Need help picking a trailer

Hi Campers
Just a single mom here, will have up to 4 kids with me for camping (but mostly just two-three of us).. Want an easy to pull/set up trailer for camping just a few days w/my daughter. Want something easy to store, hoping it will fit in garage, any help, also how do I know what I can tow with my veh, 2004 Volvo, XC90, Thanks.

Hi Erin,

Picking a camping trailer is not an easy thing to do and must be done with some scientific investigation. First, you will need to know the towing capacity of your car. I looked it up on Camping Life Magazine and your model has a towing capacity of 4000 pounds if it is two wheel drive, and 5000 pounds if it is four wheel drive. There could be a tow package for it and that can affect those numbers. Next, take 80% of those numbers and that should give you a miximum safe weight of trailer to tow. You have to remember that anything more than the driver and a full tank of gas, such as, passengers and cargo, deducts from the towing capacity. So, you are looking at maximum gross trailer weight of 3200 to 4000 pounds. That given, you are probably limited to a popup tent trailer or a very small travel trailer. A 17' Hi-Lo could possibly work for you. We had one that weighed about 3000 pounds empty and had a gross weight of 3800 pounds.

Hopefully somebody else will give some good suggestions.

Rich, you gave outstanding advice as always.

I'll add that I pulled our 17 ft Hi-Lo up and over 11,000+ ft Colorado Rocky Mountain passes with a 6-cyl Nissan Frontier (tow rating of 5,000#). I was in first gear on the long uphills, and used 2nd gear for engine braking on all the downhills. There was a heavy hit on gas mileage, of course. I wanted more power, so I traded the Nissan for a Ford F150.

If the towing is mostly in level terrain, I suspect the Volvo would handle a 17 or 19 ft Hi-Lo. Either one should work with your family. DO get a weight distributing, anti-sway hitch though, and you'll need a proportional electric trailer brake. A trailer dealership can install all this and if they're good, they'll accompany you on a test drive while you get the feel of things.

The best advice I can give a new trailer tower though, is DO NOT worry about watching the trailer! It's going to follow you just fine. Worry instead on what's in front of you, leaving plenty of stopping distance!

- Jack

I failed to mention the we pulled our 1705T Hi-Lo with a 2002 Ford Explorer that did not have a tow package. It had a tow rating of 3500 pounds. We went to Arkansas from Pennsylvania and a number of other trips and had no problems. I think the key element was that the Hi-Lo did not have near the wind resistance that a standard travel trailer has and took less power to pull it.

Another thing that is worth noting, If you are just going to camp in warm dry climates, High wall pop ups have tons of sleeping space and are nicely laid out.
I was considering a Coleman Avalon when I bought my HiLo.
The problem that I had with the PUP is that even though it's got a roof and hard half walls, the canvas still gets wet and you still need to dry it out as soon as possible. I tent camped for well over twenty years and it's easy to lay out the tent in the garage to dry, but it would be hard with a PUP.

A Trail Manor is another type of travel trailer to consider for the ease of towing and the size of your family. They are generally lighter in weight to a Hi-Lo Trailer.

Help deciding on a trailer

Two people in our HiLo camping club ha trailmaners. They reported leaks and quickly got rid of them. Lack of quality..They are so bad that our Hi Lo dealer refuses to take them on trade ins. Look them up on the internet.

erin said:

Hi Campers
Just a single mom here, will have up to 4 kids with me for camping (but mostly just two-three of us).. Want an easy to pull/set up trailer for camping just a few days w/my daughter. Want something easy to store, hoping it will fit in garage, any help, also how do I know what I can tow with my veh, 2004 Volvo, XC90, Thanks.

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We tow our 22'Hi-Lo with our 2001 Toyota Tacoma, V6,automatic,4wd. We are going to be in the San Diego area camping (Alpine) on our California trip next month. If you would like to see ours, let us know.

campthewestcoast said:

A Trail Manor is another type of travel trailer to consider for the ease of towing and the size of your family. They are generally lighter in weight to a Hi-Lo Trailer.

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Hey Les. Make sure the weather is nice and than there is no radioactivity in Bodega Bay when we meet next month. We are picking up our trailer, tomorrow morning, from the storage lot. We are then going to J&R in Butler Ohio, Monday, to have them check it all out for us. We will them be leaving home for our West Coast trip, April 12th. Gotta get away from this crazy Midwest weather. It was 76 yesterday and it's now 34

Tom,

We thought we would give Northern California a good washing in anticipation of your visit. It has been raining solidly for the past week or so. The air should be clear and the grass green by the end of April. Just in case, you may want to bring swim fins and a snorkle as getting too and from work has been a wet adventure.

campthewestcoast said:

Tom,

We thought we would give Northern California a good washing in anticipation of your visit. It has been raining solidly for the past week or so. The air should be clear and the grass green by the end of April. Just in case, you may want to bring swim fins and a snorkle as getting too and from work has been a wet adventure.

Click to expand...

I hear ya Les. we are getting snow here now,again. Was 76 degrees yesterday and 34 this morning. Gotta love midwest weather. say, did you get any mirrors yet?

What size engine does your frontier have? Mine says it has a tow rating of 6500, but is a 2012 4x4? Im plannign to buy a 240D and need to make sure my truck can tow it for a year before I trade it in on a Titan or Tundra