Newer than newbie! (I think we're getting a trailer!)

[SuicideSaints]

Originally Posted by SuicideSaints

I'll try and get a little more in depth into the numbers.....

Your camper

UVW/Dry weight = 2969
GVWR = 3756
CCC= 787

.....

Now for your tow vehicle:

GVWR = 6050
vehicle weight = 4510
16 gl of Gas (20 X 6.3 lbs) = 101
People and car/booster seats = 600 (I minus'd the known gas weight from your 700 lb estimate)
Gear you said to be packed in the tow vehicle = 200
Receiver hitch and wiring = 63 ( you said that you will have to install this)
Equal-i-zer Hitch = 97 (popular brand)
Tongue weight = 441 to 563

Totaling = 38 to (-84)

....

Originally Posted by Jmkjr72

Here is right from t he dodge owners manual

Taking my load scenario your GCWR would be over 9000 lbs and looking right at the exert provided from the manual you can see your allowable GCWR is only 8750, you'll be over on that figure as well.

[Halfmast]

Just a thought #2....

Perhaps this is the worst idea in the history of RV-ing, but what about if you camped but didn't tow.... until the time is right?

Say what??

Arrange with the dealer / seller that delivery is included in the purchase price. Have the camper delivered to a seasonal site, then go back and forth on weekends and vacation, leaving the camper in place on your site.

For example, Shangri-La in Jordan Station is a cute park, out of the way but not far from home or Wal-Mart. Their seasonal rate (6 months) is $2270 then winter storage is $150 (I'm pretty sure the camper stays on the site - it doesn't have to be moved for winter storage.). There's plenty to do and see locally... conservation areas, Niagara Falls... wine country and campfires galore!

When the time is right, get a TV that won't give you grey hair and ulcers and then go out to the Rockies.

If the mountain won't come to Mohammed...

[Carl Patterson]

You should be able to get a 30-40% off MSRP ON A NEW TT. when you go to buy - write the number down that you are willing to do and give it to them - they will probably take it.

[NorthCarolinaDawg]

Hey Fellow Newbie. We go by and you can find us by "NothCarolinaCountryDawg". Purchased our Forest River Mini Ultra lite TT in April. Took me more than an 1.5 hours I think to go to our first outing 5 miles away from our house in NC. But since. Been to the Western part on NC up in the mountains and last week we (9days) we drove to Main and Back.2400 miles. It is a serious expense and has a lot of little incidentals but its pretty cool and a Great way to camp and be out doors with family. Safe travels and Enjoy.

[Carl Patterson]

Way to go ncd

[bob213]

How often do you plan to camp? If it's only two or three times a year consider renting a C Class MH. Do this until you can save enough money to buy a real tow vehicle. Then get a trailer. Camping is fun but not if it puts you, your family and others in danger. Protect those babies! Wait till you are really ready and can do it safely. JMO

[kayburhart]

We bought a 2018
17 ft.Dutchman bh clipper for $12,000
I would keep looking.

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by kayburhart

We bought a 2018
17 ft.Dutchman bh clipper for $12,000
I would keep looking.

You're in Arkansas. The OP's in Canada. He's talking Canadian dollars. So his $18K Cdn is $14K US. And I'm guessing there's less competition in Canada.

[elchilero53]

Many excellent comments and suggestions for the OP. You do not need to buy new. We always bought used, both truck and trailer. Look for something gently used and you can buy a nice trailer that meets your needs and a proper vehicle to tow it with safely. You will have many wonderful experiences and a lot of fun as well. I know you may be set on doing this, and I congratulate you on asking questions and researching, but I would wait until next year. In the meantime, you will have time to discuss things with your wife, look at options that will fit your budget and come up with something that is doable and affordable.

[PaulaVdZ]

Hello,

We don't have our trailer yet either, and we, too, are soo excited to get it!!
Crawling around at RV dealers is certainly an awesome way to spend a couple of hours! What has helped us is YouTube! We've viewed lots of videos by dealers, manufacturers, and private owners. It's so helpful to see how each different make sets up and down, what accessories they have, etc.

Good luck and be sure to keep us all posted on your final decision!

[debbiej]

We had a 2012 caravan with tow package, but someone ran into us and totaled it. When we started shopping for a camper to tow with it, we hitched up my brother in laws 14' AR 1 starcraft, a very light trailer, to see how it towed. We just drove around town and some highway driving. It was not a good feeling. towing it on mountain roads would have been just too frightening. The van struggled to accelerate and was getting terrible milage on top of that.
we are retired, but camped many years with 3 kids in a minivan and a pop up. I would suggest showing your wife some newer pop ups. a new pop up is much easier to set up and camp in than the older ones like we used in the 80's. Maybe she would enjoy checking out a blog called the pop up princess, and have a change of heart.

We have owned and sold 4 pop ups, 2 small class Cs a tt (fried our tranny) and an aliner. The Aliner was big, but a towing dream and super easy to set up, and I loved it. we towed that with our 12 GC, and sold it after our van was totaled. I wish we had kept it because
we recently bought a 2015 grand caravan and we decided to go back to a pop up. we bought a beautiful little used pup but haven't towed it yet because we are working on roof problems. we also have a VW rialta, a delightful class B. It has 168,000 miles on it, and we are carefully phasing it out of our camping plans.
there is nothing like the open feel of a pop up. a portable potty is a whole lot less trouble than a black water tank. I've very happy to be simplifying the camping experience with a pop up.
edit
as others have suggested, renting is a great idea. with two babies, any camping experience is challenging. hey, life itself is challenging! A roomy class c rental would make it very easy. as your children grow, needs change. in a few years, a pop up might be perfect.

[sudz]

So, Long story short: We're waiting a year. Just not in the cards financially for 2018.

BUT, I did go try it out. CanAm RV in london, ontario uses 2 dodge grand caravans as their tow mules to bring trailers up to 30 feet up from The states.



I towed a 29 foot Surveyor. it was equipped and ready for camping. (an employee took it to the east coast (3000km round trip) the week before in his GMC Terrain) (~5100lbs)

I have never towed anything this big. I took it on Country roads. I did U-Turns. I parked it. I took it on the 402, Got it up to 120kph (got a bit dicey) I drove behind transport trucks. I drove beside transport trucks. I did quick lane changes. I did hard acceleration, I did passing acceleration.

In the city, 0-60, I had to feather on the throttle, but otherwise could accelerate with the flow of traffic. Never went about 5000rpm with normal driving.

On the highway, I took about 17 seconds to get to 100kph on an on-ramp. 0-60kph was great, 80-110kph was much worse.

Only once I started getting near 120kph with transport trucks on the right did I feel like the trailer was starting to pull the Caravan out of shape.

Brakes were set up a little bit twitchy (slow decelleration from highway speeds would trigger brakes, I assume from wind drag being seen as "light braking" but for normal pressure braking it was nearly imperceptible.

I was beyond impressed. I drove it for over 40 minutes and at times, I would completely forget I was towing a trailer (almost dangerously so) And I towed with the BASE model Caravan, with no Self leveling shocks or anything. Bone stock, but they welded the hitch to the suspension mounts up front.


THe surveyor is a bit lower than some trailers, and he said that was key - Less wind drag. He left the tranny in full auto, but when I drove it, I locked it to 5th gear. It provided about 2800rpm at 100kph and locked up the torque converter unless I was going up a decent hill.

Bottom line is - I'll never get a 29 foot trailer to tow with this... but I won't hesitate to get a lower profile, streamlined 24 footer, dual axle trailer.

Basically any trailer where the wheel arches eat into the living space. The Ones built on a flat platform above the wheels have a lot more wind drag.




Photo Album:
https://imgur.com/a/JSNZQ

[debbiej]

wow. I'm speechless

[sudz]

Originally Posted by debbiej

wow. I'm speechless

I was too. as I drove up to the place they had it all set up up front, and The sheer sight of it had me laughing. Its just so unreasonably unbalanced - David Towing Goliath. Never in a million years did I expect it to go so smoothly. I went in the biggest pessimist. I wanted to tow something around the 3500lbs mark, 22 foot double axle, kinda thing. But I guess he wanted to show off, and it surprisingly didn't backfire.

He also tried to sell me that trailer. I was genuinely tempted but just the logistics of it is bonkers.

[debbiej]

my son has a trailer about that size. they bought a nice chevy truck, sorry i don't know the engine and tranny, but it was full sized and rated to pull the weight of their trailer and more. however, long term, they weren't happy and traded the truck on a F150. torque and tranny a big issue. I'm amazed, but that kind of towing just isn't for me. best of luck!

[KansasJohn]

Andrew Thompson at Can-Am RV is well known for his impressive skill at configuring tow vehicles. As I was reading the thread, I was going to suggest you visit with Andy, and then I saw that you had already done so. Bravo! I understand that the trailer is not in the cards this year, but when you are ready, I would highly recommend having Can-Am configure your van to tow. He can give you a better hitch configuration than the Curt hitch you purchased:

He builds custom receivers that are reinforced for extra strength, and provide better, more effective weight distribution of the trailer's tongue weight. He also moves the pivot point very close to the bumper, as shown in your last photo. This substantially improves stability when towing on the highway. I don't know what Andy charges to perform these setups, but I think it will dramatically improve your towing experience. To my knowledge, none of Andy's setups have ever been in an accident. I would absolutely, positively recommend using Can-Am to get you set up with a hitch receiver, weight distribution hitch, and any other equipment they recommend for a safe towing experience.

As you know, driving sensibly makes a big difference. Keeping speed under 65, using the correct tire inflation, and paying attention to loading to ensure you have adequate tongue weight. There are many folks out with mini-van towing setups towing larger trailers than you are looking at, and they have experienced great success. A gentleman by the name of Andreas Duess over at the Airstream forums towed a 34' three-axle Airstream trailer, weighing in at close to 7500 pounds, with a Honda Odyssey minivan for over 80,000 miles with great success before selling the minivan to get more cargo space. He had no major mechanical issues during that time that I am aware of.

Please don't give up on your dream of traveling in an RV. It is a wonderful way to travel and see the country. I grew up traveling in an Airstream trailer with my family, and now carry on the family tradition with my own Rockwood Mini Lite. My fondest memories are of the places we went as a family with that Airstream. Happy camping, and be safe!