New buyer questions, Brochure vs. Reality of Weights

[bjohnsonmn]

Hello Forum Members!

My wife and I are contemplating the purchase of the 2108DS for our adventures out West! It is attractive to us as we will be traveling without kids or pets for up to 2 weeks at a time. Our goal is mostly to stay where there are at least water hookups so that we don't have to tanker water all over the country.

Our limiting factor is tongue weight. I own a Jeep Gladiator Rubicon with a 700# tongue weight, but when we load up the cab with the two of us, the after market parts, and a little bit of cab cargo (laptop bag, camera bag, etc), we are left with a useful tongue weight of 542 before we hit GVWR on the tow vehicle. We will run out of tongue weight before we run out of combined weight.

Here's where this takes a very Winnebago focused turn:

We know that the literature is a representation of a likely weight delivered to our dealer. We also have been made aware that every manufacturer uses slightly different criteria for how they determine the dry hitch weight.

The big question: Does anyone know definitively how Winnebago determines the published dry hitch weights? For example, does it include battery and full propane?

We figure that we will max out at 450# of cargo in the trailer and can distribute it as needed to make the weight balance properly.

We travel a lot already and are very good at traveling lightly. We have ultra-light aluminum fold up chairs (the REI super small kind), can take an 8 day trip with a total of 80# of baggage (clothes, toiletries, etc), know how to make meals and eat off of minimal dishes, etc etc etc.

I'd love to hear real world stories of what the effective hitch weights unloaded and loaded are for travel trailer owners. We are looking at the Micro Minnie Winnie lines. They look great and offer two seating areas (so we both have a place to work from) with the murhpy bed.

Any other thoughts, guidance, etc is VERY welcome!

Also would love to hear from others that have that model or a similar one with the murphy bed

Thanks in advance!!

[rk911]

suggest you call Winnebago Support at 1 (800) 537-1885.

[bjohnsonmn]

Originally Posted by rk911

suggest you call Winnebago Support at 1 (800) 537-1885.

Thank you for the number! I called one number on their site earlier today and it didn't work. Perhaps I typed it in incorrectly.

Cheers!

[Blastvalve]

I had good luck with the factory when I had a couple issues on my prior coach. Despite being the 3rd owner and way out of warranty the rep was very helpful in trying to help me diagnose an issue.

I hit their website, they list a specific number for towables that might get you a quicker response, (574) 825-5250

https://www.winnebago.com/contact-us

[blueridge-fl]

I always use the trailer GVWR and not the dry weight when calculating the TV capacity requirements. I do not want to be in a position that having to travel with a full tank or adding additional cargo will put me over the limit of the TV but not the trailer. Cutting things as close as you are, what are you going to do if you discover the campground you are staying at has closed their dump station for some reason? You will undoubtedly be forced to drive over the capacity of your TV.

[bjohnsonmn]

Originally Posted by blueridge-fl

I always use the trailer GVWR and not the dry weight when calculating the TV capacity requirements. I do not want to be in a position that having to travel with a full tank or adding additional cargo will put me over the limit of the TV but not the trailer. Cutting things as close as you are, what are you going to do if you discover the campground you are staying at has closed their dump station for some reason? You will undoubtedly be forced to drive over the capacity of your TV.

We are definitely taking these things into consideration.

Luckily, my GCWR isn't an issue no matter how I load up with the tongue weight being the denominator. In my calculations, I am leaving all of my heavy off-road equipment on. But, outside of our one trip to Colorado, I'll be freeing up as much as 80 pounds of available hitch weight before I hit my comfort buffer. I would say normally loaded, we will be under that comfort level, but when loaded for offroad (read rock crawling), that is where the margins get smaller. The snapshot I have in my original post takes a worst case scenario approach to the GVRW side of the equation. For example, removing the winch alone is 70 pounds of useful load on the tow vehicle.

Good point about having to tanker some black or grey water out of a park if the dump station is closed. Luckily, it is just my wife and I, and we have successfully dry tent camped in the past. In those kind of cases, we will want to have our expectations calibrated.

Cheers!

[bjohnsonmn]

Thanks for the feedback folks!

With the feedback we got, we did narrow down to the 2108DS (A 2021 model) which would have kept us safely under limits even are nearly GVWR of the TT. (The closed dump station scenario).

All things considered, we then thought about going back to the flat tow route.

We ended up making new criteria and picked a Thor Axis 25.6 (2019). With a healthy amount of towing capacity way above the weight of our Jeep Gladiator, we will be able to safely stay well under our limits for weight, stopping, and hauling. As a pilot, margins are your friend in the air, and I am figuring out the same is on the ground.

Thanks again for the feedback and we will see you out there!