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School me on travel trailers..


oldschoolsdime92

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Also... there is more to look at than tow rating. Technically I am overweight when I tow my 5th wheel in my ram 2500. 

Gcwr is combined weight of the truck and trailer. I am about 23000lbs and under what the ratings are set for with some room to spare. All good there 

Gvwr is what your truck can weigh when hooked up. So my truck weighs 7800ish lbs empty. Add in driver, passengers, 5th wheel hitch, and pin weight from the camper and I am like 800lbs over on the truck since it is rated at 10,000. While it is capable of more it's set for registration purposes pretty much most 3/4 ton trucks you see towing a 5th wheel and some larger TT are overweight in that regard. 

Then you have axle weights (gawr) which is how much the axle of the truck is able to support, there should be a sticker on your door. I am 6500lbs on the rear and I think 6k up front, and I have room to spare on each of these weights. 

Then you have tires. I dont think most passenger tires have a very high weight rating but dont know of what most are off the top of my head. My truck is 3650 per tire so they can support 7300lbs combined for each pair and I am well within that weight as well. 

With that said it's got to look pretty bad or you have to do something dumb to get pulled over and weighed. However you could be held liable if you were in an accident. 

 

Just throwing that out there for consideration. 

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On 4/8/2018 at 11:12 AM, max power said:

Jayco builds quality trailers.  I personally would stay away from anything with fiberglass smooth sides. There's always seem to delaminate. Look at the campers that the sides look like siding. In my experience they leak a whole lot less than the slab side campers.  

 

11 hours ago, Casper said:

Jayco makes a good camper. We’ve been happy with ours. Fiberglass sides are much better in my opinion. Easier to clean, easier to repair, etc. 

The above was advice given to me by someone who's been in the travel trailer business for 30 years. I've seen lots of fiberglass campers delaminate catastrophically, but never once have I seen the siding style delaminate.  Just ask Bowdog.

Edited by max power
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13 minutes ago, max power said:

 

The above was advice given to me by someone who's been in the travel trailer business for 30 years. I've seen lots of fiberglass campers delaminate catastrophically, but never once have I seen the siding style delaminate.  Just ask Bowdog.

I've heard the same.  Then there's Airstream...Me want one of those...Me no can afford.  Another less expensive option than Airstream is Camplite.  They use what looks like a different composite material on an all aluminum structure.  The use NO WOOD in the entire camper. 

https://www.livinlite.com/products/camplite-travel-trailers/features.html

 

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17 hours ago, oldschoolsdime92 said:

Yes they do. A rather large trunk at that. If I go new, the is what I’m leaning toward

 

https://www.jayco.com/products/travel-trailers/2018-jay-flight-slx-7/174bh/

That is a nice little rig right there...I have had very good luck with Jayco...Currently own a Jayco J Flight 32' with duel slides, very well built and minimum maintenance.

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1 hour ago, max power said:

 

  Just ask Bowdog.

True story! I have heard the new ones do not have the problem as frequent anymore but i had a fiberglass one literally de laminate and pull open on the Ohio turnpike at 75mph as I was heading to Red Bud for the races. Looked in the passenger mirror and my camper was losing the whole passenger side wall. Man what a weekend that was! :nono:

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On 4/10/2018 at 2:26 PM, MidgetTodd said:

Mine did the same as well. I’ll never have a fiberglass sided camper again. 

Pulled out of the corner trim and kept going. 

 

that sounds terrible. I believe I will shy away from fiberglass campers. I really like the winnibago micros also, but they also have fiberglass. Going to check out the jayco dealer in the coming days. 

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7 hours ago, motocat12 said:

We drove this fiberglass camper down the freeway with only flex seal holding it together!

Gorilla Tape for the win!! that stuff got me all the way back to Ohio.

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  • 2 months later...

Well, Jayco hasn't exactly panned out for us. They have a floorpan we really like and no one has been able to have one in stock, or get us one that we can at least check out before we order one. So we are also looking at a rockwood mini lite 1905BH. Anyone have any experience with rockwood? 

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On 4/8/2018 at 10:12 AM, max power said:

Jayco builds quality trailers.  I personally would stay away from anything with fiberglass smooth sides. There's always seem to delaminate. Look at the campers that the sides look like siding. In my experience they leak a whole lot less than the slab side campers.  

How old were these though?

Edited by rawlins87
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