loading up your travel trailer

We pack everything in our HTT. I don't leave clothing in it just because of laundry, etc. but everything else stays. When we are ready to go, I just put in the clothing and groceries (and drinks of course!) and we're off. We do bring a BBQ with us as the cleanliness of CG grills is suspect at best. But that's just us.

Cube cooler in the sub for in route drinks, and 90 percent BeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeR

have 1400 lbs capacity left over in our unique bunk house hybrid. Front outdoor storage gets chairs to fishing poles. Front inside storage gets the water heater and clothes for my wife and me. MID curb side floor to roof pantry holds dry goods, bath towels, beach towels, blankets. Street side under bunk clothes storage for the kiddos. Rear outdoor/indoor under lower bunk bed pack and play, sewer tote, lumber, blocks, and chocks. K2500 sub carries canoe, camping tote, rvq grill, screen room, paddles, and life jackets. Two kids and a large black lab ( lab and one car seat third row) toddler on middle row passenger captain, large cube cooler in place of the flipped forward driver side captain.

yankeeslover wrote:
I probably shouldn't ask this question here, as im sure once I get experienced with all this I will get my own routine, but im just wondering how everyone loads there campers for the weekend? I have a small featherlite which only holds around 400 pounds ccc.. plus my 1500 ram is gonna be pushing the payload limit of 1500 pounds when I figure in people and 500 pound hitch weight so I don't want to load up too much in the bed of truck.
im just wondering where best spot is to put things like pillows or sleeping bags? also I have a bunch of those fold up type lawn chairs, if im pushing 500 pound tounge weight am I better off loading lawn chairs in camper towards rear, or is it ok to still load in the storage area in the front by the hitch? I also have a small outside grill that I will probably put in the front storage.... and I have my coolers, but coolers im thinking is easier to load in the rear of my truck.. I guess I can put everything in truck but like I said, with 5 passangers I don't want to overdue my payload..... how does everyone else load up? just looking for tips/ideas from experience...I will buy wood and drinks by the campground after I unload

This is the right place to ask but maybe you will find that the answers are not what you are looking to get.

Your specific question - with a low RV cargo carrying capacity, how best should you load the RV and truck so that nothing is overloaded - is likely not the same scenario that most here face, as evidenced by the answers so far. I have a very similar situation to yours - single axle RV with a 500# CCC and a half ton truck.

There is no magic bullet - you have to get the RV and truck loaded and weighed, and then you can make adjustments afterwards.

In the meanwhile you should be thinking along the lines of --

RV: food in the cupboards and fridge, bedding, pack light on everything else (water fittings, sewer fittings, extension cords, cutlery, appliances, etc.) - that is all assuming no mods to the RV since they have to be counted towards the payload.

Truck: everything else - barbecue, chairs, clothes, propane tank, grey water tank, etc.

Pack light overall - your rig is not meant to carry everything you own.

Once that is done get over to the scales and weigh the rig so that you can get the truck weights at both axles and also the RV weights at the axle and tongue. You can then work out the RV's longitudinal centre of gravity and from that point onwards, if you keep good records, you never have to weigh again and can shift cargo around to suit limitations.

It is very hard to keep to the 500# (400# in your case) CCC of the RV. That is why single axle RVs are not a very good idea. In my case my RV is weighed to be 300# over the 3500# GVWR, although my axle 200# - 300# under the axle rating. Most of the excess load is on the tongue which is about 600#, up from 350# spec unladen load.

In this condition the RV tracks true and there have been no problems with the rig in all the time and thousands of miles I have pulled it.

So good luck in finding your own sweet spot for loading this restrictive combination. Also, hopefully you will get precise answers to your question.

Coolers? Isn't that what refrigerators are for? Maybe you have lots of family; don't remember. Do you really need to take a grill?

If you put 400 lbs of stuff in the bed of your truck, it counts as 400 lbs against the payload. If you put 400 lbs of stuff in your tt, it counts as up to 60 lbs. against your payload. The smart move is to put it in the tt. But, 400 lbs adds up fast so take care how much you load in the tt.

For me, pillows, blankets, clothes and food definitely go in the tt. It is easier to load it in the right place at home than to have to worry about it when you get to the campsite. But, we leave our tt stocked during the season and only replace what we use as we go. Leaves less work and more time to enjoy.

The only thing we'd need to PACK in the trailer for up to a weeks stay is groceries. Clothes for the season, toiletries, towels and linens are all kept in the trailer at all times. When we return from a trip everything is washed and returned to the trailer (dishes are already done as we use them) and we inventory items like toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning materials and non perishable food items that are also kept in the trailer and replenish them as necessary so we're ready to go whenever the next trip is. Give us about a half hours notice and we're out the road :)

We leave everything but food in our camper then when we are ready we grab a laundry basket fill it full of food, throw a cooler of adult beverages in the bed of the truck, and toss the bikes in the bed of the truck.

Good bad or indifferent, i prefer to pull my weight., meaning, i jam what i can into the camper itself. The back of my tt had a fold down storage rack, i placed my cooler, and a crate of firewood onto that.

Just my pet peve i guess, but i just prefer not to have my truck loaded down.

My trailers have always been loaded ready to go. I dont move stuff in or out except perishable food stuffs.