Cargo for family of 5?

Most people seem to wind up around 1,000 - 1,200 lbs when loaded. But that includes the weight of things like fresh water and full propane bottles.

I see from your other posts that you have a Ram 2500 diesel with 1950 lbs payload. You might want to put that information in your signature to help prevent your questions from getting sidetracked.

Rye_a wrote:
We are a family of five that is looking into getting a fifth wheel. I’m trying to determine the total gross weight of our trailer once we have it set up, and have no idea what our personal gear (dishes, clothes, other household items) will weigh. Can anyone give me an idea about what I should be factoring in to my gross weights for these items?

If your payload capacity is really only 1950lbs, you're going to have limited choices for a 5th wheel, especially one for 5 people. I assume that a bunkhouse model is what you want.
After you subtract the weights of the 5 people, 5th wheel hitch and truck cargo, from your 1950 number, that's all you will have for the LOADED pin weight of the 5th wheel.
Truck payload vs loaded pin weight is what you should be focusing on first, before gross trailer weight.

When I had my TT with my family of 4 I was 2k lbs more than the dry weight. I do pack on the heavier side which is why I say to go with at least 1500lbs more than the dry weight sticker. Fifth wheels typically hold more so it’s easy to pack things into them. My TT was an oddball in that it had a 4100lb CCC of that I only used 2k lbs. I never travel with full tanks and only about 10 gallons of freshwater.

With that said anything you look at add at least 1500 lbs to the dry weight and then figure 20-25% for the pin weight.

Packing our last RV for a family of 5 added about 1,000 pounds and that was a little 11' truck camper. The dry weight of the trailer won't include batteries, propane, water in the fresh tank, water in the water heater, water in the waste tanks, and possible some dealer added options.
Weigh your truck axles with it full of fuel with the family on board. Subtract the rear axles weight from the RAWR and that's how much you have left for a FW hitch and the pin weight. Figure the pin weight is 20% of the trailer's loaded weight and you know how much you can tow. This number will likely be much lower than the truck's advertised tow rating.

1,950 pounds of payload isn’t very good. Skip the kid’s bikes and you’ll likely carry 1,400 pounds of stuff in the trailer for five people...keep it out of the truck.

We’re a family of 4 plus 2 dogs. We don’t pack light but we don’t pack to the extreme either. For a week long trip we average 1k added to trailer, not including water.

Trailer GVWR is probably a good starting point but really you need to weigh it fully loaded to know for certain. Unless you are obsessive with a family of 5, you are probably going to use all the cargo capacity of the trailer.

As others have said, if your payload really is under 2000lb, you are going to be limited to very small 5th wheels. Let's say 500lb for 5 people plus 200lb for the hitch...that leaves you only 1300lb for pin weight if you put absolutely nothing else in the truck and you have no after market add-ons (such as running boards)...Assuming 20% pin weight, that leaves you 6500lb fully loaded for the trailer. If you carry firewood, spare gas, generator, etc... in the truck, it reduces the trailer size even more.

I can load up with about 850lb of water alone. We are what I call 'extended travellers' meaning each trip is a multi month affair. We are extreme. We carry a spare trailer axle plus quite the selection of spares & tools needed to deal with all kinds of problems. Alot of weight but in over 1800 nights of travelling outside help has very seldom been needed.

Full load of water, I am guessing I have somewhere between 1500 & 2000lb of 'stuff' put onboard.

If I was a weekend warrior with a home to store most of this stuff in my gross wt would be much less.

Most RV specs will show dry weight and also wet weight with propane and fresh water, but empty black/gray tanks. If not you can calculate wet weight by adding the weight for propane and 8# for every gallon of water.

Next you need to factor in the weight of any accessories and modifications. Those might include upgraded mattresses (foam mattresses can be really heavy), solar panels, generator, battery bank, etc.

For a family of 5, I would like to see at least an additional capacity of 2000#. Even 2 people can take up an added 1000# or so. The extra capacity is needed for cooking gear, food, tools, bedding, personal items and clothing, hobby stuff, books/maps/travel guides, lawn chairs, laptops/electronic devices, generator fuel, BBQ grill and fuel, picnic table, etc. You will need additional capacity if you are going to bring heavy items such as bikes and bike racks or even those sturdy zero gravity chairs.

Sadly many trailers are cheaply made, low quality and the manufacturer often skimps on even the absolute basics such as axle capacity and tires.

bikendan wrote:

Rye_a wrote:
We are a family of five that is looking into getting a fifth wheel. I’m trying to determine the total gross weight of our trailer once we have it set up, and have no idea what our personal gear (dishes, clothes, other household items) will weigh. Can anyone give me an idea about what I should be factoring in to my gross weights for these items?

If your payload capacity is really only 1950lbs, you're going to have limited choices for a 5th wheel, especially one for 5 people. I assume that a bunkhouse model is what you want.
After you subtract the weights of the 5 people, 5th wheel hitch and truck cargo, from your 1950 number, that's all you will have for the LOADED pin weight of the 5th wheel.
Truck payload vs loaded pin weight is what you should be focusing on first, before gross trailer weight.

We have upgraded to a Ram 3500 with 3800 pounds of payload.