Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Now I know this is a really vague and open-ended question, but we are in the process of selling our house in Florida. We intend to get rid of much of our stuff, but will still have a medium amount to store. After closing, we intend to load up the house, and put it into storage for several months while we travel around and make the decision on what to buy. At first I thought of "Pods", we used them before, but their storage fees are now getting crazy. Then considered buying on of those shipping containers and while cheap, the moving of it is both a hassle and expensive. Then it finally hit me this morning, why not just buy a Cargo Trailer? Looking on ebay and finding new 24' units for under $4k, that isn't bad.

We figure we will need something in the 20-26' range. Would use it initially to load, store and move the household goods, but then later, if needed, use it as a workshop. So, for all of you that have these type of units, about what is the general unloaded weight (like super ballpark). I'm seeing torsion axles in the 3,500# range (duals) up to 5,000# range. Also, what would you pull it with? Would a 1/2 ton work or need 3/4 ton. Remember, this won't be towed alot and not converted to a camper. My nephews have their various pickups of all sizes, just trying to get ideas on the size needed. My old F150 had a 10,000# tow capacity.

Finally, anyone else using one as a workshop? It looks lots better than a shipping container, that is for sure, but a bit less width.

dave

look at any of the cargo trailer mfg's sites and you'll get a good idea of the sizes and capacities of them. One concern about storing your life in a cargo trailer is where you'll be securing it and making sure someone can't drive away with everything you own.

some weight info here as an example.

http://www.cargocraftinc.com/georgia/explorer.php

Our NEO 7x16x7 was 1870 lbs unloaded with spare tire.

Check mfr's website for specs. In the case of NEO, http://www.neotrailers.com

Hope this helps.

My 8x16 trailer weighs 2800lbs dead empty.

I know when it's loaded up with the ATVs, water, everything else that there is no way I would want to tow it with a half ton truck. Not so much because of the weight, probably around >6k total, but because of the wind and other environmental factors (I also live at high altitude).

FWIW, I'm also paranoid about tow capacity. I've seen too many people fall for these "half-ton towable" fifth wheels and travel trailers only to use them once or twice and then take a bath selling them because they thought their half-ton truck would be able to haul those monsters over the mountains with ease. The reality is that driving up a mountain highway at 30mph and your transmission smoking is no fun. I'm sure this isn't a factor in Florida, I'm just sharing my experience.

Remember, just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Good advice! Just back from a road trip up North. Saw too many very large trailers being pulled behind half tons. These RV sales guys really are doing a disservice to some folks who have not done their homework.

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Jscwerve wrote:Remember, just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Indeed, words to live by.

McDave

The company I work for has field test teams that work out of trailers while on the road testing. They use trailers from 16 foot bumper pulls to 53 foot double decked NASCAR type trailers. The big ones have diesel generators, air compressors, welders, overhead hoists etc. The small ones will use a portable generator or plug into a landline if available. All of them have a heat source and the big ones have air conditioning. They are used from Thompson Manitoba to NW Arizona. Some of them spend a great deal of time on frozen lakes.

They can definitely be used as a shop, just depends on what kind of workshop you need/want?

Oh yeh, pickups are all 3/4 ton or 1 ton HDs. Bigger ones are pulled by semi tractors.

McDave wrote:

Jscwerve wrote:Remember, just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Indeed, words to live by.

McDave

DITTO. I've been looking at new 3/4 ton trucks for the very same reason. Been in one to many TV's that were overloaded. You could feel it rolling down the road.


Martin

Yeah, I've pretty much realized that 3/4 ton would be the minimum size. Various nephews and nieces have friends with these type of vehicles, but I think I found the answer to loaded transportation through a service called uship (or something like that). I'll be checking it out more in the future, but with them it looks like a tow by a real driver is very reasonable. If I go this route, I found several locations in Georgia, I guess are the mfgs, so I would probably pull the empty back to my home with my neighbor's 1/2 ton. I've towed lots of stuff and used my old F150 to pull my 25' TT many thousands of miles without a hickup. That empty pull would be about 250 miles, flat land, no biggie. In continuing investigation I've seen that something like a 8x24 (steel frame) runs around 3,500# empty. Does that sound about right?

I'm downsizing alot, so my "workshop" idea is to drop down to about 1/2 the size I presently have (14x28). Plus, with smaller that means I don't have to use much of the space to store my kids various boxes of crap they forgot about years ago.

thank you all for the info and help on this

dave