Looking for advice

[unpaulie]

I have a 2019 Ram 2500 CTD and looking at a Cirrus 720 and 820. I will pretty close to max payload and I want to tow my 20 foot bass boat. I have purchased air bags as well. Has anyone else setup a truck camper and bass boat? How was the experience. Bigger truck is not an option.

[jimh406]

Weight police aside, go lighter if you can get by with it, so that means the 720 I think. I’m assuming you will mostly just be sleeping in it. On most SRWs, the tires are the limiting factor. I agree the bass boat will have a light tongue weight, and shouldn’t be much of an issue as long as you can handle the TC with no issues. For towing, most people get into an issue when they use a long extension. Sounds like you will be using a conventional length ball mount, so that should be good.

[BillyBob_Jim]

GeoBoy wrote:

BillyBob Jim wrote:

unpaulie wrote:
wow...that went south quickly....Shame we just cant discuss the topic.

And then it took a turn to the Twilight Zone.

Lawsuits and felonies, faults, injuries, investigators.

Skeery Stuff.

Call it skeery stuff, all you want. If I or my spouse was injured in an accident because someone was negligent or because they didn’t want to drive the proper vehicle for the load because it was inconvenient for them, I would have them prosecuted and then sue them.

Whatever floats your boat. These types of comments have been going around RV boards since RV boards have been in existence. People get prosecuted and sued all the time for all kinds of things.

Despite the comments I have yet to see one real world example where someone was prosecuted because they were over on some weight when towing an RV trailer, and if you can somehow provide one it would have to be an example of gross negligence, Re; having to do with a total idiot. Not some guy who hooks his boat up to his truck with a truck camper.

Back to the original post.

I have a 2019 Ram 2500 CTD and looking at a Cirrus 720 and 820. I will pretty close to max payload and I want to tow my 20 foot bass boat. I have purchased air bags as well. Has anyone else setup a truck camper and bass boat? How was the experience. Bigger truck is not an option.

The OP is talking about towing a bass boat. I had a 20' fiberglass Ranger 205VS, which weighed @ 2K lbs, and the hitch weight may have been 150 lbs on a rainy day when the carpet was wet. You could pick it up by the coupler and spin it around in the driveway easily if you were not a wuss. Some of you people are off your rocker with the weight BS.

I've had enough entertainment. You folks go right ahead and obsess over this weight police foolishness and the legalities of same to your hearts content.

[GeoBoy]

BillyBob Jim wrote:

unpaulie wrote:
wow...that went south quickly....Shame we just cant discuss the topic.

And then it took a turn to the Twilight Zone.

Lawsuits and felonies, faults, injuries, investigators.

Skeery Stuff.

Call it skeery stuff, all you want. If I or my spouse was injured in an accident because someone was negligent or because they didn’t want to drive the proper vehicle for the load because it was inconvenient for them, I would have them prosecuted and then sue them.

[BillyBob_Jim]

unpaulie wrote:
wow...that went south quickly....Shame we just cant discuss the topic.

And then it took a turn to the Twilight Zone.

Lawsuits and felonies, faults, injuries, investigators.

Skeery Stuff.

[Camperfam4]

I see the any weight you can fit in your bed crowd and don’t worry about it are alive and well. Things to consider if you take that advice. If you’re involved in a traffic collision and either the police or the insurance investigator decide to weigh your rig or what’s left of it and you’re over weight you will most likely be assessed some level of fault. You may even be criminally charged if death or injury occurs as you knew or should have known that you were overloaded. In fact it may cause a violation to be escalated from an infraction to a straight felony. It goes on from there and none of it good.

The claim that the truck is engineered to carry way more than the GVWR rating on the VIN plate is simply not true. You have at most 10-15% tolerance. Let’s face it auto makers don’t engineer in more tolerance than absolutely necessary as it costs money.

All that said buy the lightest camper with the most features and stay as close to your GVWR & GCWR as possible. Remember the weight you’re carrying also wears out your truck that much quicker. Also, no matter the load you’re better off with airbags and big stabilizer bars.

I know the carry as much as you want crowd is going to hate on this posting, but I have see the results of overloading and it’s ugly.

[Grit_dog]

^ And while I believe that whole heartedly (I'm hauling an Arctic fox on an older Ram 2500), the newer coil spring 2500s are an inherently poor design for high center of gravity loads. Haven't used one, but reports are they are less resistant to body roll than leafs and it makes sense.
However, if I had that truck, airbags and the biggest sway bar I could find and I'd try it.
If someone makes stiffer coils IMO that would be preferable, but not sire I've seen any.
But with a Cirrus 720, it might handle it pretty darn good, especially if the truck is a long bed.
I'd go for it and not worry.

[camp-n-family]

steelhunter wrote:
Everyone knows manufacturer weight limit ratings are pure fiction and serve only to satisfy legal requirements.
It's ok to exceed these limits if it's based on the advice of something you read on the internet.

Everyone knows that in the case of 3/4 ton trucks, the manufacturers weight limit ratings are pure fiction. They are lowered on paper to keep them within a lower class rating for licensing purposes. Exceeding the reduced payload ratings won't hurt anything but the egos of the weight police. Stay within the axle and tire ratings and everything will be fine.

[Lwiddis]

"Everyone knows manufacturer weight limit ratings are pure fiction and serve only to satisfy legal requirements."

What "everyone knows" won't get you spit when trying to get injury damages. In fact it will get you summary dismissal. Your "advice" is dangerous, steelhunter.

[larkyblast]

Go with the 720. Cassette toilet is far superior, seating is much more comfortable than 820.
Is there a reason you are considering Cirrus? I am going through this now. 720 is my first choice but we can't find one in our budget. We also want it for winter camping. If it weren't for that I would buy a northstar, better layouts much lighter camper and cassette toilet but I really want the Alde heat to save battery.
I have a Ram 3500 and think if I buy the 820 I will have to give up towing anything except my small utility trailer. Real world weights are very heavy on the 820, go on the Cirrus truck camper facebook group and see.

[unpaulie]

wow...that went south quickly....Shame we just cant discuss the topic.

[steelhunter]

Everyone knows manufacturer weight limit ratings are pure fiction and serve only to satisfy legal requirements.
It's ok to exceed these limits if it's based on the advice of something you read on the internet.

[KD4UPL]

As long as your not over your rear axle rating and tire weight ratings you should be fine.
I used to carry an 11' truck camper on an '05 Chevy dually while pulling a 20' Larson bowrider. The boat and trailer weighed about 4,500 pounds. My truck axles were carrying about 13,000 pounds loaded up with the family, camper, boat, and all our gear. The truck's GVWR was only 11,400 but I was not over on axle or tire weights. I ran many thousands of trouble free miles with that rig.