs (trailer, etc.). But if you buy new and you aren't replacing an older RV, it isn't a cheap decision. If I add up all of the annual costs of owning the camper and the TV, I know that I could go to similar places and spend less on a really good hotel. Offsetting that is that there are no hotels where we have been camping and we love having a "mobile vacation house" that is all set up wherever we travel.
So, maybe ignorance is an excuse for overloading a TV...but is ignorance forgivable in this case? I don't think so. If someone decides to buy something as big and expensive as a TT, shouldn't they do the homework to assure they will be safe? I know the answer to that...consider how little most boat owners know about their expensive toys.
End of rant.
