brclark82 said:
So as I?m looking at travel trailers I?m trying to get my head wrapped around a few different things. I will use real world numbers on a possible option we are looking at but we are 6-8 months away from a purchase so it may not even be a finalist once we get down to it.
These numbers are from the mfr site:
Shipping weight- 8548 lbs
Carrying Capacity- 1952 lbs
It doesn?t state this but then I?m assuming that means the gross weight is 10,500 lbs
Hitch weight- 1150 (this is question #1, is that hitch weight at shipping weight or at gross weight? And if shipping weight can I assume the same percentage at gross weight?)
Also, are any fresh/gray/waste capacities factored in any of the weights?
If I carried a fresh water tank with 50 gallons of water does that take up 400 lbs of my carrying capacity?
Fresh/gray/waste capacities are 60/60/30
Shipping weight will not include propane, battery or batteries, and maybe a couple of other things I'm not thinking of right now, so probably plan on that number going up by a couple hundred pounds or so. Cargo Capacity is a total of everything that is put in or on the trailer....which may include dealer installed items like propane tanks, battery(s), maybe a spare tire if it doesn't come from the factory with one, a second A/C unit that is dealer installed, etc. As far as hitch weight goes, a good ballpark figure is to use 12-13% of the weight of the trailer....all the way up to GVWR for it. Of course the way you load the trailer.....front biased, rear biased, or fairly well balanced...AND how much weight you add will determine the final tongue weight....and that may change a bit on every trip, depending again, on how, where, and how much you load it. Normally the fresh water, the gray water, and the black tank contents count against the cargo capacity. So if you are carrying that 50 gallons of fresh water when you leave the house, and you use lets say half of it, you are still at 400 lbs of water weight.....just in a different location.....fresh water tank to gray or black. Then if you dump it before you leave, now you are dealing with 200 lbs of that 400 original water weight. Most trailers will have the GVWR on the safety sticker that is required on the trailer and once you get the trailer home, or on the way home, it's always a good idea to find a CAT scale and get things weighed so that you know exactly what you are dealing with. Doing the 3 weigh system, you can get all the number you need to know exactly what you've got as far as GVW, Front and rear axle weight, GVCW, tongue weight....and those numbers will be for both the truck and the trailer. Here is an excellent source for the procedure on how to do the weighing of your truck/trailer......and using the CAT scales are usually around $15 total for all three weights if you do them within 24 hours of each other....
http://fifthwheelst.com/ When you go to this site and the page loads, click on the
"4-Step Weight Safety Plan" at the top of the page and read and follow those steps. You'll be well on your way to getting things figured out with the trailer/truck weight thing.