Looking for a small TT as we start RVing

[Mommacita]

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and posted originally in the regular TT section. I thought I should cross post here due to the need for a lighter/small trailer.

I just want to say thank you in advance for all the great information you provide! We are just beginning to look into traveling with a small camper and would love to get your feedback as we start researching.

We have a 2018 Chevy Colorado LT V6 3.6L short bed crew cab truck which would be our tow vehicle. It does have the tow package, so from my initial research it "can" tow 7000 lbs, but obviously we want to stay way under that. It will just be the two of us, our two small dogs, and occasionally one of our adult kids, but probably not both. We want to start purchasing a used model, hoping to stay around the 15k range. I have been looking at small towable trailers like the Jayco Jay Flight SLX 195RB and the Forest River Cherokee Wolf Pup 16FQ. Also looked at the Lance 1475/1575 and the Micro Minnies but they are going to be out of our price range I believe. I have also looked at the Escape, but they are so hard to find and are also $$.

I know these are small units, but with my husband not being one to embrace the idea of towing (in other words he's a bit nervous about it actually) I think we need to stay narrow, light and easy to tow. I have entertained the idea of a pop up as well. We have an area to the side of our home that would allow a 7 foot wide to fit perfectly, so there is that lol. The Forest River High Wall pop up looks nice, but I wonder if it is too much on the set up/take down for our liking.

What do you all think about the Jayco vs. the Wolf Pup? There is a dealer not too far from us that has a 2017 of each of the aforementioned models we may go look at this weekend. Any other suggestions for ones we should look into? Again, many thanks and enjoy the rest of this week!

[Mommacita]

I had my husband send me the numbers off the truck sticker for more information. The GVWR is 5800 lb GAWR FRT is 3200 lb. GAWR RR is 3500 lb

Are we looking in the right direction with these type of solid trailers, or would the pop up be a better place to start?

[Kim Gass]

We towed the 195 over 120,000 miles in six years with our Honda Ridgeline. The payload in that truck was 1546. We knew we did not want to go lower in payload even if we moved up in trailer. We got the GMC counterpart to your truck to tow the slightly bigger than the 195 212 qb. The tranny and engine and brakes were designed to tow smaller trailers( and bigger than a pop up.)

Check out all your weights. You should be fine.

[RogerR]

The convertible table/bed will be vary narrow and short for any adult. We tried it with our son and grandson and our son ended up on the floor on an air mattress. (4 is just to many). Not sure about the other brand.

[brwarrior]

I have a 195RB and it is definitely a couples trailer with a small child max on the dinette. Plus someone will be sitting in the isle at the table. You may want to look at say a 174BH for the bunkhouse. Buddy has one and they are a family of 4. Though the main bed can be a sticking point in the middle of the night for pottie runs.

I had a popup. It was more work than I wanted for solo me. Plus I always worried about it being wet and having to put it away wet.

[Kim Gass]

Originally Posted by RogerR

The convertible table/bed will be vary narrow and short for any adult. We tried it with our son and grandson and our son ended up on the floor on an air mattress. (4 is just to many). Not sure about the other brand.

Agree. It made a decent dog bed for a Golden. Take a look at the 212 qb as it is possible to sleep four. One advantage of the center bathroom is not having to crawl over something on the floor nor pass another sleeping body. However it is 8 feet wide.

Pop ups do require assembly and frankly its raining sometimes when we make or break camp and dealing with wet canvas to our liking.

We also wanted to share a bed without having to crawl over a sleeping body when the 3 am bladder was screaming.

I have no experience with other brands.

[Mommacita]

Thanks for the replies so far! For the majority of our trips it will be just the two of us, so that is why I’m looking more at floor plans without the bunks. I could see a rare occasion when one or both of our kids went with us, but I was thinking if that occurred we may try to find a park with cabins and have them locate there. The bunks setup would give the dogs a place though, so... more to think about. I’m also researching single vs. dual axles. Pros and cons of each? Should it play a decent part into a decision, especially for those new to towing?

[norty1]

Don't forget to check those weights when thinking of how your tow vehicle will pull a duel axle rig.

[ttavasc]

Welcome to the forum! This is a great place to ask questions and get good information.

The bunk layout is actually quite versatile. We started out with a 195RB and it was mainly just the two of us. On occasion though we would meet up with our youngest daughter and I can concur that the dinette isn't going to work for sleeping any adults. When we upgraded we moved to a bunk layout for a number of reasons:

- Ability to sleep more adults
- Does not require something be changed for extra sleeping arrangements (i.e. dinette or sofa turned into a bed)
- Can be used for most any kind of additional storage without impacting other living areas. We often times travel with extra totes or other stuff that we are taking to exchange with our daughter sitting on the top bunk.
- In cooler weather we usually keep our coats laying on the top bunk for easy access without being in the way of the main living spaces

I would look at the 184BS with the dinette slide-out. That will open things up a little bit more than the 174BH though either would be a good fit.

One other piece of information that would be very helpful to folks looking to provide input is the payload capacity of the truck. Look for the yellow tire and loading sticker on the drivers door that states "The weight of occupants and cargo should not exceed XXXX" and post that number.

[Jay2504]

I would recommend getting an 8 foot wide camper and/or one with a slide, by getting a little bit bigger now, it will be longer before the urge to move up hits. There is a Wolf Pup 18TO that might be a good idea, as would be the 212QB. I have heard that a tandem axle trailer tows better than a single axle, but both campers that I have owned have been tandems,so I have no personal experience with a single axle unit. Keystone sells some nice 8 foot wide smaller campers that deserve to be looked at. I know that it seems that 12 inches should be no big deal, but if you walk into a 7 foot wide then right after that go into an 8 foot wide unit, the difference is huge IMHO. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with the Wolf Pup, but I believe that the Jayco is built a little bit sturdier. Jay

[Debdon Journeys]

If you check the weights of a big pop-up HW vs a SLX7 you will find there isn't much difference. Most importantly is the fact that you have adult kids which means you might want to make a quick stop to use the bathroom I don't have kids but I am about that age. With a full fresh tank and empty black and grey when I travel I prefer to use use mine and there is usually no waiting. I researched for three years before replacing our pop-up with a Jayco 145rb it's has been a great camper and has been to Yellowstone and back from Maryland. Small campers tend to compel you to stay outdoors. I would take your kid with you and see if they can fit on the dinette crossways I am a NO Slide guy I think they are unreliable and have seen too many that have broken or been installed wrong. Check out Travels with Delany on YouTube Patrick got a brand new Lance and it was installed wrong. while on the subject of YouTube. check out "Josh the RV Nerd" at Haylett RV he does some of the best reviews of RVs. Good luck

[hummy]

See if there's any Jayco Hummingbird RB you can look at, You'll be surprise how much you get in a small package

[Mommacita]

Ttavasc, I checked this am on the truck. That sticker says “the combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed 1523 lbs.”

So much great information so far. Thank you!

[Kim Gass]

Here if you click on the link and scroll down you find the capacities of my truck which is just about your twin but is a little more capacious in payload. It gives you an idea of which hitch weights to watch for. We moved up to a dual axle trailer for a couple of reasons. One is the 195 is at the max weight for its axle. Actually we managed to bend it on our lovely dirt roads with holes. If you are highway driving this ought not be a problem unless you go into Pennsylvania. Another is the quite terrifying experience of a blowout on the Yellowhead Highway in Alberta. This is a two lane dead straight road with no shoulders and dropoffs on the side of about 15 feet. We had to stop and with trucks passing us at 130 km an hour trying to change a tire was suicidal.,We had to call the RCMP for some traffic control and it took two hours for them to arrive in this remote location I want a little more leeway for finding a safe spot to pull over.

you can also find the specs for your particular vehicle here. The hitch weight is very important.

https://www.caranddriver.com/gmc/canyon/specs

[RAurand]

POP-Ups will have to be opened and packed in the rain if it's raining, which means all the wet stuff goes INSIDE.
Trailers don't have that issue.

Single axel trailers, you get a blow out or flat tire, you stop NOW, where you are. Tandem axels, lets you move to a safe place.
JMHO

[ttavasc]

Originally Posted by Mommacita

Ttavasc, I checked this am on the truck. That sticker says “the combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed 1523 lbs.”

So much great information so far. Thank you!

The 1523 number is pretty decent for that size truck. It sounds like there may be times when you would want to travel with an additional adult. Given that I would estimate how much occupant weight you could potentially have when one of the kids comes along, plus any other cargo you would carry in the truck. I think for the driver you only need to include any weight over the 150 that is already accounted for by the manufacturer when calculating the available payload. Subtract that from the 1523 to get a rough estimate of how much is left for the hitch and tongue weight.

Better yet, if possible, load up the truck with full fuel and all occupants and cargo that you would expect to have when traveling and run it over a CAT scale. Subtract that number from the GVWR of the truck and you have an accurate amount of payload left for hitch/tongue weight.

As Kim Gass and others pointed out - check on the capacities of your hitch. There should be a sticker on the hitch, or possibly stamped into the metal, the max tongue weights allowed both with and without a weight distributing hitch. It looks like that is likely 700 based on the link Kim provided, but you should verify what this is for your year and hitch. You will need to keep your tongue weight under this number.

For reference, our 195RB which had dual Group 24 batteries on the tongue plus the larger 30lb propane tank had a tongue weight of ~450-470. We used an Andersen No-Sway hitch which is one of the lightest around at ~60 - I'd definitely recommend that hitch for these smaller trailers. So from a tongue weight perspective I think any of the SLX 7 models work fine without pushing the max.

[ttavasc]

Originally Posted by Mommacita

Ttavasc, I checked this am on the truck. That sticker says “the combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed 1523 lbs.”

So much great information so far. Thank you!

Darn - hit post too soon - the cats are bugging me for dinner. I wanted to include in the previous post that you want your tongue weight to be in the 10-15% of loaded trailer weight range. Ideally, especially on the single axle units - 12-15% is preferred. Given the likely 700 max tongue weight I think I would look for a trailer with a GVWR of no more than ~4500 which would yield 675 tongue weight at 15% of the GVWR. On the smaller trailers I found it was hard not to run very close to the GVWR as there simply isn't much cargo capacity due to their small and lightweight nature.

[Kim Gass]

One of the problems we are having is getting the Andersen hitch.. Local dealers can't get them. We ordered from the factory and lead times are a month.

The pandemic strikes again.

[LuckyDuck]

It sounds like you are where we were 3-plus years ago when thinking about a trailer. I’d towed boats, but was a bit leery of a bigger travel trailer. So, we actually were thinking of an R-pod, just 7-feet wide. But the layout seemed just too cramped and the sidewise bed didn’t cut it. Also looked at a Wolf Pup, but my neighbor, who owns a KOA, has a Forest River TT and wishes he had bought a Jayco for the quality.

Bottom line is we kept looking until we found the trailer that was just big enough for the two of us (+ dog) but no bigger. The 212 QBW was perfect — and no slide to mess with. With the Andersen hitch, the tongue weight is less than 700 pounds, so it I might work with a smaller truck. We were lucky to pick up a heavy duty truck, so TT size wasn’t an issue. But buying a trailer you are uncomfortable in, because you are limited by a small truck, doesn't make sense to me.

Backing up any trailer is scary if you haven’t done it — regardless of the size. Actually, backing smaller trailers is harder. Don’t short yourself on the type of TT that fits your needs out of fear of backing up. You’ll learn soon enough!

[Jay2504]

One thing that I forgot to mention, the Jayco roof is much better built than the FR or Keystone product. I also strongly suggest a 212QB. Jay