17 Ft Casita tongue weight.....should I be concerned???

[Mike Magee]

Sway comes about as a consequence of a too-light hitch weight. A trailer with little or no weight on the tongue is asking for sway trouble, because the back end (that's about as heavy as, or heavier than, the front end) will want to come around on you. I found this out when I mis-loaded a little 4'x8' utility trailer one day long ago, and it gave me quite a scare.

So the question is, what about unusually heavy tongue weights? Well, a 400 or 500 lb. tongue on a vehicle rated to take that much tongue weight should be no problem. That is way better than a 100 lb or 50 lb tongue, or even a negative weight (like I did with the utility trailer!). Of course, if you were loading a Subaru up with that much on the hitch, you would be overloading the rear suspension and taking too much steering ability out of the front. But with an Envoy or a pickup or some other large vehicle, you should not need to worry. A sway bar or anti-sway hitch should not be necessary, either; but if it makes you feel better, by all means go ahead and use whatever gives you peace of mind and added margin of safety. It can't hurt!

[Cathy P.]

On the Casita, the axle is 3500 lbs which means that with the weight of the empty trailer plus options plus fluids and stuff, you should not be exceeding the 3500 lbs so I am not understanding why it would be necessary to have a vehicle rated to tow 5000 lbs. unless it is to support the high hitch weight. Once loaded though, the weight goes up so there is the possibility with the axle far to the rear that the hitch weight will go up, right? So you are looking at a Class 3 hitch in order to handle over 350 lb tongue weight versus the Class 2 which would normally handle a 3500 lb GVWR?

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Cathy P.

Once loaded though, the weight goes up so there is the possibility with the axle far to the rear that the hitch weight will go up, right?

Yes you are right. Pretty well anything you put in the trailer that is stowed ahead of the axle will add to the hitch/tongue weight - the closer to the front the more weight added to the tongue..... the opposite happens if you put things behind the axle -the further back the more weight comes off the tongue.

I suspect that the main reasons a Casita 17' is heavier on the hitch when dry than a number of other 16' & 17' trailers is that the Casita's have the bathroom right at the front of the trailer along with a large storage closest. Now fill up that storage closest with your stuff and add a little water to the black water tank and before you know it you have a tongue weight of over 500lbs as a number of them do on the real world weight list - dang one of them weighed in at 680lbs...... suspect the closest need cleaning out on that one

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by Carol H

...on the real world weight list - dang one of them weighed in at 680lbs...... suspect the closest need cleaning out on that one

If I remember correctly the two 17' Casita Libertys at 660 and 680 pounds on the tongue had mounted generators permanently on the tongue in addition to propane.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Frederick L. Simson

If I remember correctly the two 17' Casita Libertys at 660 and 680 pounds on the tongue had mounted generators permanently on the tongue in addition to propane.

Glad to hear it. Was worried they might be hoarders

[Karalyn]

I talked to someone at Casita today and yes, the fridge is part of the reason for the longer 17 ft model. I asked about putting a larger fridge in the 16 ft model and the salesman said it would not fit in the 16 ft model.
As for tongue weight he said my Envoy should pull it fine as they say to figure about 10% of weight of what my car can haul to be on the tongue. Being as I can haul 5700 lb, my tongue weight can be up to 570 lb. I should have a couple hundred lbs to play with here if I calulate right.
Does this make sense to all of you??

[Karalyn]

Cathy (or anyone else).
are you saying that if the dry weight of the camper is 2400 lb and the axel weight is 3500 lb, that I can load 1100 LB of stuff into the camper max. I would assume this 1100 lb would also include propane, water, ect. I have seen no where listed a max load capacity on these trailers, and wondering if I figured this right??