Travel Trailers

[blkexp98]

My wife and I have been talking about travel trailers latley and even went to a dealer to take a look at quite a few. I noticed the only real spec the guy was looking at was the gross weight and not so much the length. Ive read one a few of the camper posts on here and see a variety of sizes and styles. Is there a rough number that you have in mind for weight or length when you looking for a travel trailer that works well with the 4runner?

We plan to go up to the mountains around SC and NC but will otherwise be on pretty flat terrain in other surrounding states. The dealer was showing us travel trailers close to our 7000 lb weight limit (a little over 5000 unloaded) with the longest being about 28 feet long. Seems to me about 20-22' and closer to 5000 lb loaded is a better place to be. Having not towed a travel trailer before im kind of the blind leading the blind. The space would be great as we would like to take our two cats but at the same time it would be nice to get there in one piece.

So what do you think about all this? I realize this is more of a personal decision based on what you really want to do but I would value some guidance from people who already do it.

 

[fourwd1]

It sounds like your expectations are a lot more realistic than the dealer trying to sell you as much as he can.
Have you tried spending 15-20 min in a 20 ft one and a 28 ft one to see what's comfortable?

 

[rkwfxd]

I've owned an RV for 18 years now.

When it is parked and you are inside it, you want the biggest one you can get/have/pull/afford. Everywhere else you want the smallest.

Our RV is 24 feet so figure about 18 feet of living space. It was great when the kids were small. It got cramped when the kids got bigger. Now the kids are gone and it is just fine. I have no desire to get a bigger one and neither does my wife.

RVing has always been about enjoying the location for us, not about watching videos in our box.

20-22 feet would be plenty for us. I would look closely at fresh water and holding tanks. Bigger is always better if you are going to dry camp. If you have hook ups then it doesn't matter.

FWIW

 

[Jetboy]

Having had a few and my parents growing up having had a bunch - I believe there is an inverse relationship between length and use. The bigger you get - the less it'll be used. My opinion is to buy one that as simple and easy to use as possible. Part of that is smaller and lighter to tow.

Also a consideration for towing is the wind profile. The big and wide trailers will be a lot harder to pull at highway speeds. IMO for smaller to vehicles like the 4runner, the best models (with unlimited budget) are the compact profile campers with slideouts. Like the Camplite or Wini Micro Mini. Those would be near the top of the list for me if I were buying to tow with a 4Runner. I have a small teardrop that is probably too small for what you're looking for. But it works great for me. And I use it a lot because it's really easy to hook up and go with just a few minutes of prep.

Also consider where you'll be storing it before you buy it. Depending on where you live if you have to rent storage space it gets expensive fast. Where I live it's typically $50-100 per month for outside storage. I can rent a camper for one or two weeks a year cheaper than storage alone. So having one that fits on my RV pad is pretty important to me.

good luck!

 

[philsey]

My wife and I have been talking about travel trailers latley and even went to a dealer to take a look at quite a few. I noticed the only real spec the guy was looking at was the gross weight and not so much the length. Ive read one a few of the camper posts on here and see a variety of sizes and styles. Is there a rough number that you have in mind for weight or length when you looking for a travel trailer that works well with the 4runner?

We plan to go up to the mountains around SC and NC but will otherwise be on pretty flat terrain in other surrounding states. The dealer was showing us travel trailers close to our 7000 lb weight limit (a little over 5000 unloaded) with the longest being about 28 feet long. Seems to me about 20-22' and closer to 5000 lb loaded is a better place to be. Having not towed a travel trailer before im kind of the blind leading the blind. The space would be great as we would like to take our two cats but at the same time it would be nice to get there in one piece.

So what do you think about all this? I realize this is more of a personal decision based on what you really want to do but I would value some guidance from people who already do it.

7000# weight limit??? WTF are you smoking? Look, I know you have a big bad V8 and all, but you're crazy, and that's dangerous. Safely? 5000# is pushing it. Brakes. Suspension. 2007 is 11 YEARS OLD, man.

You won't take my advice, but dial it way back or get a truck.

Scary. That dealer is not your friend. Spend more time here. Loads of towing threads.

 

[brtnstrns]

7000# weight limit??? WTF are you smoking? Look, I know you have a big bad V8 and all, but you're crazy, and that's dangerous. Safely? 5000# is pushing it. Brakes. Suspension. 2007 is 11 YEARS OLD, man.

You won't take my advice, but dial it way back or get a truck.

Scary. That dealer is not your friend. Spend more time here. Loads of towing threads.

I don't think he was the one positing the idea. It was info from his dealer. He's just asking.

 

[philsey]

OK, sure, but he posted this:

"The dealer was showing us travel trailers close to our 7000 lb weight limit .... right?

Sure makes me think that he thinks 7000#. Regardless, that's stupid high for any 4R, no matter how it's outfitted.

 

[brtnstrns]

OK, sure, but he posted this:

"The dealer was showing us travel trailers close to our 7000 lb weight limit .... right?

Sure makes me think that he thinks 7000#. Regardless, that's stupid high for any 4R, no matter how it's outfitted.

Followed by

Seems to me about 20-22' and closer to 5000 lb loaded is a better place to be.

Seems like the dealer is the clueless one. OP is just trying to get better/more accurate information from the right place, i.e. this forum. Seems pretty reasonable to me.

 

[philsey]

Meh.
/done/

 

[blkexp98]

Well that got a little out of hand while I was away. Thank you brtnstrns you have the right idea with my intentions. The 7000 lbs was Toyotas number and I too thought that was high. As was pointed out I was looking for real world advice. Philsey I appreciate the concern especially since at also involves the people around me so thats why I ask.

Yall have had some good advice so far. Next time I stop in at a dealer ill spend some more time in each one to really get a feel for it after some time. This past time we were getting more of a feel for what can be in them and the overall what to expect with various sizes. I do have a friend who luckily knows travel trailers pretty well but we are not in the same category. He has a full size diesel truck and a 5th wheel so its difficult to pick his brain on towing since we will be so different. Otherwise he has been a good resource.

The width profile is also something ive been looking at. Apparently there are 7.5 ft options and 8 ft wide options. I wouldnt consider the 4 runner to be wide so do you think that 3 inches on each side is significant enough to choose one or the other?

Storage is another good point and while the ones ive checked have been relatively cheap I havent checked them out for hours, security etc. Id love to keep it at the house and I could probably park it beside my house but it would kill our only side window view of the woods. That also has its on issues and security risks since it would be right on the treeline but is still an option.

 

[dsfra]

When shopping for our trailer, our mantra was "As small as possible, as big as necessary". Ended up with a 19' fiberglass Escape, and have absolutely no regrets.

The 19 Foot Escape

Don't be scared by the price - it's in Canadian dollars, so cut it by 20- 25% for US dollars.

 

[Jetboy]

Some smaller trailers are as narrow as 7 foot width. The wind resistance is a function primarily of the shape and then the area of the front of the camper.

So if you have two similar shaped trailers but one is 10' tall and 8' wide and compare to a trailer that's 9' tall and 7' wide, you've reduced your wind resistance by about 33%. That can be a huge difference in the enjoy-ability of towing moro so than the raw ability to tow.

The comparison is something like a Nash 18' trailer. My in laws have one. It's a monster of a trailer for being only 18' long. It's 10'6" tall and a full 8' wide. And it weighs 4500lbs empty. I would not want to tow that with my 4runner and I would not buy that trailer if that was my intent. I'd much rather have a trailer like a Winnebago 1808FBS - I just looked up something I've seen. With a single slide out it'll seem a lot bigger inside. It's profile is 9'8" tall and 7' wide. So it will have roughly 67% of the wind resistance of the Nash, for a similarly functional trailer size. And it weights only 3,500lbs empty.

The Nash is built heavier. Just take a look underneath. It's a tank. But that's probably not what would be ideal for you or I towing with a smaller vehicle. The Winnebago is also about $8k cheaper.

That's just giving you an example of what I think is something worth looking seriously at. That is probably what I would buy - or something similar. I like the r-pod trailers too. My buddy has one. Tows great. Price is pretty cheap new. It's relatively small, but works great for a small family.

The other factor I would consider is how the bed is setup. I like the floor plan a lot of the one I mentioned. Bed is away from the door. You or your spouse will invariably want to get up and make coffee or whatever before the other. Having the door on the other side is nicer to get in and out without disturbing the sleeping person as much. It is also easy to get in and out of the bathroom right near the door. For me - that's the way I would want the layout, as compared to having the door in the middle between the bed and kitchen area and having to go through the kitchen from the door to get to the bathroom, because that's where you'll be going inside for most of your trips.

 

[Bumbo]

I’ll add in my 2 cents from my limited personal experiences with towing with the 4Runner and my ½ ton Silverado.

Balance on the trailers axle makes a huge difference to perceived weight. A heavy trailer with the internal weight balanced feels lighter than a lighter trainer where the balance isn’t optimal. Happens all the time with an unloaded toy hauler where the balance come from a occupied garage. Same for the way it drives and all that good stuff.

Make sure the truck is setup for tow. Things like load leveling suspension and whatever else that goes with this sort of thing help a lot. I have a lot of 5th wheel diesel friends and kinda came to my own conclusion that a truck that a very well setup for tow, doesn’t always drive that well unloaded either. Personally towing is one of the reasons I ended up with a Silverado because you can’t really have a proper off-road setup in a tow truck.

Trailer brakes… not optional IMO

Headroom… I love it, and a lot of it. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like towing close to the max load ratings of a trailer. The experience goes from comfortable to white knuckle pretty fast. For long trips, it’s can be the difference between arriving relaxed vs fatigued.

 

[MT Runner]

When shopping for our trailer, our mantra was "As small as possible, as big as necessary". Ended up with a 19' fiberglass Escape, and have absolutely no regrets.

The 19 Foot Escape

Don't be scared by the price - it's in Canadian dollars, so cut it by 20- 25% for US dollars.

We had the exact same thought when looking for ours a few years ago. We ended up with an 18' hybrid TT. It's perfect for what we wanted. Dry weight is just over 2600 lbs, so with all of our gear we're still under 4,000. We don't fill with water until we're as close to our campsite as possible, since that's another 300+ lbs (40 gal tank).

The hybrid was the perfect answer, the body is about 16' but then both ends pop out for two more beds, so it really feels more like a 20' or longer camper at the camp site.

I have the V6, so I was very adamant about the weight being as low as possible but I wanted as much space as possible, I just didn't want or need the V8. I've never regretted not getting the V8, the V6 pulls this camper with no problem.

 

[blkexp98]

How do you handle the hybrids in the cold and hot months? I would probably go just as much then as I would when its just warm. I could see that being almost like a tent but with a kitchen, bathroom and more comfortable bed. It does seem to be a good solution to a weight and size issue though.

That escape is pretty interesting and ill read more on that. I wish I could find more in this size range with dual axles like the escape. That seems to be a rarity. I guess I get it from a weight standpoint but I would still rather have two.

 

[MT Runner]

How do you handle the hybrids in the cold and hot months? I would probably go just as much then as I would when its just warm. I could see that being almost like a tent but with a kitchen, bathroom and more comfortable bed. It does seem to be a good solution to a weight and size issue though.

That escape is pretty interesting and ill read more on that. I wish I could find more in this size range with dual axles like the escape. That seems to be a rarity. I guess I get it from a weight standpoint but I would still rather have two.

The dual axle thing is the only thing I’d change if I could. I’d like to have that, but I can’t say that this is bad by any means.

As far as the hot and cold, the hot has never really been a big issue, we live in MT and are usually up in the mountains a little bit, so it’s not like we’re camping anywhere with no shade and it’s 100+ degrees. We really have it for a place to sleep and keep our stuff, our bigger camping trips are around a week long, so a lot of clothing and just stuff in general. We don’t really hang out in it during the day if we don’t have to, that’s why we’re camping, to get out and enjoy outside.

The coldest we’ve used it was when it got to about 25 or so one night. And yea, it was cold. Just ran the heater for about 30 min to really warm it up and we were good. But that’s not the norm either, so never really been a big issue. I’d say it’s half way between a fully hard sided camper and a pop up camper, if that makes sense, as far as staying relatively warm in colder weather.

 

[Goalie39]

Another Escape 19 owner here. Great for our family of 3.

It's been awesome and tows great behind my 2015 4runner (also towed well with 2007 4runner). Wouldn't want to go much bigger or heavier. Fiberglass trailers also retain there value very well and last many years.

For our style of camping (mostly state and national parks), the smaller size is definitely nice and easier to find sites. Everything seems like a luxury compared to tents!

Be sure to checkout Scamp and Casita trailers as well, although no dual axles.

My advice would be to start smaller and lighter until you get the hang of towing.

 

[Jetboy]

The biggest downside of a hybrid or tent trailer is if you happen to live or like to camp in areas with a lot of bears. Like Yellowstone Park area for example. You'll be eliminating access to a lot of camping spots where hard sides are required. But those are pretty rare. I'm from Bozeman, MT - so I travel there 3-5 times a year typically and there are a number of campgrounds between here and there that don't allow tents or tent trailers. For camping in Utah and Colorado they'd be great. Something I think that's kind of a bummer about them is that almost invariably the tent portion is the bed area. If it were the dining area for example it would be easy to close up at night if you're camping in bear heavy areas. But you can't really do that if it's the beds, which it always is.

Just something to consider if that's important or you live or plan to spend a lot of time camping around Yellowstone or Glacier parks primarily.

 

[RedSled]

I really like the Airstream Nest, if i was in the market for a trailer that is smaller, and has everything. I know it is some $$$$$ but hey, if you want quality, and i think it would be a keeper.

 

[NauticalBlueSR5]

When shopping for our trailer, our mantra was "As small as possible, as big as necessary". Ended up with a 19' fiberglass Escape, and have absolutely no regrets.

The 19 Foot Escape

Don't be scared by the price - it's in Canadian dollars, so cut it by 20- 25% for US dollars.

I have been doing some research on small trailers. We are retired so a nice practical small trailer is what we want. That Escape 19 really looks like a great idea. Thanks!!:thumb: