Who has a large family and chase tows?

[optimusprime]

Anyone here have a large family, a tow vehicle that won’t fit everyone and chases in a second vehicle? What’s your experience been? Is it worth doing?

[timfromma]

It really depends on how many drivers you have. 6 of us live in my house but I can only fit 5 in my truck. For local trips (less than a day's travel time) Taking a second vehicle along is not an issue for us. You just have to make sure that your campground offers additional parking for the extra vehicle. For longer trips, I do not care for the second vehicle since I don't get the company of the other driver while traveling. If we had a 3rd driver then we could all take turns riding with each other making the trip more enjoyable. Luckily, the smaller ones don't really like long road trips and they have a grandmother who loves having them over so they take turns spending time at grandmas while the rest of us pile in the truck and hit the road.

[Cabinfever97]

When the kids where camping with us and taking friends we did it many times. Also one place we went to we tubed and canoed so having two vehicles was needed.

[JACA]

One problem you may have with a 3rd vehicle is that many campgrounds will not allow you to park that vehicle, or they may charge you extra, or there simply isn't enough room in or near your site.

If it were me, and I had up to 7 or 8 family members, I would tow a larger SUV or van to accommodate everyone.

So much depends on how far you are going, and how many campgrounds you are visiting. Also need to think about states/cities in which you have to pay tolls for highways and bridges.

[007matman]

We do a little of both (we have 6).

I have an '07 F350 CC King Ranch Dually and there was no option for a front bench in that package. On our longer trips, I have a jump seat (and 4-point harness) I put in place of the center console and the little one sits up there. Plenty of room for them all in the back. In a pinch I'll put 4 back there and they're fine so I guess technically we could do 7.

My oldest are 16 and 21. There usually is no problem getting them to drive themselves for the shorter trips. I don't like it because it increases the expense but hey.. they have jobs :-)

Hope this helps.

[itat]

We did that when I first bought our Roo (first trailer bigger than a pop up). My vehicle at the time didn’t have enough payload to handle all 5 of us - 6 when grandma came, too - so one DS travelled with me and the rest were in our second vehicle with my DW. Not really a problem but I definitely prefer having everyone in the truck and not having to fuel 2 vehicles.

[optimusprime]

Thanks. We’re in that dilemma right now. The only thing we would be able to use to tow would be one of those Nissan NV3500 vans. Payload and capability wise it’s probably the only thing that would work with our family of 6. We live in the PNW so 4x4 is a must. The $55,000 price tag is more than we can take especially since I already have a 3.5EB F-150. I would most likely tow with that and my wife and other kids would follow. Just wanted to see how everyone worked it out.

[lewisra]

We have an F150 with front bench seat when 6 of us go.

We used a full size van, GMC Savana. For 9 of us all over the country.