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2719
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
USA
Edited Date/Time
4/10/2017 7:45pm
The one reason I've avoided a toy hauler for so long is that I can't deal with the durability issues (mostly leaks and roof maintenance). These seem like they would put all of my issues to rest. Does anyone have any experience with these? It looks like the perfect solution, am I missing something?
https://www.livinlite.com/toy-haulers.php
https://www.livinlite.com/toy-haulers.php
I had one of their original design X series haulers from about 10 years ago. It was bare bones, but very functional.
Now i've got a 7x20 XLP with double fold-outs and i absolutely love it. It pulls great, has a ton of space for moto stuff. If you can accept the lack of luxury, and just want functionality, haulers dont get much better.
Pros- lightweight, easy care, high quality construction, modular design, lots of options, designed as haulers first, RV second.
Cons- not as comfortable as traditional RV. Low WAF. Cost per foot.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Would love to get a new one like you are considering, but I can't justify it right now. Good luck and post what you get!!
I went to the cat scale a while back to get the real number. With me in my truck, I have just under 1000 pounds to play with. That's if my wife, kids and dog don't come with me (which they usually don't). But I would like to stay as far under that as possible so I have room if they do. I have WD hitch which transfers some of the weight back to the trailer wheels so if I have an actual tongue weight in the 650 range, I'm fine.
The truck pulls and stops it with no issues. Biggest thing is the fuel economy goes right out the window, 35's don't help. I'd be lucky to get 250kms out of the 80L tank.
Which I think is about 8mpg
On paper, the price is crazy high, because the only advantage you'll notice from the numbers is weight, and if you were to compare one side by side at an RV dealer, you definately notice the lack of luxuryand amenities compared to something else.
What your paying for is bulletproof construction and utilitarian design/engineering. you could pull one across the roof of Africa and never have an issue. A steel/wood constructed RV wood crumble into a heap.
I've had toyhaulers/enclosed trailers for 20+ years and never had any of those issues.
FWIW, I don't know anyone that hasn't had to work out all the little kinks, bugs, and some poor workmanship of their camper. It took me a good season of usage to get all the little nuances of my Hyperlite worked out and all the little things fixed. If you take care of it and go over it regularly you will be in good shape. I'm also lucky because I can keep mine at home so that makes caring for it much easier.
Keep in mind that in many ways, making them lighter to make them half ton towable also makes them a little chinsy. Again, just stuff you learn to work through.
I pull mine with a Silverago 1500, no issue but I'm certainly not going to be hitting 70mph uphills in WV mountains....more like 45 mph.
Pit Row
Which Hyperlite do you have? I'm looking at the 7x20 which has a dry weight of something like 3500 pounds and a tongue weight of like 450 IIRC. That seems extremely light to me from what I've seen.
I have a HyperLite XLR 24HFS. Now that I compare correctly they are basically the same weight as LivinLite or even slightly more.
They certainly look like great toy haulers, I'd buy one.
I think another important point, for me at least, is to buy one that is sold at dealers local to you. Just makes it a lot easier to deal with any problems.
Tow vehicles are like garages, go as big as possible because later on you will probably wish you had went bigger.
We found this on Craigslist a couple years ago for 20k triple slide 40ft 12 foot garage 2007 weekend warrior. Goin racin has never been more comfy.
It reads 1,395 pounds for mine. Between me, my girlfriend, our dog, and a small bag or 2 in the truck, it leaves ~1,000 pounds of payload left. The tongue weight is part of the payload and toyhaulers have a higher tongue weight than normal trailers so use 15% of total trailer weight for tongue weight. So 1000/ x = 15/100 and you get a total trailer weight of ~6,650 pounds, which is waaay lower than the towing capacity of the truck of 10,000 pounds which most people use . My trailer has a claimed dry weight of 4,730 so I round that up to 5,000 because the claimed dry weight of trailers are almost always off on the lighter side and you have to add in all the extra stuff you put in like utensils and blankets and things. Now add 100 gallons of water (~850 pounds), 20 gallons of gas in the fuel station (~120 pounds) , 2 full size 4 strokes (~500 pounds) and 180 pounds of riding gear/food/beer/etc and I'm right at the capacity of 6,650. The water is the big variable and most times I tow with less than 1/3 full of water, and fill up when I get to where I'm going.
Fully loaded, the Tundra pulls nice. Plenty of power, and with a WD hitch and a brake controller, it drives nice. I get 8-9 MPG towing at 55-60mph.
Especially the Chevy 3500 with the Allison transmission.
What some are forgetting here is the transmission. You can have the towing capacity and the payload to carry what ever you want but the transmission will be the weak link on a 1500.
Here's a link the the hyper lite toy haulers if you want to check them out: http://forestriverinc.com/product-details.aspx?LineID=200&Image=5377
They all seem to have the same layout for the most part. Bed, bath and dinette.
The dinettes are incredible uncomfortable for any long term sitting. The only other option is laying in bed, which is obviously not convenient for hanging out.
Whats the solution for kicking back and relaxing? Definitely not those plywood dinettes.
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