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Post by chartle on Apr 2, 2018 12:43:55 GMT -5
OK first post and first a little camping/RV history. I grew up camping. First with a canvas tent, then borrowing a 8 person pop up and then we owned a Venture Chalet "6 person" pop up. I think the smallest, 7 by 6 foot box, hard top tent trailer ever made. After I got married, wife never really camped, we've had various tents. So last Labor day we camped in the Laurel Mountains of PA and it was cold as in we get out of the car on friday afternoon and I can see my breath holy crap we are not prepared for this cold. So skip to today my wife says lets go camper shopping after 3 dealers we know we want a Bunch House. My Jeep cherokee (not grand) can tow 4,500 lbs so the GVWR of the 180BH or 181BH should be fine. Every trailer we go into she asked to see the heater.  My major question is what I'm calling weight creep. We started to look at KV's because my sister bought one, pretty much the larger version of the same Bunk House, and the local KV dealer has a good rep. I look up the the specs for a 181BH and they are GVWR 3,500 and dry weight of 2,840 so 660 lbs carrying weight. OK so last saturday we go and look and every trailer has a factory applied sticker on the door and as equipped their 181BH's can only carry 470. so somewhere some of the added options increased the weight. I think it maybe the larger fridge/freezer and maybe the biggest culprit is that some pics of this rig show a "teddy bear" front mattress and some show a real coil spring mattress. I think we are still ok since everything we put in the trailer we used to carry in the jeep with its 1,000 carry weight. Minus tents, air mattresses (very heavy). And we only may add bikes and will most likely not be carrying much if any water or waste. Oh and I fully understand the Jeep's carry weight and the trailers carry weight and what applies to each just hoping this loss of capacity is not going to be a issue. I'm sure if we buy we will be back. Just starting to watch RV towing tips videos. |
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Post by lynnmor on Apr 2, 2018 13:41:03 GMT -5
Hi,
You said you want a bunkhouse but didn’t say how many, or the size of those that will be traveling with you. Those weights need to be considered as well.
When you consider batteries, propane, fresh water, water in water heater and initial charge of water in black tank, things are going to be too close. Some will travel with no water, but that defeats the purpose of having a self contained trailer.
Whatever you do, do not rely on stickers, sales brochures or dealer estimates. Before purchase, have the trailer weighed on a certified scale with the aforementioned provisions, as a condition of purchase. Then you can estimate the weight of all those personal items that still need to be added. My guess is that will be 500 to 800 lbs. You are marginal at best with that tow vehicle and I have my doubts that a satisfactory setup can be done. Using my trailer as an example, the hitch weight is about 300 lbs. more than the nonsense stated.
Now that I rained on your parade, come back with more information, maybe we can find a solution.
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Post by vagov on Apr 2, 2018 14:17:42 GMT -5
I think you will be struggling with any bunk house you buy with a jeep Cherokee, I have a 196s bunkhouse, (basically the same camper your looking at.) and pulled it with a grand Cherokee with a 4.7. but it was still marginial especially in the hills here in Western PA. you would need to invest in a good weight distribution hitch, brake controller, and trans cooler to say the least. i had all the mentioned upgrades, plus heavy duty brakes, rotors, leaf springs, and heavy ply LT tires in addition installed yes my jeep would move it, but stopping it is another story. white knuckle driving sucks! you also have to take in account for the frontal area of travel trailers (basically pulling a solid wall behind you) . i used to have a old coleman utah popup, 12 ft box with slide , my grand cherokee did pretty decent , but when i moved to a enclosed trailer i did notice a difference. I upgraded to a fullsize pickup to feel more safer, and never looked back. i know you mentioned popup campers before , but if your concerned about beds or sleeping quarters, you should reconsider. lower frontal area , easier to control with a unibody frame on your jeep , gets you off the ground, and yes some do have heat... just my thoughts, hope it works out for you, keep us updated. let me know if you ever in the Laurel mountains of PA again, i live fairly close, maybe run into each other at some point.
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Post by nvguy on Apr 3, 2018 23:25:07 GMT -5
Please don't feel like we are ganging up on you, but Lynnmor is right. Manufacturers tend to underestimate weights, some do it on purpose, some just don't update their weights as they make changes and change what was originally an option is now a standard item. But until you see the scale ticket, it's all smoke and mirrors.
Long story short, years ago, I had cause to weigh a customer's 5th wheel toy hauler. With only a minor amount of stuff in it (some clothing, dishes, no water) this unit was within 200 pounds of gross weight, so if he put anything other than me in there, he would be overloaded...
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Post by Chuck on Apr 4, 2018 14:19:05 GMT -5
As nvguy has stated, we are here to help not gang up on you, the members on this form at not at all like that ... Their years of experience an knowledge they have gotten thought trial an error is something to be treasured, so please do not take affiance at comments that may seem very directed or pointed Many salesmen have no Idea of what a trailer weights, a good salesman will right off the bat ask you what type of vehicle you have when looking at a trailer an tell you if he or she thinks your vehicle is not enough ... Are there good salesmen, they are far an few between believe me, so the next best thing is to ask them if they can weight the trailer your looking at on a state certified scale, either follow them to the scale an watch as they weight it or make them produce the weigh ticket which should have a date an time on it, don't believe a fly by night scale ticket or a out of date scale ticket ( famous words are "here's the ticket we weighted that trailer last week" ) ... Then you say could we weight it again please I know your honest person but I'm really not sure it was that trailer an I really can't spend money on something I can't use or pull ... If they want to sell you that trailer they will weight it, if they don't then move on to one who will... i know this sounds harsh, but it is your money an when paying out such they need to honor your wishes, this also tells something about your salesman an dealer as well .... Good luck, please keep us informed at to the outcome Chuck |
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Post by chartle on Apr 4, 2018 19:29:25 GMT -5
OK first we are quickly moving away from the 181BH with slide out since if we believe the sticker there is very little capacity for stuff in the trailer and probably getting the 180BH which has the same GVWR but less dry weight so going by factory spec about 220 lbs extra carrying capacity. But we do lose 2 people eating at the table. But not sure we would eat inside or even when we would have more than 2 people. I don't want a pop up since no matter where it will be stored its somewhere else so if we have to open it up to dry it out its not going to be easy. But right now we are trying to figure out where to store it. My Sister's in-laws have property but no extra space. My wife's aunt and uncle also have property but not easy to get to the back yard. Best we can do is find a storage lot. which just adds to our monthly cost.  Oh and as for the Jeep it has factory towing so all the coolers and extra things like larger alternator. |
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Post by chartle on Apr 5, 2018 19:33:51 GMT -5
Ok we just pulled the trigger on a 108BH thats with out the slide out.
Per the stickers its 2,750 dry.
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Post by nvguy on Apr 5, 2018 22:16:03 GMT -5
Ok we just pulled the trigger on a 108BH thats with out the slide out. Per the stickers its 2,750 dry. Congratulations...remember to pack light..and enjoy your new coach. |
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Post by Chuck on Apr 6, 2018 11:01:47 GMT -5
Ok we just pulled the trigger on a 108BH thats with out the slide out. Per the stickers its 2,750 dry. Glad you found what you wanted an took your time Safe travels Chuck |
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Post by chartle on Apr 6, 2018 12:18:03 GMT -5
Ok we just pulled the trigger on a 108BH thats with out the slide out. Per the stickers its 2,750 dry. Congratulations...remember to pack light..and enjoy your new coach. I have a high capacity postal type scale that weights to the half pound and upto 250lbs. and I think I may put everything in totes and weight everything that goes into the trailer from our minimal tent camping equipment. We have culled lots of stuff we first took when we had a much bigger vehicle and much smaller children. Like the super large pot that holds 1.5 gallons that growing up my family used to boil corn on the cob or the stupid skillets that came with the cooking kit. Minus stuff we know we don't need like the very heavy air mattresses, sleeping bags and tents. Right now it all fits in my Jeep if i only have 3 people inside. Four people and I need a roof bag. But..............plus all the stuff we can now take. Like if we are hooked up to electric may take things like our electric kettle. I'm also thinking about bringing maybe a single burner hotplate, maybe a small toaster or toaster oven. My thought is if we have electric we should use electric as much as we can and save propane. Maybe even an electric heater. Heat is real important for my wife. Last labor day we camped in the Laurel Mountains of PA and we knew we were in for some cold nights when we got out of the car and we could see our breath  . Maybe I'll follow boat living rules, if you bring something into the trailer something has to come out. |
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Post by nvguy on Apr 9, 2018 22:57:16 GMT -5
Excellent idea to weigh stuff, I know we have over packed...Yeah, I can understand the need to keep the wife properly warmed. I agree, if you are paying for electricity one should use it. Keep us posted on how things progress.
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Post by chartle on Apr 10, 2018 8:19:27 GMT -5
Excellent idea to weigh stuff, I know we have over packed...Yeah, I can understand the need to keep the wife properly warmed. I agree, if you are paying for electricity one should use it. Keep us posted on how things progress. I follow some full timer on Youtube and they just bought a new TT and had to move stuff from one to the other. At one point they had to decide if they really needed that mortar and pestle for guacamole , the 10 lb STONE mortar and pestle. They were also pulled out a 3 foot wide 60 lb free standing grill with matching cast iron flat top that caterers must use. As for heaters I guess we will have to do with what we have since I'm pretty sure all the heaters have been clearanced out at Walmart months ago to make room for fans and AC units. |
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Post by vagov on Apr 10, 2018 11:21:35 GMT -5
congrads on the new trailer, i,m sure you will be happy
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Post by chartle on Apr 20, 2018 17:05:28 GMT -5
Well here it is. The only issue is that in this pic it appears that I really need a WD hitch. It may just be the pic because when it was getting fitted up on a level concrete pad it looked really good. Attachments:
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Post by Chuck on Apr 21, 2018 10:23:29 GMT -5
chartle I really think you need a WD hitch for safe sake, thus you prevent excessive sway before it happens ... Please remember that it's about the safety of not only your family but other around you while going down the road Safe Travels an happy camping Chuck |
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