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Old 01-25-2012, 08:23 PM   #1
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Confused about Mini Lite weights

I recently ordered a Rockwood Mini Lite 2306 and am curious about the weights on their spec sheet. It says it has a dry ship weight of 3,646 with a GVWR of 4,718 leaving a little over 1,000 lbs for cargo. I understand that the dry ship weight doesn't mean anything and is before they add options and stuff so I am worried that I won't have much left for my cargo. Depending on where I go I sometimes like to travel with a full water tank and that adds 240 lbs. there alone. For those of you who have this model or similar, can you tell me what your weight is after options?

The other thing that worries me is the dry tongue weight is only 318 lbs. well short of the 12% I'd like for towing. Again, this is the dry weight before propane and battery. Do any of you know your tongue weight loaded for travel? Just curious about this too.

Any other words of wisdom or comments you have are welcome! I love this Forum to be able to bounce these questions off of everyone. Thanks in advance!
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Old 01-26-2012, 11:44 AM   #2
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Idk what my tongue weight is exactly but the cargo capacity is 840lbs on mine. I would tell you the exact weight with options but it is in storage and my memory has been crap lately ;p but I think around 3850lbs.....
There are some others here with the same TT so when they read this post I am sure they will chime in with more details
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Old 01-26-2012, 12:59 PM   #3
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If you have not weighed your camper it is a good idea to know what it actually weighs empty and loaded as you like for camping.

Since the OEMs only buy the minimum safe "everything" according to the listed GVW; there is no "safety buffer" engineered in. IMHO, the design actually has a "useful life" designed in (about 8 years) in order to assure that you will be back to buy a new one.

Here are some links and info on how and where to weigh your rig.

CAT Scale

Travel Trailer Weight Calculator
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Weigh Your RV - Bridgestone.pdf (447.2 KB, 70 views)
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Old 01-26-2012, 01:12 PM   #4
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Labzy - that memory thing comes with age

Hi OP,

Many light trailers, and usually anything marketed as mini-light, are going to have a lower payload. Its not bad, per se, as long as you are aware.

Not sure about how wise these words are, but I do have a few comments for you. And I apologize that this is long.

Don't travel with a full tank of water and instead fill up at the park. We carry a little for on-the-road bathroom breaks but I don't think I've ever traveled with a full tank.

The dry tongue weight is only an indicator of how the engineers balanced the trailer. Those units with bathroom, bunks, kitchen in the rear - anything heavy compared to the load up front - will have a smaller percentage of dry tongue weight to dry ship weight.

That 9% tongue weight is not what you will have when loaded. Propane and batteries will help to even the load and you may want to load your cargo closer to the front, on the bed for instance. I encourage you to weigh at a CAT scale to get an idea of how your load effects things like the TW. You can also use a Sherline to estimate the TW percentage assuming that you know what the loaded trailer weighs (again from a CAT scale).

Last, your trailer will come to you weighing more than the brochure states it is. Even before you load it and put in batteries and propane, any factory options and dealers options will all change the weight. Good news is that the yellow sticker for your trailer will show the weight with factory options, but not the rest. Another plug to weigh the trailer.

All good questions so keep 'em coming!
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Old 01-26-2012, 01:48 PM   #5
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Triguy, I plan on weighing my 2306 at a CAT scale. Will I need to unhook the trailer from my truck to get a good estimate of the trailer weight? The guide on the CAT website shows the truck and trailer all being weighed at once (each truck and trailer axle on it's own scale).

Once I get a good weight for the trailer, can I just use a bathroom scale to measure my tongue weight? I.e. put the scale under the tongue wheel with the trailer disconnected from the truck. This assumes of course that my scale can handle 400+ punds
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Old 01-26-2012, 01:53 PM   #6
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If you get the weight on your trailer axles (without the spring bars hooked up), and then weight the tongue, then that should get you an accurate trailer weight.

Here is how to weigh your trailer with bathroom scales: Hitching Up - Trailer - Tongue Weight
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Old 01-26-2012, 02:32 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Triguy View Post
Last, your trailer will come to you weighing more than the brochure states it is. Even before you load it and put in batteries and propane, any factory options and dealers options will all change the weight. Good news is that the yellow sticker for your trailer will show the weight with factory options, but not the rest. Another plug to weigh the trailer.
Thanks for your advice. I plan to weigh the trailer when I get it. My fear is if the GVWR is indeed 4,718 and the dry weight listed on the brochure is 3,646 then there will be very little room (weight-wise) for gear. I'm sure others are in the same boat and they either 1) don't pay attention or 2) just ignore the GVWR and load whatever they wish. I wanted a lighter trailer and knew we would have to pack lighter but it never clicked when I looked at this unit regarding these weights. It looks like most Mini Lites have the same weight constraints.
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Old 01-26-2012, 03:26 PM   #8
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Weigh the truck and trailer connected first but WITHOUT and WD bars installed in order to get a valid tounge weight. Add all wheel weights together to get "Combined Weight"

Then disconnect the trailer and drive back onto the scales for a second weight. The second weight is only a dollar more.

Subtract the weight of the unhitched truck axle loads from the hitched axle loads to find your actual load on the truck (tounge weight).
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Old 01-26-2012, 04:09 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Triguy View Post
Don't travel with a full tank of water and instead fill up at the park. We carry a little for on-the-road bathroom breaks but I don't think I've ever traveled with a full tank.
I'm with Triguy on this one. Our dealer told us not to travel with full tanks; puts too much strain on the brackets that hold them up.
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Old 01-26-2012, 04:23 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Triguy View Post
Hi OP,

Many light trailers, and usually anything marketed as mini-light, are going to have a lower payload. Its not bad, per se, as long as you are aware.
I noticed that was often the case with several trailers that I had checked out after buying my trailer. A local dealer has RVs on display in the Costco parking lot about once a month or so. I was just curious what the inside looked like so I compared the numbers too. Quickly I was happy that the CCC on my lightweight trailer was reasonable: CCC 3656 / dry weight 3631.

Once you do hit the scales you will have actual numbers to work with. I need to do this too but ran into problems doing it wrong. I got to find someone willing to come along and help me weigh my trailer.
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Old 01-26-2012, 04:39 PM   #11
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I'm glad mynguy could find that bathroom scale process. I haven't done it that way.

Building on Herk's post, here is what I do for the scales. The CAT instructions aren't really clear about how to use the weight sheets...

As for weighing, you don't really need to do all of this but, if you do just the first set of weights outlined below, you are ahead of most campers (who aren't on this forum, of course). If you do all of these, then you can look at all sorts of other comparisons with these weights. You could even go further and start weighing individual wheel loads if you wanted to.

It depends somewhat on the scale because some have one platform while others are up to three. Besides CAT, moving companies, grain elevators and truck stops also have public scales available.

With a CAT scale, the front platform will weigh your TV's steer axle, the middle the TV's drive axle and hitch weight and the third the trailer axles.

Remember that the scale operator can help you with questions you may have once there.

Hitch up your loaded TT to your truck, load your family into the TV as if you were going on a trip, fill with gas and go to the scales.

1) With trailer hitched to truck (and WDH hooked up) you want to get front TV axle (Front gross axle weight - FGAW) and rear TV axle (Rear gross axle weight - RGAW) and total combined weight of TV and TT (Gross combined weight (GCW)). This is easy with a three-part CAT scale. Just put an axle on each platform. The printout separates the three and also includes the total. These numbers are important to compare to their respective ratings to make sure you are not overweight the limits of your truck.

2) With trailer hitched to truck (and WDH NOT hooked up). Weigh again with the trailer hitched to truck but unhook the spring bars of your WDH. If you compare the numbers with the first set of weights above, you can see how much weight you are distributing with your WDH to the front TV axles and to the TT’s axles.

3) Loaded truck weight (and, subsequently, trailer weight and trailer tongue weight). Weigh the loaded truck without the trailer but with family still aboard truck. Get front TV axle and rear TV axle. Add both to get the loaded gross vehicle weight (GVW loaded).
A) This will also give you the trailer weight with the following calculation using the combined weight from weight set #1:
Trailer weight = Total combined weight of TV and TT (GCW) – loaded truck weight (GVW loaded)
B) This will also give you the trailer tongue weight (TW) with the following calculation using the FGAW and RGAW from weight set #2:
Tongue weight = (set 2 FGAW + set 2 RGAW) - Loaded truck weight
You need to use the front and rear axle weights as measured without the spring bars so that you are not measuring the effect of the WDH.
4) Unloaded Truck weight (and, subsequently, payload weight). Last (and you might want to come back for this after dropping off your family and trailer) weigh the unloaded truck (no family or other cargo) to get the truck weight.
A) Your payload can be calculated by subtracting the two truck weights:
Payload = Loaded Truck Weight – Truck Weight
This is good to compare to the payload capacity of your TV as many vehicle's run up against this number.
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