Thoughts - Travel Trailer

[nctraveler54]

Ok, new to the forum so please forgive stupid questions. My wife hit me with a new idea, buy a travel trailer. We have our beach condo on the market and she is looking at something different this time. First issue – I just bought a new GMC Canyon and do not want to upgrade it; just yet. Been doing some research regarding lite weight towable trailers. There is only the two of us, no need for something big. Any thoughts pleases – thanks.
Don

[temccarthy1]

SoundGuy wrote:

temccarthy1 wrote:
Take a look at Keystone Bulet Ultralites. You could get up to a 25 ft to pull with your TV with slide. You do not have to settle for a 19-22 ft TT.

"Settling"? Who's "settling" when that's what we intentionally chose? :h

First of all Sound Guy, I was addressing the OP... that is not you! What you chose is fine, but has no bearing on this post. The OP has a smaller TV capable of only 7700 lbs.. I was giving him an Ultra Lite model idea that will give him more space and a slide and still be towable with his Canyon if he wants to move up to 25-26 ft and still be within his limits.

[bobndot]

SG, thank you for the updated 192 info.

[SoundGuy]

temccarthy1 wrote:
Take a look at Keystone Bulet Ultralites. You could get up to a 25 ft to pull with your TV with slide. You do not have to settle for a 19-22 ft TT.

"Settling"? Who's "settling" when that's what we intentionally chose? :h

[temccarthy1]

nctraveler54 wrote:
You guys and/or gals are great, thanks for helping out a first timer. Wife is retired but I need to go another few years so we are just starting to look. We are in no hurry and searching / looking has turned into a little hobby for me.

Don

Take a look at Keystone Bulet Ultralites. You could get up to a 25 ft to pull with your TV with slide. You do not have to settle for a 19-22 ft TT. I have a 2014 Bullet and it has never had a single malfunction.. of anything! I have only seen positive reviews on this and Keystone's sites. Check them out!

[nctraveler54]

You guys and/or gals are great, thanks for helping out a first timer. Wife is retired but I need to go another few years so we are just starting to look. We are in no hurry and searching / looking has turned into a little hobby for me.

Don

[afidel]

For those saying you can't tow anything with the Canyon, think of it as an early 2000's F150/1500, it's not going to tow a 30+' trailer but there are plenty of shorter trailers that will work with the ~1,500lb payload and 300HP.

The Canyon is roughly the same curb weight (3,936 to 4,758 lbs) as a 2001 F150 (3,935 to 4,994) and actually has more HP than the 2001 5.4 (308 vs 260) and has a better transmission.

[rbpru]

I always suggest renting as previously mentioned. You can try the size trailer you think you want, that you think is within your towing limits.

You can take the loaded for the road TT to the CAT scales at the local truck stop and see what your axle loads are and also what your cargo weight is.

If you have never RVed before, renting will show you the good and the bad. It is far better to know the true numbers and experience the RV camping style; before you spend the big bucks.

[GrandpaKip]

We were kinda in your situation before we retired. We sold our 28’ sailboat and thought that we could travel with a camper. So, we got a pop up for about 2k. First trip was to Hunting Island and we loved it. Went all over the southeast and all the beach state parks. 3 years later, we had a 23’ Trail Lite we pulled with a Nissan Frontier and we were retired.
I basically matched the trailer with the truck. The gross weight of the trailer was 6k, same as the truck’s max tow weight. The most it ever weighed was 4500 pounds with a tongue weight of about 520. With our newer camper, I did the same, because I had no desire to change trucks.
We have gone cross country twice for about 6 weeks each time and bunches of two week trips. Your Canyon should be fine, as long as you stay within its specs.
I kept a notebook of all the campers we looked at and of ones I found online that matched our criteria. We went to every dealer within a 200 mile radius and walked through a bunch of campers. It took almost a year to find the Trail Lite and that was on Craigslist.
Definitely take your time and enjoy the search.

[SoundGuy]

bobndot wrote:
Look at the specs on this TT. http://www.coachmenrv.com/product-details.aspx?LineID=60

SoundGuy wrote:
What model? :h

bobndot wrote:
192, I think it's the one you have ? rear bath model

what i don't know is, if that 192 has the sofa or dinette as "either or" options .

The Coachmen Freedom Express 192RBS has a shallow sofa slide only, no option for a dinette. Coachmen used to offer a non-slide 191RB that had a dinette but it was discontinued due to poor sales while the 192RBS has become one of the most popular models in the lineup. My own 192RBS averages ~ 4800 lbs loaded & ready to camp with an average gross tongue weight of ~ 625 lbs and I've always towed with GM's ubiquitous 5.3L V8 which I'd consider minimum for towing any full height travel trailer of this size. However, a properly configured Canyon appears as though it may be a suitable option in a smaller package but the key words here are "properly configured", which to me would require a 4.10 axle. Since the devil is in the details I'd caution the OP to know precisely how his particular truck is configured before planning to tow any trailer the size of my 192RBS. 😉

[lots2seeinmyrv]

Travel Lite Idea i15Q (2970 lbs) & i18Q (3215 lbs) are nice and 7' wide. Dry bath.

[2012Coleman]

nctraveler54 wrote:
First - thanks for all the info, I have a lot to think about. I have been looking at TT like the Forest River No Bo, Travel Lite Falcon, Livin' Lite Camplite, etc. By reading the posts, I now know I need to keep searching for different TT options. Keeping it light goes for trailers too.

Don

Don't make the mistake of buying a TT based solely on what your vehicle's tow capacity. It's more about how much it can carry - payload. Look at the door jamb sticker/manual, and past the number from where it says total weight of cargo and passengers not to exceed XXXX lbs.

[Rover_Bill]

I absolutely love towing my 31 ft. 7000# GVWR trailer with my 2015 Canyon V6 with TowHaul!!!! I've had it for two years now and put on 12,000+ mi. towing. Our first major trip was a three month tour of New England states and this last summer we spent 2 months in the northern Rocky's (Glacer, Black Hills, Banff, Jasper). We're planning another two month trip to the southeast coast for this coming spring. (We're retired).

As you already know, the Canyon is narrower than a full sized pickup which makes it MUCH EASIER to park in crowded sightseeing/tourist trap parking lots and gets over 20+ mpg when not towing. Flat road towing with a good tailwind will get you 11-12+ MPG towing. However, a 30 MPH headwind will drop you down to about 5 MPG (I successfully out ran a bad cold front with hail from Fargo to Minneapolis, but I didn't pass up too many gas stations).

Your Canyon will handle any TT up to 7K# (GVWR). A 7K TT will require a good WDH that is correctly setup to avoid overloading the hitch and to reduce sway. For a TT recommendation: If you prefer a quick getup and go camping, look at TT in the 25-27 ft range with no slideouts because they're easier to maintain and easier to get a site at a crowded SP. If you prefer to setup a trailer for a week or two with FHU and explore the neighborhood, then look at a 28-32 TT with slideouts (you won't be falling over each other on rainy days).

If you want more info on my setup, send me a PM, I'll be happy to share my info with you.

[bobndot]

SoundGuy wrote:

bobndot wrote:
Look at the specs on this TT. http://www.coachmenrv.com/product-details.aspx?LineID=60

What model? :h

192, I think it's the one you have ? rear bath model

what i don't know is, if that 192 has the sofa or dinette as "either or" options .

SG, Tnx for catching that, :C .

[nctraveler54]

First - thanks for all the info, I have a lot to think about. I have been looking at TT like the Forest River No Bo, Travel Lite Falcon, Livin' Lite Camplite, etc. By reading the posts, I now know I need to keep searching for different TT options. Keeping it light goes for trailers too.

Don

[kerrlakeRoo]

Ok 7000 max towing, load appears to be about 1500 lbs
At a glance you should be able to handle quite a few trailers up to about 23-25 foot range. Ignore empty weights, loaded weights should stay within the above stated limit, on a 6000 lb trailer 900 of that weight (15%) should be on the trailer tongue, which is within the cargo cap of your truck if you don't carry much else.
I'll again suggest you look at the rentals. If you have not towed much, try a short trip with something like the little Jayco I mentioned before. Loaded weight should end up being about 3500 lbs, the trailer is a 7' wide model so it should tow pretty easy. If you like it and are comfortable, they have a 24' Spree which is 8' wide, has a slideout, and weighs in around 5000 loaded which is likely as much as you would want to tow with that truck.