Trailer Weights in the Real World

[Jon Vermilye]

Originally Posted by Henry Smith

Wonderful work, Frederick! It's a gift that keeps on giving for everyone, even now 6 years later! Have you considered putting your Excel spreadsheet in an online Google spreadsheet, where it would retain its original formatting and be accessible to all? (Or has this already been done and I don't know about it?) Would very very easy to do!

With Frederick's permission, I have been keeping an updated spreadsheet of "Trailer Weights in the Real World" that can be downloaded here: http://lakeshoreimages.com/spreadsheets/Weight.xls

It includes an addition by Steve LaBroad that lets you filter & sort by any variable. Useful for finding average tongue & trailer weights.

[ZachO]

It would be cool if the OP kept editing the first post to add links like that. I never made it to post 297.. !

I agree too. This thread was what convinced me that I'd be able to pull a Bigfoot 17 with my Tacoma. An older Bigfoot, anyway. It's a great resource.

[Kai in Seattle]

AMERIGO 1973 FG-16

Gutted entirely except for molded ceiling and wooden upper cabinets (doors off), no batteries, no propane tanks, no plywood floor, our 1973 amerigo FG-16 level tongue weight was 90 pounds using our home scale, which is about 5 pounds lighter than the scale at the doctor's office.

Does that mean technically the empty shell and frame weigh about 950 pounds?

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by Kai in Seattle

AMERIGO 1973 FG-16

Gutted entirely except for molded ceiling and wooden upper cabinets (doors off), no batteries, no propane tanks, no plywood floor, our 1973 amerigo FG-16 level tongue weight was 90 pounds using our home scale, which is about 5 pounds lighter than the scale at the doctor's office.

Does that mean technically the empty shell and frame weigh about 950 pounds?

That means technically nothing about total weight. One could have a 10,000 lb trailer with a 90 lb tongue... not that it would be safe to tow, of course. But by coincidence, I suspect that your gutted Amerigo could indeed weigh less than 1000 lbs.

[Henry Smith]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

It has. Jon Vermilye maintains it (at least I think he still does). The link is in post #297. I believe you can e-mail or message him with your loaded trailer weight and he will add it to the data, although not many people seem to be doing that lately.

I agree- this is a fantastic resource!

Aha! I wonder if there's any way to make the online spreadsheet more obvious and available for people's use. Something more up-front than "go to post #297"?

[Henry Smith]

Originally Posted by Henry Smith

Aha! I wonder if there's any way to make the online spreadsheet more obvious and available for people's use. Something more up-front than "go to post #297"?

Whoops! Post #297 is on "page 22" (for anyone who wants to look). That's not an online spreadsheet, it's just a place where you (used to) could download the Excel spreadsheet. I'm talking about setting up the data in an online spreadsheet that can be accessed by everyone with the Internet address.

[Jon Vermilye]

Originally Posted by Henry Smith

Whoops! Post #297 is on "page 22" (for anyone who wants to look). That's not an online spreadsheet, it's just a place where you (used to) could download the Excel spreadsheet. I'm talking about setting up the data in an online spreadsheet that can be accessed by everyone with the Internet address.

You can still download the latest version of the spreadsheet at the link in post # 297, but if a moderator can add a "post #1" with the link it would be easier to find. In any case, I plan to keep it up to date as long as I am...

[Henry Smith]

Originally Posted by Jon Vermilye

You can still download the latest version of the spreadsheet at the link in post # 297, but if a moderator can add a "post #1" with the link it would be easier to find. In any case, I plan to keep it up to date as long as I am...

Excellent resource, Jon, and thank you for doing it. I'm talking about uploading the spreadsheet into an online Google spreadsheet where it could be accessed by everyone without searching in the comments for it. If you haven't ever used a Google online spreadsheet, it's really easy. Want me to do it? I could give you sole editing capabilities there, and the URL could be posted for whomever wanted to see the information.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Henry Smith

Excellent resource, Jon, and thank you for doing it. I'm talking about uploading the spreadsheet into an online Google spreadsheet where it could be accessed by everyone without searching in the comments for it. If you haven't ever used a Google online spreadsheet, it's really easy. Want me to do it? I could give you sole editing capabilities there, and the URL could be posted for whomever wanted to see the information.

Why not just bookmark: http://lakeshoreimages.com/spreadsheets/Weight.xls

in your browser. If this information is in three different places (here, Jon's resource which he may want to keep, and Google) it won't take long before there are three different spreadsheets.

[Henry Smith]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Why not just bookmark: http://lakeshoreimages.com/spreadsheets/Weight.xls

in your browser. If this information is in three different places (here, Jon's resource which he may want to keep, and Google) it won't take long before there are three different spreadsheets.

Good point, Donna (I didn't know the location where the spreadsheet was kept). There should be only one place where any "latest update" of any spreadsheet is kept (and that would apparently be the link you noted above, if that's where Jon keeps it). The advantage of porting it to an online Google spreadsheet is (1) right now it has to be downloaded and opened by the person viewing the information (who may or may not have their own ss program), (2) every time a person who has downloaded the ss wants to look at it again, s/he has to go to Jon's location and download it all over again (for it may or may not have been updated), (3) every time someone downloads the file, it "multiplies" the number of copies, and (4) having it online as a Google spreadsheet means that it's updated in real-time and anytime someone looks at it they will know it's "current" when viewed. (Jon can do all this himself if he wants to; all he needs is a Google docs account; I offer to help because I work a fair amount with Google spreadsheets and known how to upload and arrange data from an Excel file.)

[Donna D.]

Guess we'll just need to see what Jon says. I can tell you I don't have Excel on this laptop and have no issues viewing Excel as I've downloaded the viewer and Word viewer and PowerPoint viewer I do see your point on several issues, but either way something has to be bookmarked to find it whether the link to the discussion here on FiberglassRV, Jon's link or a link to the file on Google docs.

[jaye580]

I took my fully loaded 13' 2016 Scamp with front bath and a/c to a scrap metal scale today and had it weighed. It is full of everything I expect to carry minus water (which I don't expect to carry) and it came in at 1660. I have not done tongue weight yet but was delighted it was under 2000# full.

[Triker]

I've looked for this spreadsheet several times. As a newbie I don't know if this makes sense, but what about having it available in the Documents Center, giving it a separate category - Weights... Just an idea.

[Livia]

We took our new-to-us 1979 Bigfoot 17 to a weigh station in Saskatchewan today while we were adjusting our newly installed brake controller. These weights are our real world DRY weight, meaning all fixed gear - two (empty) 20lb propane tanks, a Group 27 battery - but no water, no personal gear. Converted to pounds to match the excel sheet we weighed:

Trailer (unhitched) 2194 lbs
Tongue weight (car weight hitched minus car weight unhitched) 274lbs.

Our dry weight as listed on the inside of our closet door was 1875lbs. Assuming the battery and empty propane tanks weigh about 90lbs, this means our real world dry weight is only about 200 lbs heavier than factory estimated.

Now lets see when we get some gear inside! We plan to weigh again when we are packed to travel for a month in June.