[fstrumpf]

My wife and I have been tent camping for several years now. We have a well equipped setup including a rather large tent everyone referrs to as a condo.

As we age, we are considering moving up to a travel trailer, mainly to cut down on the setup and tear down time of our Tent and camping Kitchen. Also, the private bath has been a big issue with the wife of late.

We are looking at a Palomino G-212 and T-231, any suggestions or opinions would be appreciated. We need the real queen size bed which both these models offer.

Regards

Fred

 

[ctfortner]

Welcome to the site Fred!

The Palomino G-212 is nice. The only thing I would throw out there, is the lack of windows, or view of the outside. There is no window in the front, or rear of that model. Thats one thing we are dissapointed in about ours, and when we buy another RV, it will have more windows. But a lot of that will come down to your personal preference. If the floor plan is what you want, then you may be ok with that. We dont spend much time in the camper anyway, unless it rains, but we still wish we had more outside viewing area.

Are you looking at around the 21' travel trailers? Or are you open to any size?

Another thing we plan to add when we upgrade, is a slide. We have a 19 foot travel trailer now, and its good, but after 2 years, we are ready for something a little bigger. When we are all in the camper, you have to dance around each other, because there isnt much room to walk around.

 

[fstrumpf]

G-212 Palomino

Thanks for the reply.

We were attracted to the G-212 because of the bed size, the bathroom, the slide extension and the weight.

We are tall people so the full size queen was important. The slide out seemed very spacious for the length. And for economy purposes, pulling vehicle, we want to keep the weight under 5000 lbs. (appreciate advise on pulling with a 1500 Silverado with V6)

We vetted quality, and were satisfied.

Did not consider windows though. Coming out of tenting, exposure to the outside sights was always great. So we will look at it again with that in mind.

We are not tied to 21 ft, but we are tied to the 5000 lb. limitation. I know there are other options like the pop-up, but don't think they'll hold up to the use we have in mind. Let alone the amenities the wife has in mind.

Regards

Fred

 

[mailfire99]

Hello

Welcome Fred.

When buying a travel trailer, those things are all important, of course your needs help determine whats the most important.

There are so many models and floor plans out there it can be tough to decide.

On the towing. Does your truck have the heavy duty tow package on it? What year is your silverado, wanted to look at the tow rating of it.

Is it a manual, or automatic transmission? Do you know if it has a transmission cooler on it already, if not, I would look into having one installed.

I think you should be ok pulling it, but with a V6, the lighter the better.

I would also install a weight distributing hitch, like the equalizer, which will help you out a lot with the weight.

 

[mikey]

Hello Fred! Welcome aboard.

 

[haroldj]

Welcome to the site Fred.

The way I have always heard, and followed.

You need to start with the max tow rating for your truck and then subtract all the extra weight you are carrying. This will tell you the available towing capacity which you can match against the GVWR of the trailers you are considering.

The Chevy towing specs are located here under trailering. This info is for 2006 vehicles, not sure what year model you have, but 05 would be about the same.

You are starting from 4800 lbs, depending on the details of your truck and assuming you have the 4.3 Vortec V6.

Determine the weight of any passengers riding with you as well.

I always deduct 10% from the total weight as well for packed goods, luggage, bikes, water tank, etc.., for a safety margin, and 20% if your towing in the mountain regions. Especially when towing with a V6 I would do this, maybe not so much if towing with a heavy duty diesel.

So for instance, your starting with 4800 pounds. You deduct (guessing) 130 pounds for your spouse (deduct more if more than one passenger), which gives you 4670 pounds.

Then you deduct 10% for an "safety allowance" that leaves you with 4293 pounds. I would recommend finding a trailer that did not exceed GVWR of 4300 pounds.

I havent looked lately, but there are quite a few of lite model campers on the market today. Not sure what the GVWR is for most of them off hand. Is the Palamino your looking at one of their light model campers?

This is just my 2 cents for what its worth :thumbup1:

 

[happiestcamper]

Also remember that the weight of the camper given by the manufacturer means that the propane is empty, the fresh, grey, and black water tanks are empty, and there are no options installed (such as A/C).

The G-212 is rated at 3598 when it is empty and has no options installed. It is rated to safely weigh 4800. Remember that filling up the fresh water and packing the camper will add to the hitch weight - I agree with getting the weight distributing - makes it a lot easier (and nicer) to pull.

The T-231 is rated at [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]3751 when empty, but can go up to 7500. Just be careful. I first started towing with a V6 explorer, and the best I could do was 45-50 MPH on flat roads. That was a '93, and was basically a piece of junk. Much happier in a V8 Suburban.

Trail Manors and Hi-Lo's can be expensive, but may suit your vehicle better.

And welcome to the site :welcome:
[/FONT]

 

[ctfortner]

Thats a good point too, trail manor makes some really nice looking campers. They are much lighter than the average travel trailer, so could be worth a look for you. You can see them at trailmanor.com I believe that there 26 foot camper weighs a good bit less than the one your looking at currently.

 

[cassiem]

Just wanted to say hello and welcome!