Rant - looking for a travel trailer

[johnsoax]

I wish some manufacturer made the trailer I was looking for. I have 4 children, and I use a SUV to carry the family. And from all the threads I constantly see here, and on other sites, I'm not the only one looking.

Right now I use a popup to fit everyone and still be able to carry all the gear we need. And for the type of camping we do, it is annoying to have to setup and tear down every day as we travel to our destination. Then when we are at our destination, we have to do a smaller setup and tear down everyday to convert tables and couches to beds to fit everyone.

Someone should be able to design a trailer that will give me 3 or 4 individual beds for the kids and a larger bed for my wife and I while still letting us have our gear for less than 550 lbs of tongue weight.

My vehicle is a pretty typical SUV that has a 550lb tongue weight and a towing capacity of 7700. Once I put all the gear in a trailer, I can pull the weight, but everything that has a floor plan we can use has a tongue weight that requires a 2500 or 3500 truck to pull it, before the gear is even in the trailer.

Why can't someone make something for larger families that fits the smaller vehicles that most people drive nowadays.

I know there are Hybrid trailers. If I wanted to deal with tenting issues, I would stay with the popup.

We want to be able to have a nice base camp for destination camping and be able to stop at places on the way there to make lunch/use the bathroom/ and sleep in the camper without deploying everything (stealth road camping).

Airstream used to build something like this, but they have gone $$$ high end, and super heavy. I can find much older trailers that might work, if I could actually find one for sale...

Anyone have any ideas?

[b_mod]

Cruiser RV has several models that might be a good fit for your family and meet your requirements of tongue weight and gross weight. Might be worth your time to visit their website;Cruiser RV.com

[dodge_guy]

I can tell the OP from experience that he will not like having 500lbs hanging off the back of his Land Rover without a WD hitch. I had an Award TT that had a 5000lb GVWR. I also had an Explorer with a 5000lb tow rating. The Explorer had the power to haul 5000lbs, that wasn't the problem. The problem was the 500 lb tongue weight on the rear of the Explorer without a WD hitch. One trip and I bought a WD hitch and brought the tongue weight up to 600 lbs and the difference was night and day!!!!

The OP will find out quickly that he will need at least a WD hitch.

Until then I wish him luck.

[cbshoestring]

Glad to see the OP compromised on something that will suit his family, for many years of enjoyable camping.

If it turns out to be an overweight, white knuckle experience---oh well, he sure ain't the first person to do it that way, sure won't be the last.

However, I do disagree with the people who think we (ME) were hard on him for his I won't compromise attitude. He can post that he never said that, but take a DAY and read the pages before he found the trailer he now so dearly loves. Many of people suggested hybrids, only to be shut down. A friend of mine has 4 bunks in the front, king slide out in back. I didn't suggest it because the OP was adamant he would not except that. In the end, he compromised....may have taken a bit less flack, and gotten a few more suggestions, if he would have shown the slightest bit of compromising attitude in the beginning.

WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE.

Enjoy the hybrid, if I had a need for a larger trailer when I got rid of our PUP, a Hybrid is the way I would have went (Kids grown up, only need to sleep two on a regular basis). They are an awesome way to step up from a pup, without the weight/size of a 30' TT. Manufactures recognized the need for these---they SELL.

Stick around OP, lots of valuable info on here. Yes, you will be told you are wrong, when someone things you are wrong. Take it all in, make a choice that suits you best, move on.

Lot of people on here DON'T like my awning lights or the fact that I have a sign that clutters my site, telling all who we are (big ol' American flag on it). I STILL TURN THEM ON, AND PUT OUT THE FLAG. :B

[GrandpaKip]

gmw photos wrote:
The reason I continue to post to threads like this is because since this an open forum, other "new folks" may actually be reading. They may in fact be able to learn a few things by seeing the many sides of the discussion.

I've said it over and over on this and other forums, "the scales tell the truth". We see it again and again where folks just want to guess on setups, like weight distributing hitches, real world tongue weights, etc. My opinion is, that "guessing" is all they are doing until they pull the whole thing over the scales.

You can argue a lot of different points, but what you cannot do is argue against the numbers. Honestly, I think lot of folks really do not want to go to the scales, because then they may in fact be faced with admitting their numbers simply do not work for the real world of safe operation.

Best we can do is try to pass some of our hard earned experience on to open minded new folks that want to get into the fun of actually going camping and traveling.

Well put.

[Sondy132001]

BurbMan wrote:

SoundGuy wrote:
So he did compromise, just as many in this discussion said he would have to do considering the limitations of his TV which he so loves. Unfortunate that in so doing the OP found it necessary to be so critical of those who were only trying to offer useful commentary based on what they themselves have discovered about the subject of trailers, towing, and tow vehicle capabilities. :S

Agree 100% SoundGuy, but a moot point now since the OP is leaving in a huff since his post got deleted. I left this thread many pages ago after the statement that there is "no reason" why a trailer can't be built like a Mercedes and priced like a Kia.

I didn't think he left in a huff, I think he explained himself very well, just a few people can't play nice here, I am new here and I've already figured out who the douches are, I just avoid them, he obviously figured it out too, no harm no foul.

I've learned a lot here from most of you, very much appreciated and I'll continue to "hang" out 😉

[BurbMan]

gmw photos wrote:
The reason I continue to post to threads like this is because since this an open forum, other "new folks" may actually be reading. They may in fact be able to learn a few things by seeing the many sides of the discussion.

Best we can do is try to pass some of our hard earned experience on to open minded new folks that want to get into the fun of actually going camping and traveling.

Agree and why I continue to hang here too. We all have our moments but a good bunch overall.

[gmw_photos]

The reason I continue to post to threads like this is because since this an open forum, other "new folks" may actually be reading. They may in fact be able to learn a few things by seeing the many sides of the discussion.

I've said it over and over on this and other forums, "the scales tell the truth". We see it again and again where folks just want to guess on setups, like weight distributing hitches, real world tongue weights, etc. My opinion is, that "guessing" is all they are doing until they pull the whole thing over the scales.

You can argue a lot of different points, but what you cannot do is argue against the numbers. Honestly, I think lot of folks really do not want to go to the scales, because then they may in fact be faced with admitting their numbers simply do not work for the real world of safe operation.

Best we can do is try to pass some of our hard earned experience on to open minded new folks that want to get into the fun of actually going camping and traveling.

[BurbMan]

SoundGuy wrote:
So he did compromise, just as many in this discussion said he would have to do considering the limitations of his TV which he so loves. Unfortunate that in so doing the OP found it necessary to be so critical of those who were only trying to offer useful commentary based on what they themselves have discovered about the subject of trailers, towing, and tow vehicle capabilities. :S

Agree 100% SoundGuy, but a moot point now since the OP is leaving in a huff since his post got deleted. I left this thread many pages ago after the statement that there is "no reason" why a trailer can't be built like a Mercedes and priced like a Kia.

[dhawken]

That sucks - i definitely wanted to hear the decision and the how's and why's. In a semi-similar boat, although have a bit more towing capacity.

[johnsoax]

I don't know what all you guys take camping, but we have less than 350lbs of "Stuff" that goes with us (yes I weighed it), including food...

In our old popup, it ALL went into the front storage trunk of the camper, minus the cooler and the sleeping bags which went into the hallway and behind the swing door.

In the new camper, it will be distributed throughout.

And I never said I wouldn't compromise... I said I wouldn't change my tow vehicle....

I'm not going to recreate the large post that I made yesterday morning, thanking a few people for their input, calling out one particular poster who has been nothing but a jerk and talking about our recent camping trip and how we decided on our new camper.. It isn't going to happen. Considering how inconsistently the rules are enforced around here, plus the general tone of these boards, I probably won't be hanging around long term, but I like to finish things.

[dodge_guy]

Stovepipe wrote:
So what was with the tire blowout pictures?

That was from a recent trip with his current PuP.

[Stovepipe]

So what was with the tire blowout pictures?

[SoundGuy]

dodge guy wrote:
Properly loaded at 12% tongue weight of 5000lbs ready to travel will be 625lbs of tongue weight. He will need a WD hitch. That and the fact the Rover is a short wheel base and has a big axle to ball distance will make towing without one a bit dicey!!!

The current version Jacyo 23B has a GVWR of 4950 lbs but with a meagre CCC of just 1045 lbs before anything is added to the trailer it's a pretty safe bet that a family of six is going to find it a challenge keeping this trailer's GVW, loaded and ready to camp, within that GVWR. Assuming a GVW equal or close to the GVWR and assuming a gross tongue weight to gross trailer weight (4950 lbs) of 13% that means an average gross tongue weight of just under 650 lbs. IMO that's minimal and having been through this routine many times I'm with gmw photos, preferring an even higher ratio, at least 14% whenever I can manage it ... with this 23B that would mean a potential gross tongue weight of just under 700 lbs and not anywhere near Jayco's advertised "dry hitch weight" of 365 lbs for this trailer. :E This amount of gross tongue weight is far too much to be dropping on the rear of any short wheel base vehicle such as the OP's and certainly shouldn't be done without the benefit of a properly sized and adjusted weight distribution system. If the vehicle can't accept it then so be it, it's not suitable for the task at hand.

[gmw_photos]

and, as is always the case, "we'll see" what the actual tongue weight comes in as. The scales will tell the truth.
And then we'll get folks who start in with this idea of "move a bunch of heavy junk to the back of the trailer" to make the tongue lighter. Which, in my opinion is making a bad situation ( undersized short WB tow vehicle ) worse by putting weight in the worst possible place.
There is a reason both of my horse trailers are built with the axles almost at the rear of the trailer. More tongue weight makes a safer towing better handling rig.
As for my own camper, the CAT scale tells me my 4000 pound funfinder has between 580 and 600 pounds tongue. Tows extremely well. "I like tongue weight".
Other folks will have differing opinions.