how much room

We are nornally heavy packers, especially on the trip we are currently planning.From toronto to seattle to oregon ,then up to Bella Coola bc for the winter. We travel with a cargo canoe, motor, chain saw generator etcetc.
Plan to buy a 1/2 ton truck as our tv, but plan to pack the TM as full as possible. How much room is there in a TM (2720) once it is nocked down. In our old pull out we had lots of room, however I envision limited space due to the cabinets and washroom foding down. What is the story?
Really would appreciate some insight.
Gary

[B_and_D]

In a 2720 (regular model) folded down, you basically have the floor between the dinette seats in the front, the floor in the kitchen where there's no cabinets, and a couple of feet in front of where the wardrobe swings down. There is also room in the bathroom and in the tub, and some under the dinette seats. On mine, one dinette seat houses the water tank and the other seat houses the furnace. The height folded down is about 3 feet or so. If you look at the floorplan of the 2720 here: http://trailmanor.com/WebDocs/Showro...electModel.htm you can get an idea. The wardrobe takes up the entire space between the cabinets and the bathroom when folded down. I'm going to be puttering on the TM today so if you'd like more exact measurements let me know. You also have to be careful when you pack it so you don't scratch up the walls & cabinets. Your bedding & pillows will likely have to go on the floor, too.

We normally take a lot more stuff then we could ever use and have never filled it up. We've learned to cut down and not take everything and we still seem to take more than we need. There's a lot more storage space then there appears to be. The main storage problem for a long trip is the for refrigerated food so we carry staple items and plan on stoping ever few day for fresh food.

Dave

Gary H,

After having physically looked at a TM I would say you have a couple of considerations:

1. Weight. The axles hold y amount of weight, the trailer weighs x, accessories (ie awning & etc) weigh z. The amount of weight you can carry is y - (x + z) or in other words subtract out the weight of the trailer and accessories from the axle weight rating. Packing items like chain saws, fuel and outboard motors in a TM add signifigantly more weight than your typical trip.

2. NO verical storage height. So you have the wardrobe, bathroom and hanging cabinet (if furnished) consuming valuable storage space. Remember that the trailer "folds" down so that wouldn't leave much additional space for other items.

Based on your description I envision "heavy" packing as literally packed to the gills. I think I have an idea what you hope to do and I'm not sure you can do it. I am an avid grouse hunter and I would be hard pressed to carry my hunting clothing, much less shot guns, shells and dog stuff. As you no doubt are aware hunting gear is bulky & stiff, even for a bird hunter. Not the easiest to pack. Now add a hunting partner & I could be short of room rather quickly.

Good luck!

For what it's worth here is a list of things which are presently stored in our 2006-2720 floor space with shells down:

three lawn chairs
33gal plastic trash can
two large plastic storage containers (gas griil in one - fishing gear other)
a 15 gallon blue tote
microwave
hanging cabinet
small TM shelf
One 11"x 11" X 20" homemade shelf
bedding
two pillows
toaster oven (storage under seats)
small folding table
Hope this gives you some insite as to storage area.

Midwest Dave
Northwestern Illinois

Another thing to keep in mind - if you're planning on using the TM to live in as you travel, all that stuff that you pack on the floor area has to be moved every time you set up for a night. Maybe a lot of it should go into the pickup and not the TM. Maybe you need more than a 1/2 ton pickup! If you fill up the pickup the towing capacity also decreases. If you're getting a full sized pickup, you'll probably want a V-8 with enough spunk to climb the mountains you will encounter on that trip. Maybe you won't need to fill the water and toilet and that would give you some leeway to pack other heavy items. We took a lot of stuff to Mexico (Oaxaca) a few years ago and found that we didn't need most of it, so it's a good idea to make a list of what you want to take and then cut it back to what you NEED to take. Since that trip to Mexico, we haul a lot less stuff than before and don't really miss it.

[wbmiller3]

Did you take your TM to Oaxaca? I'd love to hear about that trip. We flew down there, but I bet it would be quite an adventure to drive it.

July 2005 we went camping, just the two of us, for 4 days. I had plans to weigh the rig for the first time. So I loaded the TM 2720 with everything I owned for camping that I thought I would ever use:

40 gallons of fresh water.
6 gallons of water in the water heater
charged toilet.
8 outdoor chairs.
Honda 2000 generator.
Free standing awning that comes in a case with wheels.
3 folding outdoor tables.
A well stocked bar, just in case someone from TMO happened to stop by.
More food than I thought we would need.
bbq with briquettes.
plus an amazing amount of odds and ends.

Everything was in the TM. The floor was almost full, but I still had more room for stuff. But I had run out of stuff.

Axle on the TM weighed 3380 pounds. I did not weigh the tongue.

My conclusion was that if I wanted to overload the TM then I would have to purchase more stuff.

Did you take your TM to Oaxaca?
Bill, at the risk of hijacking this thread, No we did not take the TM to Oaxaca. We had a Palomino tent trailer at the time which we towed with a Mazda pickup. Pictures of the Oaxaca trip can be seen here: http://community.webshots.com/user/erdman_jf
They start on page 3 and go to 4. If you want narrative, I can e-mail my trip report - I think I still have it in English or Spanish. Let me know by PM if you like. Jim

[commodor47]

There is a factory sticker on the inside of the left door under the kitchen sink (of our 2720 SL) . The sticker lists the VIN number along with:

GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) = 4075 lbs
minus UVM (unloaded vehicle weight) of 2830 lbs
minus 20 gallons of fresh water @ 8.3 lbs/gal for a total of 166 lbs
minus 10 gallons of LP gas @ 4.2 lbs/gal for a total of 45 lbs

CCC then equals 1034 lbs. That is equal to a lot of "stuff" you could add to the TM!

My question? Is the information on the sticker derived from weighing the trailer at the factory? With the factory ordered options? We have the low profile AC; microwave; microwave table; Fiama awning; swing away hitch.