Weight of options, etc

[Bill]

Camperboy -

I agree with you 100%, so I won't repeat what you said. Excess weight scares me, and I don't mean just around my waist.

I am another member of the lost-a-brake club. In my case, I lost only one TM brake, coming down the very steep road Rte 191 from Springerville to Morenci, Arizona. Beautiful scenery, beautiful road, most of it posted 10 mph. Had to rely on the Explorer to stop the rig straight and true when we came around a hairpin turn and found a cow (BIG COW!) standing broadside in the road.

On these steep downhill hairpin turns, the brakes of the tow vehicle are important (of course), but so is the wheelbase of the tow vehicle. With a short wheelbase TV, the trailer tries to take control of the tow vehicle, and push it into a tighter turn than you were steering. RockyMtnRay explained it well at

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/yabb...10955#msg10955

This has gotta be a frightening situation.

Bill

I'm looking at a 3023 with a Montana AWD, 3600 lbs. towing. I'm resolved to tow the unit fairly empty and perhaps stay away from mountains until I trade vehicles.

:'(

Many thanks for all the input!

As I suspected, though I will really do some serious math, it doesn't look like my vehicle can safely handle a TM. Very disappointing as a change in TV is not possible at this time, but the input gives me a lot of information to consider if and when I can make a change.

Happy trailering to you all.

John

Further to your question regarding bringing the TM in Canada. At Customs, you pay the GST and pay $180.00 for a permit (Can't remember the name). Then you take the permit and TM to Canadian Tire for inspection. Might be some other place in another area. I called Canadian Tire and they seemed mostly to be concerned that it had enough reflectors. Any way, said it takes about 5 minutes.
When you register the vehicle you pay the Provincial Sales tax. One more thing, if the vehicle isn't new you have to have a report from TM to say whether or not there has been any re-calls on the TM.
John

It is dissapointing, yes. However, being safe is a good thing too. Congratulations on that realization.

Perhaps you can make the numbers work for you, be it weight or dollars. I know you stated that a new TV is out the the question, but ... maybe a used TV/TM combo would fit your needs. The for sale area of the board might help, and the links to RV Trader on the home page might help. I found our TM used on the net. It's a 1990 Model 26, equivalent to today's 3023. After some TLC it's holding up well to our use. There are others who frequent the board who bought used TMs. The factory support has been great even though I'm the third owner of my unit. I'm not as found of used cars, but toy with the idea on and off since my Ranger only seats 2 comfortably.

Now, with that said there are other lightweight trailers out there. None as large and comfortable as the TM. A couple that come to mind are the Scamp (http://www.scamptrailers.com), Burro (http://www.burrotrailers.com/) and Casita (http://www.casitatraveltrailers.com/). While still "pushing" the limits of the Venture these might be a little lighter (smaller). See if they're light enough. And be careful of the frontal area rating of the Venture. It is likely around 32 sqaure feet.

Hope I have not gotten myself in hot water here.

Camperboy