Max Vehicle Length for Campgrounds

[Clwpaddler]

I have noticed that many campground (Fl State Parks in particular) have a maximum vehicle length listed for many of the sites. I have never noticed this or paid any attention to this since we have camped for 20+ years with a Coleman tent camper which was only 18 feet when fully extended. Can anyone give me some guidance as to what the max length is referring to. I'm now the proud owner of a 2001 3023 using a 2000 Dodge 1500 Ram Van as a tow vehicle.


Thanks

Woody

[BeerCan]

Funny I just called one of the FL parks last week to ask the same exact question. Park ranger told me that it is the total length of your camper and does not include the TV. The thinking is that you are going to unhook your TV and can park it elsewhere in the site.

[Clwpaddler]

Thanks BeerCan, that's what I was thinking, I guess you can assume that the length of the TM is the opened length. It seems that there is a lot more sites available that have a max of 24' rather than 30'.

Woody

[MisterP]

RV site lengths are normally listed for opened trailers or motor homes with toads or trailers. Only difference I have found is when a site states that all vehicles and trailers must fit in the site length. These are sometimes crowded campgrounds with limited parking. Having towed a large toyhauler for a while I usually call and ask what will fit in any available spaces.

[Wavery]

Thanks BeerCan, that's what I was thinking, I guess you can assume that the length of the TM is the opened length. It seems that there is a lot more sites available that have a max of 24' rather than 30'.

Woody

There is no consistent rule for how any CG determines camper length. My personal experience has been that many CGs measure the distance from the wheel stop to the road. We fit quite comfortably a few weeks ago (at Doheny State Beach) in an a spot that was listed as 18' maximum length.

We camp at Point Mugu quite often. The sites are designated as 31' but they are all over 55' and some are 65'.......go figure.

BTW, I think if you measure your 3023, I think that you may find that it is 27' fully extended.

[countrygirl]

In Florida...you can also have the rear bed extend out over the palmettos...with no damage to the TM. ;)

[PopBeavers]

A lot depends on where you want to go.

California State Parks documents 30 feet as the maximum. When I have been to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park it looks like the depth is about 30 feet, but it is wide enough to park the TV alongside.

I also have backed the TM until the wheels hit the barrier at the back of the parking pad. But one time there was a tree so I would not have been able to open the rear shell. I had to park forward about 5 feet.

At Pinecrest Lake in California, a forest service campground, the twisty road to the campsites is so tight and the trees are so close to the road that with my 20 foot TV and the 20 foot TM 2720 I almost could not make it. A longer TM or a longer TV would have made it very difficult.

Remember, California's state parks are old. According to Wikipedia:

In 1902, California's oldest state park, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, was founded, followed by several others in the next couple decades. For a time, each park was managed by an independent commission or agency, until 1921.

Back in those days, everyone was a tent camper, so the parking pad did not have to be level or very long. Just long enough for the station wagon.

Castle Crags State Park lists max camper length of 27 feet and maximum trailer length of 21 feet. There are two loops with my 1500HD (20 feet) and TM 2720 I can only use one of the two loops, mostly because each loop is a two direction road that has a turn around at the end. Big rigs have too large of a turning radius.

This year I was boon docking. I was towing behind the 22 foot 2500HD long bed. The sorta dirt road I went down ran out. It was after 9 PM and I had to make a U-turn amongst the trees. I did not count, but it must have been at least an 18 point turn.

An Elkmont would have been too tall. I was scraping the roof on the truck on tree limbs and the truck is only a bit over 7 feet tall. I think the top of the a/c on the Elkmont is higher than that.

Like I tease my brother with his Montana 5th wheel, I don't like to go where he can go and he can not go where I like to go. We rarely camp together.

[ED-n-KEL]

I have also seen length restrictions by certain parks based on the roads in and out. Some have steep narrow winding roads with sharp turns. One of the Arkansas State Parks come to mind...I think it was Mount Nebo, warns of this in their info. Petit Jean SP also had such a road.

[Clwpaddler]

Thanks Ed and Kelly, that could be a real problem. Drove Semi's during college and there were times when things got kind of dicey when the road ran out or got tight.

Woody

[scrubjaysnest]

National Parks are the pits when it comes to the camp site. That is one reason we choose the 2720SL after using a pop-up for years. You can shoe horn a 19 to 20 foot trailer into almost any site and still keep all on the pavement and off the grass. While at yellowstone this year I got the camper in the site and then it would only take ten minutes and one of them 18 point turns to park the TV. But all wheels were off the grass and on pavement. Can't wait to get back next year.

[Riwright]

I asked about using shorter campsites at a Californoa State Park and they told me that if the wheels were on the pavement and the tongue was not in the road that I was OK.

I didn't ask about dropping a stabilizer jack onto the grass. If the butt of the trailer hangs out the back of the campsite you would have to put the rear stabilzers on grass.

[rvcycleguy]

When asked by the CG what type unit I have, I always say pop-up. I have been able to park closer to the river or lake due to the layout of the park. Tent camping is generally first row, then pop-up, then upright conventional TT and then motorhomes in the last row. When I arrive, I am the biggest pop-up in the park and close to where most campers want to be.

[scrubjaysnest]

We find if the USFS says trailers 16 feet and under there will almost always be one or more sites the 2720 will fit. They tend to be conservative because of turning the campers around in the CG. Of course sometimes it may require one of PopBeavers 50 point turns:D. If we have any questions we always park and walk the CG. Pop-up is always the best answer if anyone asks, other wise they jam you in with the bigger rigs.

[Unstable_Tripod]

First of all, I have noticed that my 2619 is NOT 26 feet long when opened up. It is 19' from coupler to rear bumper when closed but when opened up the front shell does not extend beyond the coupler so no additional length is generated there. The back shell extends 4' but 1' of that is over the rear bumper so only 3 additional feet are generated there. So, my 2619 is only 22' when opened.

So, when I'm asked how long the camper is by someone at a campground, I tell them 22' but I also explain that the back can hang 4' over the end of the driveway (as long as the barrier isn't so high as to hit the rear bumper) so I can get into an 18' spot.

Frankly, none of this has been an issue more than a couple of times out of many scores of campsites. The only places where it was an issue were so narrow that the truck could not be parked along side the TM but had to remain in front of it.

[ShrimpBurrito]

First of all, I have noticed that my 2619 is NOT 26 feet long when opened up.

The "26" in the 2619 name refers to a 26-foot conventional travel trailer, which supposedly has space comparable to that of a 2619. It can be shorter, as you noted, because unlike conventional trailers, TM's transform the space above the tongue into living area.

Dave

[Unstable_Tripod]

I understand that.

But many people don't and might tell a CG that their trailer is 26' long when opened and it is not.

[hillbillyhotel]

lol
kinda been my luck our tm's are so rare , that we can about tell them what the need to hear,:D
the just stand and look in awe;) when we open it up.

[Riwright]

My 3124KS is 24 feet from coupler to bumper when closed. When the camper is open it is 27 feet 8 inches.
If you have a stop at the rear of the camp site and back into it until the wheels hit the stop, you will need about 17 feet to get the tongue out of the road.

Theoretically I could fit in a site that is listed for an 17 foot camper, but I would need to eyeball the site to make sure that the butt of the camper doesn't hit a tree. I would also need to drop two stabilizer jacks on to the dirt.

I normally tell them that my camper is 24 feet.

I do a lot of campground scouting. When I go to a new area I will book a site in some place that is "safe" where I know will the rig will fit. Then I go around and scout the more remote sites. I make a note of access problems and what sites I think I can get in to.

I pull the pickup into the site and put the front wheels against the stop at the back of the pad. The position of the truck's rear bumper is about the same as the position of the tongue if the camper's wheels were againsts the stop. If the space to the back of the stop has clearance for the butt of the camper then I know I can get it in.

Now that I am doing some dry camping I am finding that space is less of a problem.

[ThePair]

lol
kinda been my luck our tm's are so rare , that we can about tell them what the need to hear,:D
the just stand and look in awe;) when we open it up.

That's been my experience. I list it as 20', but I'll call it 27' if I feel that's needed, or even go to 18' (can always swing the tongue if it's really an issue).

Then again, I haven't really been anywhere that it's been a major issue.

[PopBeavers]

Nearly every time I am in a campground I am able to pick a site where I am able to back the TM up until the wheels hit the back stop. This puts about 10 feet behind the rear of the parking pad.

If there is a tree in the way then this does not work.

If the is a slope going down from the back stop then I can only back up until the rear jacks can be used.

On one occasion the rear of the TM when opened was high enough that I could not touch it when standing on the ground under it.

When making a reservation you do not have enough data to figure this out.