My wife and I are thinking about buying a camper but I have zero experience with one. Some questions I have:

-Weight is confusing for towing. I know I have to factor in the weight of the camper and anything I put in it (clothes, kitchen items, etc.) but I'm not fully understanding all of the different listed weights. How do I make sure I'm good to pull the camper with my truck? 2008 Tundra, SR5, double cab

-I'm looking at new and used. What should I look for in a used one to make sure it's in good shape?


-In addition to the camper itself are there any necessary items that I will need for towing or hooking it up at a camp site?

-Is there anything else that you think a newbie should know about buying a camper and setting one up?

Thanks in advance

Check out RV.net

It's a Forum with lots of subforums. Here is a link to the Beginners forum RV.net

This is a good place to ask your question and there are a couple of other sections, such as the Towing section, for your specific question. Look around the site, join up, enjoy.

Best wishes to you.
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As far as the first question, the number you are looking for is Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating (GCVWR). This number should be listed on a sticker in the door jamb or glove compartment of the vehicle and is the maximum rated weight for the vehicle, its contents and the weight and contents of any trailer attached to it.

Just for example sake.

GCVWR 10,000 lbs. max of vehicle and trailer combined.

Payload 1,500 lbs. max of what is physically in the truck. Make sure to include people, fuel, gear, etc.

GVWR 6,200 lbs. max the truck itself can weigh.


Towing 5,100 lbs. max weight of the trailer.


Tongue 500 lbs. Max weight the trailer puts on the truck hitch ball.


Wide variance in travel trailers. I would suggest a slightly used model a couple of years old. Don't buy new and don't let your enthusiasm get ahead of your tow vehicle. Your truck is the most important factor to determine what you purchase. Start going down the road of suspension changes so you can go bigger and you are better off getting a different truck.

Look for mold, rot, water intrusion, plumbing leaks. Tires are critical on both the truck and trailer. Understand tire load ratings.

Storage is key, where is all that stuff going to go?



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Maybe rent one for a weekend.
You will learn a lot just jumping in without the huge up front expense.
Some folks don't use their campers near enough to justify the expense.

This is a site that you can rent private RV's, like airbnb.

https://www.outdoorsy.com/

If willing to spend for quality, consider fiberglass construction.


https://olivertraveltrailers.com/


http://www.bigfootrv.com/m/big...ers_2500_series.html


https://casitatraveltrailers.com/



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I would stay 25ft or smaller for that size of a truck. Get a good weight distribution hitch. Set it up right and you won't know its there. If you don't set it up right you will be fighting the trailer the whole trip.



This is our setup. 2002 25ft Airstream pulling with a Nissan Titan XD.

the good news is camper sales is up 70% over last year,

but
A. the pickings are getting very slim ( in these parts anyway)

B. a lot of parks are social distancing so the wait time to reserve a space is out of whack

Definitely rent before you buy. If you have a good time you can consider buying. Not everyone really likes the trailering experience. Sometimes they find out after they've spent too much money that will be hard to recover.

As a Tundra owner myself I can tell you your two most important numbers are going to be PAYLOAD (listed on the drivers side door frame) and RAGW limits (rear axel gross weight limits). These are the two most exceeded numbers for this vehicle. You'll most likely be good up to about 23-25' on most trailers. Go to the TOYOTA website and search for your vehicle if you don't have the original manual. All the towing weight limits will be listed in the specifications section.

Payload will include trailer tongue weight, Weight distribution hitch, and all the junk you will take with you in the truck (inside and out). A trip to the CAT scales is the only true way to get a real weight reading on your rig. Prepare for many long winded arguments about trailer loading and weight distribution from many trailering experts.

There's a lot of information to be found, take your time. A dedicated RV forum will get you more specific information than we could possibly give you without turning this into an RV forum. The amount of information can be exhausting.

As an aside, new vs used is up to you. Good arguments on both sides. My wife said new, I lost the argument.

FWIW, I took delivery of a new motorhome on the 3rd, my first one. Your dealer is possibly the most important factor in your decision making. They HAVE to work with you and meet YOUR needs. I'm still sorting out how everything works(or doesn't).

Is it mostly just the two of you? Will that number increase for any reason? I sold ours a year ago, used it more when kids were young. This was a 21’ travel trailer, just below 3000 lbs before any loading.

I think 21’ is plenty for two people, we did 4, usually a large dog too. I’d leave some margin with towing capacity, weights. A few additional factors with towing are, experience, distance, elevation/hills, & tow vehicle.

We towed out West a few times, also a State or two away fairly often. I know a couple that got by fine with a little Scamp camper. I never felt the need to tow a second house. Much of the time you are out & about anyway, at least by the campfire. A hard sided trailer is nice when the weather is bad, rain, whatever.

One of the RV sites will have an overload of info. The best time to buy slightly used is later Fall, obviously. There should be a 3-4 year old camper that wasn’t used a whole lot. I took good care of ours though construction quality is much lower than the average house.

We bought a 2005 Classic 28 Airstream and enjoy pulling it with my F150 and Reese WD Hitch.

I would not suggest buying new and the depreciation is extreme on such purchases.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dad250,

Dad250. you will putting in a new tranny soon with that set up imho.

To the op. I would stay under 21'.

Make sure the roof does not leak or has any water stains. You can request to have the roof “sealed” before you buy it to add extra protection. (Leak or not) It needs to be sealed every so often, as in every other year.

Try out EVERYTHING, the fridge must cool, the AC must blow cold air and the toilet must function,hot water heater working, etc...

For the 2 of us, over the years of various camper set ups, the essentials became identified as:

great bed
suitable cooking space
serviceable toilet/shower

all conveniently enclosed in the smallest hard shell possible.

While we had trailers from 14' to 24'and a 25' B+ camper van and a converted 29' over the road passenger bus, the most fun was the 8' Alaskan pick up bed camper (it goes up, it goes down). Of course we were decades younger & had smaller dog then.

Whatever you get after considerable looking/discussing, you will soon have the illusion there was a better choice out there somewhere. Good luck.

Be advised they use cheap materials in almost everything and the workmanship is shoddy at best. Unless you are going custom built spending 100K and willing to wait 18 months to get your rig. As someone noted RV sales are up 70% and have been rising steadily for the last decade or so. The manufacturers at a break neck pace to get these things built and on the dealers lot. Hence shoddy workmanship.

Don't pay much attention to the brand name as they are all built the same sourcing their materials from the same suppliers. Go by floor plan that works best for you.

Also beware the hard sales pitch for extended warranties by the dealer if you buy new. We purchased a new forty foot destination trailer for our lake place last year. They wanted $7k for interior/exterior extended warranties and they took the hard sales run at us three times before I not so politely told them to cram that nonsense before I nixed the deal entirely.

So it's been on the road once. Transported and placed on our lake property and hasn't been moved since. Seems there's something every week that doesn't work right and needs to be worked on. And it's not like we just happened to get a lemon. This is pretty common knowledge amongst veteran RV'ers.

Get some emergency patching material. Flexsteel, caulk, there is a tape for roof leaks, etc. Your camper, or RV, will flex as it goes down the road and will develop leaks, guaranteed. Check your owners manual for towing capacity. My 98 Explorer was rated for 5000 lbs. The trailer I bought was 3000 lbs so no problem. I towed it home and it was a scary experience. I found in the owners manual anything over 2000 lbs needed a weight equalizer hitch.

Look at as many campers as you can before you purchase. take pictures, write notes on the sales literature, whatever to retain and organize the information. As you see different features and options, your idea of what you want/need will likely evolve. Better for that to happen before you sign.

My wife and I had a small pop-up camper initially. For the first year it was great, then it wasn't. No problem with the camper, it just felt cramped. We upgraded to a (new)2004 Jayco Jayfeather 23B. I was a hybrid. About a 23' box with pull out, canvas covered bunk ends similar to a popup camper. This was better, and I pulled it with a 2005 Toyota Tundra, Double cab, 2 wheel drive, 4.7L, with no problems.

We now have a 2019 Surveyor 241rble by Forest River, and I pull with a 2016 Silverado.

Your '08 Tundra probably has a larger engine and more tow capacity than my '05 had, so that should give some indication, if you check specs on the Jayfeather that we had, for comparison.
If you Tundra doesn't have the integrated brake controller that is built into so many newer trucks, then you will need a brake controller, There is a pigtail available for the Toyotas that makes installation much easier. A weight Distribution hitch, and depending on what you end up with, you will probably want to add a sway control bar. I never got around to it, but often wished I had.

When you get down to your short list, look online for brand specific forums, like the one we found for our Surveyor. You will get the inside information on the good, the bad and the ugly. There are some known issues with the model that we purchased, by doing our homework, we were able to verify that our unit was delivered free of those and we have been happy with it so far. This is our second year with it.

Good luck, and Happy Camping!

Louieh