Ultra Lites Question

[B47]

I am starting to read about the Ultra Lite Rv's on here and I decided to ask the owners of these units a few questions just to satisfy my own curiously (sp):

1) Exactly what is an Ultra Lite - is there a RV industry standard that defines what am UL is by weight,etc.

2) By its name, it seems to me that weight saving materials and construction methods are employed to save weight - is the structucial strenght of these units compromised by doing so?

3) Are there UL versions of FW's?

As stated at the beginning, it seems to me that UL RV's are getting more popular and I thought it would be nice to know more about them and what better place to ask than here?

Thanks

[Triguy]

Good questions. The ultra and lightweight trend has been going on for awhile now. But, its not clearly defined in my opinion.

1. There is not an industry standard on what is considered "Ultra Lite".

From what I have read, including from one of our members who is an FR rep - Wildcat Chris - is that each manufacturer does it differently and that it is relative within a product line.

2. I think you're on the right track. It stands to logic that something has to give.

3. Although they don't use the term "ultra", FR breaks down their new website into Lite fifth wheels and fifth wheels.

[B47]

Originally Posted by Triguy

Good questions. The ultra and lightweight trend has been going on for awhile now. But, its not clearly defined in my opinion.

1. There is not an industry standard on what is considered "Ultra Lite".

From what I have read, including from one of our members who is an FR rep - Wildcat Chris - is that each manufacturer does it differently and that it is relative within a product line.

2. I think you're on the right track. It stands to logic that something has to give.

3. Although they don't use the term "ultra", FR breaks down their new website into Lite fifth wheels and fifth wheels.

Glad to hear that I may not be the only one with some questions about UL's. I certainly am in no way saying these units are better/worse than any other, but I am curious and no I am not considering buying an UL as I already own a Silverback FW.

I will have to check out the FR website.

Thanks for your information.

[Dave_Monica]

You can use the cargo carrying capacity of the camper to help you out. If the CCC is about 1500#'s, it lightweight construction. If it's 3000#'s or more, it's much more robust construction.

Lite and Ultralite are more Marketing terms and product descriptions.

Dave

[B47]

Originally Posted by Dave_Monica

You can use the cargo carrying capacity of the camper to help you out. If the CCC is about 1500#'s, it lightweight construction. If it's 3000#'s or more, it's much more robust construction.

Lite and Ultralite are more Marketing terms and product descriptions.

Dave

Just for my information - where did you come up with those numbers? Not saying you are wrong, but I guess you could be right in saying these are more of a marketing gimmick, but I would think there has to be some more industry wide standards.

What got me wondering about this is I am curious if the construction strenght is compromised in these UL's.

I am going to compare the weights of the "standard" FW and TT's against those in the FR website.

Hey I'm retired and got the time.

[Terier]

Originally Posted by Dave_Monica

You can use the cargo carrying capacity of the camper to help you out. If the CCC is about 1500#'s, it lightweight construction. If it's 3000#'s or more, it's much more robust construction.

Lite and Ultralite are more Marketing terms and product descriptions.

Dave

Of course I would be the exception to this rule. My Cruise Lite TT has 3658 lb CCC and is consider a Lite trailer.

[Twisty]

Our SV264 sticker shows 5300 lbs and it is over 29 feet long.
That is pretty light to me.
Check out the construction specs in the Select line. They are not inexpensive - - so that would reason out to some (me) that "higher quality" materials are used to achieve a low weight and you need to pay for it.

[Dave_Monica]

Originally Posted by B47

What got me wondering about this is I am curious if the construction strenght is compromised in these UL's.

The point I was trying to make is that the construction strength in a UL is not compromised...it's designed based on the CCC or in effect, the GVWR. A camper with a dry weight of 6000# and CCC of 1500# (GVWR 7500#) will be lighter construction than a camper with 6000# dry weight of 6000# and CCC of 3500# (GVWR 9500#).

Dave

[Dave_Monica]

Originally Posted by Terier

Of course I would be the exception to this rule. My Cruise Lite TT has 3658 lb CCC and is consider a Lite trailer.

That's exactly my point...it's Lite in name only.

Dave

[B47]

Originally Posted by Dave_Monica

You can use the cargo carrying capacity of the camper to help you out. If the CCC is about 1500#'s, it lightweight construction. If it's 3000#'s or more, it's much more robust construction.

Lite and Ultralite are more Marketing terms and product descriptions.

Dave

It looks like Teriers unit is an exception to that. That is what I mean - there doesn't seem to be an industry standard here,

[arlee453]

I agree with Twisty - when doing extensive shopping for our most recent TT, the key differences I noticed in those marketed as "Ultra Lite" was the price.

A similarly equipped TT that was Ultralite would cost several $1000s higher than the same size/equipment standard version. And would buy you maybe 1000 - 1500 lbs weight difference for the sizes we were looking at.

[TTforTwo]

In looking for our first TT, we didn't look at the prices...we looked at the GVWR. Because we were going to be pulling with an existing vehicle and wanted a more spacious TT, we looked at the ultra lights. We got a Flagstaff 26rls and pulled with a 2002 Chevy Suburban 1500. We love the quality of the interior, the features we got, and have had no issues with the construction of the trailer. Yes, the lite trailers only hold 1200 to 1500 pounds of cargo, but how much stuff does a person actually pack into a trailer in the first place. Yeah, 3000 pounds of CCC sounds more impressive, but how much would that be? We have since bought a 2012 Ford F150 Ecoboost. It pulls the TT like a dream, but now we are looking at longer TT's, and would go ultralites again.