Weighing in at.... We Take our Rockwood GeoPro 19fbs to the Scales
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- Опубліковано 27 лис 2020
- This week we finally took our Rockwood GeoPro 19fbs to a CAT scale to find out what it weighs. In this video, we discuss what weights are needed, show you the process we went through at the scale and discuss the final numbers and what they all mean. We also let you know what we typically have in the camper so you can compare to yours.
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*This video is for entertainment purposes only as we are not RV experts. We are sharing our thoughts and ideas based on our experiences but we always recommend doing your own research and coming to your own conclusions on your camping and RV needs!
I’m finding the tongue weights to be way off of what is published by the manufacturer. I drove across the cat scales and determined my tongue was 860 pounds actual weight (empty trailer except for having two batteries and two propane tanks) vs 450 dry or 580 loaded on the published weights. This only leaves me with 160 of truck payload left after had two adults and full gas in the truck. I’m waiting for parts for my distribution hitch to hopefully shift more weight back onto the trailer axles.
Wow! That is a big difference on the tongue weight - especially with nothing in storage. Ours with the lithium battery on the tongue and one propane tank full is running 600-625 depending on what is in storage. Curious to know what the weight hitch will change it to!
Great idea to always get weighed and know your numbers!
Yes it is! And it is surprisingly fun to do!
Helpful video and I love seeing your doggie ! 😁
Thank you for watching! And we do love the little guy - he so enjoys travelling!
This is helpful. I'm starting the shopping process (trailer and tow vehicle) and after doing some bar napkin math with the GeoPro specs, I'm finding that tongue weight may be my ultimate driver in the decision process.
Yes - we started camping with a Class C so we weren't familiar with many of these terms. After researching when we decided to switch to the GeoPro, we found out how many things come into play! And, the tongue weight on the Forest River spec pages doesn't tell the full story as it doesn't include the battery(ies) and the propane. It adds up quick! Thanks for watching.
Thanks for the clear and comprehensive video. Your numbers showed you moved 60lbs to the front axle of your truck and 40lbs to the trailer axle from the rear axle with the WDH. The 600lb tongue weight you showed was with your WDH installed. Can you calculate the tongue weight without it installed? I’m assuming it’s probably close to 100lbs heavier? Geometry may dictate it to be a little different. Thanks for pointing out that the hitch weight on Forest Rivers site probably doesn’t include propane. But the largest cargo areas is right up front... The UVW on their site specifically says that it includes LP... you would think the tongue weight would also include two full tanks.... Of course, if you’ve loaded up the front cargo area , most of that weight will be on your tongue with very little being carried by the trailer axles because of its distance from the axle... Thanks!
@@michaelfulcher5743 Thanks for watching! We do plan on doing another weigh this year as we are going to be adding another battery. When we do the second weigh, we were going to remove the WDH as it is fairly heavy so curious to see the impact. Definitely will be using it - makes a big difference in towing but it’s interesting to see all the numbers. When we do, we will do an updated video.
For the propane - I saw some talk on Facebook and someone had received a response from Forest River that it does include the propane but I believe the tongue weights have changed with the newer models so that may be part of the change. Hard to get a definitive answer anywhere so weighing it is always the best option! Thanks again and safe travels!
Thanks! Good to know about the hitch weight discrepancy.
Thank you for watching! We do have an updated video on the weight fully packed we released this week. That tongue weight keeps growing haha!
Why don't you redistribute the weight further back to lower the tongue weight?
@@ErikS308 we have moved some but with these single axle trailers - very little room behind the axles. And no bumpers either. And careful not to introduce sway so it’s always a game of chess with moving things around!
great vid! i needed the info!
Glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching!
One of the reasons I'm considering a Winnebago Micro Minnie. They come with a twin axle and have a cargo carry capacity of around 1500Lbs and some models going up to 2200Lbs CCC for a 21ft trailer.
Yes - the two axles do allow for the additional cargo which is nice! We were limited at the time by a smaller truck or may have looked to have gone a bit bigger/heavier ourselves.
I had a 1 inch hitch installed.on my 19 ft geo-pro and I have a small deck box that slides in to the receiver to store my accessories and extra battery to bring my hitch weight down to around 350 lbs
Hmmm. Really thinking about this for a little extra storage. Know it voids the frame warranty but at this point, may be worth it. How long have you had it?
2nd camping season almost 3000 miles tows great behind 2016 f150
Good to know! Thank you!
Fluids are heavy, Fresh water weighs 8.33 lbs/gal. If you are carrying 10 gallons of water you are adding 83 lbs of weight. Remembering to keep 5% to 15% of the weight of the trailer on the tongue for stability you can load some heavy materials behind the axles to reduce the tongue weight. The problem is that you have very little space behind the axles to load stuff. A Friend has welded a frame to which he has bolted a Generator to the back of his trailer that effectively lowered his tongue weight. Other than that it appears you are way below the maximum capacity of the trailer as far as weight inside. You may want to consider putting stronger springs on the rear of your truck to add to the load capacity of the truck and help keep more weight on the front for stability and control. This will not change the official load capacity, but will add to the actual capacity.
Yes - fluids are very heavy! We always make sure that the black/gray are empty and only travel with a small amount of fresh to get us from one stop to the next. This last time we had been somewhere with no water hookup and just hadn't emptied it yet. And agree on the limited space behind the axle. We are going to try and load some heavier food items in a box in the shower but that axle is right there by that door. Thanks for the tip on the generator frame and the springs on the truck! Have been thinking of that addition to the truck. Thanks for watching and safe travels!
Great videos. We are just downsizing from a 26 ft Cougar to a 2022 Geo Pro 29fds.
Regarding the concern with tongue weight, you may want to consider installing Firestone Airbags (2445) in your Tundra. Install would be easy for you. I can share some install tips if you are interested.
Congrats on the new camper! And we have looked at adding airbags - and would very much appreciate some tips! We were looking to do some upgrades on the Tundra this year. Thanks!
Pay attention to your water weight and where it rides, especially when boondocking. Full fresh water on the way to a boondocks site will definitely add pounds. On the return to a dump station that water weight will be distributed differently.
Hi Anne! Thanks for the views and comments! We are currently working on our next boondocking episode and have limited cell and no internet. But we promise will be back soon with answers to any questions you had! Thanks again and have a great rest of the week!!
Good point! We leave a little (less than 1/3) for travel days and always fill up and find a dump station as close to where we are staying as we can.
I have the 19FD. How does human weight while camping figure into everything? I"ve always wondered that.
We were wondering that as well as we dived deeper into our research. From what I have read, there is a SCWR - which is the sleeping capacity weight rating (number of sleeping positions * 154 lbs) which is factored in to the GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating). Thanks for watching!
We've got a 2021 Toyota HIghlander with the V6. I'm wondering if we'll be able to safely and easily pull this camper with it. This camper is the one we really want.
We originally pulled this with a V6 truck and while it did pull it, it struggled some on hills and we hesitated to take it to the mountains. We upgraded to the V8 Tundra about 2 months after purchasing the camper. And the tongue weight on these campers when loaded with cargo is often in the high 500’s -600’s. Not sure what type of tow package is on the highlander and what it’s ratings are but we would recommend researching not only towing capacity but also tongue weight and payload capacity to see if you will be within those as well. Good luck!
What is your payload of the Tundra? Usually you run out of room with payload before towing weight capacity with newer 1/2 tons.
Agreed. We have to keep a close eye - it’s about 1500lbs. Thanks for watching.
Can you list the front and rear axle weights for the truck with and without the WDH?
I had researched online the steps to get the tongue weight so these are the steps and weights we got. The first weigh was with the WDH fully hooked up and the steer axle was 2800 lbs, drive axle was 3340 lbs. The second weigh was just the truck - steer was 3020 and drive 2560. The third was the trailer hooked up but no weight bars attached - 2740 and 3440. We are thinking of going back and doing another weigh with no weight bars at all just to see what the difference is but we alway use the WDH. This is the website I used to give me the process - learntorv.com/weigh-rv/ Thanks for watching!
Love your videos, your sound is lower when sitting on your patio. Might try a microphone.
Thank you for watching! Yes - this was one of our earlier videos and have since invested in some wireless microphones! So much to learn haha!
Very good info, is that your dog across the planter?
Thanks for watching and yes, yes it is lol. He can always find a spot to kick back!
I am watching this 2 years after it was posted. I am considering purchasing one of these campers. A used one. It does not seem to have any evidence of having a weight distribution hitch installed. Do you remember roughly what the cost was for the complete installation of the hitch assembly? I will be pulling with a Silverado 1500 with the 5.3l v8. Thanks in advance for a reply.
Hi! Thanks for the watch! So we bought the Fastway E2 off Amazon and then installed ourselves following the instructions. Then we had our mechanic verify the bolts were all torqued correctly.
But, there are other brands of WDH (curt, blue ox, equalizer...). Think install pricing would depend on the area you live and if you have a mechanic that can install? Or if you are buying it used from a dealer they should be able to. Or, it was a pretty straight forward process. It was the first time Troy had installed one (prior to the channel). A few references back and forth to the instructions and all went smoothly!
Isn’t there a general rule that says you NEVER EVER reduce tongue weight by rear loading a trailer? Doesn’t that cause instant stability problems?
Yes and it’s not a bad thing to be close to the gvw either. They aren’t going to put a number on it that the moment you come close the trailer is going to fall apart and a heavy trailer gets blown around by wind a lot less.
What is the GVWR of you trailer? From the Forest River website it seems it is 4,374 (UVW +CCC), which appears to be more than you are using in your calculations. Thanks.
Ours is a 2019 and according to the tag on the side it is right at 3900 lbs GVWR. The newest models have some different items (mainly the fridge) and I am not sure what other changes to allow for the additional 400 lbs. But looking up the 2019 (and I believe the 2020), they were right at 3900 lbs GVWR. It would be nice to have that extra 400!
Thanks.
Can you relocate the battery more towards the rear of the camper?
Unfortunately not or at least not easily. The rear does not have a bumper. If we switch to lithium, much less weight and we can move inside but the only thing behind the axle (to help with tongue weight) is the bathroom and fridge so not sure where we could install that would help with that. Thanks for watching!
Never load heavy in the rear. It causes trailer sway.
Agreed - its important to make sure the camper is properly loaded front and back to prevent sway! There is so much to towing beyond the tow capacity but starting at a scale to see your numbers is very enlightening! Thanks for watching.
@@WinesPinesandCanines Always load lighter in the rear. It can't be an equal balance. Heavy loads in the rear causes sway. Always load heavier towards the front.
ua-cam.com/video/6mW_gzdh6to/v-deo.html
Agree - that is a good video to watch - have seen it around for a number of years! And agree that it is very important to have the camper properly loaded. When weighing the camper, if tongue weight is too low (below the recommended 10-15%) then there is too much loaded in the rear of the camper and that increases sway as show on the video. But too high of a tongue weight can interfere with braking and control. So we like to weigh to make sure our tongue weight is within recommendations. If not - we adjust how we packed the camper and re weigh to make sure we are good and properly loaded :).
Also the center of
air pressure along the side on the box needs to be factored in at the factory in the design phase.
What is the axle rating on these Geo Pros?
miss linda your audio is low when you were on your porch
Yes :( This was one of our earlier videos and since then have learned the benefit of wireless mics! I do apologize. Thank you for watching!
I know this is an old video but it struck me when you said you'd put the cooler in the truck from now on due to weight concerns. I don't understand what difference this would make since the max recommended payload/tow weight needs to include any weight put on the vehicle in any way. So our vehicle has a 5000 tow weight limit but we have to count people riding in the vehicle, anything packed in the vehicle as well as anything we're pulling behind the vehicle.
Hi! It wasn’t our towing capacity (our truck has a towing limit of approx 10,000 lbs) but the gross weight of the camper. Our year (newer 19fbs’s have a higher gross weight than ours - not sure why) has a gross weight of approx 3900 lbs and we are always right near the limit in the camper. The cooler can be pretty heavy so moving it to the truck helps keep our camper within its 3900 weight limit. Hope that helps!
@@WinesPinesandCanines I see, I misunderstood or didn't listen well. We are just now talking about getting a small camper so I'm trying to figure it all out. I just watched your video on the changes you made to your newer camper and it was so enlightening. Good job!
@@vzeimen Thank you! We have learned so much about all the different weight limits and towing since getting this camper 3 years ago. There is always something new to learn with these campers we are finding out haha! But that is part of the fun. Thanks for watching - we truly appreciate.
Are the holding tanks near the rear of the trailer...if so if the fresh water tank was full would this take some weight off the front on the trailer?
The grey and black tanks are to the back but the fresh water is to the front unfortunately. So, traveling with fresh adds to the tongue and total weight.
I’ve got to ask, is your pup a Russian Tsvetnaya Bolonka?
Oh and thanks for the video! We’d considered this but am now reconsidering (sigh) as we have a Toyota Highlander (5k tow) and the tongue/hitch wt will hurt us for sure!
Hi - thanks for watching! Close - he's actually a Havanese but I think they are related/very similar.
Yes - some of the geopro/epro line are a little smaller and have a lower tongue weight but consistently ours has always run between 600 and 650 lbs. The total weight of ours - 3900lbs we were able to pull with our first tundra (5200 towing limit) but we didn't want it to struggle in the mountains.
Using the app is very easy. No need to go inside.
Good to know! Thanks!
Is that normal for the weight of truck to change with and without the trailer? Second question, I am in process of purchased the 2023 Geo Pro 19FDS, and it looks like we have the same truck. So how does the Tundra handle the Geo Pro? My old RV as 26' and I had no issue with it towing in Western NC and West Virginia.
It is - tongue weight changes which affects payload of the vehicle.
But the tundra does great! We really don’t even feel it back there. We have taken it all over this country and to elevations above 8000 feet with no issues!
You will find that tall boxy especially single axle RVs by design go for high tongue weights. Why? Simple stability. People drive way too fast with tall boxy trailers that need way more than the basic generic 10% rule.
Interesting! Know the single axle typically have the higher tongue weight as much of the weight is in front of the axle. Thanks for watching!
I was listening to your weights your quoting for your 19fbs. I think your weights are off. Look closely at the sticker on your camper. I have a 20bhs which is very similar to yours. The 3900 lb number is your GAWR Gross Axle Weight Rating. Your GVWR is closer to 4374lbs. Your CCC is around 1084lbs. The GAWR rating is the weight the axle carries. It’s assuming the hitch of your truck carries the remainder of the GVWR. You can actually carry 1084lbs extra not 400. Of course you still have to be careful not to over do the tongue weight your truck will handle. Nice camper though. I wish they had a receiver hitch on the back!
Thanks for watching! It is actually strange but the newer 2021 models for the 19fbs have a higher weight capacity when I look now on the Forest River page vs when I bought it (they just had quite a few changes in these) - not sure why but that is good for new owners for sure! But on our sticker, the gross vehicle weight is right at 3900 lbs unfortunately. Someone else had commented so I looked up on the current specs and the new ones do have the increased CCC. But - just means I have to pack smartly and with a small camper that is a good thing! And yes - tongue weight is often overlooked and I also wish they had a receiver on the back! Would be nice to carry a generator there.
@@WinesPinesandCanines The 2023 19FBS now has a 2" receiver on the back, with a 300 pound weight limit.
Yes! We just saw a new model and are working on that video right now. Great upgrade by Forest River. Thanks for watching!
Get the CAT app. Way easier
I agree! Having to go back and forth each time got tedious. Definitely will have the app next time!
What is your gas average mileage from your Tundra with the trailer?
Hi! We get about 10mpg pulling through camper. 18 without. Thanks for watching!
@@WinesPinesandCanines yikes! Thank you
How’s the comfort of your size of mattress for a couple
So the mattress that comes with the camper is a standard queen (60x80). And we have slept on it that way. But it just felt too tight with one side up against the wall. We have another video where because of the layout of our camper, we do a quick conversion with plywood that slides out from under the mattress and allows us to sleep with our heads towards the front window. That makes the queen into a king size.
@@WinesPinesandCanines Is the mattress the same size as the geo pro 20?
The 20FBS? (There is also a 20BH I believe). The 20FBS has a full so smaller than the one we have. But, with the open sides it may feel bigger and give more room than ours tucked up in the front.
@@WinesPinesandCanines How do you keep your trailer from movement inside since you can’t put a chock in a single axle .
We use some DIY stabilizers we built that work really well! (They have been around for a while - wish we had come up with them lol). We did a video back in late summer / fall of 2022 I believe. If you cant find it let us know!
Idk why you are acting like these numbers are bad lol. I drive a semi and i can tell You for a fact a loaded heavy trailer is more stable and safe then a light trailer that is being blown around as long you are under the safety rating for you tire and axles (these numbers are always conservative though you should follow them) and six hundred pounds tongue weight isn’t unreasonable and probably completely within your trucks ability idk why you would want to shift weight to the back and make it less stable.
Hi - thanks for watching! So, yes - our truck can handle both the weight and the tongue weight with no issues. Back when we made the video, these campers had only been out for a few years. And the tongue weight listed at the factory is around 450 lbs so they are popular with vehicles that have a tow limit of 5000 lbs / 500 lb tongue weight. So, people were surprised to find how quickly those tongue weights can climb in these single axle campers!