Hi,I'm thinking about purchasing a tow behing trailer, but my wife and I's vehicles have a 3500lb towing capacityI dont know much about trailers, so decided to ask you folks. We need something that sleeps at least four and can be towed with our suv/van. Ideally >19ft. we will not be buying new. I've read about trailmanor, and they seem perfect for what we need, but as I said we've never owned a camper, so I'm sure there are a lot of things that we're not thinking about. I'm also willing to take recommendations on other makes. any help would be appreciated. PS, if this is the wrong part of the forum for this question, please either move it, or let me know where to repost it.

Before spending your hard-earned money rent a couple of weekends to see if the RVing lifestyle interests you.

Start looking for a smaller used tent trailer for your needs. They are cheap and plentiful on places like craigslist. DD has bought and sold two that way usually within a week of posting.

That 3500 lb tow capacity is considering the driver only weighs 150 lbs, has NO passengers, and has NO cargo. After you load your family and cargo into one of those vehicles, it's tow capacity could be well under 3000 lbs.

I cannot think of any vehicles which have a tow rating of 3500 pounds that I would recommend towing any high walled RV. Check the receiver/tongue weight limit as well. 350 pounds is typical, which is only 2500 pounds loaded. Stick to popups. And renting is a good idea to judge whether RVing is right for your family.

Trailmanor may be a good compromise solution, but they can be more expensive than even a traditional travel trailer and certainly a popup camper. If I remember correctly, about 8 years ago we looked at Trailmanors and a new one was about $26K. I would look for a used model, but not too many of them are manufactured, so you will have less to choose from.There is also a separate forum for Trailmanor owners:http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=5

recommendations on light weight campers | Good Sam Community

Dick_B
Explorer
Jul 15, 2014
Before spending your hard-earned money rent a couple of weekends to see if the RVing lifestyle interests you.
donn0128
Explorer II
Jul 15, 2014
Start looking for a smaller used tent trailer for your needs. They are cheap and plentiful on places like craigslist. DD has bought and sold two that way usually within a week of posting.
handye9
Explorer II
Jul 15, 2014
That 3500 lb tow capacity is considering the driver only weighs 150 lbs, has NO passengers, and has NO cargo. After you load your family and cargo into one of those vehicles, it's tow capacity could be well under 3000 lbs.
APT
Explorer
Jul 15, 2014
I cannot think of any vehicles which have a tow rating of 3500 pounds that I would recommend towing any high walled RV. Check the receiver/tongue weight limit as well. 350 pounds is typical, which is only 2500 pounds loaded. Stick to popups. And renting is a good idea to judge whether RVing is right for your family.
Doug33
Explorer
Jul 15, 2014
Trailmanor may be a good compromise solution, but they can be more expensive than even a traditional travel trailer and certainly a popup camper. If I remember correctly, about 8 years ago we looked at Trailmanors and a new one was about $26K. I would look for a used model, but not too many of them are manufactured, so you will have less to choose from.

There is also a separate forum for Trailmanor owners:

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=5
easycamper
Explorer
Jul 15, 2014
A hard walled trailer may work with one of your vehicles. Not all vehicles with a 3500-lb towing capacity have the same real-world capability.

What do you have?
JEBar
Explorer
Jul 15, 2014
easycamper wrote:
A hard walled trailer may work with one of vehicles. Not all vehicles with a 3500-lb towing capacity have the same real-world capability.

What do you have?

in addition, knowing where you want to go (mountains, flat land), distances you plan to travel, and speeds you plan to run would help in making a recommendation

Jim
OpenRangePullen
Explorer
Jul 15, 2014
Trail Manors start at $26k, and you could do alot better with $26k. Now for best bang for the buck LivinLight travel trailers are the best. Theyer all Aluminum and most are around 2,300 dry weight.
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Jul 15, 2014
donn0128 wrote:
Start looking for a smaller used tent trailer for your needs. They are cheap and plentiful on places like craigslist. DD has bought and sold two that way usually within a week of posting.

seems to me that to sleep 4 and be that light, that would be the only option.
bumpy
easycamper
Explorer
Jul 15, 2014
The thing is a pop-up is a different camping experience from a hard-sided trailer. Maybe he doesn't want a pop-up.

We're making a lot of assumptions here based on limited information. Let's see what he has before jumping to conclusions.