Programmer, wife and 2 bikes

[Raceor]

Hello everyone!

First post and never owned a trailer

I need some help deciding on a toy hauler or a travel trailer to satisfy my needs.

It me and my wife and 2 dirtbikes. I work from home as a programmer and want to travel to find all the best riding spots in the country. Just need to be within internet connection m-f.

My biggest challenge is deciding if I should go with having my bikes in the back of my truck with a travel trailer, or getting a toy hauler and having the bikes there during the hall. The other priority is fitting a 5' x 3' vertically adjustable computer desk somewhere in the trailer while keeping in mind we are full timing and space is at a premium.

As of now, my tow vehicle is a 2012 Tundra 5.7 with Tow Package. I am open to upgrading TV if necessary but a fifth wheel is out of the question. Absolutely want to stay under 35' total length the smaller the better.

What's the smallest separate garage in a TH?


Thanks for any advice!

[Kenstand]

Here is a link to Changing Lanes, a YouTube couple. He is a programmer and they haul a motorcycle with them. This link is to a video highlighting how they do this. https://youtu.be/AC6fHSXMHfA

[swavescatter]

Toyhaulers are very heavy and tundras are just about the worst towing half tons out there.

Go to your truck door jamb and find out what your cargo carrying Capacity and rear axle weight ratings are. I'm betting you need to upgrade your tow vehicle with a decent full time toyhauler.

Also, toyhaulers are designed to be tongue weight biased expecting a heavy load in back. With dirt bikes you probably won't have enough hitch capacity.

My buddy just upgraded from a tundra to an F350 for these reasons.

[Sv Todd]

Originally Posted by swavescatter

Toyhaulers are very heavy and tundras are just about the worst towing half tons out there.

Go to your truck door jamb and find out what your cargo carrying Capacity and rear axle weight ratings are. I'm betting you need to upgrade your tow vehicle with a decent full time toyhauler.

Also, toyhaulers are designed to be tongue weight biased expecting a heavy load in back. With dirt bikes you probably won't have enough hitch capacity.

My buddy just upgraded from a tundra to an F350 for these reasons.

Toyhauler would be better than putting bikes in the truck. Bikes in the bed of the truck will subtract from your payload reducing the amount of tongue weight your truck can take on. Bikes in the back of the toyhauler mean less % of their weight is using up payload.

I had that problem last year when I went from one bike to two bikes in my truck. It put me over my rear axle weight rating while towing the TT. I am taking delivery of a toyhauler in March. It's one of the smaller toyhaulers that still has a seperate garage.

https://www.keystonerv.com/product/i...floorplans/28V

[swavescatter]

Originally Posted by Sv Todd

Toyhauler would be better than putting bikes in the truck. Bikes in the bed of the truck will subtract from your payload reducing the amount of tongue weight your truck can take on. Bikes in the back of the toyhauler mean less % of their weight is using up payload.

I had that problem last year when I went from one bike to two bikes in my truck. It put me over my rear axle weight rating while towing the TT. I am taking delivery of a toyhauler in March. It's one of the smaller toyhaulers that still has a seperate garage.

https://www.keystonerv.com/product/i...floorplans/28V

Exactly - a small toyhauler is still 10k lbs GVWR. They expect you to weigh down the rear so if you ever move it empty the tongue weight is very high.

IMO there is no full time capable toyhauler that's half ton towable. That's one ton territory.

I have Winnebago 29STT and it's maxing out my 2017 F250.

[jrollf]

Another option would be a travel trailer with bunk beds.... some of them the bunk bed will fold up and there is a door/hatch were you can load bikes into the bunk bed spot. Most are designed for bicycles, but I've seen a few with a fairly large stowage spot.

Depending on the trailer and size of the dirt bikes, this might work.

[SomeDay]

First and foremost, take your time and find the floor plan that would work best for you taking all of your "needs" and secondarily most of your "wants into account. Almost everyone suggests having the floor plan that works for you is the most important thing of all in choosing a rig.

Have a pros and cons list for 3 or 4 different floorplans/type of RV - TT or TH and then assess which of the cons you could live with. For sure one of those cons could very well be the necessity to have a bigger towing vehicle to accommodate.

From what we've seen and heard, many that have the toy haulers will take the toys/bikes out at site and convert the garage into their home office for on the road working. Others have bought a bunk model and converted that area into their home office effectively, and some have managed but in a C or A class, when stationary to set up the front area (including table over steering wheel area or dog house) to create a small home office set up there.

For what it's worth, we've absolutely loved our floor plan of our rig for all our using needs for almost 2 decades, but the bathroom was too small at the front end and still is today - we've just accepted it, albeit fallen in love (for a price!) with a newer rig many a time.

Don't compromise too heavily on your floorplan it could be a more expensive lesson than anything we've generally heard often from others.

Happy Travels.

[4thgenceli]

Originally Posted by swavescatter

Exactly - a small toyhauler is still 10k lbs GVWR. They expect you to weigh down the rear so if you ever move it empty the tongue weight is very high.

IMO there is no full time capable toyhauler that's half ton towable. That's one ton territory.

I have Winnebago 29STT and it's maxing out my 2017 F250.

I wouldn't jump RIGHT to 1ton territory from a 1/2 ton truck. There are some toy haulers out there earmarked as 'half-ton towable' units. Usually they're in the 9,999lb GVWR rating. Mine falls in to that and I had no problems towing it with a 2003 Dodge 2500 with the HD Tow options equipped. Slow up the hills but did its thing when I hammered down in 3rd gear to pass. I wouldn't want to full time that way though, but occasional trips out it was fine.

Back to the OP - do you want a separate garage? With the M-F work and then play later, I'd imagine you're not wanting to leave the bikes out of the camper much. Best advice I could say is go visit a few RV shows and see what floorplans you like then go from there.