From looking at FR's specs the battery is not included as it is not listed as being provided.  Options are not included either, which is clear because FR lists the weights for each one so you can add them. If you add all the factory options except the awning its 218 lbs. Plus say dual GC2 batteries at 130 lbs, plus a better mattress at an additional say 20 lbs, plus the unusable 6 gallons of water in the heater at 50 lbs, and you're adding 418 lbs, before you even put any gear or supplies in there or water in the fresh water tank.

On a 179 like mine with a full fresh water tank you've got about 370 lbs to play with, Add 40 lbs for axle reinforcement and 20 for 15 inch tires and wheels and there's just about 300 left before you max out the trailer. But I suspect FR's numbers are a bit optimistic, my trailer seems to be around a couple of hundred pounds heavier than listed, but I didn't strip it entirely before I weighed it so I could be wrong. 

The good news is the tongue weight on a loaded 179 is about 250 lbs more than FR claims, so you end up with some headroom on the axle to load up with your weight distribution hitch (needed to help balance out the high tongue load).   

And this is why many people knowledgeable about RV towing recommend using about 80% of the towing vehicle allowed trailer max weight and use that figure as a guideline for the allowable towing weight, and this relates back to another recent and relevant thread about a Metris van towing an r-pod.

Originally posted by GlueGuy I would argue that the weight of the tires is unsprung weight, so does not contribute to the axle load; at least not directly.

Certainly all of the mass of the wheels and tires is not pressing down on the axle...how could it?

Of course they DO contribute to the rolling mass of the trailer, but maybe not the weight that is resting upon the axle. (except of course, the spare, so 1/3rd of the 3 tires and wheels IS resting on the axle, sort of)

But I'm guessing all of that is figured into the GAWR somehow.

I'm pretty sure that the propane tank is included in the weight for  both years since it is on the list of standard features in the marketing literature. The battery is not. The 2016 literature specifically says that the propane fuel and tank are included. The 2015 literature doesn't say that. So, I think the 19 lbs difference between the empty weights of the two model years is probably the difference between an empty and a full propane tank.  

My actual weight matches the marketing literature exactly, which is why I was assuming they disn't measure the actual trailer. Too much coincidence that the numbers would match to the pound. The 2015 literature only says they measure every "model" not every trailer. 

Yours is 40 lbs less than the marketing literature, so perhaps they did start to measure actual weights in 2016. Hard to know, but I suppose someone could call FR and ask them. In any event, in my opinion the bottom line for everyone is that they should weigh their trailers as loaded for their normal use at least once, and not assume the trailer weight and tongue weight based on either the label or the product literature. 

http://www.forestriverinc.com/brochures/2015/2015rpodbrochure.pdf - http://www.forestriverinc.com/brochures/2015/2015rpodbrochure.pdf

http://www.forestriverinc.com/brochures/2016/2016rpodbrochure.pdf - http://www.forestriverinc.com/brochures/2016/2016rpodbrochure.pdf

The stickers on the side of ours say:

Dry weight:    2860

GVWR:           3785

Max Cargo:       908

That makes a difference of 17 lbs unaccounted for.

The UVW went up quite a bit on the 2017's in appears. I have no idea why. GlueGuy, there was an additional optional item in 2017, which is the electric jack, did yours come with that (I put it in the table for now)? Also, there should presumably be a weight adder for the Hood River edition for yours but I can't find a number in the product literature for that.