Awhile ago my wife and I looked at an Open range 337. We really liked it a lot. Then we came across the Open Range 305. It seemed like the perfect TT for us. It had a living room to die for, really good holding tanks and bath accessible without passing into the bed room. Best of all, it was a 30ft model with a whopping three slides. We were set on this model for about 3 months. Monday we just refreshed our memory of the 337 travel trailer floor plan. We do like it better. It had one possible down fall, it seems really long at 36' overall. We ruled it out since we didn't want to get turned away from a 30' or less campground. Well, after some though, we have never run into a campground in the past 5 years in which someone would have been turned away in a large TT.
Our ultimate goal is to carry 3 ATV on our truck bed and tow a TT using a 21" or 24" foot hitch extension and WD hitch that adds 20 inches. The TT ball will be 40-44" behind the truck. The extension is rated at 14,000 and 1,400 with WD hitch and a 21 or 24" extension. Its actually rated up to 1,200/12,000 at the end of a 48" extension; really beefy. I absolutely plan on hard mounting a generator on the front A frame of the TT (it's not going into the truck's bed), then two 30lb propane tanks, and then packing stuff into the closet and under bed, that might make the 305 tongue too heavy. The 305 has an advertised dry hitch weight of 1170!!!! The propane will be about 55 each, 200 for generator. Getting into campgrounds will not be an issue since we haven't had a problem in 5 years. If it's too long, we'll go elsewhere.
My only concern now is length: 21' truck (CC/LB), 4' of hitch, 36' of trailer for a total of 61 feet long.
I'm thinking its getting too long to do anything. I'm definitely not afraid to tow that long.
1) What is it like to tow at 61 feet long?
2) What about getting into parking lots like wal-mart or malls for in route shopping?
3) Gas station access a pain?
4) Campground maneuverability?
5) In the grand scheme of things, is there a difference between 61' and 57'? What is being 4' longer going to do to me? I.e. what could I do in a 57' rig and not in a 61'?
I really like the more conventional bath in the 337 and it's more sensible dry hitch rating of 780 lbs + gen+propane leaves 310lbs for packing the TT and not exceeding the 1,400 lb tongue rating.
Wow, 61' JUST SEEMS LONG. Not concerned about towing, just maneuverability.
Occasionally, (twice) we had a 40' RV, a Saturn Vue, and about 11' or 12' of Jet Ski. I'd say we're over. (I haven't been stopped yet, but I don't think I'd try that again) I didn't measure. But the point of that admission is that I don't even know it's back there. It just kind of follows along. Now, I don't think I'd want to back up.
Now it's different with a TT, but I can't say it should be much worse, if any, than that.
Many many more times we towed with an f150, a slide in truck camper, and 24' of boat behind that. It just takes a bit of getting used to it.
It seems to me that getting into campgrounds is going to be the least of your problems.
The strongest hitch I'm aware of is the PullRite 20K hitch, but the 20K rating applies when the ball is on a normal ballmount that's about 1' long. Put on a 4' extension and you've got to downgrade the rating of the hitch.
The dry hitch weight is meaningless. Figure on 14-15% of GVWR for the hitch weight of a normally loaded TT. That's 0.14 x 10,400# = 1450# hitch weight - for a normally loaded TT. But, you're going to add a 200# generator, maybe more including the mounting. So, you're up to 1650# or more tongue weight. Yes, you might be able to counterbalance that some by loading the heavy stuff under the bed, but the result is still going to be a heavy tongue weight. Plus, when you have a lot of weight in the rear of the coach you have built yourself a 30-35' long rocking horse. That puppy is going to want to hobby horse as the very heavy ends of the trailer start seesawing up and down. That's bad enough on a normal TT hitch, but with a 48" extension, the loads on the rear of the hitch are going to try to lift the front axle of the truck.
Yes, you will have W/D bars. But, remember, those are 'spring bars'. That means that they will tend to spring the hitch in one direction but offer no resistance in the other direction.
And we thought our situation with our 30' Arctic Fox this summer was bad. We were very heavily loaded with 8 spare tires, over 300# of tools, extra fuel, extra water, extra etc. We also had the factory install a very HD receiver on the rear of the trailer frame and mounted a 70# cargo box with our 50# Honda generator, 6 gallons of fuel, 2 cases of engine oil, 2 gallons of fuel additive, 100' of FW hose, filters and fittings, plus a box of misc stuff. Enough stuff to reduce our usual 1500# (16%) tongue weight down to 1180# (11%). Fortunately, our PullRite 20K hitch dealt very well with the poor loading, but the ride was much worse than the usual TT porpoising. We tried to adjust it out with the W/D bars but there's only so much they can do.
Frankly, I think that if you're going to insist on carrying all this stuff, you really need to be looking at toy haulers.
OTOH, if you're stuck on the TT and need a killer HD hitch, we just swapped the PullRite 20K under the truck for a PullRite SuperGlide in the truck.
Steve & C. J.
"Gracie" the Rough Collie & "Bo'sun" the Bichon Frise
2009 Arctic Fox 24-5N
2007 Ford F350 4X4 Crewcab LB 11.5K GVWR
PullRite 18K SuperGlide
Length wouldn't be my concern but it sounds to me like you're taking some REAL chances with the hitch. ADding that extension drastically reduces the hitch strength. You MIGHT be better off leaving SOMETHING at home or buy a toy hauler.
2004 F-250 SCREW Long Bed (new)
OR 2004 F-150 HD (85,000 towing miles) Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
We have enough YOUTH...how about a fountain of SMART
I'm wondering the same thing as well. We started looking at bigger trailers since getting a bigger TV. I would like to be under 30ft. We looked at a 2010 Sportsmen 321BH over the weekend, my wife really liked it. I'm a bit concerned with the length and weight. Its just under 35' long and has a GVWR of 8800lbs and hitch weight of 730lbs.
I like the Spree 318BH, but that is also just under 33'. The GVWR is not as much at 7300lbs, hitch weight is 640lbs.
We currently have a 20ft hybrid trailer. Our TV is a 2010 Ford F-150 with max tow package. We live in an area with a lot of wind, so that's also a concern for me.
Anyone own these trailers that I mentioned and how do they tow.
With a torklift super hitch and their super truss, it will be capable of hauling it, as long as I don't exceed their ratings.
"The strongest hitch I'm aware of is the PullRite 20K hitch, but the 20K rating applies when the ball is on a normal ballmount that's about 1' long. Put on a 4' extension and you've got to downgrade the rating of the hitch."
I see the PullRite is strong, but the superhitch has the highest tongue ratings though. It is rated at 14,000 and 1,400 at the end of 2 feet.
I'll have to get some REAL world tongue weights from owners to see if what I want to do will exceed the hitch rating.
I think we both replied on a similar thread earler as we are kind of both looking for the same features. We liked the 337 model as well except the length and lack of underneath storage. We were out looking last week and came upon a similar floorplan in a Sunnybrook Bristol Bay. Nice quality, similar layout, and a couple feet shorter. May one to look at one if you want to save a foot or 2 in length. We do a lot of bush camping and length makes it tough to get into some areas as well.
2001 Chevrolet 2500hd Silverado LT 4x4 6.0L/4.10
2005 KZ Outdoorsmen 2605PF
Champion 4000W Generator
Ken & Sandra
Shadow Cat,Yugi Dog, Jet Dog
16 Foot Renken Fishing boat
The Sunnybrook 3204 is very nice. However, since I'm a 90% dry camping guy, the tanks just won't do. The OR has 85 fresh, 57 gray, and 41 black. Large tanks are at the top of my list. Thanks for the info. Had not looked at Sunnybrooks before. The opposing slides are a must also and believe the sunnybrook is the only other model I've see in a reasonable sized TT that has that feature.
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