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After a lot of looking I found not all campers weigh the same I was looking at a 5,500pound 26 rock wood no slide but bought a 30' keystone with a 12 slide that weighs 4,900. If you are worried I suggest looking around but I think you will be fine.
+10 Endless threads suggesting you look at the payload sticker on the door jamb of your truck first.
On my 2010 Lariat, payload limit is just 1450 pounds.
My truck topper and hitch = 250 pounds at least, lets say 300. Add another 500 pounds for driver, passenger and dog. Add another 100 pounds for various personal items. Add the two Ford bed side steps I installed, lets say they weigh a total of 80 pounds (40 pounds each). Maybe those Ford steps are lighter, I don't know.
That leaves me 470 pounds. Divide by .12 means a trailer weighing 3900 pounds (not dry weight either, thats fully loaded with water, propane and gear).
Add any stuff in the bed of the truck: camping gear, bicycles, etc., say 200 pounds of stuff, and it would only leave me 270 pounds for tongue weight (2250 pound trailer).
sorry but i think your numbers are crazy!
2 people and 1 dog does not weight 500lbs unless you are both 200lbs and have a 100lbs dog.
nobody carries 100lbs worth of "personal" stuff. what the hell personal stuff do you put in your truck that you can't drive without for 2 hours to the campsite? 100lbs of snacks and drinks? an extra kitchen sink?
side bed steps do not weigh 40lbs each... maybe 10lbs each.
camping gear goes into the trailer. why the hell would it be in the truck if you have a travel trailer? that makes no sense????
you grossly over exaggerate your numbers to justify buying such a tiny trailer because you are not comfortable towing a larger one. the OP clearly has enough payload to camp if he packs like a normal and sane person.
going by your numbers, the OP should be buying a F450 Dually to tow his 8000lb travel trailer...
The proof in the pudding is a CAT scale ticket when on the road with a wet and loaded trailer with WD hitch adjusted and full tank of gas in the tow vehicle. Hitch weight on a 8,600 pound TT loaded to 8,000 pounds is going to be over 1,000 pounds. Add the weights on the front and rear axle of the tow vehicle and compare to the GVWR of the tow vehicle. If that combined weight exceeds the GVWR of the tow vehicle, you're overloaded.
2 people and 1 dog does not weight 500lbs unless you are both 200lbs and have a 100lbs dog.
nobody carries 100lbs worth of "personal" stuff. what the hell personal stuff do you put in your truck that you can't drive without for 2 hours to the campsite? 100lbs of snacks and drinks? an extra kitchen sink?
side bed steps do not weigh 40lbs each... maybe 10lbs each.
camping gear goes into the trailer. why the hell would it be in the truck if you have a travel trailer? that makes no sense????
you grossly over exaggerate your numbers to justify buying such a tiny trailer because you are not comfortable towing a larger one. the OP clearly has enough payload to camp if he packs like a normal and sane person.
going by your numbers, the OP should be buying a F450 Dually to tow his 8000lb travel trailer...
You haven't seen my trailer. Its a 17 foot Casita Liberty. Has almost no storage. The dog weighs over 100.
While camping, we tend to move every day or two. Not interested in buying provisions every day, would rather have most of it with me. And with the small trailer, its not a problem.
Personal stuff includes a small grill, a couple of bicycles, some misc tools, camp chairs, stuff for the dog. 100 pounds worth of personal stuff? I have yet to have seen any camper carry that little.
Main reason I got such a small trailer is it fits behind my house. Very limited access. Otherwise, I would have gone up some in size, definitely something with some storage, but not to the size some people are doing.
The other HUGE advantage of a small trailer is you can camp just about anywhere. We like National and State parks, along with forest service areas. Many of those campgrounds are primitive and length limited. Being able to set up in just about any camp site is very nice. And in many parks, sites with hookups are booked months in advance, while primitive sites are available first come first served. If you use your camper for sleeping and preparing food, small is just fine. If you want to spend time during the day inside the trailer, small is not so good. My trailer replaces a tent, so the comfort and amenities of a 17 foot Casita are quite a step up.
Camping to us is all about traveling, its not about going to a particular spot and hanging out for a week or two.
Last edited by thrifty biil; 04-07-2016 at 09:23 AM.
Might want to look at the Coachman Apex Ultralights. They have a number of similar sized rigs that are about 1K lbs lighter than that Mallard. They are nice trailers as well. Just bought a 28 footer and have already stayed in it for a month. I was impressed.
Scales don't lie. And WDH isn't weighless. OP is going to be very close, or over.
agreeing with you here. If he was a single guy towing his camper to a well site, as a flowback, I think he would be fine. But seeing as he's a family man, there is no reason to risk the safety of family members by being close or just a tad over.
Smaller trailer or beefier tow rig. You can find used 6.2 Platinum F250's for not a whole lot compared to 6.7's. Not just a higher payload and towing capacity, but the truck will handle a longer trailer a lot better.
I also tow a 17 ft Casita with my F150. I previously had a 2007 SuperCrew with the 5.4 V8, 355 gears and 2WD. This pulled my Casita over 20,000 miles at an average towing MPG of around 15. I recently upgraded the truck to a 2015 2.7 SuperCrew XLT 4X2 with 3.31 gears but haven't yet had a chance to tow the Casita with the new truck. I expect the towing mileage with the the small Eco Boost to drop to around 12 - 13 but time will tell.
When selecting a travel trailer, we decided that the 17 ft Casita was just the thing to have when you plan to actually travel. If you are just going to tow the trailer out to the local lake and back then a bigger rig might be nice. But when traveling long distances a small trailer is much easier to tow and provides all the necessary items for two people. Just my opinion, but I think Casita's are great trailers.
Steve
Last edited by Steve@F150; 04-08-2016 at 12:33 PM.
But traveling long distances a small trailer is much easier to tow and provides all the necessary items for two people. Just my opinion, but I think Casita's are great trailers.
Agree, but Darling Wife vetoes the Casita because she would have to crawl around on the regular or king size be to make up the bed. And she's an arthritic elderly lady that insists the bed be made up every morning. http://casitatraveltrailers.com/liberty-16-17/
Our Joey 196S is only two feet longer, but it has a walk-around queen-size bed. With tandem axle capacity of 5,600, it's a lot heavier than a loaded Casita 17' with single axle capacity of 3,500. But it's difficult to design a floorplan with a walk-around bed in a 17' trailer.
04-01-2016, 10:33 PM
