Best TT for A Family of 7 w/ Nissan NV Passenger Van as TV

[CatonsvilleFred]

Hi All,

For a long time we've had a dream of taking our 5 kids on long road trips across the country. Right now, we're in the beginning stage of looking for Travel Trailers... Trying to do my research so as not to make a mistake. While we are new to RV'ing, we are a pretty adventurous family and like the outdoors.

We just bought a 2015 Nissan NV Passenger Van w/ Tow Package. We bought the van for non-towing excursions and to be able to pull a trailer in the future. The van has a towing capacity of 8700 lbs. (but that assumes just a driver and the seats). We're going to be pulling about 280 lbs. of seats out of the van when we take trips, but we'll be adding the weight of 6 additional passengers--on the bright side all of our kids are under 100 lbs right now.

We're interested in a travel trailer that can hold all 7 of us reasonably comfortably. I have seen a few quad-bunk options that really look like they'd work for us. My kids are aged 11, 11, 11, 10, and 7 ... 4 boys and 1 girl. We are thinking that the boys could be in a "bunk house" and our daughter could sleep on the couch or dinette.

Our preference is to get a trailer well within the limits of the van. For us that means looking at TT's with dry weights in the no-more-than 6,000-6,300 lb. range - but below 6,000 lbs would be even better. That will give us decent room for people in the van + cargo... and I know my kids will be gaining weight as they grow!

Our ultimate goal is take take a cross-country trip. (We live in Maryland so that is our starting point). But we will take a bunch of shorter trips first to get the hang of towing.

We are fortunate to have a decent amount of $ to spend, but I really would like to get the trailer and all related components (e.g., WD hitch, etc.) for under $20k and I'd REALLY be happy if I could get it all under $15k.

We are open to used trailers or new, and would love some advice for what we should be looking for with our TV.

Thanks so much for your ideas!

[rwbradley]

2012Coleman wrote:
Your making the mistake of only considering tow capacity. Payload of your van (what it can carry) is the limiting factor and will be exceeded before reaching tow capacity. Take the advice of getting it weighed, then post a picture of the sticker in the door jamb.

The weight you will need to add to this is the tongue weight of whatever TT you decide to get. You can get close to this weight by calculating 12% of the Gross - not empty weight of the TT.

Add to this the weight of the hitch receiver and the weight distribution setup.

Good luck.

I do not think anyone would argue that it is good to be well informed and get the numbers and understand the numbers, but do not be afraid of them. There are far too many beliefs on what these numbers actually mean, can the lawyers who tell the engineers to slap the numbers on your door be trusted, is there actually any independent science behind the number, or any concrete proof that exceeding these numbers is a risk and if so by how much until it is a risk. And most importantly, just like the wheel bearing discussion that went on for 8 pages last week kept coming back to. The repacking schedule for wheel bearings is based on worst case scenario IE a boat trailer being backed up into salt water on a regular basis. Are you looking at a worst case scenario if not what is a best case scenario... the lawyers will not give you that number.
Don't let the numbers scare you, they were not handed down by god. There are too many strong opinions in this forum (mine included) and virtually no applicable science on what they mean. Get the numbers and take them to an independent hitch installer (not the guy selling you the rig) and talk about it with them and discuss the how/where/when of what you are planning. Posting the numbers here will get you no closer to an answer, just 10 pages of opinion and no science. Spend as much time or more getting a well designed hitch setup as you do worrying about numbers. I worry far more about the morons that think that just because they have a diesel that can pull 10000lbs with the right size hitch ball that they do not need sway or WD or the right height shank etc and they bounce and weave all over the highway at 75mph than I worry about the guy who is over capacity by 10%.

[2012Coleman]

Your making the mistake of only considering tow capacity. Payload of your van (what it can carry) is the limiting factor and will be exceeded before reaching tow capacity. Take the advice of getting it weighed, then post a picture of the sticker in the door jamb.

The weight you will need to add to this is the tongue weight of whatever TT you decide to get. You can get close to this weight by calculating 12% of the Gross - not empty weight of the TT.

Add to this the weight of the hitch receiver and the weight distribution setup.

Good luck.

[badercubed]

SilverEscape wrote:
Take a look at the Jayco X254. It's a king bed hard rear slide and 4 bunks up front. We've got the smaller X213 with 2 bunks up front and are happily using it with 3 adults and 2 kids. Gives you the advantage of a hybrid but keeping with a fully hard sided trailer

I love that floor plan for a "lighter" TT to comfortably fit a family of 5+. If I were in the market for a hybrid, I would be all over this one.

[tatest]

Real tricky, and a lot depends on just how you plan to use the RV. I grew up in a family that had eight children, 5-6 of them at home most ot the time (we were spread out over 18 years). 60s, RV was going to be towed by a sedan or station wagon.

We started out with a "16 foot" TT (would be called 20 today) with a sleeping overhang over the tongue, and pipe bunks. We could sleep 10, seat 4 to 8, dine 4. Two in double bed in overhang, grandma and grandpa in the tiny bunk of converted dinette, two teens in pipe bunks at the back the four youngest bundled into an almost king size gaucho in the back. While travelling, a couple of us slept in the back of the station wagon to make more sleeping room available in the TT, and at destination grandma and grandpa stayed with Mame and Gilbert in their no utilities log cabin. There was so much sleeping room in the TT because there were not the kitchen and bath facilities expected today. This worked for travelling, not for camping. When we ate, we ate outside.

When the family shrunk down to mom, dad, youngest son (teen) and three girls, the family switched to a popup camper. The purpose of that was camping, not rolling motel. Big bunks at both ends took care of sleeping parents and girls, dinette or "sofa" bunked the boy. The nicething about popups is the expansion from a small box to a large family camping space. But a popup is not a house on wheels.

I think today's hybrids are a nice compromise for large families not prepared to haul around a 32-40 foot house trailer. I would look for bunks in the tent expansions at both ends, and coversion of both dining and seating (jackknife or gaucho) space to additional bunks. The crucial thing becomes "who can sleep together." In my era of 3-4 children to a room, packing that many into large shared beds was not a big deal, made for the camping adventure. But if coming from a culture of one child per room, the expectations could be one child per bed, and that can be hard to satisfy with what a van might tow, even if the limit is 10,000 pounds.

I suggest you go to RV shows, look at large popups (some have two dining areas), 20-25 foot hybrids, and the largest bunkhouse ultralights the dealers might bring. You may be choosing between the three categories, or among the options in one of them.

[SilverEscape]

toedtoes wrote:

CatonsvilleFred wrote:


Thanks for this tip... I am curious as to what the beds are rated to hold when they are slid out... I am a big guy (270lbs). My wife is around 140lbs. Are we going to have any problems breaking the unit at those weights?

Per the 2015 Feather brochure:

A reversed-cambered support system creates a durable
structure rated to hold 1,100 lbs., while a permanent
tent-to-bunk attachment system with channel locks
eliminates misplaced poles.

Yup. Ours says 1100 pounds when extended or retracted. 200 pounds when bed is going in/out or while towing.

[Drbolasky]

What Old-Biscuit said.

[toedtoes]

CatonsvilleFred wrote:

SilverEscape wrote:
Take a look at the Jayco X254. It's a king bed hard rear slide and 4 bunks up front. We've got the smaller X213 with 2 bunks up front and are happily using it with 3 adults and 2 kids. Gives you the advantage of a hybrid but keeping with a fully hard sided trailer

Thanks for this tip... I am curious as to what the beds are rated to hold when they are slid out... I am a big guy (270lbs). My wife is around 140lbs. Are we going to have any problems breaking the unit at those weights?

Per the 2015 Feather brochure:

A reversed-cambered support system creates a durable
structure rated to hold 1,100 lbs., while a permanent
tent-to-bunk attachment system with channel locks
eliminates misplaced poles.

[CatonsvilleFred]

SilverEscape wrote:
Take a look at the Jayco X254. It's a king bed hard rear slide and 4 bunks up front. We've got the smaller X213 with 2 bunks up front and are happily using it with 3 adults and 2 kids. Gives you the advantage of a hybrid but keeping with a fully hard sided trailer

Thanks for this tip... I am curious as to what the beds are rated to hold when they are slid out... I am a big guy (270lbs). My wife is around 140lbs. Are we going to have any problems breaking the unit at those weights?

[michigansandzil]

We love our shadow cruiser. It's hard sided and 28 feet, so it can fit just about anywhere. It's 5500# and has a quad bunkhouse and outside kitchen. The bunks can hold up to 200# which is great bc our boys are growing fast; and at 11, yours will soon too.
Happy shopping

[SilverEscape]

Take a look at the Jayco X254. It's a king bed hard rear slide and 4 bunks up front. We've got the smaller X213 with 2 bunks up front and are happily using it with 3 adults and 2 kids. Gives you the advantage of a hybrid but keeping with a fully hard sided trailer

[hohenwald48]

I don't know anything about the Nissan van but I use a 2013 Nissan Armada Platinum w/tow package to tow our 7,500# TT. It's rated at 9,100# towing. It is an awesome tow vehicle. Temperature of the engine and transmission stay in the normal range even when towing thru the mountains in 100 degree weather. Hope the van is just as robust.

[LG61820]

If you haven't yet tent-camped as a family, you might consider that before buying a trailer. Your boys are of an age that they might enjoy setting up and taking the tents down.

Maybe no one will really enjoy camping. Finding that out after making a few hundred $ investment will be much better than finding it out after making a several thousand $ investment in a large trailer..

Maybe the kids will enjoy the tents so much that they won't want to sleep in a trailer. . .

[patperry2766]

CatonsvilleFred wrote:

mbopp wrote:
Be careful about "brochure" weights - most trailers come in at 400# or so over the listed weight.
IIRR a Roo 233 is a 3-bed hybrid.

I've wondered about this. Why is this? How is this legal?

It was explained to me by a salesman that the trailer is weighed before appliances, A/C, propane tanks are installed as a base unit before options are added to have a baseline brochure weight.

Once you start adding everything, that's when you have to look at the weight sticker on the actual camper. A Jayco I was looking at was almost 900 lbs more than the brochure weight.

It's the same thing on a truck. There is a brochure towing/payload capacity, and then there's the actual sticker on the truck. Every option that is added reduces capacity.

[jerem0621]

Apex by coachmen.