Looking at lite weights...

[DDgofer]

I have a 2002 Ford 1/4T F-150 with 5.2 L Triton V-8. It worked pretty good when i was working and pulling my ATV trailer, and the occaisional U-hual, or trash trailer around on weekends.

 

When I retired i hooked up a 26 Travel trailer and went on a 2 month road trip- 10,000 miles. Tough trip. Gas mileage sucked, burned up the transmission and my wife died. Sold the travel trailer shortly there after.

 

Its five years later, I still have the same truck with new transmission and got a new wife, She is from Oklahoma, I am from Montana. We trave back and forth two or three times a year.

 

Lesson learned about pulling heavy trailer with light truck. So what can I pull with it.

 

While on the road we have notice these smaller trailers being pulled by smallSUV's and Crossovers. The last trip we noticed the R-pod and the Casita.

 

Is this something I could pull? What other brands should I consider?

 

We are not considering long term living in the thing. Primarily trips of two to thee days spend a week in one spot visiting the kids and go home.

 

The longest trip we have discussed is the Alcan. Are these little trailers up to such a trip?

 

 

Douglas

 

[Kirk W]

Sorry to hear of your difficulties. We will do what we can to help you figure this out.

 

There are a lot of light weight RV trailers that you could pull with your truck. Both the R-pod and Casita are easily towable if you pick the right ones. It isn't an issue of size but of weight. We tow a 19' Sportsman that has a GVWR of only 3600# which should be well under your limits. You need to look on the truck for the weight ratings and pay particular attention to the combined weight rating and to the maximum tow weight as well as the GVWR.

 

If you weigh your truck as you travel with it, you can then subtract that weight from the GCWR to know what you can safely tow. In addition, pay attention to the hitch weights which are usually between 10% and 20% of the total trailer weight.

[LindaH]

Here's a travel trailer weight calculator that will help you determine which trailers are appropriate for your truck:

 

http://changingears.com/rv-sec-calc-trailer-weight-tt.shtml

[DDgofer]

Using the two numbers I know, GVWR 5000 lbs and tongue weight, 500 lbs.\, the TW calculator says maximum trailer weight for my truck is 3,333 lbs. THe trailer I had weighed 5700 lbs-and that was empty, No wonder my transmission failed,

 

We stopped by an RV Dealer today and looked at the Bullet and Hideout. They are supposed to be light, but they are not. Scratch them.

[Kirk W]

Kirk is kinda right but,,, the front and back shape is important.

While this is true in that it will impact the performance of the tow vehicle, it does not effect the weight ratings of the truck. I have often thought that there should probably be some way to insert the issue of frontal area into the formula for GCWR, but to my knowledge nobody has come up with a way. There may be some factor for the issue by the engineers who set those weight limits, but I have no idea how, or if they do.

[DDgofer]

Browsing the internet and this board I have come up with two trailers that I may have look closer at,

 

R-Pod and Escape.

 

I had Casita on my list. We will still look at one of these, but they have been pretty much scratched. Is it true they only have 5' 10" head room.

 

Any others to consider?

[Kirk W]

I had Casita on my list. We will still look at one of these, but they have been pretty much scratched. Is it true they only have 5' 10" head room.

According to the Casita RV website, it is a fact that the inside height is only 5' 10". We looked at them and found them to be very well made, very expensive, and so small we would need to go outside to change our minds!

[skp51443]

Most tow ratings (not GCWRs) are calculated with a 60 square foot of frontal area trailer so they should be about right for a mini trailer or single horse trailer.

 

If you have something around 100 square feet like most full size fivers you need to fiddle the tow rating to reflect that or you'll be surprised when you run out of power at highway speeds in less than perfect conditions.

[bcnomad]

Hi Double D.

 

As an Escape 21 owner, yes those little trailers can handle most anything you can throw at them. One recent trip report on a Yukon/Alaska run is here: http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f39/alaska-2015-a-6022.html

 

If you want a listing of "real world" (aka loaded for camping by real people) weights for FGRVs, go here http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f7/upgrade-4635-2.html#post69510 and then go to Jon's site for an excel spreadsheet. If you want to know more than you'll ever need to about the fiberglass rv's, go http://www.fiberglassrv.com

 

The interior height of an Escape 17 is listed as 6'2", while the 19 is listed at 6'5".

 

For me, a future R-Pod purchase would boil down to floorplan preference. If you want/wish to stick with Keystone, have a gander at the Summerland range ... they ship just north of 2700 pounds.