Quote:
Originally Posted by Cranetech
Thanks for all the responses I am becoming SWAYED to the yes side for sure and am also thinking I will DEFINATLY make a trip to a scale and make sure things are right. My towing capacity is 7800 lbs and my dry weight is 5200 lbs so I am a little closer than I would have liked but this 2007 Jayco jay flight is in mint condition. I will get things loaded up and see where things fall. We are just making a few close trips this year to try and get used to a trailer of this size ( I know it's a baby to what some of you have) next year if all goes well we would like to do the Alaska Hwy leaving from Vancouver BC. CANT WAIT.
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Just an FYI on your numbers. Towing capacity and dry weight mean absolutely nothing.
Towing capacity really seems to be nothing more than a marketing number. Other weight limits like max hitch weight, cargo capacity on the tow vehicle will be exceeded well before you get close to max towing capacity that the manufacturers all love to throw around.
Dry weight on the camper means nothing unless you ordered it with no options, don't put anything in it, don't travel with propane tanks or a battery.
For instance, our Yukon has a towing capacity of 8100#. However when I take into account real numbers calculating the tongue weight of 13-15% of trailer weight and the weight of the WD hitch all of which counts against the cargo limits and the receiver weight limits it is apparent this isn't the case. While GMC says 8100# really if I want to play the balancing game of shifting the load forward and back in the camper I can sneak by with a 7000# trailer. Realistically that would eat into cargo limits too much so I had to go lighter than that unless I want to go camping alone. So I went with a camper with a GVWR of 6750# and I am going to try and keep the weight closer to 6500# as a realistic load. That is a difference of 1600# from towing capacity. There is no way I could tow 8100# with a family and maintain a safe tongue weight to prevent stability issues like sway.
For the camper, dry weight on my 25BH is 5265 however if I look at the yellow sticker on the side or in the door it shows it actually weighed 5604 when it left the factory with propane tanks. So it gained about 440lbs when the propane tanks were added and all the options.