A Few Questions

On another forum I was told by the moderator that my head was in the clouds, that my truck (GCWR of 13,000 lbs) isn't capable of pulling the trailers I've been eyeing. According to him I shouldn't go over a dry weight of 4,000 lbs.

I am ignorant on how the numbers work specifically. Maybe it's not quite as black and white as it appears. As I see no other way than working backwards I've been figuring the numbers. According to the title it claims the truck's weight is 4700 lbs, though I was told this is likely low so I bumped it up to 4800 lbs. A full tank of gas (25 gals) weighs 155 gals. I'm not sure if any other fluids are included so I added 35 lbs for this. I figured our weight as 440 lbs with stuff in our pockets/purse and a kid who grew a little by two years. Then I accounted for stuff, including an ice chest, and gave 70 lbs bringing this to 5500 lbs. Maybe I'll have stuff in the bed so I gave a misc weight of 200 lbs bringing this to 5700 lbs. I asked, and was told it's not a good way to work this (estimating backwards), but that the stuff inside the trailer might weight about 1000 lbs so I increased this to 1500 lbs. I was told it's good to have a little fresh water to start with so I included 100 lbs (12 gals) for water. This brings the total to 7300 lbs. Take all of this from 13,000 lbs and that leaves me with 5700 lbs of max trailer.

Is this incorrect? Am I missing something?

The Passport 2920 BH claims a shipping weight of 5385 lbs leaving me with a little excess. The Outback 293 UBH has a shipping weight of 5830 lbs, which is slightly over but then my numbers were also inflated. The Passport 3220 BH weighs 6096 lbs and is over this limit by 300 lbs. I doubt I'd use much, if any of the misc truck weight I accounted, and if my 1500 lbs of gear is well over then this trailer would literally be close to the true max weight limit.

These give a hitch weight ranging from 625-725 lbs. What exactly does this number mean? I'm a bit unfamiliar with tongue weight, but it seems to be how much forward weight there is bearing down on your bumper. I understand that this is adjustable, right? If nothing else stuff is moved forward or aft to balance the weight to the desired range.

I certainly don't want to overwork my truck, nor do I want to put my family or other people in jeopardy. I moved past the previous trailers after working out these numbers as these would give my child a bit of a personal space to play in. It seems most people on these two forums have frowned on towing anything without a 3/4 ton truck or better. But then there have also been a few who have stated they have done exactly this without white knuckling it or overworking their 1/2 ton.

Of course I have the room in having a toy hauler but I purchased a Dometic freezer/frig and use it to store overflow from the RV frig/freezer. It runs on battery or shore power (110volt). Has a low battery drain limit that keeps it from running your RV batteries down to low and does a super job.

We added a queen 3" memory foam topper to our mattress and did not cut the extra length off. That gives DH more length that he needs AND it makes the regular queen sheets fit fairly well. If we move, I just flip the topper back up and over so that when we put the slide in the regular mattress can move fully up against the closet like it should and the slide is totally closed. That topper added a lot of comfort to the bed. I would do that for your daughters bed too. If it is a bunk type bed, you can cut the topper down to the size you need. The denser the foam, the more comfort and the longer it will last. The x-tra topper could make a twin or full size sheet fit better. The bunks I have seen were twin size bunks, to twin size sheets.

Depends on how cold it gets where you are at. We wintered in central AL where propane was supplied for us. For example, we had 19 nights in Dec that it was at freezing or below. Over the course of the winter, we used approx 200 gallons of propane and supplemented with an electric heater. On the gulf coast of MS where it was somewhat warmer with fewer night that cold and only our cook stove using propane, we used about 20 gallons.

If plugged into electricity how long does 40 lbs of LPG last in the summer vs the winter? And what of when you are unplugged and using gas for everything?

Is having a larger toilet waste a good thing? Two of these models have 38 gal tanks whereas one has 30/60. I've seen how some, when boondocking, while allow non toilet waste to just flow into the bushes.

I've also been told that many replace the mattresses stating they are rather poor, and queen sized are short making sheets expensive for lower quality sets. Anyone just add a foam topper?

What do people do about the lack of counter space as far as prepping food and such?

I'm also curious about repurposing some bunks for storage. Anyone have ideas?

As there are several bunk beds in the bunkhouse I'm wondering if it's possible to remove one lower bunk to increase kid space.

Looking at the bunk bed size (32x74) I had to measure my kid's bed and noticed these are several inches narrower. Do these use oddball smaller sheets like the short queen size beds?

So it's not bad to screw things to the walls? What of exterior walls?

In some of the floor plans it's vague as to whether or not there's a linen closet. If not I'll need to add some sort of shelving. I figure I'll find plenty of uses for added shelving and whatnot.

Add to what? In my trailer I can find the studs for hanging stuff. 3 M strips do well for lighter things.

How does one add shelving? I assume screws are a very bad idea. 3M adhesive?

After more poking around through Keystone trailers I've now been considering the Passport 2920 BH and 3220 BH, and the Outback 293 UBH. These all have an area for the kiddo.

Our daughter sleeps like a rock once she's asleep. But she won't go to sleep if she hears anything interesting, which is about anything but sleeping.

I got rid of my Facebook account but SWMBO is a member of that group (group 2?).

I'm beginning to think we should just have mandatory eating out days to compensate for what the fridges won't handle. It doesn't state the size of the outdoor fridge but anything is better than nothing I'd think. At least I can get a six pack once in awhile.

A fan to provide some white noise is a great idea!

I'd be curious to know what you've found that works well for you from Ikea.

If you're on Facebook, there is a group called "Fulltime Families" that is filled with families just like yours- either doing or thinking of going fulltime. It's a great resource.

The small fridge is surprisingly usable. I think ours is the 8 cubic foot size and we can typically get food for 3-4 days and often stretch to 5 for my family of 4 (where the 2 kids eat like small adults!).

We've been traveling full-time for 14 months.

Sewer hookups depend on the park- most parks that people decide to live stationary in have hookups at each campsite. You use sewer hoses or plumb into the sewer system. You'll let the black fluid (poops and pees) build up and them dump it when a tank under the camper is full.

Lots of campers have hard-doors for the bunkhouse. If your daughter is such a light sleeper, be aware that campers are generally poorly insulated and you can often hear what is going on outside. An air conditioner in the bunkhouse or some other kind of white noise machine will help.

2 air conditioners more from the perspective of size of camper and poor insulation. I have a looooong camper at 42' and would really prefer 3 of them.

Lots of storage solutions. Ikea is a FTF (fulltime family) favorite. We have been through a variety of ideas and implementations since launching. We still have too much stuff and are trying to find our way.

In "lightweight" TT you can tow with an F-150 likely won't be very suitable for a family living in it full time.
My family of 4 gets along quite well with the 6 cu ft refrigerator in our TC. On a 2 week trip we usually have to go to the grocery store once a week but we have to do that at home anyway.
If you're going to be plugged in all the time I wouldn't worry about solar. Wind is a complete joke for an RV. An RV will generally use a LOT more electricity than a house of the same or even much larger size. RVs are very poorly insulated. A typical RV absorption refrigerator running on electric uses about 3 times more than a standard electric refrigerator in my experience.