Prospective Owner

[amp17408]

We are seriously looking at the 3024KS. We've been to the dealer twice this week. Have a few questions? We're currently towing a Trail-Lite 17ft. with a V6 Ford
Explorer. Can the explorer handle the 24 ft. Trailmanor? Does anyone have any problems
with condensation build-up in their Trailmanor? We just spent four days in rainy weather with water droplets falling on our heads in our tent camper due to all the rain and humidity. Also, how does the air conditioner work throughout the camper? Does it reach both ends well?

[revmrbill]

Brought my 3023 back from Texas last month in 90 degree weather stopped at campground to sleep turned on A/C, with in 10 minutes the whole unit was cool and comfortable
actually had to cover up during the night on low cool.

Air flow is good, I have no complaints.


Revmrbill

[Windbreaker]

The only time we have had any condensation problems was in the winter, running the gas heater, when the windows developed water droplets. I think even houses develop water on the windows when heating with gas.

[RockyMtnRay]

We are seriously looking at the 3024KS. We've been to the dealer twice this week. Have a few questions? We're currently towing a Trail-Lite 17ft. with a V6 Ford Explorer. Can the explorer handle the 24 ft. Trailmanor?

Maybe. There are two issues here...one is the size/wheelbase of your Explorer, which Ford changed a couple of years ago; the second is where you will be towing (your profile doesn't show your location).

If you are going to be towing in the midwest or eastern US where the roads basically flat and the elevations are low, a V6 Explorer would have adequate (not great, just adequate) power. And on straight, flat roads, even an older smaller Explorer has enough wheelbase to provide control of a 24 foot trailer. In hilly/mildly mountainous terrain like the Appalachians, one of the newer and larger Explorers would be OK but I would have some serious doubts about pulling a 24 foot trailer through even eastern mountains with an older Explorer.

However, if you were to try pulling a loaded 3124 with a V6 Explorer through either the Sierra or the Rockies (particularly the high altitiude Rockies such as in Colorado), you'd find that the engine/transmission would be really straining to do the job. For a once in lifetime trip, it would work...barely. But doing such high altitude, steep mountain towing every two weeks (as I do) would rapidly kill the drivetrain.

[Bill]

Trail-Lite's web site is not forthcoming with any weight numbers (strange for a product whose primary selling point is low weight), but a couple comments on the discussion boards suggest that the sticker dry weight of a 17' Trail-Lite is about 2900 pounds. The TM web site says that the sticker dry weight of a 3125KS is 3185 pounds. Neither of these numbers bears much relation to the real-world weight of a trailer packed and ready for the road, but it does say that you would be increasing the weight your Explorer tows by about 300 pounds.

On the other hand, the TM has less wind resistance than a Trail-Lite, and at highway speeds, that is important.

Perhaps the first conclusion is that a new TM would be roughly comparable to the old Trail-Lite. IF you are going to tow the new TM to the same places you towed the old Trail-Lite, and IF you felt safe and comfortable towing the old Trail-Lite, then you might not feel much difference.

However, I have to agree with Ray, that's a lot of weight for a V-6 Explorer. You didn't specify the year of your Explorer (and Ford has a lot of good web info once the year is known), and you didn't specify whether your Explorer has the factory towing option. If you don't have the towing package, I'm pretty sure that either trailer is beyond the ratings of the Explorer.

In rainy wet weather, the TM's A/C will wring the humidity out of the air very nicely.

Bill

[amp17408]

The Trail-Lite's dry weight is 2087. The Trailmanor 3124KS dry weight is 3185. When we originally purchased our Trail-Lite, we were pulling with a '99 Ford Windstar. The rating on that were 2000lbs; with a Class III hitch, we could go to 3500lb. Our van averaged 24 hwy without the trailer and about 14 with the trailer. I'm in Central Pa and mostly travel in and around PA, MD, NJ, VA for various dog shows. We never had any problems pulling the trailer; the van never overheated or anything, I just thought we'd be safer with something a little more heavier. So now I've got a 2002 Ford Explorer 4.0L, 4-dr. 6 cylinder, 4-speed automatic transmission, factory Class II hitch, with the 3.55 gear ratio. We added a Class III hitch that is mounted underneath the factory job. I'm confused about what I can pull and what I can't. In the book it is rated for 3500lbs. and then it goes on to say that if you are using a class III hitch you could go to 5000lbs. In some of the on-line tow rating guides, I also see 5000-5500lbs mentioned. We did climb some steep mountains this past week with the Explorer. Had no problems. Pulling the trail-lite with the Explorer, I'm getting about 11-12 mpg.

There's not a lot of weight difference between the 3023 and and 3124KS (about 200 lbs). And since I'm travelling with two performance dogs, I need room for two crates. It looks like I could put them right between the counter and the table and move the chair to the other wall. What do you think?

[Bill]

Wow! Quite a discrepancy in the weight numbers. Sorry to have misled you in my previous post - it was the best (and only) information I could find.

The specs on towing capacity for the 2002 Ford trucks is in Ford's Camper/Trailer Towing Guide. Find it at
http://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/non-html/2002/campercd.pdf
Its 26 pages cover several Ford truck models - just print out the 8 or so pages that you need.

It will tell you the difference between the truck's ratings when equipped with a Class 2 vs Class 3 hitch receiver, weight-distributing vs weight-carrying hitch, factory tow package vs no tow package, auto vs manual tranny, different engines, etc. In particular, take a look at page 12. If you would like to PM me to discuss any of it, feel free to do so.

Bill