New member - educating myself - shopping

[KFR253]

Good day everyone,

I am a brand new member of this forum and a former owner of a Jayco tent trailer (about 15 years ago now)

We are looking at getting back in the RVing, but we are looking at a Travel Trailer, something I don't have to pack everything at floor level all the time.

We are driving a Jeep Cherokee TrailHawk 3.2L with a towing capacity of 4500lbs. The TTs I am leaning towards are the Jayco Hummingbird 17RB and the Jay Feather 7 18RBM. They both feature a sizeable bathroom (Important for my wife) and enough sleeping space for 2 (If we have guest overnight, they can sleep in a tent right?)

I would like to hear from experienced owners your feedbacks on these 2 models and any other recommendations you may have taking into account the limitations of our towing vehicle. (Then again, a RAM 1500 could appear in the driveway sooner or later )

Looking forward to read all the words of wisdom, Have a great summer!

Chris

[Dan-Phyllis]

Jayco is listing the 18RBM as dealer stock only. You could have problems finding one or have to settle for what they have in inventory. Have you gone to a dealer to look at them?

[oldmanAZ]

Good day to you! Welcome to the forum and back to RVing.

As far as I know, for ALL tow vehicles the limit you will reach first will be their PAYLOAD (not tow rating). The PAYLOAD will be everything IN the tow vehicle (passengers, dogs, the guest tent , etc.) and the TONGUE weight of the trailer. A TRAILER'S TONGUE WEIGHT is found by calculating 15% of the trailers GROSS WEIGHT (that is its fully loaded weight).

A sticker for the PAYLOAD is usually on the driver's door pillar. Most literature available and most salesmen (both vehicle and RV) won't have the correct information. They usually will give you the tow rating.

You'll also have to see what is the weight capacity for your hitch; that will be the tongue weight of the trailer. Usually there is a factory sticker on the hitch with that figure.

I hope that information helps as you look at trailers and, maybe, tow vehicles.

[wanderlust]

I used to have an Xterra 4.0 w/ factory tow with 5000lbs tow capacity. I pulled an R-Pod 178 that was very close in specs to the Hummingbird. I found that my Xterra didn't have enough power to comfortably pull the R-Pod, particularly in the mountains. We could not us the AC going of a steep grade (it over heated)
You'll be happier with the truck.