rbell
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You can measure it at home with a bathroom scale without too much trouble. tongue weight I've done it and it's very close.
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martipr
Haltom City, Texas
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donn0128 wrote:A typical TT should carry between 12 and 15% of its ready to camp weight. Since you dont have that number use 15% of the GVWR as your base line.
Why is everyone so into GVWR? How often does anyone actually load that much. For instance my actual empty weight is 6300# and my GVWR of 10600#. There is no way I will ever get even close to that GVWR so why in the world would I ever use it.
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Lantley
Ellicott City, Maryland
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martipr wrote:donn0128 wrote:A typical TT should carry between 12 and 15% of its ready to camp weight. Since you dont have that number use 15% of the GVWR as your base line.
Why is everyone so into GVWR? How often does anyone actually load that much. For instance my actual empty weight is 6300# and my GVWR of 10600#. There is no way I will ever get even close to that GVWR so why in the world would I ever use it.
Thats because you have a net CCC of 4300 pounds most TT do not have that much cargo carrying capacity. Most are less than 3000 pounds. Some are as low as 1500-2000 pounds.
Bottom lines is the ratings vary considerably. One needs to weigh and calculate their own parameters for their own situation. Assuming you will be similar to the other guy is a big mistake.
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Atlee
Mechanicsville, VA
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martipr wrote:donn0128 wrote:A typical TT should carry between 12 and 15% of its ready to camp weight. Since you dont have that number use 15% of the GVWR as your base line.
Why is everyone so into GVWR? How often does anyone actually load that much. For instance my actual empty weight is 6300# and my GVWR of 10600#. There is no way I will ever get even close to that GVWR so why in the world would I ever use it.
Because the trailers I'm looking at have a NCC of 2k or less. I don't think I would put 2k amount of "stuff" in a trailer. However, I just think it's prudent to use the GVWR. If my truck can safely tow the GVWR then I never have to worry about that part of the equation.
On the other hand, if any trailer I was looking at could carry 2 tons of "stuff", I probably wouldn't be concerned with the GVWR either.
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93Cobra2771
East Tennessee
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martipr wrote:donn0128 wrote:A typical TT should carry between 12 and 15% of its ready to camp weight. Since you dont have that number use 15% of the GVWR as your base line.
Why is everyone so into GVWR? How often does anyone actually load that much. For instance my actual empty weight is 6300# and my GVWR of 10600#. There is no way I will ever get even close to that GVWR so why in the world would I ever use it.
I'm one of the few as well - 6,250/10,000. Welcome to the club. :-)
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RCMAN46
NorthWest
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If you want a trailer that will tow good without sway then use the 15% figure. You can tow with as little as 2% but then towing may be a white knuckle experience and possibly cost you or others some serious harm or possibly death.
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Desert Captain
Tucson
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Skip called it when spoke of appropriate loading and your ability to use this technique in balancing tongue weight. When we went to Quartzite I filled our 30 gal fresh water tank, (normally we run with about half a tank.) In addition I added two 7 gallon jugs which I stored on the floor in the aft bathroom. These balanced out the additional 15 gallons in the fresh tank that is under the couch all the way forward. We towed with our usual half a degree down bubble at the hitch and had zero sway/handling issues. This gave us 50 gallons of fresh (with the 6 in the water heater), and though we didn't need that much it was nice to know it was available,. especially in a 20' TT.
"However, I just think it's prudent to use the GVWR. If my truck can safely tow the GVWR then I never have to worry about that part of the equation."
Just because you have are under your TV's tow rating does not mean everything is hunky dory to tow. Most half ton trucks will run out of payload way before they even approach their tow rating. My TT is 4,000# under the F-150's tow rating of 8,600# but when we are loaded for a trip we are only 3 to 4 hundred pounds under the trucks GVWR. If you have a half ton and are towing anywhere near you max tow rating it is almost a certainty that you are exceeding your trucks payload/GVWR. 
* This post was
edited 02/08/12 09:25am by Desert Captain *
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Atlee
Mechanicsville, VA
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Desert Captain wrote: ...
"However, I just think it's prudent to use the GVWR. If my truck can safely tow the GVWR then I never have to worry about that part of the equation."
Just because you have are under your TV's tow rating does not mean everything is hunky dory to tow. Most half ton trucks will run out of payload way before they even approach their tow rating. My TT is 4,000# under the F-150's tow rating of 8,600# but when we are loaded for a trip we are only 3 to 4 hundred pounds under the trucks GVWR. If you have a half ton and are towing anywhere near you max tow rating it is almost a certainty that you are exceeding your trucks payload/GVWR.
I know that. I was just talking about the original subject. I always use the GVWR of the trailer since I don't know exactly how much will be loaded in the trailer on each trip. I like to err on the conservative side. The last thing I want when I start towing is a maxed out GVWR, TV payload, and combined GCWR.
So GWRV of the trailer is but one of the numbers I look at. I know very well with my "half ton" pickup, the payload of the pickup is likely to be the number where I have the closest margin of error.
That is why I use the GVWR of the trailer x 15% to determine the max amount of tongue weight that I must work with in determining the amount of payload I have available, after hitching up the trailer.
* This post was
edited 02/08/12 09:46am by Atlee *
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Desert Captain
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Atlee, no offense intended as we agree but I think were saying the same thing differently. We see posts here in the "Can I tow this?" threads where folks think because their TV is rated to tow "X" they are good to go with a TV at that weight (besides the salesman said so). As you pointed out, start with the TT's GVWR and go from there. The curse of the ever popular half ton has always been (and always will be), payload or the lack thereof.
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Atlee
Mechanicsville, VA
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Desert Captain wrote:Atlee, no offense intended as we agree but I think were saying the same thing differently. We see posts here in the "Can I tow this?" threads where folks think because their TV is rated to tow "X" they are good to go with a TV at that weight (besides the salesman said so). As you pointed out, start with the TT's GVWR and go from there. The curse of the ever popular half ton has always been (and always will be), payload or the lack thereof.
No problem, and I agre. That's what I have found out very quickly while researching which trailer I want and can pull. And you are correct about the "you can pull this trailer with your truck" statement. Even a month ago, I wasn't very educated about the role the TV's cargo capacity played in the whole scheme of things.
I have a nice 2005 F150, and that's what I'm going to tow with. That said, I must fit the trailer with the cargo capacity of my truck. It's fortunate that DW & I both want something small, and that we do not have children, other than the small furry kid, that we have to have a bed for. Our only requirements are 1) walk around bed, 2) Separate sitting space, either dinette or sofa, and 3)dry bath.
Any other goodies are just so much gravy. 
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