New to forum

[Chucker47]

Hi. I’m Chuck and happy to have found this site. After retiring a few years ago, I have been traveling the country. Started in a pickup with shell- way too inconvenient. Had a Little Guy teardrop for a couple of years - loved it, but my old knees began to complain about crawling around. Then I bought an Aliner- also loved it and really had no complaints.
I just sold the Aliner and I am in love with these fiberglass rv’s.
I want to buy, and will travel pretty much anywhere for the right deal. I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee (6 cyl) that is awesome to travel in. I want to keep the Jeep, so I need something fairly lightweight. Just one of me, so don’t need much room.
I stalk the for sale ads on the forum, but don’t seem to be fast enough on the trigger - by the time I find something that looks perfect, I read through the thread to find it’s already sold.
A question: what is the meaning of the envelope icon (sometimes open and sometimes closed) next to each listing?
Thanks for listening to my long winded intro. Hope to see many of you down the road!

[Borrego Dave]

Originally Posted by Chucker47

I stalk the for sale ads on the forum, but don’t seem to be fast enough on the trigger - by the time I find something that looks perfect, I read through the thread to find it’s already sold.
A question: what is the meaning of the envelope icon (sometimes open and sometimes closed) next to each listing?
Thanks for listening to my long winded intro. Hope to see many of you down the road!

Welcome to FGRV Chuck. Yes, you've got to be fast on the draw with eggs but I do have to give you a for reading through the for sale thread to find out if it's been sold. Many newbies only see the title and go to questions . The ad start date is kind of a give away also. Good luck in your search.

[Gilda]

I believe the envelope icon in the list of postings indicates with yellow that the member is currently actively online and the color red indicates they are offline. This is good for you to know as you may receive an immediate response if a member is online.

[Ian-Vicki]

Hi Chuck, I would say based on our experience that if you see something still marked for sale that you're interested in, ask the seller about it. We've had our 17-foot wide body Burro for sale for three months now (didn't expect that!). There's nothing wrong with it but twice, we've had buyers 'back out' at the last minute when it was time to send us some money. Maybe going across the border is frightening some people even though we bought it in Oregon and had no trouble bringing it into Canada. So go back in those for sale ads and see what's still available would be my advice. Good luck!

[Len Hopkins]

Originally Posted by Chucker47

Hi. I’m Chuck and happy to have found this site. After retiring a few years ago, I have been traveling the country. Started in a pickup with shell- way too inconvenient. Had a Little Guy teardrop for a couple of years - loved it, but my old knees began to complain about crawling around. Then I bought an Aliner- also loved it and really had no complaints.
I just sold the Aliner and I am in love with these fiberglass rv’s.
I want to buy, and will travel pretty much anywhere for the right deal. I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee (6 cyl) that is awesome to travel in. I want to keep the Jeep, so I need something fairly lightweight. Just one of me, so don’t need much room.
I stalk the for sale ads on the forum, but don’t seem to be fast enough on the trigger - by the time I find something that looks perfect, I read through the thread to find it’s already sold.
A question: what is the meaning of the envelope icon (sometimes open and sometimes closed) next to each listing?
Thanks for listening to my long winded intro. Hope to see many of you down the road!

1975 lil Bigfoot In Ednonton Alberta Canada

[ehoepner]

The first question you have to answer is what is the towing capacity of your Jeep. The V6 is a bit small to be towing some of the trailers you will see advertised here.

[Jon in AZ]

The second question is what these molded trailers really weigh once you add options and load them up. Beware manufacturers' dry weights, which are notoriously misleading.

See the thread "Trailer Weights in the Real World" in the General Chat section for better data. Post #297 links to a handy spreadsheet. Pay attention to tongue weights as well as total weights. On many vehicles that's the real limiting factor.

Best wishes!

[John in Santa Cruz]

indeed, which version of the Grand Cherokee do you have, what V6 engine, and is it equipped with the factory towing package? all these factor into your tow capacity, more than just the cylinder count.... my Tacoma is a 4.0L V6 and is rated to tow 6500 lbs, but much over 4000 lbs it feels overloaded, such that I upgraded to a beefier truck to tow a 4600 lb Escape 21 and carry a reasonable amount of gear.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

The second question is what these molded trailers really weigh once you add options and load them up. Beware manufacturers' dry weights, which are notoriously misleading.

They are only misleading if you don't understand what dry weight is.


Dry Weight

Dry Weight is the actual weight of a vehicle or trailer containing standard equipment without fuel, fluids, cargo, passengers, or optional equipment.
We have seen the following variations to this definition:

• Includes commonly ordered optional equipment
• Includes fluids of generator and other onboard equipment (oil, coolant, fuel)
• May or may not include RV batteries

Pay close attention to how the manufacturer defines Dry Weight because this is often used to calculate other weights, such as the cargo carrying capacity or Payload.


Source: http://changingears.com/rv-sec-tow-v...derstand.shtml

[John in Santa Cruz]

I prefer to base my tow vehicle decisions on the trailers MAX weight, unless you're really going to be careful with loading, AND you weigh your actual trailer to confirm the specs.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

I prefer to base my tow vehicle decisions on the trailers MAX weight, unless you're really going to be careful with loading, AND you weigh your actual trailer to confirm the specs.

All that is fine, but since the trailer manufacturers have no way to guess which options you might get and no way to know how much stuff you are going to carry, they have to start somewhere, which is "dry weight".
Unfortunately, you still have to ask them what their definition of dry weight is.

[Chucker47]

I appreciate all the info. I’ve towed an Aliner Ranger 10 all over the country with my Jeep, and I can seldom even tell it’s back there. That said, theAliner had a dry weight of 1,587 and, being single, I travel very light. In my search, I am looking for something in the 2,000 lb range, maybe a little higher. The Jeep is rated at 3,500 lb tow capability.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Scamp and Casita 16's and 17s that are more likely to have a shower and toilet typically weigh in close to 3500 lbs when equipped and loaded. The 13's are lighter but much less likely to have a shower/toilet.

[Jon in AZ]

The average loaded weight of a Scamp 16 standard with wet bath is around 2600 pounds. One or two heavily modified deluxe models have passed the 3000 pound mark, but that's very atypical for Scamp 16's. A 3500 pound Scamp 16 must have the lead shielding option...

Whether that's a good match for the OP's Jeep GC depends on what the vehicle will be carrying besides the trailer. Tow ratings assume 2 "average" people and no other cargo.

However with one person, the OP may prefer the lighter-on-your-feet 13' size. It is possible with a little work to convert the dinette into a U-shaped configuration with a single bed across the back and seats on the sides to eliminate the daily conversion. It's small, but you can have a single bed, dinette, and wet bath all at the same time in a 13' trailer (really 10' without the tongue).

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by Chucker47

A question: what is the meaning of the envelope icon (sometimes open and sometimes closed) next to each listing?

Originally Posted by Gilda

I believe the envelope icon in the list of postings indicates with yellow that the member is currently actively online and the color red indicates they are offline. This is good for you to know as you may receive an immediate response if a member is online.

The little round dots in the sidebar of each post show whether the member is currently logged in. Green is on-line; blue is off-line.

The envelopes indicate the status of the whole thread...