Cargo weight

[Redskals]

What do you think is average cargo weight range for a full timer? The folks at the dealership are telling me there is NO WAY I could load up 2000 lbs but I think they are wrong. We do not have a generator and have no plans to dry camp anytime soon therefore don't plan to tow with full tanks. I'm being very weight-cautious when packing to take off on our full-time adventure in a few weeks and husband thinks I've lost my mind.

[DQDick]

Actually when you add up clothes, canned food, hobbies, tools, spare parts, cooking and serving things, printers and computer stuff and the paperwork we keep in life - You get the idea. That's why we weigh our rig in total and each wheel seperately (they do vary greatly) once every two years and try to keep to the rule that if something new comes in something old has to leave. We never travel with water in the tanks except for the fresh water tank which we keep 1/3 full. All that said 2,000# is pretty easy to get to.

[richfaa]

you would be surprised at how much "stuff" weighs. We are long timers and the first time we weighed our 2006 3400 we were 1000.00 overweight. 2000lb is easy.,

[mhs4771]

We're running at approx 3K easy for long term travel (6 to 9 months at a time)

[Kimo]

One of the many reasons that I have hung on to my 2001 3280rl. It is rated at 4300 pounds of carrying capacity. You don't see that any more.

[rames14]

Don't forget, the base weight are with water tanks empty, propane tanks empty, no battery, nothing in the holding tanks, etc. if you travel empty, that is one thing. Good luck.

[jcurtis934]

Also remember that any options that the dealer ordered take away from the cargo spec. I would not put much faith in the dealer comment as most don't have any real rv experience! They are sales people, pure and simple. The easiest thing to do is load it up with what seems reasonable clothes, etc...and then hit a cat scale. Truth revealed and then you can make decisions on reality. John

[mjammersc]

We are just weekenders/vacationers but it is still an issue for all campers. Keep an eye on what you need vs want and also do a check every 6 months on if you have used something or not. As far as loading, one of the items I struggle with is almost all my storage is in front of the axles. I plan on weighing my rig at the MOC Rally this year to see what it looks like. Everything adds up so when you are stocking items into the trailer, look for lighter options. We have already switched the set of dishes as the first set was just plain heavy and didn't ride well in the cabinets. We switched to correlle which are much lighter and "unbreakable". There are a lot of lexan dishes and glasses out there that look as nice as glass. Overstuffed pantries are a watch item too. No more days of buying the jumbo packs of everything from Sams/Costco. The storage garages are big culprits as everyone says. Lay everything out on the ground and look at it and decide if it is really needed. We did that when we did some maintenance this spring and it trimmed a couple items out and we had only had the rig for 8 months with 4-5 months of it in storage. Tool boxes are dangerous as they are heavy and it is easy to keep adding items in. Good luck on the adventure. We hope to be in your shoes in a couple years.

[WeBeFulltime]

Don't go by the brochure to get your cargo capacity. Each unit will have a sticker somewhere that gives the cargo capacity for that specific unit as it rolled out the factory door. On our 2008 3400RL the sticker was inside a kitchen cabinet door and on our 2012 3585SA it was on the screen door. Both were yellow in color. The cargo capacity on this sticker takes into consideration factory added options.

[jlb27537]

Figure 1,500lbs per person of stuff. Heck, when we came to Colorado this summer I brought about 325 lbs of beer (15x30 packs) and 3-400 lbs of guns and ammo. I have about 3500+ lbs of pin weight on most trips.

Who said you can't take it with you.

[TLightning]

quote:Originally posted by Redskals

... The folks at the dealership are telling me there is NO WAY I could load up 2000 lbs but I think they are wrong...

These are also the guys telling you that you'll be fine towing your 16k RV with a 3/4 ton gasser. Most are interested in one thing, and one thing only...that's selling you (and the rest of us) an RV...period!

[cpaulsen]

We full-time and only have 1700 lbs. of cargo weight.

[Firsterin]

We have a High Country. My husband is obsessed about the weight on the tires and pin weight. And I do mean obsessed. Before our last short trip we took everything out of the trailer and weighed each item before deciding if it was a keeper or not. Even as conservative as I thought we were being, after weighing everything we were about 500lbs overweight. Our HC 343RL has connections for a washer and dryer. I can not imagine how carrying that extra weight would even be possible. Before we leave for the Rally in a couple of weeks we're going to stop in Bushnell, FL to a SmartWeigh location.

[dfb]

With cloths, food, Etc. we are about 800 lbs over empty...if you load 2000 lbs you are loading a car!