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Good Evening Folks,
Time for me to put in my 2 cents.
On Nov. 12 we took posession of our 2006 3400RL. It had the following additional options:
1) Free standing table and 5 chairs
2) Ceiling fan
3) Fireplace
4) Wired for 2nd AC - did not get until I'm sure we need it - extra 100#
5) 4 slide awnings - I love them!
6) End table, lamp and coffee table
7) Hide a bed
8) Prep for W/D, Outside shower, selector valves (get this option)
We did not get hi-gloss gelcoat and did not get dual pane windows - because we felt they would add too much weight.
Our first stop was the CAT scale. The results were:
Hitch weight: 1980#
Trailer axle weights: 9880#
Trailer total weight: 11860#
GVWR as per sticker on outside left: 14,190#
Available cargo capacity: 2330# actual
Note that the above trailer weight also included a battery, about 5 gallons of water, and 2 full propane tanks.
On our first trip, after we moved our goodies from our old 5ver, we reweighed:
Hitch pin weight: 2400#
Trailer Axle weight: 10500#
Total trailer weight: 12900#
Cargo on board: 1040#
Interesting factoids are as follows:
1) I had estimated our cargo at 1500#. I guessed high as you can see. I had very little room left in the basement. I had 2 batteries, a 9' rubber boat with motor and a bunch of wood parts, 2 fold up tables, chairs, 2 bikes, and plenty of other goodies. I was perhaps a little lite on clothes as we do not carry enough to full time.
2) With the added cargo, the hitch pin weight grew from 1980# to 2400# or 420#. A quick calculation shows that 4# of every 10# of cargo shows up on the pin weight. This is true because essentially all the cargo space on the 3400 is ahead of the axles. At least for the 3400, the idea that the hitch will carry only 20% (2# of every 10#) of additional cargo is not true - its more like 40%. This will cause the pin weight to go up very quickly - especially it you start loading up the front closet.
3) When you calculate things up, you can not carry much more than 2300# before exceeding the max. rear axle weight if the TV is a 3/4 ton truck (and by the way, you have already exceeded the GVWR of the TV). But that doesn't matter much because I could only add 2330# cargo before I exceeded the GVWR of the trailer. But that didn't even seem to matter, because I don't think I could find places for another 1290# of cargo, unless they were rocks.
4) The weight of the trailer and the options does matter. Adding and additional 1200# to a Monty by installing hi-gloss fiberglass and dual pane windows significantly limits the carrying capacity of the trailer.
5) If your TV is a 3/4 ton, you can forget about carrying much additional stuff in the bed such as extra cargo, a tool box full of goodies, or an extra fuel tank. The unloaded rear axle weight on my 2500HD weight in at 3120#. leaving only 2964# of pin weigh before the rear axle/tires are overloaded - and that's easily what the pin weight of a fully loaded 3400 will be.
I MIGHT can imagine carrying 2300 - 2400# of stuff - not including water - but for the 2 or us and our 2 dogs, that's about it.
Others may carry more, but this works for us. And by the way, these are actual measured weights. I have spent enough on CAT scale measurements to deserve a reasonable percentage of ownership in the one in Rockwall, TX.
So much for my 2 cents!
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