We're looking at purchasing a travel trailer for some future vacations. I've got a 2014 eco boost f150 fx4 to tow with. We're not looking for anything abnormally large, just enough to sleep around 4-6 people. Been looking online at brand reviews. IYO, what are the better brands we should be looking at? Also, we live in Houston. What are some good dealerships to work with?

I'm literally in the same boat as you. 150 ecoboost, looking for medium sized trailer, not too big, and live in Houston.

I think Jayco, Forrest River, Keystone all make "decent" trailers with high variability in the individual trailer being a lemon.
Grand Design, Heartland, and maybe KZ might be a notch higher in quality.

For half ton truck, I'm looking for:
<7,000# weight
<32' total length
<850# hitch weight

I'd like to see what others have to say.

trueaggie2782 said:

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We're looking at purchasing a travel trailer for some future vacations. I've got a 2014 eco boost f150 fx4 to tow with. We're not looking for anything abnormally large, just enough to sleep around 4-6 people. Been looking online at brand reviews. IYO, what are the better brands we should be looking at? Also, we live in Houston. What are some good dealerships to work with?

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We live in Cedar Park and ended up driving to Lone Star RV on 45 North of the city to buy a Jayco 5th wheel there. This was back in August 2020, so we were able to haggle with them in the price a little bit. We ended up walking away happy with the deal we got and overall pretty happy with the 5th wheel. Jan was our salesman and he went the extra mile for us, to the point that on the day we took delivery he drove to Corpus and back to pick up a hitch for us.

Demontrond RV is just about right across the highway from them. Haven't been there, but see a lot of their commercials during the Astros games.

Bonus for both of these places is that Wings N More is one exit up from Lone Star.

Edit to add: we have had two Jayco and one Springdale. I wouldn't buy a Springdale again. We feel the Jaycos are a little nicer.

Edit 2: Grand Design also makes some nice campers too.

There is a saying about the number of people in travel trailers "entertain 6, feed 4, sleep 2"

We bought a Grand Design in August 2020. I did a bit of research prior to pulling the trigger. I looked at 3 in particular. GD, Dutchman, and Starcraft, in that order. We drove from Brazos Co. to Rockport and bought from Camper Clinic but they have now become part of the Explore USA family. Great dealer but I'm not sure they changed with the name. The biggest thing about your dealer is service after the sale. Make no mistake, you will need service of some type.

I agree with Drillbit's specs. I drive a 1/2 ton V8 and pull a TT that shows 6,995#. It does fine, even in west Texas. This is a handy tool to use and others have come up with spreadsheets to calculate. Towing calculator

I used this article and researched from there. Don't buy! There are a couple in the list I might consider, however. I would have loved to bought from RV Station here locally but they didn't sell Grand Design. I've heard the dealer in Navasota is a good one also.

Good luck with your search. We take ours out at least monthly and sometimes more often.

Parents just bought a KZ Connect SE. there was no movement on price.. only thing they threw in was a 42" Vizio TV. My mom wanted a "separate" bedroom in case one of the grand kids wants to nap


https://www.kz-rv.com/products/connect-se-travel-trailers/C241BHKSE.html

Bought a GD 22 MLE from Sherrod RV, hands down best pricing within 800 miles of Houston

Hadn't heard of Sherrod, would have been closer than Rockport. I've also heard/read good things about Lloyd's RV over that direction.

I have a 2019 Starcraft Mossy Oak 24 ODK and I've been happy with the build quality.
It has double size bunks and an RV queen. The slide has a dinette that converts to a bed so you can comfortably sleep 5. If you put two kids in each bunk you can sleep 7.
It can feed 4 comfortably at the dinette. As far as entertaining…well it's for camping.
I tow it with a half ton F150 5.0 and load distribution hitch.

I've also been looking for about a year just comparing. Looking to be less than 28 ft with double axles. KZ is sounding pretty good for what I want. My big suggestion would be make sure where you buy from can do repairs.

The Black Series Camper just entered the US from Australia. Hell, I've never wanted a trailer, but I'm thinking about the HQ22.

PPL dealer in Houston has a good selection of used models. I'd recommend something very lightly used to avoid taking the big depreciation hit.

RO519 said:

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There is a saying about the number of people in travel trailers "entertain 6, feed 4, sleep 2"

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I feel like mine is the opposite. I have a murphy bed, a u-shaped dinette slide out, and full over full bunk. I can sleep 8, but it gets crowded with more than 5 inside during the day.

I pulled a 31' 6,200lb trailer with a half ton. Even with a sway bar and sway control hitch it was miserable. Also expect 6-7 mpg. I'd look at a hybrid or upgrading your truck

trueaggie2782 said:

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IYO, what are the better brands we should be looking at? Also, we live in Houston.

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Escape
Scamp
Casita (will not sleep 6 however)
Oliver
Lance

mwlkr said:

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The Black Series Camper just entered the US from Australia. Hell, I've never wanted a trailer, but I'm thinking about the HQ22.

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Neighbors just bought one of these. Completely agree with you here

Only thing I ever consider adding in these threads is I am begging y'all to look at your payload capacity. I hate to break it to y'all but us 1/2 ton truck drivers get overloaded quickly. When that happens, and any type of an accident occurs regardless of fault if you are found to be overweight they will come down on you hard.

My f150 had a payload capacity of 1705lbs, that's slightly higher than your average supercrew f150. The number always ignored is payload capacity, your truck should not be pulling 10,000 lb trailers regardless of what the camper dealer will tell you. I would be shocked if most F150's are able to legally tow some of these 7,000lb trailers when you consider the rest of the items that take up payload capacity.

I was just about to post something similar.

ForeverAg said:

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Only thing I ever consider adding in these threads is I am begging y'all to look at your payload capacity. I hate to break it to y'all but us 1/2 ton truck drivers get overloaded quickly. When that happens, and any type of an accident occurs regardless of fault if you are found to be overweight they will come down on you hard.

My f150 had a payload capacity of 1705lbs, that's slightly higher than your average supercrew f150. The number always ignored is payload capacity, your truck should not be pulling 10,000 lb trailers regardless of what the camper dealer will tell you. I would be shocked if most F150's are able to legally tow some of these 7,000lb trailers when you consider the rest of the items that take up payload capacity.

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f150s go up in capacity every generation.

The new 21s ecoboost has 2100lb payload and 13,800 towing. A butt load more than just 2 generations prior (2013) This is 4x4 supercrew. It's even more for 4x2.
For reference, I had a 2013 v8, it's towing capacity was 7800 and payload I think like 1500.


having said that. I had a '21 with that payload/towing, and a 33' overall length 7lb trailer, and it was too much for me. I sold it and if we buy again, we're going 10' less and hopefully half the weight.

I'm in CO, which of course makes a difference.

ForeverAg said:

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mwlkr said:

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The Black Series Camper just entered the US from Australia. Hell, I've never wanted a trailer, but I'm thinking about the HQ22.

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Neighbors just bought one of these. Completely agree with you here

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That is a nice looking trailer. Looks to be a little big for my application though.

If you get one I've got a weight distribution hitch I'll sell you for cheap. Used it on 2 TTS I've had previously. In NW Houston.

Any thoughts or opinions on Coleman/Dutchmen bumper pulls?

Like most, I've used a lot of Coleman camping gear over the years, but no idea on quality of their campers.

I've got a 2020 XLT FX4 with the 3.5 boost. Super crew with the 6.5' bed. I'm towing a 2021 Keystone Cougar 29BHS with a blue ox sway pro hitch. I have a 2.25" level and 35" load E tires on the truck. That's the only mods I have done towing wise.

Will echo the others that payload is your limiting factor. I'm right under the limit on mine factoring in wife and kids and all that. The boost is powerful enough to tow anything it's the payload that'll get you. I spent weeks researching "half ton towables" and found not many are actually towable with a half ton. Lol. The cougar we bought is heavy as hell. I don't tow in anything more than 20-25 knot crosswinds. And I really have to think about how i load it up. Clothes and everything loose in front of the axles to get more tongue weight to reduce sway. Wouldn't have to worry about all that in a 3/4 or 1 ton. But after about 6-7 trips this year I'm pretty confident.

As for build quality and all that. We searched and looked around for a while before settling on the keystone cougar. The cougar is more of their premium class and the furnishings and interior are a little better which suited my wife's tastes. Lol. I will say this. Go around to a few dealers and check out the comparable levels of each line of camper. And then you'll notice the build quality and workmanship is all the same. Especially with new campers. It can be quite depressing. The speed at which they have been trying to push campers out of the factory during the pandemic is crazy and things are just plain getting missed. And dealers don't give a damn to hold the bag. We bought ours at Holiday World of League City. Sales was fine. Would never try and use them for service again. If you're handy with a set of tools around the house you'll be just fine in a new camper.

Good luck and happy camping!!! We have loved every second of it even through all the water leaks, bad converters, missing parts and all!

OP like others have said please do the calculations on your payload. Do 15% of the gross weight (not dry) for your hitch weight to be safe. Remember to add in things that have to go in the truck.

People
Dogs
Carseats
15% of TT GVWR
100lbs for weight distribution hitch


I also just went through this exact exercise and decided to go with a 3/4T because every time I tried a 7,000 lbs or so trailer in the calculations it was right at the payload. I didn't want to be concerned with punching numbers for adding an extra cooler or person, etc.

You hit your payload limits real quick on a trailer that heavy for 1/2T

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/3239459/replies/60466537#60466537

Again, payload capacities vary widely for half ton trucks. Assuming all are the same will be close to capacity isnt accurate

clinte234 said:

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Any thoughts or opinions on Coleman/Dutchmen bumper pulls?

Like most, I've used a lot of Coleman camping gear over the years, but no idea on quality of their campers.

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When doing my research in 2020, Dutchmen was second behind Grand Design.

I never said they were all the same...

But in my situation I looked at every possible 1/2T setup and the VAST MAJORITY would have been too little for what TT I am looking at.

I'm OCD about safety with kids in tow so the only way to get a 1/2T with enough payload was to make sure they had the correct package which is extremely hard to find in the used market. Or wait 6 months for a new one with it equipped.

Mine is going to be 7,500 GVWR so probably heavier than what OP is getting

If you are serious about this game then buy an F350.

Not only this but even if you are well within weight capacity you are towing a giant box behind you. Cross winds, 18 wheelers, running an engine at 5K rpm just to try and keep speed close to 75. Towing a decent sized TT with a half ton flat out sucks

Most people don't need to be towing travel trailers at 75mph. Stay at a reasonable safe speed and most problems aren't an issue.

Remember this too; everything you have in your truck bed could instead be in the trailer, resulting in an 85% weight reduction towards payload. Bikes, grills, fire pits, etc.

Also if you're serious about it, get a tongue scale. You really have no idea what your tongue weight is when your trailer is loaded. You could be several hundred pounds off which makes a big difference when you're only talking about 1500-2000 in the first place.

I tow a 2021 jayco 264bh with the RAM 3.0 baby diesel. It's a good model that offers a good amount of features. I would not be comfortable with any more. We pulled it fully loaded on a 3200 mile trip up through arkansas, tennesee, kentucky, missouri and back through oklahoma and did fine, but I would not want anything larger or heavier.
With the wife, 2 boys, and a couple dogs, it can get a bit tight. We actually removed one of the benches of the dining set to get more room and has made a big difference with negligible loss of functionality. No slides on this model. Definitely consider your tow rig limitations. We get 13 mpg on long haul trips.

Salute The Marines said:

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Most people don't need to be towing travel trailers at 75mph. Stay at a reasonable safe speed and most problems aren't an issue.

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Yup. Tire ratings will tell the tale. Most Chinese tires coming on the new trailers are only rated to 65mph. I've seen plenty of blowouts towing too fast.

My cougar is ~8500 on the scales (depending on how much groceries are loaded lol) and about 1250 on the tongue. You want about 12-15% of total trailer weight loaded on the tongue for stability. My XLT has a payload a little over 1800. Not much room left for stuff in the truck but like others said you're better off loading as much as you can in the trailer to help distribute.

I've used the CAT scales as there's a method to getting everything weighed and dialed in which really helped me.

I'm about to get a Jayco 284BHS to pull behind an F250 deisel