Which models should I look at

Take a look at the Winnebago 2306BHS at https://winnebagoind.com/products/travel-trailer/2018/micro-minnie/floorplans But watch your Tahoe payload...five people and stuff. PS I pack about 1300 pounds...water, food, everything...but only two of us.

Try looking at Coleman trailers. I have a CTS274BH which has two 72 x 48 bunks in the rear and a queen up front. It might work for the Tahoe as ours loaded up with full FWT is 6300-6400 pounds. It may be a bit on the long side though @ 28', however there are other models like it that are a bit smaller, and they also have a LITE series as well, but cost a little more.

Check out the Dutchman site, http://www.dutchmen.com/travel-trailers

SoonerWing03 wrote:
Also, more than looking at the GVWR I am looking at the Dry Weight and adding 1,500 lbs to come up with the under 6,000. Simply because I have seen some with a dry weight of 4,100 and GVWR of 7,000. The GVWR would put it out of my range but in reality there is no way that I would load 2,900 lbs in it. Hopefully that is logical,

Honestly you are right. My dry weight is 4811lb. My GVWR is 7500lb. A totally useless number. It will NEVER weight even close to that. right now it is close to 6000lb. So if you find what you want that you can add 1500lb to and come in under 6000. Good to go. In truth. 1500 is prolly more than you will load.

Only reason I ever look at the GVWR is to make sure the TT has enough carry capacity to carry 1500lb. Not all have a large carrying capacity. Some will have a dry weight of say 4000, and a GVWR of 5000. not enough.

SoonerWing03 wrote:
We are looking for our first travel trailer and feel overwhelmed by the search. Would love some suggestions on which lightweight models we should look at.

Needs to sleep 5+
GVWR needs to be less than 6,000 lbs (Pulling with a Tahoe)
Prefer a bunkhouse option
Wife prefers a dedicated bedroom rather than a Murphy Bed (but I am working on her as this seems to really limit our options)

Currently considering options like:
Apex Ultra-Lite 245BHS
Bullet 243BHS

Generally speaking any travel trailer with a front Murphy bed will have limited cargo storage compared to one with a conventional walk around queen bed and large front pass through cargo compartment. Even my own 19' couples trailer has a massive front pass through cargo compartment ...



For a family of 5 you're on the right track with a model such as that Coachmen Apex 245BHS which features double width bunk beds. With a brochure listed UVW of ~ 4600 lbs I'd expect this trailer to weigh at least 6000 lbs, with an average gross tongue weight of ~ 800 lbs, loaded & ready to camp for a family of 5 and all the "stuff" you're sure to bring along. If there's any downside it's this model's 7.5' width, compared to the similar Coachmen Freedom Express 257BHS which is a full 8' wide but is also ~ 700 lbs heavier. You'd also want to consider whether you're OK with the Apex's elevated dinette or would prefer the FE's flush floor dinette - easy to overlook but for some an elevated floor can later become a really annoying issue, for others no problem at all.

Terryallan wrote:

SoonerWing03 wrote:
Also, more than looking at the GVWR I am looking at the Dry Weight and adding 1,500 lbs to come up with the under 6,000. Simply because I have seen some with a dry weight of 4,100 and GVWR of 7,000. The GVWR would put it out of my range but in reality there is no way that I would load 2,900 lbs in it. Hopefully that is logical,

Honestly you are right. My dry weight is 4811lb. My GVWR is 7500lb. A totally useless number. It will NEVER weight even close to that. right now it is close to 6000lb. So if you find what you want that you can add 1500lb to and come in under 6000. Good to go. In truth. 1500 is prolly more than you will load.

Only reason I ever look at the GVWR is to make sure the TT has enough carry capacity to carry 1500lb. Not all have a large carrying capacity. Some will have a dry weight of say 4000, and a GVWR of 5000. not enough.

excellent post here.
the adding 1500lbs to dry weight is accurate for us. 6300 dry factory weight, 7500lbs ready to camp on cat scales

kinda tough to test tow a TT to cat scales to get accurate rate. adding 1500lbs is a good general rule to look at TT's window shopping

SoonerWing03 wrote:
Also, more than looking at the GVWR I am looking at the Dry Weight and adding 1,500 lbs to come up with the under 6,000.

Terryallan wrote:
Honestly you are right.

Only reason I ever look at the GVWR is to make sure the TT has enough carry capacity to carry 1500lb.

sgfrye wrote:
adding 1500lbs is a good general rule to look at TT's window shopping

For a family of 5 I'd agree but an adult couple alone would likely not load anywhere near that much into a trailer, in my own case even 1000 lbs being sufficient. However, this depends on what we mean by UVW - the fancy brochure UVW or the much heavier UVW listed on the trailer's weight sticker, as it left the factory. My reason for wanting a trailer offering in excess of 1500 lbs of CCC isn't because I'll ever use all this capacity but 1) because excess capacity makes up for this differential between these two UVWs and 2) because it means the axle / tire capacity will offer just that much more buffer between what the trailer actually weighs loaded & ready to camp and it's rated GVWR.

SoonerWing03 wrote:
We are looking for our first travel trailer and feel overwhelmed by the search. Would love some suggestions on which lightweight models we should look at.

Needs to sleep 5+
GVWR needs to be less than 6,000 lbs (Pulling with a Tahoe)
Prefer a bunkhouse option
Wife prefers a dedicated bedroom rather than a Murphy Bed (but I am working on her as this seems to really limit our options)

Currently considering options like:
Apex Ultra-Lite 245BHS
Bullet 243BHS
But I am sure that I am overlooking some. Also, more than looking at the GVWR I am looking at the Dry Weight and adding 1,500 lbs to come up with the under 6,000. Simply because I have seen some with a dry weight of 4,100 and GVWR of 7,000. The GVWR would put it out of my range but in reality there is no way that I would load 2,900 lbs in it. Hopefully that is logical,

Don't just look at the GVW or dry weight, also look at the tongue weight. I just purchased a light weight TT myself (just over 3k dry and 3700 max). I found MANY TT's that fit < ~3500 weight i was looking for but found very few that fit my tongue weight. I don't recall which model, but one of the TT's i looked at had almost 600 lb dry tongue weight! This particular TT had storage in front so tongue weight was going to only go up.

Is the tongue weight not ~.13% of the TT GVWR? I know that they list a dry tongue weight but I haven't been using that as a factor as I have been using .13% of the GVWR.

SoonerWing03 wrote:
Is the tongue weight not ~.13% of the TT GVWR? I know that they list a dry tongue weight but I haven't been using that as a factor as I have been using .13% of the GVWR.

What you want to be concerned about is what the trailer's average gross tongue weight will likely be once fully loaded and ready to camp. Ideally you want it to land somewhere in the 13% to 14% range of it's average gross weight in the same state - loaded & ready to camp.