Looking for a Travel Trailer with low tongue weight

We just bought a used travel trailer but it maxes our my rear axle weight rating with truck and camper empty so I need to sell and look for another, lighter one. Does anyone have suggestions for a fully featured travel trailer with a lot of amenities with a tongue weight of about 400lbs? GVW on the trailer is not a big deal as the truck can tow 10000lbs. Driver/passengers/dogs are about 600lbs and my payload is 1500lbs so that gives me 500lbs for cargo in the truck and additional tongue weight from supplies in the trailer. I realize I will have to go with a smaller trailer but I am looking for a nice one as my wife really likes the bigger travel trailer we have and doesn't want to get rid of it.

 

Need some kind of ultralight. Need to maintain a certain percentage of tongue weight for trailer handling. Normally you want 10% of total on tongue. Probably looking about a 22 footer.

 

Thanks Stumpjumper. Would the 22 feet be only the length of the cabin or would it be from number to front of the tongue? Thanks for your help.

 

This comment in your post is a dangerous assumption. Stumpjumper is correct in his assertion that approx. 10% of the loaded trailer weight should be on the tongue. (The usual recommendation is from 7-12% of loaded weight.) Using the 7% figure, your maximum loaded trailer weight would be 5600# for a 400# tongue weight. (Personally, I do not like the idea of anything below 10%)

Go much below that 7% figure, and you risk losing truck, trailer and everything else as you cruise down the highway. The first crosswind gust would be all that it would take to set the oscillation in motion.

So don't base your choice of trailer on your truck's max tow rating. GVW on the trailer IS a big deal if you have to limit tongue weight!

BTW, most trailer specs list the total length of the trailer, incl the tongue. A 22 footer would have 18-19' box.

 

I had a Starcraft AR-One Maxx 19bh le a few years back before I got my Tundra. Had to sell it due to lack of storage in my new house, but I loved that thing. About 22' tongue to bumper. I ordered rather than picking one off a dealer lot because I had very specific wants and needs. It had space for a full size queen matress, bunks for the kids, a full size dinning area that could actually seat 4, was tall enough for me on the inside, could be ordered with the big or small AC, fridge could be electric or electric and gas, and it had huge water tanks. I ordered it new for around 14K. If I remember correctly it had about a 400LB tongue weight and was around 4600lbs total. I'm not sure if they make that model still, but might be worth checking out the brand.

 

Kudos to you for doing all that appropriate math.

Im looking at TT’s as well and have told myself that 19-22 ft is the max i want to pull. Any bigger than that, youre just way over our capacities. Especially when you throw dirt bikes in the bed

 

Here is a great demonstration of proper trailer loading and why 10ish% tongue weight is extremely important. It’s not just about sag.

 

KZ Connect TT are well balanced and the tongue weight is right in line with that. You could check those out and see if any of the floorplans fit your needs.

 

My GreyWolf 26BH was a good match for the Tundra. It pulled it well.

It's as fully featured as I need.
Unladen weight 4900.
Hitch weight 500.
Cargo capacity 2500.

Smart loading and my Equalizer hitch have always made for easy pulling.

I still have the camper and currently pull it with a 2018 Armada.

 

Look into a fiberglass trailer to reduce weight. Escape makes a nice trailer.
https://escapetrailer.com/the-21-escape/

 

Not sure exactly what type you are looking for but we love our Trail Manor. It is a popup design but has hard sides and all the amenities. When you think "pop-up," a Coleman comes to mind but this is a far different beast. It tows like a small 20' flatbed trailer and pops up to a 27' fully featured camper when you hit the camp site. Tongue weight appears to be about 350-400lbs. The best thing is, it only burns about an extra gallon or 2 per 100 miles travelled. Here is the link. Hope this helps. BTW, we found a used one for $4k in great condition, so don't let the high new price scare you away.
https://trailmanor.com/product-line/2720-series

 

Here is a small 15 footer that we only use for sleeping and eating.

 

Love that trailer.

 

We have the jay flight 174bh Baja. Just under 4000# fully loaded 390# tongue weight. Great camper huge ground clearance, bigger fresh water and propane tanks. Third summer with it we love it

 

For the price of these Jay Flights you can't go wrong.

 

Why did I look at this thread ? Now all I want to do is go camping. Oh well only 4 more months of winter

 

Here is a shot of the trail manor in action

 

Sweet. Got any pics of the interior?

 

Who are you asking?

 

Sorry. Trailmanor.

 

You know...I just looked through all of the pics on my phone and I don't have any of the interior. I have some great pics of the kids and wife at the Grand Canyon, AZ, TX, NM, TN, etc though. For interior pics, check out the trail manor website link above. Mine looks like that one, more or less. We love it!!

 

I’d suggest looking at passport. All aluminum and fiberglass construction, so relatively light weight for the size

 

A little off topic but saw the pic of the Super Duty with the bumper scraping the ground. A lot of towing a tractor on an open trailer comes down to the position of the tractor. I would assume the location of things in a travel trailer are thought out to properly distribute the weight. Here’s my B2650 loaded up with my 2017.... tows it great. No issues. And I tow a lot with my 2019 and higher weights than the tractor set up.