Towing Capacity

+1

I appreciated David's "old school" perspective on towing. Wisdom there. Agree, that it's always ideal to have an over-capacity in towing capability despite the modest weight of our typically stocked-up Pod. And, I agree that, in a perfect world, the V-8 is ideal; with diesel being the ultimate.

I think 80% is a good figure, hard to put 500-700 pounds of stuff in an R-Pod. I have hoses, filters, some tools, grill, kitchen supplies, bedding and clothes basically. I carry heavy items in bed of truck (coolers, water, more tools). I use truck space to haul the needed items for trip vice the norm stuff I need for TT. Constantly looking at what is in Pod and eliminating the stuff I never used. I like being prepared. I have an extra fresh water hose and a couple of different sewer lines, extension cords. Mostly small light weight stuff. The stuff I don't want to remove after every trip. I try to balance front to rear and side to side, really about common sense.

I think the 80% rule is pretty reasonable.  When you're at towing capacity you are at the limit of safety.  Some people will argue that the engineers who come up with towing capacity limits throw in an X% tolerance on the high side.  That may be true, but it doesn't count legally if you have an accident.  But aside from that, if you're any kind of intelligent, reasonable person, in my opinion, of course, peace of mind is on an inverse curve to trailer weight compared to towing capacity.  As you close in on reaching the limit or going over it your need to pay attention to every little thing and your anxiety level is going to go way up.

It's the kind of thing I'd do as a one-off, short trip thing, but not as a long term solution.

TT