Your TV is likely capable of pulling anything you are considering, but to cover all bases you might want to come back with the specs on the TV and TT to see what sort of input you get. Another factor if you haven’t already researched and considered it is when you get in that big a unit you have some significant limitations on where you are able to camp, especially with public lands. And also the roads you take, the black, squiggly lines on the map e.g., mountain roads, won’t be too attractive. Also, if you’re pulling near your max in weight those same roads will tend to be slow, tedious climbs.
I’m not trying to dissuade you from getting a big rig, I just think newbees often overlook those issues and I feel compelled to mention them. If you’ve already been over that ground and it’s factored into your decision just ignore the comments.
We have the North Trail 32 QBSS. It doesn't appear they make it anymore (at leat, I can't find it on the Heartland site), but the floor plan is AWESOME (and fits all your criteria), and they still have it listed on RV Wholesalers, so I'm sure you could still find it. Check out the pics in my signature, as well as this link to RV Wholesalers which shows the top down layout. We tow it no problem with a Sierra 3/4 ton. Good luck!
Mike & Melynda joined by rugrats Alexandra, Zoe, and Georgia
2010 Yukon XL 3/4 ton V8
2011 North Trail 32QBSS, Reese Dual Cam Our trailer and camping pics
Hello and welcome. It sounds like you need to do some more research. First, a bumper pull in the RV world is a travel trailer (TT). A bump out is called a slide. You need to think about what your needs and wants are. To do this, think about how you will use the TT. Will you be camping in mountains or flatlands or both? Will you be traveling tight twisty roads (ie something like blueridge parkway) or major highways? Will you be staying in RV parks, national forests, state parks, or boondocking (off the beaten path, no campground, no amenities, no hookups type place)? What seasons and temperatures will you be camping in (this tells you if you need a 4 season trailer)?
Next spend some time sitting in various TT's as a family and pretend to do daily activities. Have mom cook, dad watch tv, walk to the bathroom, kids playing, if you have a dog think about tripping over it. Will the kids have space to do activities (ie board games, play with any toys, or watch a movie) on a rainy day? Where will you put things (ie moms clothes in that cabinet, pots and pans in this cabinet, games in that drawer, chairs go in this compartment and so on). The more you see yourself using this TT the more you can narrow it down. We were able to automatically eliminate anything without dinette drawers and overhead storage. We wanted an L shaped countertop (think about cooking space when pretending to cook). Think about holding tank sizes for those water/electric type sites.
Once you start to have a list of must haves and must not haves, start a spreadsheet w/ these things across the top and the make/model down the side. We were able to drop from about 4 pages of TT's to 2 trailers pretty quickly this way. Pay attention to things like length of warranty (some companies like crossroads and primetime and maybe jayco offer a 2 yr warranty while others only a 1 yr warranty). Pay attention to customer service rep as most trailers will need some sort of warranty work. For this, you can check out owners forums. If you don't see a direct link from manufacturer website, then just google brand x owners forum. You will find them. This helped steer us to our crossroads zinger. They have a great customer service rep and provide a nice TT for a reasonable price.
While you think about all of this you need to be aware of several weight related #'s in your tow vehicle (TV). While your 2500 should be ok with most TT's you might want, you need to be sure before you buy. Pay attention to not only overall towing capacity as most trucks can't pull a TT at max capacity due to a lot of other factors (ie tongue weight and frontal footage, think towing a brick wall). Also pay attention to your TV's hitch weights, GCWR and payload. For payload, understand it as related to your specific TV. You can either look at the sticker inside your door and subtract the weight of all occupants, cargo and fuel or you can go weigh the TV with all occupants and packed ready to camp w/ a full tank of fuel. This is your real payload that tongue weight needs to be subtracted from. When matching this to a TT weight, remember that dry weight (or UVW) is a useless # and so is the brochure tongue weight. A better # to go by is TT GVWR and calculate 13-15% of GVWR for tongue weight. Most do not load a TT w/ a huge cargo capacity to max weight. Average campers tend to add 1000-1500 lbs of stuff to a trailerso you could calculate using that but understand that you have a bigger family so you may well end up with more weight than that added in (trust me dishes, clothes, chairs etc add up quickly). Pay attention to all of this and you should find your perfect trailer that is a great tow experience! Happy hunting.
This rockwood looks to have a great floorplan for what you are asking. Long but lighter.
You get the idea, the trailers are out there, you just have to look. We spent a year finding the right TT for us. We don't regret it, after a year of ownership, we went to a show and didn't see a thing we wanted to trade in on.
This rockwood looks to have a great floorplan for what you are asking. Long but lighter.
You get the idea, the trailers are out there, you just have to look. We spent a year finding the right TT for us. We don't regret it, after a year of ownership, we went to a show and didn't see a thing we wanted to trade in on.
I like that Sabre floor plan the most of the bunch. That table in the back room would be sweet for board games & the like. With the dual slides at the back it would be a fabulous place with lots of space for the kids.
Also, the description on the Z-1 page is just embarrassing. Do these companies not have proof readers?
"The 301BH features tow sets of bunk beds located in the back of the unit with the Safety Stairway Steps for the kids. The front features a walk-around queen bed. The middle of the unit a large kitchen and bathroom."
This rockwood looks to have a great floorplan for what you are asking. Long but lighter.
You get the idea, the trailers are out there, you just have to look. We spent a year finding the right TT for us. We don't regret it, after a year of ownership, we went to a show and didn't see a thing we wanted to trade in on.
I like that Sabre floor plan the most of the bunch. That table in the back room would be sweet for board games & the like. With the dual slides at the back it would be a fabulous place with lots of space for the kids.
Also, the description on the Z-1 page is just embarrassing. Do these companies not have proof readers?
"The 301BH features tow sets of bunk beds located in the back of the unit with the Safety Stairway Steps for the kids. The front features a walk-around queen bed. The middle of the unit a large kitchen and bathroom."
Crossroads is in the process of updating their websites. Most of the crossroads owners forums members have voiced their displeasure with what crossroads has done to the website. The appearance is atrocious and not geared towards the majority of the public. Info can be difficult to find. I have noticed some floorplans hard to read because it is tiny print. Now you are pointing out typos. It gets better. I will have to add to the ridiculous thread going about this. The good thing is crossroads has someone answering the thread and trying to show us what they are doing to fix it for us. They had changed the family forum's name to fan club for awhile, we all threw a fit and they changed it back to forum on the website. They do listen to us!
Oh and we loved that sabre plan when we walked through it shopping last year. We just didn't have the TV for it then. We also don't need something that monstrous for a family of 3 but it sure is nice. I do really like the sabres but they are all really heavy TT's (note GVWR on all of them is over 10,000 lbs).
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