kandj
Newbie RV’er
Posts: 8
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Post by kandj on Apr 18, 2018 9:38:27 GMT -5
Hi folks. We are heading to TX next week to visit our daughter and will hopefully be looking at a 384RLT while we are there. I'm wondering for those of you fulltiming in this unit - how has the carry capacity worked out for you? We really like the floor plan but the carry capacity is slightly less than I would like - seems to be around 2590 lbs. for the units online for sale. We were hoping for something closer to 3000 lbs since we will be fulltiming. Do you find this to be constraining? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Also, I've appreciated the thread on full body paint. We were kind of set on getting it so as not to be concerned about decals peeling, etc. But the cost is pretty high and also that would add extra weight to the unit which again, affects the carry capacity....so maybe we would be better going with the gel coat at least initially...
Thanks for all of the info! Looking forward to retiring later this year and getting into the RV lifestyle!
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Post by Chuck on Apr 18, 2018 11:45:50 GMT -5
kandj What ronc did was to put the MorRyde IS suspension an 17inch tires on his trailer, it is not a 384 but gained a little more weight as far as carrying capacity ... But I have to tell you till you really weight the G384RLT you may find out it's real weight an how much you can carry ... Other MFG may tell you they can have the extra but again till you weight such you never know what is really the bottom line weight wise .. As you will see there is all kinds of room in a G384RLT, as Walter will tell you they live in theirs 5 to 6 months out of the year without any problems... What adds to the weight is the additions like wash and dryers etc ... As far as the extra paint adding weight your only looking at very little an hardly noticeable if any an I will tell you with ours without a full paint I believe the decals will stand up for some time to come ... Our last 5th wheel was 12 years old an the only decals that were pealing were on the cab, I see this not happening with the the protective coating that is on our 384 ... We of course have the 5 year warranty on the paint against pealing or fading so we will see, but with anything, if you take care of it, it will last ... Also it's what you see that matters, any of us can tell you how we feel but till you see such for yourself only you will know  Safe travels Chuck |
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Post by rvdude on Apr 18, 2018 19:37:31 GMT -5
Come on down to Texas, kandj... weather is still pretty nice here. Good luck in your search for a trailer.
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Post by jetzen on Apr 19, 2018 9:00:36 GMT -5
Every G384 will be slightly different on carrying capacity ours is 2755lbs. Every trailer will be weighed after assembly and a placard will be afixed to the screen door. That being said 2700lbs is a lot of stuff. With ours loaded ready for the road for our 6 month journey we tip the scales at 13800, so about 1500lbs of stuff. My basement is about 1/3 full. I don't deny myself anything but I only bring what I feel is necessary.
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Post by capemayal on Apr 19, 2018 10:29:21 GMT -5
We have a '18 DG 380FLF. Have FT since December, and at least another 3 months. The only mod we did was the MorRyde steps. We did have 2 wire problems with the living room slides that KZ took care of. Other than that, everything is stock and no problems.
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Post by Chuck on Apr 19, 2018 11:34:27 GMT -5
Every G384 will be slightly different on carrying capacity ours is 2755lbs. Every trailer will be weighed after assembly and a placard will be afixed to the screen door. That being said 2700lbs is a lot of stuff. With ours loaded ready for the road for our 6 month journey we tip the scales at 13800, so about 1500lbs of stuff. My basement is about 1/3 full. I don't deny myself anything but I only bring what I feel is necessary. You could add another possibly 400pds or more to jetzens figures because he has a washer an dryer installed, so if you were to not have those installed your carrying weight would go up ... We do not have a washer an dryer an we weight out ruffly at 13225 when fully loaded an a 1/4 tank of water, the storage area like jetzen's a 1/3 full ... So like I said, you really don't know till you weight the trailer how much you can carry, as jetzen stated 2700Ibs is allot of stuff ... Of course if you load the trailer with a full tank of water, your black tank full etc you could add a large amount of weight to the trailer ... As stated we only carry about a 1/4 of water an about 5 to 10 gallons in the black water tank during our travels which last anywhere from a week to two months at a time ... Think about this, one person wondered how much he packed in his TT, so he weighed everything he had in his trailer ... So if you really what to know what you will be carrying weight what you think you will be carrying an then add the weight of say 15 gallons of water, you may be surprised ... In the past years the DW packed our camper to the gills, she found out that about a 1/3 of what she packed was never used or could have been bought at a store somewhere along the road an didn't need to be packed in the 1st place ... So the moral to this story is that you might think you need it but do you really need it an can it be bought instead of hauled when needed such as food, drinks etc ... Safe Travels Chuck |
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Post by ronc on Apr 19, 2018 14:46:24 GMT -5
Conventional wisdom estimates that a full timer will typically carry about 3,000 lbs. of "stuff" (This is true in our case anyway). So look at your unloaded vehicle weight sticker (mine was inside a kitchen cabinet door, and add 3000 lbs ... if that number doesn't go over the GVWR then you should be in pretty good shape. Not suggesting or encouraging anything, but most full timers are a little overweight ... with a good air ride hitch you shouldn't damage anything ... without an air ride hitch (or some cushioning method like an air pin box) you will beat up your pin box and metal fatigue could result in cracks or breaks ... I say COULD because it's also possible that nothing will happen, but I lean toward being overly cautious.
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Post by jetzen on Apr 20, 2018 10:35:55 GMT -5
Here is something that may help you visualize what 1000lbs looks like. 1000lbs is approximately 54 cases of beer. 1 case would be a 24 pack of 12 ouncers.
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Post by ronc on Apr 22, 2018 12:57:57 GMT -5
Here is something that may help you visualize what 1000lbs looks like. 1000lbs is approximately 54 cases of beer. 1 case would be a 24 pack of 12 ouncers. I love that visual ... and how you think ... ;-) |
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Post by Chuck on Apr 23, 2018 9:42:49 GMT -5
Or four full pallets of whiskey 20 case's to pallet  Chuck |
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