Need Tow Vehicle Advice

[rancilio]

I cut this from a previous post of mine a few weeks ago... In our VW Jetta TDI.


Interestingly enough, my 38mpg was during the hottest part of the trip leaving the east coast. As we headed west, mileage varied quite a bit. 29 mpg in/around Ohio, 35 i/a Indiana, 32 I/a Missouri, 36 i/a Oklahoma and about 35 average the rest of the way to Arizona.

I am not sure why the large variance. We maintained the same load, same speeds, and same conservative driving style. Even with the NM mountains near Ruidoso, mileage was a good 35 mpg.

All in all, the Jetta TDI performed quite well leading the little Scamp. And I recommend trailer brakes for every journey. I hesitated before the trip about putting the brake kit on my car, but I sure am glad that I did. They made towing a lot less worrisome.

Lastly, the actual Scamp weight was 1650lbs. That's about 400lbs more than expected. And total car plus Scamp was 5150lbs, the Jetta weighed in empty at 2900. That makes about 600lbs of cargo with me!. I did not weigh until we arrived, and now I am glad because I would have dumped some stuff had I know we weighed so much.

[Raz]

Places to get your trailer weighed. ( some already mentioned)

-truck stops

-gravel/ stone pits

-DOT weigh stations

-dump/transfer stations

-RV dealers

-Frederick Simson (well, Fred's a person not a place but he seems to always have a scale with him)

I'm sure there are others. Raz

[Robin G]

Originally Posted by Daniel A.

Yes you know exactly for one trip !!!!!!

Huh? If the trailer is weighted empty that weight shouldn't change unless of course mods are made. So no, it wouldn't be for one trip!


Then as Radar suggested if it's weighted with gear (camp ready, gear, water, propane, food etc) you have yet another idea of what your towing. Of course this can change every trip, but if you have a a little bit of a clue to start with then your ahead of the game. It's helpful for people who choose to stay with in their towing cap!

[Robin G]

Originally Posted by SherryNPaul

I wish we had a "like" button here, as we do on facebook.
Good advice, Robin.
Sherry

I have often wanted a "like" button!

A dislike button might help too!

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Robin G

I have often wanted a "like" button!

A dislike button might help too!

I have a whole keyboard full of like and dislike buttons!

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by spotcatbug

Where do you go to get trailers weighed?

Sherman,

The first place I would suggest people research for the answer to that question is your state/province Department of Agriculture, Division of Weights & Measures. These people know where all of the public scales are because they are tasked with making sure they are correct, and they have to visit each one to do that.

Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by P. Raz

(well, Fred's a person not a place but he seems to always have a scale with him)

I wish
I am in the business of servicing scales and balances. For several years my employer allowed me to bring a set of portable wheel weighers to all of the rallys/gatherings I attend from our rental pool free of charge when they were otherwise not out making money. There was a scheduling conflict this past July which prevented me from bringing them to the Oregon Gathering this year.

The commercial wheel weighers I borrowed have capacities (and more importantly, increments) equal to commercial truck scales. This was the closest I could get to my dream of owning a set that race-car drivers use to fine-tune their cars. Robert just won't let me spend the $5000 (wholesale price).

[honda03842]

We weighed our trailer, axle and tongue, before we left in November and as well we weighed the tow vehicle.

As well we carry a bathroom scales and regularly weigh the tongue. The tongue weight has varied between 182 and 200 lbs. The tongue weight has tended towards the lower value, probably because we have added 5 under the Scamp storage containers with the biggest of these towards the rear.

We travel with a 1/2 to 3/4 full water tank and have one battery and one propane tank.

One advantage of long term travel is that there is little variation in trailer weight from month to month or trip to trip. Outside of my Long, Long Trailer Oregon stone collection we have added very little in terms of weight.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by Frederick L. Simson

This was the closest I could get to my dream of owning a set that race-car drivers use to fine-tune their cars. Robert just won't let me spend the $5000 (wholesale price).

Yea, Maggie won't let me get one either. Whatcha gonna do?

[Becky B]

Thanks for all the info. We will probably trade in the big 'ol pickup for a smaller p.u.

[Hambone]

one thing to watch out for is your smaller pickups dont get not much better mileage than a fullsize, unless you get a small 4cylinder and manual, plus we tend to carry a lot of stuff and the room in the cap of our fullsize pickup makes it worth it even with the mileage deduction

[Imo.]

I haul my 13 footer with a 1998 1500 dodge ram. It is paid for, gets lousy milage, has 147,000 miles on it, and when I look at the price of new trucks, I about faint....more than the 1st house I bought. I also need the truck for the farm along with a 1987 ford that gets even worst milage. But, I keep looking, lusting, and dreaming. Guess everything depends on what works for you in terms of an all-around vehicle. My 2000 S-10 with very low milage was recently totaled, got 20 MPH (sometimes), was a good truck for local trips, but was a gut-less wonder.....and if i had been going faster when I was hit, i most likely would have been totaled.

[841K9]

I tow a 13' Scamp with an '84 fullsize Blazer diesel.
It got about 18 without overdrive and gets a solid 25 with when I'm gentle.(SM465 4 speed with a ranger overdrive)
My better half's Jeep Liberty v6 4x4 gets 22 towing the same 13' Scamp.
My mother took the Scamp last weekend and got 20mpg with a 2010 Mercury Mariner v6.

A more powerful tow vehicle will have to work less to pull the same weight and can often get better fuel economy than a less powerful vehicle with the same load.

[Mike Magee]

About 3-4 years ago I make a table of the fuel economy numbers posted on the Scampers yahoo group, broken down by number of cylinders in the engine and whether it was a 13' or 16'. I also threw out diesels, people who drove at non-typical speeds, and that sort of stuff. I can't lay my hands on the table now, but I recall that overall the 4-bangers averaged about 2 mpg better than the v6's, which in turn got 1 or 2 mpg better than the v8 engines.

[honda03842]

Mike,

My four banger drove from sea level Seattle over the Cascade's 3,022 foot Snoqualmie (sp) Pass to Moses Lake and averaged 23.1 mpg on regular fuel, not diesel or premium, driving 55 to 60 mph towing our 2400 lb Scamp.

A couple of higher passes coming up in MT....

The four bangers can do it.

Most people do not realize that a 2004, 4 cylinder Honda is more powerful as many pre-2000 tow vehicles, typically modern cars handle better and are certainly more reliable. The present 2012 Honda CRV has more horsepower than most pre-1984 Chevy Malibus including the available V-8s, a similar wheelbase and similar torque numbers. As well modern cars use thinner, stronger steel, generally have better brakes and better coefficients of drag.


A Malibu's co-efficient of drag was around .45 and the CRV's is .37. This means a CRV moves more easily thru the air, requiring less horsepower.

[rgrugg]

We tow our Egg Camper with a V8 Chevy Silverado. It gets Up to 22 mpg (not often) non towing and 14-17 towing. It cuts back to 4 cylinders sometimes, even when towing. We earlier had a 4 cylinder Ford Ranger that got 22 empty and 15 towing a popup. Smaller sometimes is not more economical. This Chevy has the most comfortable seats than any other vehicle I've owned going back over 54 years. A slight mpg gain would not be worthwhile if I had to have less comfortable seats. Besides, if we don't spend it, the kids will get it. i can justify just about anything that way.

[DMAC1]

Norm definatly has great points in that the effiency of newer vehicles has come along way, it can be tricky to find the right balance of size of a tow vehicle to that of the trailer. I would certainly want information from people who have actually driven a vehicle and calculated the mileage properly befoe i made any dessions as the advertised mileage on vehicles can be horibly inacurate. I personally feel finding a nice balance of a vehicle that wont have to work overly hard to pull the trailer and be in its comfort zone most of the time and be sensibly effiecient at that same time. i do know of plenty of examples of smaller vehicles/ smaller engines that get worse mileage than some of the bigger ones. The moral of the story is to do your home work and get real facts.

[Thomas G.]

As opposed to unreal facts......LOL

[honda03842]

Dave,

We admittedly have a light trailer and intentionally keep the tongue weight down, attempting to match the abilities of the Honda CRV. We also admittedly are not the fast rig on the road only doing 60 on interstates.

We also would not tow a trailer, even a 13 footer, without brakes (and not without a break-away switch)for a number of reasons.

We have towed a considerable distance and have a calculated average of between 22 and 23 mpg using only regular gas on our loop of the USA. I do watch the Ultagauge to check mileage but do not use it as a source for these statements but rather to maximize fuel efficiency.

This data was collected over 3 trailers, a Sunline 15.5, Casita 16 and Scamp 16 we have averaged from 20 - 23 mpg depending on the trailer, the terrain and the weather conditions. Trips included a loop of the Maritimes thru Labrador, 2 loops of the USA, and two loops to FL from NH.

The lightest trailer got the worst mileage, the stick built Sunline at 2200 lbs got about 20 mpg.

To us fuel usage is a big deal.

So far this year we've spent $3006 on fuel during 10 calendar months, with 2 months to go it'll probably reach $4000. If we had been getting 15 mpg that would amount to another $2000 this year and probably $6,000 over our years of towing. Though it would not end the world, it does mean I can take Ginny out to lunch in Wallace, Idaho, a funky town on I-90.

We covered 180 miles again today and stopped by 11AM. We're driving a little further than normal because our trip was delayed in Seattle. Ginny's 3 sisters flew from NH to Seattle to surprise her for her 70th birthday. She was literally overwhelmed.

To me the sisters visit means that we don't need to go home at all this year to Ginny it means.......... (I can't win them all, we're stopping in NH for 2 months.)

Safe Travels

[steve dunham]

A friend of our's in our camping group has almost the identical truck to ours (Same size , make , engine and transmission just a year older 2010 vs.2011) He owns a stick built trailer that is the same approx size and weight as our Scamp but the frontal area of his trailer is larger (square). He averages 4 miles less per gallon of gas than we do. The design of the trailer has a large effect on mileage not just the tow vehicle. My 1/2 ton truck is not the most economical but it does allow me to haul a lot of stuff without putting it in the trailer and then having to unpack and pack it at every stop. When we take our grand kids (4) camping the added storage space is a big plus . As others have said ," The larger vehicle is more comfortable" . We just made an 800 mile trip in my wife's Pontiac G6 and by the time we got to our destination I was so cramped up I had a hard time getting out of the car just as well try to walk after I got out of the car