Trailer Reviews?

[meggybear17]

Hello dis-peeps! DH and I are in the market for our FIRST RV. we are looking at small travel trailers, as our Honda Pilot is limited in towing capacity (4500lb max). We are a bit overwhelmed with all the choices out there, there seems to be hundreds of different maufacturers, brands, etc. And every dealer seems to specialize in one or two and know nothing about the others.

does anyone have any suggestions for where i can find reviews of trailers, or their own personal recommendations?

we dont want a pop up or hybrid, and want it to sleep 4-6 people. i would prefer an actual bed for dh and i and not a dinette/jack knife sofa (thats fine for the kids/guests though).

thanks!

 

[mnsprk]

Your going to get a lot of various responses with that question. We are very prejudiced to the Jayco and Starcraft lines. That's all we've bought since 1972 and have never had any major problems and the minor ones were always taken care of.(alot depends on the dealer)

I think Jayco just introduced a new "V" front tt that is around that weight but remember you will be looking at a small unit. 16' to 21'.

 

[DaveInTN]

Hi - I don't want to be the wet blanket here, but it might be tough to find a TT that, when loaded with gear, propane, water, etc, along with the 4-6 people and their stuff in the Pilot, won't put you over the Pilot's capabilities. I assume you have a 2009 or later Pilot, because I think the tow rating on 2008 and earlier was 3500 lbs for a TT...I could be wrong there. Either way, I'm not sure what the payload capacity or GVWR of the Pilot is, but you may run into difficulties there with the tongue weight of a TT on top of the contents of the vehicle. I would just hate to see you fall in love with a trailer and then get into a situation which damages the Pilot at best, or is unsafe at worst.

Please ignore me if you've already looked into all this and have identified some good options in TT's for the Pilot....my intention is not to be the weight police here but since you mentioned this is your first RV purchase I just figured that maybe this is all new to you, as it was to all of us at one time when we were starting out. And if you do find that TT's will not be a good fit for the Pilot, you may want to take another look at some of the nice pop ups out there, or possibly some lightweight hybrids as well.

Good luck to you, and whichever direction you go have fun with the process!

 

[meggybear17]

Thanks for all the info. We have a 2009 Pilot that is rated up to 4500 pounds. We have had some luck finding TT that fall under the 3700 pound categgory. Its just DH and I for now with a little one on the way. But believe me the first thing we look at on the trailers is the weight!

We have heard good things about Jayco as well, so will continue to look at their models.

This is all very new to us and unfortunately DH and I both just bought new vehicles in the last 6 months, so no other options for towing!

 

[mnsprk]

Thanks for all the info. We have a 2009 Pilot that is rated up to 4500 pounds. We have had some luck finding TT that fall under the 3700 pound categgory. Its just DH and I for now with a little one on the way. But believe me the first thing we look at on the trailers is the weight!

We have heard good things about Jayco as well, so will continue to look at their models.

This is all very new to us and unfortunately DH and I both just bought new vehicles in the last 6 months, so no other options for towing!

Found the new one: 3500 loaded.

http://www.jayco.com/php/products/floorplans.php?id=226

 

[meggybear17]

Found the new one: 3500 loaded.

http://www.jayco.com/php/products/floorplans.php?id=226

That one looks interesting! Thanks

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Dont let the dealer tell you that you wont need a good weight distributing hitch or sway control. AL so watch out for them to overcharge you for buying one with the trailer, none of them are all that hard to set up and dont take much time.

 

[BRDof3]

I also don't want to be the weight police, but you need to know what you are carrying. My Sequoia says it has a tow rating of 7,500 lb. Our Jay Flight weighs about 5,300 fully loaded. However, there is one weight that nobody told us about when we bought the trailer.

Your Pilot has 3 weight ratings. You already know the tow rating. The 2nd one is the max tongue weight of the trailer, fully loaded. The 3rd one is the gross combined weight rating. That means the trailer and Pilot, both fully loaded. That was where we almost bit the bullet.

Our Sequoia has a max combined weight rating of 13,500. However, the truck weighs over 6k completely empty. When we are fully loaded and ready to hit the road our combined weight is over 12,000 lb. When we load the Sequoia we have a tow rating well under that advertised 7,500.

You do not want to tow 100% of your capabilities. No how, no way. You have no control, no pulling power, nothing in reserve.

First, weigh the Pilot with all the people, gas, and stuff you would carry. Then look at the combined weight rating. Weighing the Pilot will tell you what your real tow rating is, and it WILL be less than you have been told.

You don't want to have a tow weight, or a combined weight, more than 85-88% of your max. We are right at the top of our combined weight. It tows fine, but I will not add any more weight on this truck.

Just wanting you to avoid a paiful finale to it all. Good luck!

 

[meggybear17]

This all so confusing to me, lol. Is there some kind of RV school I can attend to learn everything? Haha, maybe a week long course down at the Fort?

Seriously, who should I contact about my own vehicles tow capacity? Honda directly? We've been to about 5 RV dealers and hear different things from all of them. Between the tow ratings and the hundreds of different types of trailers I am overwhelmed!

 

[clkelley]

http://www.trailerlife.com/images/digitaleditions/pdfs/DigitalTLTowGuide0801.pdf

Check out this guide

 

[meggybear17]

okay, so I found my Pilot's gross combined weight rating and its listed as 8466. The curb weight of the Pilot is 4544, so does this leave 3922 pounds for the trailer, occupants of the car, fuel, cargo, etc? If so we may need to do some serious rethinking.

 

[campingdawgs]

We have a 2010 Pilot and have not yet found a TT we would feel safe towing. We can't even tow our pop-up! (it is a monster- over 5000lbs when loaded). I wish you luck in your search. Sorry I have no suggestions. Let us know if you find anything - we would be interested, too.

 

[clkelley]

okay, so I found my Pilot's gross combined weight rating and its listed as 8466. The curb weight of the Pilot is 4544, so does this leave 3922 pounds for the trailer, occupants of the car, fuel, cargo, etc? If so we may need to do some serious rethinking.

You have it exactly right.

 

[BRDof3]

okay, so I found my Pilot's gross combined weight rating and its listed as 8466. The curb weight of the Pilot is 4544, so does this leave 3922 pounds for the trailer, occupants of the car, fuel, cargo, etc? If so we may need to do some serious rethinking.

It leaves less than that, since your actual weight will vary some from trip to trip. Everything in the Pilot or trailer is part of the combined weight. I wouldn't go by anyone's "estimate." Load the Pilot up like you were going on vacation- everything you might want to take, including a full tank of gas. Then go to a truck stop with a scale and weigh it yourself. That will tell you what your gross trailer allowance actually is. And that will be your maximum, no exceptions.

I wold love to upgrade to a TT with a slide, but I cannot do that without upgrading the truck, too. That's what I get for listening to the Toyota salesman.

 

[meggybear17]

So, moving on to Plan B....thinking of borrowing my Dad or father in laws F-150's when we want to use the trailer. We would still get a light weight travel trailer and they both live within 10 minutes of us and actually wouldn't be too much of a hassle to switch vehicles for a long weekend or even a week. Sigh....

Thank you all for the information you have provided! I'm glad that we didnt just listen to the RV salesmen. We are expecting our first baby in 8 weeks and would hate to do anything to endanger him!

 

[BRDof3]

I grew up camping in a pup through the 70's, and we had some memorable times. I wouldn't write that off too soon, if I were you. Today's pups have more amenities than my parents ever dreamed of. And you can still use the Pilot.

 

[meggybear17]

I grew up camping in a pup through the 70's, and we had some memorable times. I wouldn't write that off too soon, if I were you. Today's pups have more amenities than my parents ever dreamed of. And you can still use the Pilot.

We have looked at some really nice ones, but my problem is that I am a HORRIBLE sleeper and all of the open-ness of the pop ups would mean a miserable vacation for me. I really enjoy the camping experience with the exception of sleeping in the great outdoors, lol. I was really hoping that an enclosed trailer would be the compromise between my husbands love for camping and my love of air conditioning and quiet sleeping!


we did look at some of those hybrids though that might be a solution...back to the research tank

 

[meggybear17]

So i went directly to Honda to find out more about the towing capacity, and it looks like the number I was using for the gross combined weighting was actually for the 2wd model. My 4wd Pilot has a GCWR of 9,579 which gives us an extra thousand pounds to play with. Total towing capacity is 4500 pounds and Honda includes 2 adult occupants in this number already. We would never have more than 3-4 adults, and by the time my kids are even adult sized we would probably have a new vehicle, so for now we would assume 2 adults/2 children.


Curb weight of the Honda is 4544, which leaves over 5,000 pounds for cargo, fuel, trailer and occupants. I think we would be comfortable with a trailer weighing under 3500 pounds. thoughts from the experts?

 

[BRDof3]

So i went directly to Honda to find out more about the towing capacity, and it looks like the number I was using for the gross combined weighting was actually for the 2wd model. My 4wd Pilot has a GCWR of 9,579 which gives us an extra thousand pounds to play with. Total towing capacity is 4500 pounds and Honda includes 2 adult occupants in this number already. We would never have more than 3-4 adults, and by the time my kids are even adult sized we would probably have a new vehicle, so for now we would assume 2 adults/2 children.


Curb weight of the Honda is 4544, which leaves over 5,000 pounds for cargo, fuel, trailer and occupants. I think we would be comfortable with a trailer weighing under 3500 pounds. thoughts from the experts?

If those numbers are accurate, then you're probably OK. Like I said, though, weigh the Pilot yourself, fully loaded. Don't accept anyone else's "numbers." Getting your own weight is easy and costs only a few bucks, and it makes you certain of your numbers.

Just make sure that both the gross trailer weight and the gross combined wieght is no more than 90% of your max. You'll drive a lot easier that way.

When you get a specific trailer to look at, get back on and this group can give you some good advice on weight and sway control.

 

[campingdawgs]

That does make a difference! We have the 2WD Pilot, so we cannot tow our pop-up. We may have been able to with the 4WD, but the difference in price and gas mileage was not worth it to us (we have an F150 we tow with, but thought an SUV would give the kids more room). With the 4WD you may be fine if you get a small lightweight TT. With three kids the TT we would need would be too heavy. That's why we have a ginormous pop-up!