Total newbie here to introduce herself and ask a bunch of questions! :)

[wborisenok]

Hi all! My name is Whitney, my wife's name is Jessie, our 1-year-old daughter's name is Logan, and our Wheaten Terrier is Molly. We currently have a deposit on a 2021 Sunset Trail 272BH and we are VERY excited about it. Pickup is still a few weeks out as our dealer has a bit of a wait on prep and delivery due to time of year and a hot RV market.

Since putting down the deposit, I've thought of a whole host of questions..but I'll hold off on the rest until I can figure out the answer to the first and most important question. Here we go:

My towing vehicle is a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss. It's a crew cab/short box model with a 5.3L V8 and advanced trailering. It's rated at 9400lbs. Our 272BH is 5658lbs dry, 6380lbs with tongue weight. I can't seem to uncover a straight answer as to whether or not I'm cutting it close in terms of cargo capacity? After subtracting the dry weight + tongue weight, I'm left with 3020lbs. Here's a basic breakdown of things we'll carry:

Passenger weight including kid/dog: approximately 350lbs
Generator I anticipate purchasing: 100lbs (will only have this sometimes)
Two full propane tanks: 74lbs
Battery: 65lbs
Firepit: 18lbs
Clothes: estimating here...100lbs?
Pots/pans/dishware/etc.: estimating again...75lbs?

782lbs added up. 6380 + 782 = 7162lbs

Do we have enough headroom or should we be looking at a different trailer? That would be a REAL bummer because we absolutely love the 272BH. Thanks in advance!

 

[Lloyd S]

Welcome aboard.


You will have to figure in a few more things.

Water-water hoses- sewer hoses and fittings-blocking-hitch and what ever goes with it for sway control. Also what ever is coming on the trailer as extras, because when the trailer comes off the line and is weighed, it's just a basic trailer without extras.
Does it have an awning? How about slide outs, is there covers on those?
Bedding. Plus anything you throw in the back of the truck to bring along. How about a set tools? Jack? Lawn chairs? Maybe even fire wood? Water for drinking, or any beverage, be it adult or otherwise.

Just some of the things that come to mind.

You will be surprised how much STUFF people end up bring along.

 

[wborisenok]

Welcome aboard.


You will have to figure in a few more things.

Water-water hoses- sewer hoses and fittings-blocking-hitch and what ever goes with it for sway control. Also what ever is coming on the trailer as extras, because when the trailer comes off the line and is weighed, it's just a basic trailer without extras.
Does it have an awning? How about slide outs, is there covers on those?
Bedding. Plus anything you throw in the back of the truck to bring along. How about a set tools? Jack? Lawn chairs? Maybe even fire wood? Water for drinking, or any beverage, be it adult or otherwise.

Just some of the things that come to mind.

You will be surprised how much STUFF people end up bring along.

It does have an awning - didn't realize that's not factored in! Wow. Don't know how much it weighs. It's got one slide, don't believe there's a cover on it. A couple of foldable plastic chairs for firepit hanging. Food and drink we will probably handle after reaching our destination. Likely will get firewood at that point too. Won't travel with more than a couple of gallons of water in the tank; plan to hook up on most trips. Weight distribution bar..not sure how much that will weigh.

For sh*ts and gigs, let's say our cargo adds up to something closer to 1500lbs...that puts us at 7880lbs and leaves 1520lbs of buffer before reaching the 9400lb tow capacity. Is that too tight?

I'm getting really nervous that we are cutting it too close and I'm wondering if we made a mistake. Also unsure why our salesman wouldn't clue us into these considerations. Suddenly my excitement has turned into stress!

 

[Biggles607]

Welcome to the forum, you'll find lots of friendly advice and guidance on here.


PS. We have a Whoodle....... 1/2 wheaton 1/2 poodle, completely bonkers!

 

[Lloyd S]

It does have an awning - didn't realize that's not factored in! Wow. Don't know how much it weighs. It's got one slide, don't believe there's a cover on it. A couple of foldable plastic chairs for firepit hanging. Food and drink we will probably handle after reaching our destination. Likely will get firewood at that point too. Won't travel with more than a couple of gallons of water in the tank; plan to hook up on most trips. Weight distribution bar..not sure how much that will weigh.

For sh*ts and gigs, let's say our cargo adds up to something closer to 1500lbs...that puts us at 7880lbs and leaves 1520lbs of buffer before reaching the 9400lb tow capacity. Is that too tight?

I'm getting really nervous that we are cutting it too close and I'm wondering if we made a mistake. Also unsure why our salesman wouldn't clue us into these considerations. Suddenly my excitement has turned into stress!

A salesman should be the last person that anybody asks advise from. All they want is your signature on the bottom line. Most of them couldn't care less what you will hook on the front to pull it with.

No sense getting stressed out about it. Your tv is probably going to handle it OK. Especially if you get it properly setup with a good weight distributing hitch. What I think might bother the most is the length. That seems to be a lot of trailer for a 1500.

 

[Travelin' Texans]

On the drivers door post of your truck there's a yellow/white tag the reads "occupants & cargo must not exceed XXXX lbs", that's the payload of THAT truck.
On the rv you plan to purchase add together the dry weight + the cargo weight = the GVWR, it will also be posted on the manufacturer tag of THAT rv. The GVWR is the maximum that rv can/should weigh & believe me it's very easy to get to that weight rather quickly with all the "must haves" & the perceived "we may need" stuff.
Two numbers that mean absolutely nothing to you are;
#1 whatever your truck is rated to tow. That number was arrived at by the manufacturer using trailers that in NO WAY compare to towing RVs. You will exceed the payload of most any truck before you'll tow a rv at the rated tow weight.
#2 the dry weight of any rv. That is the weight it rolled out the factory door, once it arrived at the dealer they added batteries, filled with propane & hopefully filled all the tanks to test them which unless you tilt the rv back/forth will never be completely empty again. You nor anyone else will ever tow a rv at or near it's dry weight.
These 2 numbers get more newbies in over their weight limits all the time, as the salesman point them out to just add to the confusion. Also the rv manufacturers give RVs cute gimmicky names like "half ton towable" (most are NOT) & Artic, Polar, 4Season & none are adequate below freezing without added precautions by the user.
Now with that truck payload subtract the weights of everyone/everything in/on that truck that wasn't in/on it from the factory + the weight of the required WDH + the tongue weight of that rv. All the options such as awnings were already accounted for if they were installed at the factory & will the included in the GVWR.
To calculate a real world tongue weight use 13% (a real world percentage for TTs) of that RVs GVWR. DO NOT use the posted tongue weight from any website, literature, brochures & absolutely nothing that comes out of a salesmans mouth.
That rv has a 7600lbs GVWR so you're looking at 900+ lbs of tongue weight + 100+/- lbs for the hitch.
Not to rain on your parade but check the numbers closely, I feel you'll be very close on weight, so that you'll be safely towing within the limits of your truck & the safety of all on board.
Sorry for the long winded post, trying to get you accurate information & numbers so you're able to calculate your particular truck & rv capabilities.

 

[wborisenok]

On the drivers door post of your truck there's a yellow/white tag the reads "occupants & cargo must not exceed XXXX lbs", that's the payload of THAT truck.
On the rv you plan to purchase add together the dry weight + the cargo weight = the GVWR, it will also be posted on the manufacturer tag of THAT rv. The GVWR is the maximum that rv can/should weigh & believe me it's very easy to get to that weight rather quickly with all the "must haves" & the perceived "we may need" stuff.
Two numbers that mean absolutely nothing to you are;
#1 whatever your truck is rated to tow. That number was arrived at by the manufacturer using trailers that in NO WAY compare to towing RVs. You will exceed the payload of most any truck before you'll tow a rv at the rated tow weight.
#2 the dry weight of any rv. That is the weight it rolled out the factory door, once it arrived at the dealer they added batteries, filled with propane & hopefully filled all the tanks to test them which unless you tilt the rv back/forth will never be completely empty again. You nor anyone else will ever tow a rv at or near it's dry weight.
These 2 numbers get more newbies in over their weight limits all the time, as the salesman point them out to just add to the confusion. Also the rv manufacturers give RVs cute gimmicky names like "half ton towable" (most are NOT) & Artic, Polar, 4Season & none are adequate below freezing without added precautions by the user.
Now with that truck payload subtract the weights of everyone/everything in/on that truck that wasn't in/on it from the factory + the weight of the required WDH + the tongue weight of that rv. All the options such as awnings were already accounted for if they were installed at the factory & will the included in the GVWR.
To calculate a real world tongue weight use 13% (a real world percentage for TTs) of that RVs GVWR. DO NOT use the posted tongue weight from any website, literature, brochures & absolutely nothing that comes out of a salesmans mouth.
That rv has a 7600lbs GVWR so you're looking at 900+ lbs of tongue weight + 100+/- lbs for the hitch.
Not to rain on your parade but check the numbers closely, I feel you'll be very close on weight, so that you'll be safely towing within the limits of your truck & the safety of all on board.
Sorry for the long winded post, trying to get you accurate information & numbers so you're able to calculate your particular truck & rv capabilities.

Please don't apologize at all! I'm in line with your assessment and agree that it's close -- too close for my own comfort. I think we are going back to the drawing board. The other model we'd go for (242BH) is only 427lbs less...but maybe that could make all the difference? Not sure. Will reevaluate tonight with a cocktail. Ha. Thank you for the info!!

 

[mpat]

New to this as well but the BIG thing I learned is the difference between towing. A pacify on our truck and cargo capacity. Tow capacity is like 12000 pounds but cargo capacity is 1750 which includes an estimated 150 lb driver so start subtracting the tongue weight the weight of the hitch. (Those things are crazy heavy) the weight of your wife kid dog etc of things going on the truck and you started to see that tow capacity is not the limiting factor

 

[DavisK]

Congratulations! Welcome to the forum! You will need a weight distributing hitch, which will add about 100 lbs. to your rig. With 3000 lbs. to play with between the empty weight of the trailer and the capacity of your truck, you should be fine. You may experience periods of high RPM if you tow in hilly country. The 5.3L's horsepower peaks at 5600 RPM and the torque peaks at 4100 RPM, so pulling up hills may be a little noisy.

 

[Papa-T-XRD]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Travelin' Texans]

Congratulations! Welcome to the forum! You will need a weight distributing hitch, which will add about 100 lbs. to your rig. With 3000 lbs. to play with between the empty weight of the trailer and the capacity of your truck, you should be fine. You may experience periods of high RPM if you tow in hilly country. The 5.3L's horsepower peaks at 5600 RPM and the torque peaks at 4100 RPM, so pulling up hills may be a little noisy.

The posted empty weight of any rv is useless once it's delivered to the dealer where they've added possibly a several hundred pounds of batteries, propane, liquids & any dealer added options. Typically all numbers posted for any rv online are all very light compared to real world actual weights.
On a 1/2 ton pickup with a tow rating of 12000 lbs that would put the tongue weight (average 13% for TTs) at over 1500lbs on a truck with probably 1500-1600 payload on older ones & newer ones with 2000+/- payload. Either new or older truck the payload is over or very near max with that 12000 lb tow rating. On some of the newer trucks the allowable weights are posted on the door jamb as "conventional trailers" & "Gooseneck trailers" NOT travel trailers or 5th wheels, there is a difference in the tongue & hitch weights between the different type trailers.
Truck manufacturers arrive at those tow ratings using utility type trailers with the loads directly over the trailer axles which lightens the tongue/hitch weights considerably, you don't have the capability to shift the weight around over the axles on a rv.
If want to do calculations from the truck tow weight subtract the rv GVWR from that truck rating, you won't have 3000 lbs available, closer to 1200-1500lbs.

 

[wborisenok]

The number of times I’ve flip-flopped on whether or not I can safely pull this trailer with my truck in the past 36 hours is outrageous. Haha. I’ve been told I should have no issues at all and I’ve been told this is too much trailer for my truck. I am so confused. I have talked to Crossroads customer service two times, Chevrolet, my salesman twice (I know, I know), my uncle who has been RVing his entire life, a father-figure friend of mine who has towed for many years. I am finally feeling like I have a good grasp on how the weights work. Here’s what I’m working with:

Trailer dry weight: 5752 (this is the VIN-specific dry weight of my trailer — includes awning and empty LP tanks; doesn’t include battery)
Trailer CCC: 1848
Trailer GVWR: 7600
Tongue weight: 722
Truck tow capacity: 9300
Truck max tongue weight: 940
Truck payload: 1645 (cannot determine if this accounts for one passenger)
Truck GVWR: 7000
Truck GCWR: 15000

The tongue weight looks to be about 12.5% of the dry weight. If I add 1000lbs of cargo to the trailer, am I going to skyrocket above the 940lb limit? Probably naive, but I didn’t anticipate my truck being this limited in terms of capability.

I’m still trying to determine whether or not to proceed, but I’ve begun looking around at other options even though I REALLY love the 272BH for its layout and interior decor and Sunset Trail as a brand for their lux features and build quality. Might consider the 242BH at a few hundred pounds lighter and a few feet shorter if I can find one.

 

[Minozzy3]

Well I hate to say this but my father tows the most insane rig with a 5.3. He swears he has lots of power. I scaled his complete setup at just under 16,000lbs.
Well I almost puked.... 2004 silverado 1/2 ton. He did put 3/4 ton springs in rear. But he has pulled this into the mountains and swears that he can hold 50 mph on any grade and the engine is designed to turn high rpm. That was 10 years ago. And it still is running just like its first day.

Now the good news, he has gotten up in years and I managed to get him to lighten up the RV. As he never travels far anymore. I couldn't believe the crap he had in the RV. Even a spare water pump. "just in case". I believe I have it down to legal limits now. But this was the way everyone was towing through the 60's-80's.
I look at it this way. If your on flat land, then close to max is fine. If you plan on mountains well either be prepared to be slow and safe. Or lighten up and stay comfortable.
But with modern vehicles I wouldn't go 1lb over what is rated. If something happens insurance companies may not cover.

 

[dagst1]

Trailer gvwr - 7600#
Truck gvwr - 7000#
Total gcw - 14600# at max load.

Your truck gcwr - 15000#

You would be 400# under the max total gcwr.

Also a properly adjusted weight distributing hitch takes some tongue weight and transfers it the front truck axle and to the trailer axle.

My opinion if you ran everything at its max you are close but under its limits. If you load the camper lightly that would put further under max. The only way to know where you are is to weigh the rig to know your true numbers.

 

[wborisenok]

Well I hate to say this but my father tows the most insane rig with a 5.3. He swears he has lots of power. I scaled his complete setup at just under 16,000lbs.
Well I almost puked.... 2004 silverado 1/2 ton. He did put 3/4 ton springs in rear. But he has pulled this into the mountains and swears that he can hold 50 mph on any grade and the engine is designed to turn high rpm. That was 10 years ago. And it still is running just like its first day.

Now the good news, he has gotten up in years and I managed to get him to lighten up the RV. As he never travels far anymore. I couldn't believe the crap he had in the RV. Even a spare water pump. "just in case". I believe I have it down to legal limits now. But this was the way everyone was towing through the 60's-80's.
I look at it this way. If your on flat land, then close to max is fine. If you plan on mountains well either be prepared to be slow and safe. Or lighten up and stay comfortable.
But with modern vehicles I wouldn't go 1lb over what is rated. If something happens insurance companies may not cover.

Ha! Your father sounds like he could have some stories. Fortunately for us, our RV will serve more as a hotel room on wheels than a camper. We will be at plenty of full hookup sites and do a fair share of “driveway” camping at our best friends’ home in Maine. We can pack reasonably light.

Like I said previously, the 242BH is definitely an option and would buy us back a few hundred pounds and a few less feet of length. I also just found the Cruiser Aire CR22BBH and really like that as well. That one is even lighter at 5048 and another foot shorter than the 242. Downfall is we’d lose the private bedroom.

 

[Travelin' Texans]

Re-read post #11!!
I'm not making this up! We full-timed for over 10 years, towed 5th wheels approximately 150k miles in those years, so I have a bit of experience!!!
Using the numbers posted on your trucks drivers door you'll find all the correct numbers for YOUR truck to make proper calculations. You WILL NOT find the max tow rating listed there.
Other than the sales brochures you WILL NOT find the dry weight of YOUR rv posted on it anywhere. You WILL find the GVWR posted on the rv, use this number to calculate with.
You WILL find max axle weights & the payload on the truck door post. Typically the listed payload includes a 150lb driver & a full tank of fuel.
Do your own calculations, don't take anyone else's word that "you'll be fine as long as not in the hills". Don't tell yourself "we only travel light, don't haul water & only traveling XX miles!", eventually, most likely sooner than later, you will have done them all.
Hopefully you can make a good safe decision!

 

[wborisenok]

Trailer gvwr - 7600#
Truck gvwr - 7000#
Total gcw - 14600# at max load.

Your truck gcwr - 15000#

You would be 400# under the max total gcwr.

Also a properly adjusted weight distributing hitch takes some tongue weight and transfers it the front truck axle and to the trailer axle.

My opinion if you ran everything at its max you are close but under its limits. If you load the camper lightly that would put further under max. The only way to know where you are is to weigh the rig to know your true numbers.

Yeah, I don’t think we would come close to the 7600#. That’s a lot of gear. We would have:

Ourselves - 350lbs total with dog and kid (if I understand correctly, this is subtracted from payload and not CCC)
Clothes - let’s say 100lbs (although, we each packed 50lb bags for our European honeymoon and it was an outrageous amount of clothes and shoes..don’t anticipate that for our trips but can’t hurt to overestimate)
100lb generator (sometimes)
65lb battery
40lbs gas (tanks already accounted for)
30lb pack and play
5lb high chair
30lb stroller
25lbs of random baby gear (toys and stuff? Just throwing this in)
18lb fire pit
2lb hatchet
10lbs worth of camping chairs
5lb guitar
1lb Bluetooth speaker
Two towels for each of us (6#)
Lightweight alternative down comforter (6#)
Set of king sheets (10#)
Four pillows (16#)
Dog food (8#)
Pack of bottled water (30#)
Couple bottles of wine (6#)
Six pack (5#)
Hoses (15#)
Extensions + adapters (20#)
Human food - no idea

Cargo I can think of with rounded up weights is 592lbs. Even if I add another 250# of random stuff, we are at 842.

My payload calculations have us about 500# under as well. Here I go again, flopping back over to the “it seems fine” side. *

 

[wborisenok]

Re-read post #11!!
I'm not making this up! We full-timed for over 10 years, towed 5th wheels approximately 150k miles in those years, so I have a bit of experience!!!
Using the numbers posted on your trucks drivers door you'll find all the correct numbers for YOUR truck to make proper calculations. You WILL NOT find the max tow rating listed there.
Other than the sales brochures you WILL NOT find the dry weight of YOUR rv posted on it anywhere. You WILL find the GVWR posted on the rv, use this number to calculate with.
You WILL find max axle weights & the payload on the truck door post. Typically the listed payload includes a 150lb driver & a full tank of fuel.
Do your own calculations, don't take anyone else's word that "you'll be fine as long as not in the hills". Don't tell yourself "we only travel light, don't haul water & only traveling XX miles!", eventually, most likely sooner than later, you will have done them all.
Hopefully you can make a good safe decision!

Thank you for this - I want to respond more in depth but I’m falling asleep will be back tomorrow!!

 

[DavisK]

Other than the sales brochures you WILL NOT find the dry weight of YOUR rv posted on it anywhere.

You apparently have never owned a Sunset Trail.

 

[Lloyd S]

Other than the sales brochures you WILL NOT find the dry weight of YOUR rv posted on it anywhere.

You apparently have never owned a Sunset Trail.

Apparently not a CrossRoads Cruiser either.