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RVEagle
02-08-2020, 05:05 PM
We're looking to pick up a Cougar 34TSB in the near future and we're wondering what the actual weights encountered by 34TSB owners are. I realize that your situation/trailer will not be loaded like mine but just looking for examples of actual numbers. Using the rated weights of the trailer and the truck we would be 1000 lbs over the truck's combination weight rating. Saying that, we have never been within 1000 pounds of our trucks weight rating and I suspect we won't be within 1000 pounds of the trailers weight rating. But I'm not sure how close the trailer's stated dry weight is to real life. So, any info on what's really happening out there would be appreciated. Thanks!

flybouy
02-08-2020, 05:12 PM
The "stated weight" of the camper is dry weight from the factory. It does NOT include batteries, propane and the tanks, OR anything you put in it. What are the numbers on your truck's door pillar?

RVEagle
02-08-2020, 05:32 PM
flybouy - I know what my trucks rated and actual numbers are (rated 10,000 lbs, actual 8,080 pounds). I know the trucks combined weight rating (19,500 lbs) and the trailers rated gross weight (10,500 pounds). What I don't have a handle on is what the trailer actually weighs in real life. The 'dry weight' of the trailer is stated as 8,563 lbs. But everyone knows that's pretty far off from what it will be driving down the road.

flybouy
02-08-2020, 05:42 PM
flybouy - I know what my trucks rated and actual numbers are (rated 10,000 lbs, actual 8,080 pounds). I know the trucks combined weight rating (19,500 lbs) and the trailers rated gross weight (10,500 pounds). What I don't have a handle on is what the trailer actually weighs in real life. The 'dry weight' of the trailer is stated as 8,563 lbs. But everyone knows that's pretty far off from what it will be driving down the road.

I'm sorry I didn't answer your specific question but I'm not sure how anyone could possibly foresee what you will load into your trailer or how what ever someone else loads into theirs is even remotely relevant. I wish you all the best in getting you're answer.

sourdough
02-08-2020, 06:02 PM
You're not providing the numbers you need to know. What is the payload on the sticker in the driver door jamb? What is the axle rating front/rear? Your max tow rating is useless. If your truck actual weight is 8080 and you have a gvw of 10k you have a payload of 1920....maybe. The trailer gvw is 10,500. 10,500 x 13% = 1360. Those are just off the wall numbers without any specific information. I have always found that it would be difficult to say, no matter the circumstance, that "I'm always 1000 lbs. under limits". A scale tells that and we can't. What we can do is provide educated "guidance" based on real numbers. A little more info would help you/us.

Customer1
02-08-2020, 06:04 PM
The simplest way of doing it is to assume the trailer will be at or very near the GVWR.

RVEagle
02-08-2020, 07:39 PM
Customer1 - that IS the simplest way, since I don't own the trailer yet and can't weigh it. I've done that as stated in my original post. I'm simply looking for campers that own a Cougar 34TSB to post what their weights are. I know that their weights won't equal my weights, but it will give me a feel for how the published 34TSB weights compare to real life situations. I expect the folks posting would make anecdotal remarks about their weights, like 'this includes a 500 pound generator strapped to the back of the trailer' if pertinent. I'm not asking for folks to tell me if my truck can or cannot handle the trailer - since I don't know the weights.

sourdough
02-08-2020, 08:03 PM
Customer1 - that IS the simplest way, since I don't own the trailer yet and can't weigh it. I've done that as stated in my original post. I'm simply looking for campers that own a Cougar 34TSB to post what their weights are. I know that their weights won't equal my weights, but it will give me a feel for how the published 34TSB weights compare to real life situations. I expect the folks posting would make anecdotal remarks about their weights, like 'this includes a 500 pound generator strapped to the back of the trailer' if pertinent. I'm not asking for folks to tell me if my truck can or cannot handle the trailer - since I don't know the weights.

I hate to be sort of blunt, but your question, to me, is meaningless. How would what the weight of Joe's, Bill's, Bob's and Mary's trailer have anything to do with you?? Dry weight, for your trailer, is on the sticker on the side of the trailer...that is answered. I've looked at lots of trailer, of the same brand and model, and that "dry" weight varies by hundreds of pounds. What you put in it is....what you put in it...not Bob or Bill. "Real life" weights are YOUR scaled weights - no one else. Again, you have to go by specific weights, ON THE PLACARDS, and not some stuff you read somewhere. Yes, it IS the simplest way if you don't know "specifics" and are just trying to guess.

RVEagle
02-08-2020, 09:00 PM
Sourdough - go ahead, be blunt. I expect that the weight of Joe's, Bill's, Bob's and Mary's trailers will give me a set of weights for the trailer. From that I may be able to deduce how the real world values compare to the published values. Maybe not. This is not a life and death situation - these numbers will give me a feel. On my way home from picking my trailer up I'll stop by some scales and actually weigh my setup. From there I will determine if I have to do anything special when loading up, like if I need to tweak my weight distribution hitch, etc. I'm not making decisions based on others peoples numbers, I'm just curious. I'm trying to have a dialogue with other 34TSB owners.
Change of topic - Your post indicates you're from W. Texas. Don't know how far west you are, but I wanted to give a shout out to Lisa at the Bar-J Hitching Post RV Park in Sweetwater, Texas. We were camping there last October and I had a stroke. Lisa brought me to the Rolling Plains Hospital to get me taken care of. She's special, and the Hospital took good care of me. So, say hi to Lisa for me if you're in the area.

sourdough
02-09-2020, 07:35 AM
Not trying to be ugly, just pointing out that what someone else has isn't what you will have. If those numbers aren't really important then it's not so important. As an example; I looked at a Montana HC in Lake City FL and the dry weight was 10,8xx. I found one in Lubbock TX, appeared to be the same trailer (same model etc.), got into negotiating and had them send me a pic of the sticker on the trailer. To my surprise the dry weight on it was almost 700 lbs. heavier - same trailer, same packages. For us, we will be able to handle that difference but in many of the cases we see on here that difference can/could be dangerous.

Bar J Hitching Post in Sweetwater? I go through there all the time. It's about 90 miles from us. At that distance I've never found a need to stay in a RV park but we do quite often in Abilene. If I find my way in there I'll be sure to give Lisa a shout out. Glad you've recovered. That part of the country isn't the best place in the world to need advanced medical services on short order.

ctbruce
02-09-2020, 07:40 AM
That trailer looks like it was a new model in 2018. I could be wrong, though.
Anyway, on the website, not Tapatalk, you can search the members area to see if anyone owns this model. PM them to see if they have weighed their trailer. You may find what you're looking for better than a general ya'all come post.

RVEagle
02-09-2020, 07:55 AM
Sourdough - I know what you mean about the weights. The trailer we are looking at has the Ground Control feature but the published numbers don't take that into consideration - and that's a bunch of weight added. Waiting for the sales man to send pictures of the placard.
Rolling Plains Hospital in Sweetwater was great, but your right about lack of availability of advanced medicine on short order. The doctors wanted to run another test on me before I left but the one technician that could run the test didn't come to work that day.

MarkEHansen
02-10-2020, 02:13 PM
RVEagle - you're coming at this focused in one direction. What some folks are trying to point out (which they've learned though experience and hard-knocks) is that you really need to come at this from a different direction.

Without knowing the actual weight of your trailer - all packed up and ready for camping, the next best way to estimate it is to use the GVR. This is the Dry Weight plus the Max Cargo Capacity of the trailer, as placarded on the trailer body.

Once you have this, then you need to look at the payload sticker on your tow vehicle. That sticker will tell you the payload capacity of your truck (which is an estimate, since this is the payload when the truck left the factory).

You then can start deducting things from that payload capacity, like the tongue weight of the trailer (12-15 % of the trailer's gross weight - from above), the trailer hitch (100 or so pounds) the weight of passengers, cargo, bikes, etc., etc.

The reason you look at payload first, is it is usually exceeded before anything else. Of course, all the numbers need to be checked.

By the way, adjusting the weight distributing hitch does nothing for your payload capacity. Neither does adding air bags, etc. (in fact, added equipment is going to reduce from your available payload).

The bottom line is that until you have your trailer all loaded up for camping and on the scales, you should work with the published GVWR of the trailer and make sure your tow vehicle is capable.

Good luck in your search.

MarkEHansen
02-10-2020, 02:14 PM
Also, if the ground control was installed by the factory, then it should be included in the dry weight of the trailer. Was this added on by the dealer? I guess that's possible, but I've not seen that done.

Tuz5150
02-10-2020, 03:18 PM
Take the factory dry weight, add couple hundred lbs for propane and battery.

Mine was almost exactly as advertised 7504# fully loaded with all my wife's stuff 8610#, pin weight 1463#

The payload of your truck is the real determining factor of what you can pull. You can be under GCVWR but be over on payload, axles, tires on the truck. That door sticker is there for a reason...............

ALSO: the truck payload is when the truck is WET, full gas, oil, etc. So then deduct passengers, cargo, and hitch weight.

Most people think the only thing that matters is the gross combined weight or towing capacity.

RVEagle
02-21-2020, 05:25 PM
So we picked up our trailer today and stopped on the way home to weigh it. For all those (maybe nobody) that want to know how the actual weights compare to the published weights, here's the scoop on our trailer. It's a 2020 Cougar 34TSB. The weight published online with the listing for the trailer was a Dry Weight of 8,563 pounds. The weight on the placard on the side of the trailer was 8,680 pounds. This weight is qualified by the information that it is calculated with the fresh water tanks full (cold water - 451 pounds and hot water - 50 pounds). I filled my truck up with gas at the scales prior to picking up the trailer and after picking up the trailer - both times prior to weighing (this allows me to get an accurate tongue weight). The actual weight of the trailer, including the tongue weight, was 9,160 pounds. There was nothing in the trailer. No water in the tanks. There was a battery, and the propane tanks were full. One item to consider when comparing the published weights to the actual weight is the presence of a Ground Control TT system. This is supposed to add about 480 pounds to the trailer. I would have thought, since it was added at the factory, that it would be represented on the placard. Note the trailers GVWR is 10,500 pounds, but the max weight capacity of the Ground Control TT is 10,000 pounds. Of course your numbers will be different, but this gives you a feel for how it might go.

sourdough
02-21-2020, 05:34 PM
Thanks for the update; seems you will have a much better handle on the numbers with the trailer in hand....don't forget where that scale is...:)

CaptnJohn
02-23-2020, 09:53 AM
As you found out published weights are bogus. They don’t include the hitch either. I’ve always thought if you take 13% for a TT and 20% for a 5er of the gvwr you will be close on the tongue or pin weight.

Keystoned
02-23-2020, 10:04 AM
Do not believe tongue weights or even use assumed % estimates either. Load it up to the max you might travel at, including the tow vehicle and go to the scales for the facts. You might have to reinvest in hitches and such if you want to be safe...