I have been window shopping for over a year now and probably will not be buying for until next summer. But I think I found the TT of my dreams. It is a 2016 Grand Design Imagine 2800BH. All I can say is WOW. The wife and I love it. It is a little longer than I want though 32ft. The tongue weight is only 580# which is good for my Laramie which pay load is only 1200#, and the GVWR is 7700#. I have read a lot of places how TT can act like sails. Should I be concerned over the length. Im not in a very mountainous area here in Western Maryland to be concerned wind high winds.
Window Shopping
- Thread starter aries75
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Just in case you missed it, I replied to your other thread where it mentioned your concerns. The published tongue weight is a joke. You will be heavy if you load the trailer to the max and have a lot of weight forward. With a fully loaded trailer, your tongue weight should be between 770# and 1155#. You shouldn't have a problem pulling this trailer if it is loaded correctly and you can verify that using scale weights. Remember, every person and everything you put into the Ram will be taking away from your available payload, so your trips may a two vehicle proposition. The length of that trailer shouldn't be an issue for you, your biggest issue is the low payload capacity of your Ram.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
The published tongue weight is for an empty trailer as it leaves the factory. When you are towing it, the tongue weight will be 10-12% of the trailer actual loaded weight. It has to be that much or the trailer will sway badly. Estimate the tongue weight at 10% of the trailer GVWR and you will be close. That makes it about 770 lbs.
grashley
Well-known member
As stated above, expect a tongue weight closer to 770+ #. Now add 200# for the hitch. With a 1200# payload, that leaves at most 230# for you, wife, pets, purse.....
Either go on a starvation diet, get a bigger truck or find a lighter camper.
Either go on a starvation diet, get a bigger truck or find a lighter camper.
lone_star_dsl
Well-known member
grashley said:
200 pounds for a hitch?? He's looking at a bumper pull. With my last bumper pull, the WD hitch, bars, and misc hitching stuff was maybe 50 lbs at the most.
lone_star_dsl
Well-known member
aries75 said:
I have a differing opinion regarding using "payload capacity" as a measure of what a truck will haul and tow (it's useless) and I don't think you'd have a problem with the tongue weight of this trailer.
However, I think a 32' trailer acting like a sail is going to make towing a challenge at best and a nightmare at worst. Case in point, my dad owned a 2009 F-150 "Max Tow" pickup. He found a great deal on a 34' trailer and asked me if he could tow it. After doing all the calculations, he was under all the rated capacities for his truck. He bought the trailer and hit the road.
After his first trip of roughly 200 miles, he was ready set the entire rig on fire. The trailer towed terribly and the truck was all over the road. The next step he took was to shell out $2,000 for a Hensley Arrow hitch. He spent countless hours trying to get it right and even had two shops try to set it up for him. In the end, he sent that hitch back because it didn't solve his problems.
What it finally boiled down to was a severe lack of tow vehicle weight. Even though he was under hic capacities, his truck was just too light to overcome the forces that the trailer put on it.
Since he is going to be fulltiming soon, and he really likes the trailer, he ended up getting a dually truck to pull it with. The truck is overkill for the job but is the ultimate answer for someone that is going to put in 30,000 miles a year on the road.
You'll get by with your truck but it MAY be a handful when towing. If you're only using it for shorter trips, I say hook up and go for it.
lone_star_dsl
Well-known member
Double post
I kinda disagree with lonestar to a point. The traier I have is 34 1/3' hitch to bumper with the extreme front to back length of the box at 29'. I pulled it with a 2013 Ram 1500 using a Reese Dual Cam hitch that I took the time to set up correctly myself. Towed in steady 25 mph cross winds with gusts up to 35. Passed slower tractor trailers in front of me, and had tractor trailers pass me in both directions. No issues at all with being pushed around. I did have more available payload than aries75 though. I think the largest hurdle aries has to deal with is the available payload being so low.
steveblonde
Well-known member
one day last summer on a 2 hr stretch of road we saw 3 1500 trucks in the ditch - all 3 had trailers of about 30ft attached - all 3 were on there sides a 25 mph wind is a breeze gusting to 35 is a fart - it is not uncommon for us to get winds of 60-70 mph with gusts into the 90's
i pulled my 28ft with my 1/2 ton and had the tail wag the dog so much that trailer took 2 lanes also pulled that same 28ft with my 3500 SRW at conditions 10 times worse never had a problem, also i have pulled that same 28ft with my 3500 dually which was serious over kill on roads the semi were blown over on.
i was well within my limits with the 1/2 ton but at 28ft x 8 ft tall you have a 224 sq ft sail - to put that into the correct perpective look a little Hobby sail boat on the lake with his 10 ft mast and a 30 mph wind and hes doing 45-50mph on the water or the kite boarder at 25mph winds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2KH02zs4r4
or my fav
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwOqARlw1EI
i pulled my 28ft with my 1/2 ton and had the tail wag the dog so much that trailer took 2 lanes also pulled that same 28ft with my 3500 SRW at conditions 10 times worse never had a problem, also i have pulled that same 28ft with my 3500 dually which was serious over kill on roads the semi were blown over on.
i was well within my limits with the 1/2 ton but at 28ft x 8 ft tall you have a 224 sq ft sail - to put that into the correct perpective look a little Hobby sail boat on the lake with his 10 ft mast and a 30 mph wind and hes doing 45-50mph on the water or the kite boarder at 25mph winds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2KH02zs4r4
or my fav
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwOqARlw1EI
steveblonde
Well-known member
kdbgoat said:
sometimes its not an option if there is no safe place to pull over and a lot of our roads are only 2 or 4 lanes with sharp drop offs if you stop your stopping in the middle of the highway which takes a REAL IDIOT - you have no choice, but to continue until you find a safe place which can be in some cases miles and miles. And where we live wind is a never ending issue as we live in the Foothills its windy 90% of the time and our wind springs up like nobody's business - i just took my dogs for a 45 min walk - i left it was warm sunny with a slight breeze by the time i got back the temp has dropped 20 degrees the wind is howling at about 30-40 with gusts to about 50 and a snow storm has obliterated the mountains. welcome to the real world this is typical for Canadians - this is just now within 15 mins
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/nor-easter-slams-into-nova-scotia-newfoundland-and-labrador-1.2805019
bttravel
Well-known member
I'll have to pretty much agree with "not quite enough truck except for short trips". We recently upgraded to a Sprinter TT, 34'-11" and factory number of 9100 lbs sitting on the lot. Had a 2010 Ram 1500 4X4 Hemi, 3.55 gears and Andersen hitch. The truck had the power to pull it and if you took it easy it did a pretty good job. But that was taking it easy, not too big of hills and basically no wind. If we were planning on staying in Missouri I would probably have kept the 1500, but..... we plan to cover a little more territory that that. Moved up to a 2016 2500HD Ram 6.4L, 3.73 gears and what a difference. Handles completely different. Can actually relax a little and enjoy the trip. I knew it would do a better job than the 1500 but it was quite a difference. I went from pulling a trailer to towing a trailer. It's a good feeling having plenty of truck in chassis, suspension and engine over marginal. Short runs okay, cross country you will wear yourself out. Having a good hitch set up right makes a huge difference also. Good luck with your new adventure.
Arch Hoagland
Well-known member
It's good that you found a RV both you and your wife really like. That's how we picked ours and it's worked out quite well.
Now go window shopping for a truck you both like. A 3/4 ton truck. Diesel.
Now go window shopping for a truck you both like. A 3/4 ton truck. Diesel.
donuts
Well-known member
70 mph winds are approaching hurricane levels. Batten down the hatch and trailer before lift off. :kdbgoat said:
Stan
steveblonde
Well-known member
donuts said:70 mph winds are approaching hurricane levels. Batten down the hatch and trailer before lift off. :
Stan
we had one of those days yesterday winds so hard it blows what few trees there are left over. 6 years ago it was blowing so hard it ripped my buddies awning so he climbed on the roof of his trailer to secure what was left - the wind blew over a tree and killed him :-[
donuts
Well-known member
steveblonde said:
That is crazy. Sorry to hear that he lost his life over an awning.
A couple months ago we were at Bodega Bay on the Northern California coast. It was windy and I had secured the electric awning with rope before I took off on a bike ride. My wife was at the trailer and I realized that the wind had picked up so I booked back to the trailer to deal with the awning. Winds at about 30 mph by the time I got back. I was barely able to retract the awning with that wind and really thought I would lose it. I was lucky this time.
I have never been in winds over 40-50 mph and wouldn't want to experience it.
The oak tree in my backyard or the redwood in my front/side yard would take out my entire house if they blew over.
Stan
Thanks for all the great advise. Bigger truck isn't gonna happen. Unless I convince my wife to drive a 2500 to work everyday and that aint happening. Ill test drive a few when Im ready to buy. I know it wont be the same as a packed trailer. Thanks again.
