Quote:
Originally Posted by Cougar25
Hi Everyone
We had a Thor Siesta Sprinter for a season and decided to pursue a different path. So now we have a 2021 Ford F-150 Platinum to pull a Cougar 25RDS. Looking forward to learning from you and sharing our experiences.
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Welcome to the forum! As having BTDT with the Keystone 'half ton' and an F150, you may need to get creative and use some discretion when loading up.
Your Platinum F150 is a highly optioned vehicle which means it's heavy. Your truck's GVWR minus it's weight = available payload. The heavier the truck, the less payload.
The 25RDS has a GVWR of 8800 lbs., if fully loaded you can expect about 1100 lbs of tongue weight - which is coming right off your truck's payload.
You and other passengers, 100 lbs for a hitch and any other gear you have in the truck bed or cab will also come off the payload amount. If this adds up to more payload than your specific truck is rated for, you are overloaded.
I am not saying you will be overloaded, but you will be surprised how quickly the weight adds up. Take a look at the yellow/black/white 'Tire and Loading Information' sticker on the driver's side door pillar of your truck and see what it says for
'weight of occupants and cargo should not exceed xxx lbs'. This will give you an idea of where you stand.
I had 1873 lbs of payload on my F150, my '1/2 ton' loaded up was at 8900 lbs. After adding in tongue weight, hitch, occupants, minimal cargo in the truck and a couple of dachshunds, we had about 200 lbs to spare as I recall.
While the above gives you a general idea of where you stand, for real accuracy, I would suggest loading up fully for camping and hitting the CAT scales. Take 3 weights:
*Truck & Trailer with weight distribution hitch bars engaged
*Truck & Trailer with weight distribution hitch bars disengaged
*Truck only
You can post the results here for feedback.