The pounds you pack in you rig

Full time with 2600 lbs in trailer. Food, clothing, kitchenware, etc. More in truck.

Trying to keep the weight down in the TT, I carry some of the heavy stuff like tools in the truck bed by the cab. Looking at some of those 5ths and class A's with storage for a Jeep, just wonder how many extra pounds they carry. Saw a new Horizon 5th at the show and it weighed 21K empty. OMG.

The pounds you pack in you rig

Oh, I thought you were asking about my wife and I.

I keep essential things like tools in my rig, but I don't over pack. I usually will fill all the water tanks to full capacity of 80 gallons, 100# of LP, and 20 gallons of gasoline for my boondocking trips. The weight adds up fast so you need to keep and eye on what you are putting in your rig.

It's difficult to not over pack. Usually right after a trip, I go thru and anything that has not been used in 3 trips comes out

I've done 3 weightings:

1) Completely empty- the trailer was about to go back to the factory, we emptied all of the tanks and all of our personal effects out of it. The only changes from when we bought it were very minor mods.

2) At the beginning of this season to get a feel for where we came in numbers-wise.

3) Towards the end of the season, just prior to a 3-week trip. This likely is our heaviest weight we'll ever weigh.

Here's what I found:
Dry weight:
Advertised dry weight: 11,840 lbs.
Yellow sticker dry weight: 12,239 lbs.
Actual weighed dry weight: 12,440 lbs.

Dry pin/hitch weight:
Advertised dry pin/hitch weight: 1,825 lbs. (15.4%)
Actual weighed dry pin/hitch weight: 1,840 lbs. (14.8%)

And now, reality:
My camper's weight: 13,860 - 14,820 lbs.
My pin/hitch weight: 2,300 - 2,540 lbs. (16.6% - 17.1%)

Which means..
I'm adding 2,000 - 3,000 pounds of stuff (including water weights) from the advertised dry weight.

There's more on my blog...

Our camping gear adds right at 600lbs to the TT. All together we add less than 1000 lbs. Clothes, chairs, hammock, and stand, grill, stove, ref, outdoor tables, pots, pans, blankets, sheets, towels, TV, (Scaled) Can't imagine what people carry to add more. Unless Lucy is saving rocks.

But then, We came from popup camping. so most of our gear is not only compact, it's light. And we carry only what we actually use. Has worked well for 30 years.

2001 F150 4x4 Lariat. 5040# empty, 5520# with me, DW and two teenage granddaughters and little else, so 480# in the TV. I've since added a Snug Tight shell which would add to that weight. My 16’ TT empty 2420#, loaded to go 2920# including ~140# of water, so 500# in the TT. So I’m running about 65% of my GCVWR which is why mountain grades aren’t an issue at all and that’s the way I like it. It’s likely if I were pulling a big, heavy TT I’d be a diesel guy, though.

Highway 4x4 wrote:
I just got my TT weighed on the scales. With just me and the dog on the trip,our stuff including food is about 500 pounds. All tanks empty.

You and the dog should not be used in the weight of your travel trailer.

Taking a lot of very long trips, my trailer is usually fully loaded (~8000 pounds) and I load another 1500 in the truck plus passengers etc so close to 10000 total. Our preference is always. Boondocking or at least dry camping do e take a lot pkg stuff along.