We are looking to purchase our first travel trailer. We've been tent campers our entire lives, but we now have 6 kids and are looking to make camping a bit easier for us. We would like a travel trailer that sleeps at least 8 and a max weight of 6,000 pounds. We are currently considering the Jayco 267BHS and the Alpha Wolf 26DBH-L. We are a little overwhelmed with all the options! Which of these TTs would you choose and why? Are there any others that we should consider? We would really appreciate any advice. Thank you.Edited to add: We will be towing with a Nissan NV 3500, which has max tow weight of 8700 lbs.

In the past some have suggested considering a smaller camper with a tent for the overflow.

Small camper for adults and showers/cooking. Large tent for kids. This way you can use a van to tow. A van will not tow a large TT without burning up the transmission. I know because have done it in both a Ford and a Chevy van.

The Jayco’s payload is only 1160 pounds. With water, batteries, propane and stuff for eight people you’ll be tooooo heavy. Drop this trailer from consideration. https://www.jayco.com/products/travel-trailers/2021-jay-flight-slx-8/267bhs/The Wolf has 1800 pounds capacity. Both will be heavier than your 6000 pound wish.

A 30' plus TT is a tall order for any van, wheelbase and passenger tires will make towing somewhat less desirable than most would anticipate. You will need a high quality WD/SC hitch, possibly a Propride or Hensley to tame that size of a TT at highway/interstate speeds. Don't have any comments on the floorplan, that is a personal choice, spend as much time in each at the dealer without saleperson, try and simulate the way you plan to use it. Most brands have similar floorplans available, keep in mind all brands slap these units together as fast as humanly possible.As such, choosing a dealer that has a good service record is paramount for warranty issues. Options are something that you have to decide on your own, higher trim levels have many options included already. Dealer will have many upsells of their own as well, this is pure profit for them.

As the youngest of 10, we had a 28ft TT towed by a full size van. Give consideration to a tent or possibly have the seats in the van set up so some of the kids can sleep in the van. Depending on age, kids can sleep in areas I would never consider as an adult.If you want them all sleeping in the trailer, expect to do a lot of set up and tear down of the beds to make it livable during the day as you will likely need to convert the couch and dinette every day.Probably OK on payload but check it. 8 people with an average of 150lb is 1200lb of people, plus hitch weight plus anything else in the van (not sure if bench seats are counted in the door panel payload. Also watch the trailer payload closely, a lot of people can translate to a lot of payload.I'm not familiar with the Nissan model but full size rear wheel drive vans are perfectly fine for towing. If you stay in the ratings, no reason to expect the transmission to blow up and 375hp is way more than my Dad's vans ever had back in the 70-80's.

Travel Trailers for large families | Good Sam Community

Seon
Explorer II
Mar 19, 2021
TenOC wrote:
... A van will not tow a large TT without burning up the transmission.

Whoa, I just switched from a 1/2 ton Yukon to a 1 ton e350 Ford van to tow my 7k lb TT. I hope I didn't make a mistake.
Tvov
Explorer II
Mar 18, 2021
Just a note about kids and growing up... we camped for years, watching our kids grow up. When my daughter hit teenage years, she started to get less enthused. Right around 15-16 she basically stopped camping with us.

My son still enjoyed camping with "the parents", but when he hit mid-high teens his weekends started to be taken up with, well, teenage stuff.

Your older kids may "move on" to other things soon, so a smaller camper may be worth considering. Or just get a big one and have nice roomy camper in a few years!
pattinsoldier
Explorer
Mar 18, 2021
Claywoody, that’s great! Big families are wonderful! I’m curious, what travel trailer are you considering? Camping is definitely the perfect vacation for large families. We still haven’t pulled the trigger on our purchase as we keep hoping for a good deal on a used one. We are giving ourselves until May and then will buy new if we haven’t found anything by then.
claywoody
Explorer
Mar 18, 2021
Thanks for this post! Also have an NV 3500 and considering a TT just under the recommended tow weight. I think mfg says 9400 lbs and the TT we are looking at is 8900 or 9200. We have 10 kids! Glad to see another big family out there learning to camp together. We just started last year and most of the kids are hooked.
claywoody
Explorer
Mar 18, 2021
Thanks for this post! Also have an NV 3500 and considering a TT just under the recommended tow weight. I think mfg says 9400 lbs and the TT we are looking at is 8900 or 9200. We have 10 kids! Glad to see another big family out there learning to camp together. We just started last year and most of the kids are hooked.
colliehauler
Explorer III
Jan 27, 2021
Grit dog wrote:
rjstractor wrote:

Your NV3500 van is actually quite a bit stouter than a Nissan Titan pickup. The posters advising you to get a bigger tow vehicle probably don't realize that the NV3500 is a heavy duty commercial van with 8 lug wheels and a RGAWR of just over 6000 lbs. So it's every bit a capable as a 2500 series Suburban or other comparable vehicle. While it's not a diesel crew cab dually pickup, it should be a better tow vehicle than virtually any new SUV on the market, and a great choice for your family and trailer.

^ What he said!
Disregard the other fodder about your van pattinsoldier.
You are in the land of many uninformed opinions. Proceed as such and get that camper ready for spring time!
As long as your in the parameters of the Nissan capacity I would say go for it as well and enjoy making memories with your family.
Grit_dog
Navigator
Jan 27, 2021
rjstractor wrote:

Your NV3500 van is actually quite a bit stouter than a Nissan Titan pickup. The posters advising you to get a bigger tow vehicle probably don't realize that the NV3500 is a heavy duty commercial van with 8 lug wheels and a RGAWR of just over 6000 lbs. So it's every bit a capable as a 2500 series Suburban or other comparable vehicle. While it's not a diesel crew cab dually pickup, it should be a better tow vehicle than virtually any new SUV on the market, and a great choice for your family and trailer.

^ What he said!
Disregard the other fodder about your van pattinsoldier.
You are in the land of many uninformed opinions. Proceed as such and get that camper ready for spring time!
Grit_dog
Navigator
Jan 27, 2021
afidel wrote:

It's all relative, we did 5 people for 3 weeks in an 18' trailer, coming from a tent camping background it still felt luxurious by comparison.

You understand, but,
Some people, and mostly the crowd here who may have already forgotten what they did when they had little kids or when they were a kid, can't see past their own "preferences".
You're not going to have an un-crowded camper, vehicle, house, life with 6 kids. Pretty sure the OP's know that, made that choice, love their kids and now also want to go RVing.

There is zero issues with what they're planning to do.
DarkSkySeeker
Explorer
Jan 27, 2021
deltabravo wrote:
TenOC wrote:
A van will not tow a large TT without burning up the transmission.

Bumping up the transmission... ???
What exactly does that mean?

"Burning" not "Bumping"
StirCrazy
Moderator
Jan 27, 2021
I would look for something that can sleep the younger kids and yourself for now, and get a tent with cots for the older three . I know when I was old enought to be out in the tent I much prefered that than being in the camper.

Steve