Newbie wondering about weight

[mrsjef]

My husband and I recently bought a 2000 Ford Excursion 7.3 L diesel truck so that we could find a travel trailer for our family of 7 and start the camping lifestyle. We have been shopping for a couple of months to find a camper and are having trouble finding a reliable one that fits our family within our budget. We've found a 2014 Palomino Puma 30FBSS that appears to be in excellent shape for $11,500. Our concern is that the dry weight is 7961 lbs, the payload is 3,125 lbs, the GVWR is 11,315, and the hitch weight is 1,155 (but that's if we're completely full at the max GVWR, right?) Our truck and hitch are both rated to pull 10,000 pounds so we're under that limit, but our hitch tongue weight is 1,000 lbs. I've read that we should allow between a 10-20% margin on weight if we plan to drive it through the mountains, which we do. We've talked to LOTS of people today, some who say we will be completely fine, especially if we just go slowly and play it safe when we're in mountainous areas and others who strongly discourage us from this due to the weight. What do you all think? (I should add that we live in the midwest and the vast majority of our use will be local state parks. We would love to take it to Utah and Maine, though, for trips we already have planned.)

We really love this camper and would love to buy it, but obviously safety for our family is our first priority! Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom!

Thanks for your input!

 

[darsben]

What is the payload capacity of your truck?
That should be somewhere near the drivers side door.
Ford states that 4x2 has a payload of 1660 pounds and the 4X4 of 1512 but your sticker may vary depending on options.
So now weigh the family of seven and subtract that from payload, now add the weight of everything you intend to put into the truck and subtract that; for example the dog, the cooler, tools picnic baskets etc.
So if your family of 7 weighs 1000 pounds total and you have 100 pounds of stuff in the truck that equals 1100 pounds so you have only a payload left  of 560 pounds for the 4X2 or 412 pounds for the 4X4.
so with a hitch weight of 1155 pounds the PUMA is about 500 pounds over on the 4X2 and about 750 over on the 4X4.
You need to find your payload capacity for the truck

 

[mrsjef]

Thanks for your response, darsben! Unfortunately, he sold the camper to someone else before we could buy it. Apparently that wasn't the one for us and the search continues...

 

[darsben]

fine but before you buy ANY camper you need to now the payload capacity of your vehicle. From there we can advise you on the MAXIMUM gross weight of any trailer you buy.
Look for the sticker on your vehicle