Question on travel trailer size - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Dino · RV-Dreams Community Member

Question on travel trailer size

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

Dino no problem as far as campgrounds, plenty of people out there in TT's that length doing fine..TT's are as good as any fifth wheel if that is what you want...no one correct way to do this thing...Just make sure you get plenty of truck!! Do your homework, towing is easy WITH THE RIGHT COMBINATION...keep us posted.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

One thing you will need to consider when towing a travel trailer is that they sometimes set a little lower and can be a problem with dips and uneven, changing driveways.

Over in this thread, Well, My 1st "Newbie" Mistake...UUUUUGGGGG, there are a bunch of different folks' mistakes with their RV's. Down on May 6, look for a post by me with an explanation of what my mistake was. It is the post with two pictures of the travel trailer, one being a closer look at the rear steps. It involved bending the rear step when I exited a highway onto a road to a campground. Our trailer was only 26-feet in length, and I managed to do something that didn't really damage the trailer, but I had to buy a whole new rear step for the trailer.

Terry

Dino · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks for the encouragement GENECOP, That trailer seems to be the best fit for us for the moment, and yeah big truck! I would love to get a one ton dually, just not sure my wife would care for that as far as driving around! hmm but maybe just a good one ton with the right tires will suffice. Terry iam glad you brought that up! thank you i never thought of that one! confuse was trying to get away from the height of the fifth wheel, seems like no matter what there is always a trade off with something when it comes to choosing! Thanks for input

-- Edited by Dino on Saturday 13th of July 2013 06:33:22 AM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Dean,

I REALLY like the fact that our steps are right in front of the axles, so I should NEVER repeat that mistake. The sad thing is that many times, regardless of one's experience of towing things, one can completely overlook issues because they don't think of the dynamic physics that occur. With you looking at an even longer trailer than we had, I really wanted to mention the step problem because your "back step" may be even further back than ours was.

Who knows? As your research progresses, you may begin to think of toy haulers instead of using the pickup bed for things. Or, with regards to the kayaks, I've seen an image of someone that had a rear receiver on their fifth wheel and attached a device that allowed them to carry their kayaks in a vertical position. I guess that idea would depend on how long one's kayaks were. I'll look around and see if I can find that image.

Until I find that particular image, here are some considerations that do the same thing.

RV Kayak Racks

Terry

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Saturday 13th of July 2013 11:36:55 AM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Here are the images that I saw. The people that posted them to another RV forum had this text in that particular posting:

"Completed and traveled over 700 miles and no problems. The rack holds two 12' 40 pound kayaks. The wife following me says they move very little. The overall height is less than the air conditioners and the ground clearance is 16". One person (help is better) can install the rack into the hitch and load the kayaks. I like to overdo the strapping but one would probably do the job. PM if you need more details. Pics. attached."

From that comment, I think that he built that rack himself. He mentioned "PM if you need more details," so, if you are interested, I can get back to him and request those details.

Terry

Dog Folks · RV-Dreams Family Member

Yes it can, as is being done. Many people will tell you that a 5th wheel will tow better. I am here to tell you that with a GOOD hitch, and the right truck, a TT will tow just fine. Spend the money on a good hitch.

We travel in a TT full time, because it is lower, and there are no steps inside. Sure the fifth wheel crowd will ask, but what about storage? The bed of our truck covered by a large Lear brand topper and it gives us lots of storage.

There are many configurations and you have to choose carefully, but choose what YOU want, not what most people do.

A far as one ton dually, have your wife road test one. Other than the extra width is sometimes, not always, a problem in a drive through, they are not really any harder to drive. These small issues are more than outweighed by a much more stable towing platform.

Dino · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks Terry, i never saw kayak holders like that before! As hard as it is to decide iam still leaning towards the travel trailer for now, of course i know that could change, seems like there is always a trade off! gain something but loose something! I went to the show where they were givin the deals on trailers and most were all Keystone's nothing against them, but they didnt have the Jayco i was looking for, the one Keystone was same fllor plan but i was being really picky! right now kinda sold on Jayco, and both of them the front steps are in front of axles so thats good. Dog Folks, thank you also, i am pretty much where you are with my thoughts, also love my 2 labs and they will also be with me, if i can find a good dually i will probably get it, my wife has a way of surprising me sometimes, it will make her look like one mean momma!Lol! Basically if i can i will overkill it with truck power and towing then i know iam good!

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you feel the floor plan would work best and you have the right truck, get what you want that you think would be best for your situation.

One thing you might want to check out is the max tow lengths by state. Some states limit total length to 60 feet, a 35 ft. trailer, plus the truck and tongue might push you over those limits. I think it was mostly the NE states that had shorter lengths, most of the Western states seemed to allow 65-70 feet in total length so it's dependent on where you think you'll be traveling.

If you are going to tow that long of a travel trailer, you also need to be cautious of putting anything heavy on the back bumper. We had a 29 FT TT with a generator on the back hitch mounted platform and for a while we were carrying bicycles on a ladder mounted bike rack. We really noticed a difference towing in high winds when we had the extra weight on the back, of course, it probably didn't help that we had a rear kitchen so we had a lot of weight concentrated in the back.

We didn't quite do the same damage Terry did to the rear steps, but we did have an issue trying to pull out of a camping spot in Yosemite after we had a full tank of fresh water. Yep, bent the frame on the steps a little bit, but ours were still usable and could be "made to work" after a few well placed hammer blows.

We liked our TT and found it great for trips up to a month in length, for FT we decided we needed more storage than the TT would allow and I wanted a permanent desk instead of using the dinette table. Again, you have to determine what is best for you, there are times when I wish we had a few less steps.