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In This Episode
With acronyms and names like GVR, GVWR, GAWR, Dry Weight, and more, things can get confusing. Adding to the confusion is these numbers are found in different places on the trailer, online, and in the brochures. Yikes! PJ is here to help us wrap our heads around the madness!
What the brochure DOESN’T tell you!
The first question if you are looking for a new travel trailer is “Can I tow this?”
While it seems like a pretty simple question, determining the answer can seem complicated!
Let’s assume you have researched the towing capacity of your vehicle. For some, it’s a simple glance into the manual, but for others, you need to know style, trim, axle ratio, etc.. but for now, we will assume you have a true towing capacity. With that number in mind, you head out to find the perfect travel trailer for your upcoming adventures. If you look online or in a brochure, you will see every trailer’s UVW, often called a dry weight. Your first thought might be, “Wow! I can tow that!” And maybe you can. And maybe you can’t. You need to find out how much it will weigh going down the road, and that isn’t it.
UVW or Dry Weight = Unloaded Vehicle Weight = The weight of the trailer without water, propane, or any options included from the factory. This weight definitely does not include you or your stuff! Why do they publish such a deceiving number? Because all they care about is selling a trailer, right? Well, not really. If you really want to compare apples to apples, you have to start from the same place. The dry weight of a travel trailer tells you what that trailer weighs before you add a tank of water, since all tanks aren’t the same size, and you might not travel with water. Options like an air conditioner, generator, microwave or TV may or may not be in your trailer, so no options are included. The dry weight listed in the brochure, unless it is stated otherwise, won’t include any of these things. The average trailer has 300 – 700 lbs of options, so while this number gives you a ballpark, it will not be useful unless this trailer is substantially lower than your tow vehicle capacity, in which case, you probably didn’t give it a second thought.
Now you’re on the dealer’s lot, and you look for a sticker. The first sticker you will notice will be on the outside of the trailer, generally on the driver’s side. It will look like this:
Along with the VIN #, you will find…… and the GVWR.
GVWR = Gross Vehicle Weight Rating = The total weight that your trailer can legally weigh with every single piece of equipment, fuel, batteries, clothes, household items, etc. Basically, the total weight of EVERYTHING when you get ready to roll down the street. Now if you are close to you GVWR with all of your gear and then decide to invite a few friends over for dinner, don’t worry, your trailer is not going to collapse! (We get this question a lot!) As long as you are not towing it down the road, a little extra weight (within reason) won’t hurt a thing.
This is an important number for shoppers but not the one that will tell you whether this is the right trailer for you.
Yes, there’s some debate on this, and I’ve heard people say that if numbers aren’t your thing, just go by the GVWR and be sure your vehicle can tow more than that. Hmmm. Let me just say, you don’t have to be an engineer to figure it out. Let’s move on to the next number.
Yellow Sticker! Yellow stickers are located in entry door jam or on the edge or front of the door.
It will include
- Cargo Carrying Capacity
- Weight of full load of fresh water
- Some stickers have additional information or explanation of weight.
So… Can you subtract the carrying capacity from the GVWR and get the weight of the trailer? Let’s look at some examples:
Outdoors RV – Creekside 21RD
- GVWR – 7250 lbs On Exterior sticker)
- Full Feature Dry Weight – 5285 lbs (in brochure)
- Carrying Capacity – 1146 lbs (On door sticker)
- Full Water – 649 lbs (on doorsticker)
It stands to reason that the GVWR minus the carrying capacity should equal the weight of the trailer, right? Technically, that’s true!
While the Dry weight says “Full Feature”, it might not have EVERY option, and it will not include the propane, batteries, and of course, a full fresh water tank. Once you add all that up, you will have 1146 lbs left to carry stuff!
Lance 1995 –
- GVWR – 5700 (also says carrying capacity 857 lbs. Calculated with full water of 423 lbs.)
- Gross Dry Weight – 4265 Lbs, .Cargo Carrying Capacity 1435 Lbs. (on brochure)
- Carrying Capacity – 857 lbs.- (on door sticker
- Full Water – 423 lbs. – “The full load of water equals 423 lbs of cargo. The weight of this recreational vehicle trailer as completed at the factory with full propane cylinders and full generator fuel if applicable is 4843 lbs.” (on door sticker)
So while the carrying capacity on the brochure is 1435 lbs, that would be a basic trailer, just like the dry weight. You have to add options and the propane and water to really calculate the carrying capacity. Lance gives a pretty good explanation on the door sticker, but that’s not always the case!
R-pod – 192
- GVWR – 4840 lbs (on exterior sticker)
- UVW – 3449 lbs (on brochure)
- Carrying Capacity – 1346 lbs. A full load of water equals 299 lbs of cargo (door sticker)
- Dry Weight: 3477 lbs – (on additional door sticker)
On the website, if you click on the “specifications definitions” that’s listed under the specs, the spell out the details…
UVW (Unloaded Vehicle Weight)* – is the typical weight of the unit as manufactured at the factory. It includes all weight at the unit’s axle(s) and tongue or pin and LP Gas. The UVW does not include cargo, fresh potable water, additional optional equipment or dealer installed accessories.
*Estimated Average based on standard build optional equipment.
CCC (Cargo Carrying Capacity) ** – is the amount of weight available for fresh potable water, cargo, additional optional equipment and accessories. CCC is equal to GVWR minus UVW. Available CCC should accommodate fresh potable water (8.3 lbs per gallon). Before filling the fresh water tank, empty the black and gray tanks to provide for more cargo capacity.
**Estimated Average based on standard build optional equipment.
Each Forest River RV is weighed at the manufacturing facility prior to shipping. A label identifying the unloaded vehicle weight of the actual unit and the cargo carrying capacity is applied to every Forest River RV prior to leaving our facilities.
So how much does this trailer really weigh? Well… there’s some math involved, but it’s fair to say on an R-Pod, you’re going to have to either be way above the dry weight, or do a fair amount of math on options and water to figure it out!
