Buying 1st Travel Trailer Go Large or Not?

CaLBaR wrote:

yillb wrote:
I'm sorry you have to deal with all the people who can't do basic math. If the trailer is within the limitations that your truck is capable of, then so be it.

I noticed a couple of people were saying don't pay attention to the dry weight.... ffs, sorry for them too. The dry weight of the trailer is the most important weight you can look at. This is how you get an idea of how much the trailer weighs before you add propane, water, goods, etc. Since it has a GVWR the logic is you must know the exact weight of everything going into the trailer. Take your try weight, and add all that additional weight you added to the dry weight. Then you have your weight. Why anyone would tell you dry weight is basically useless, just can't do basic math. Now, your truck, with a 10K towing capacity. IF your trailer weighs 8k dry, let's just ASSUME you manage to add 1000 pounds worth of ****, so it gets up to 9k, you're still within your limits. That will put you at around 800 - 1000 pounds in tongue weight. You didn't mention your payload ( or at least I did not see it ), if you have an extra 1000 pounds of payload on a ram, kudos to you. The only thing i see here is " not doable " is going to be your payload, and that's even debatable, I don't know what your payload is, though I'm assuming it's somehwere around 1600 / 1800. After adding in kids / animals / wive(s), what's left?. Everything else is within your limitations. you have a long trailer, and that ram has a short wheelbase compared to other full 1 ton trucks. However, they don't sell trucks and say " Gotta keep the length below X ". Have fun!

I couldn't agree more. Well said. That is how I decided that my current trailer will be OK for my truck. I knew how much stuff I put into my old trailer so knew I would be close but within my tow ratings. Used that plus battery, propane weights to estimate tongue weight loaded. Not perfect but I was close enough once I weighed the combo to my estimate that it worked out well.

Things to consider with dry weight. What is the source of the dry weight info? If it is the brochure dry weight they are notoriously inaccurate vs. the actual stick on the trailer.
If you are using dry weight and are a total newbie what do you do with this figure? Do you take it as it is? Do you add to it? How accurate do you need to be? STill lots of variables using dry weight especially if you are a rookie.
If you have experience the idea of sizing it up a combo is less challenging. You are not in the dark as much as someone who has never done it so the loaded vs. dry scenario is less daunting.
If you are new have no idea GVW leaves more margin for error vs. dialing it in using dry weights. Rookies do not know how to dial it in or add the correct cargo amount to the dry weight.
GVW is a more foolproof figure, less variables or other factors to consider.