Camper for the R1T -- what can I safely and reasonably tow?

[Yellow Buddy]

I was never a huge camper, but my kids are turning out to be and constantly asking us to go. The tents work but I’m ready for a camper to make things a little easier. I started shopping for what we want before I stopped and realized...I know nothing about towing a camper.

Some of the camper forums have pointed me to some guides, but many of them are telling me that I really need a 3/4 ton truck and that a small pickup won't do, but obviously most of them are not familiar with the R1T (nor the Lightning) so I'm reaching out here to hopefully get some insight from experienced campers.

I usually fall into the camp off - it worked, it's good. But if I'm going to be on the road with my family then for this time around I'm in the camp of - just because it worked doesn't mean it's ok.

So being on the cautious side, what can I safely and reasonably tow? Especially as a first timer who doesn't wan't to end up selling something that was too small or too big because it was too much or not enough. Right now the ones we have been looking at have been about 28-32ft approximately...

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[Thedude]

A 28-32ft travel trailer is pretty well into the domain of a full size 3/4 or 1 ton truck. You are unlikely to have the payload capacity on the truck to handle a trailer of that size, regardless of whether the Rivian had the stability/weight and power/torque to handle it. I tow a 7000lb 20’ trailer it it just about maxes out the rear GAWR and with just me in the truck and some stuff in the bed is close to the max payload rating.

Towing distance will also be pretty miserable with a trailer that size, if you plan to travel much.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

A 28-32ft travel trailer is pretty well into the domain of a full size 3/4 or 1 ton truck. You are unlikely to have the payload capacity on the truck to handle a trailer of that size, regardless of whether the Rivian had the stability/weight and power/torque to handle it. I tow a 7000lb 20’ trailer it it just about maxes out the rear GAWR and with just me in the truck and some stuff in the bed is close to the max payload rating.

Towing distance will also be pretty miserable with a trailer that size, if you plan to travel much.

This is helpful. The ones we were looking at were roughly 7500lbs GVWR.

 

[Thedude]

This is helpful. The ones we were looking at were roughly 7500lbs GVWR.

That is a very light weight for a trailer that length. What trailers are you looking at?

The math works out to about a 1100lb tongue weight on a 7500lb trailer. That only leaves around 400lbs left that you can put in the truck. In other words, you better have a small family or all be really skinny people who don’t want to bring anything in the truck or put anything in the bed.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Should be fine as long as you can keep the tongue weight under control and use a weight distributing hitch. The Rivian might be smaller than some full size trucks, but it weighs more than most of them.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

That is a very light weight for a trailer that length. What trailers are you looking at?

The math works out to about a 1100lb tongue weight on a 7500lb trailer. That only leaves around 400lbs left that you can put in the truck. In other words, you better have a small family or all be really skinny people who don’t want to bring anything in the truck or put anything in the bed.

We’ve been looking at the trail manor 3124 primarily, but also the HiLo 31c which would be a used one. The driver is the aerodynamic profile. The heavier of the two has a 7500 GVWR and a 890lb hitch weight according to specs.

Assuming I don’t continue growing width wise, the family would be approximately 500-800lbs depending on how my kids grow in the next 10 years but we’d also have to account for supplies and luggage

 

[Thedude]

I hadn’t considered the pop up style. That 3124 looks doable with a GVWR around 4700lbs. With your family in the truck you probably have 700-1000lbs of payload remaining to handle a tongue weight that would top out around 700lbs.

The 31C might be pushing it close to the limit of the truck’s ratings.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

I hadn’t considered the pop up style. That 3124 looks doable with a GVWR around 4700lbs. With your family in the truck you probably have 700-1000lbs of payload remaining to handle a tongue weight that would top out around 700lbs.

The 31C might be pushing it close to the limit of the truck’s ratings.

Yea I’m hoping it’ll allow me to keep going. It looks like the studies show approximately a 20% range reduction on ICE vehicles compared to a 50% reduction of a traditional trailer. Whether that translates over to our trucks is an unknown.

 

[Tucker74]

I’ve got an Airstream 23CB, it’s 4700lb dry so probably around 5500 loaded with a 650 lbs hitch weight. I know another member has a 25FB (6700/850) … the R1T pulls them no problem it’s just the range.

 

[Kuro-Rivian]

You should be able to tow anything mentioned here if your mindful of weights. But you won't get far...it's all about the range range range.

I've towed my little 8' aluminum wood sided utility to my 24' ATC.

The ATC laoded close to its GVWR of 9990 has a range around 90-100 miles. That's if you take it easy!

The 8' aluminum with 4' high cedar sides at maybe 250lbs empty...you wouldn't think it a big deal. But the range impact is surprisingly bad. I don't have numbers on that to share. But towing that tiny little thing educated me to the fact that the R1T is very aero sensitive. The sides of the trailer just make it a big ole parachute hitched to the truck.

My advice (finally getting to the point!) is the weight is important but don't forget the aero. Maybe focus on campers/trailers that have better aero properties than others.

Or plan on camping close to home!

 

[NWCamper]

I'd suggest looking at something that is roughly no more than half the maximum tow weight. There are plenty of ultralight trailers out there. I think if you're looking at something over 25 ft in length, you may want to test out driving something that big.

It really depends on how far you intend to drive. If you're planning to do multi-state adventures, you want to shoot for the trailer with the least amount of weight and a reasonable length.

Although the tow rating on this truck is 11,000 lb, it really is a mid-sized truck. Which would put a normal tow weight maximum at 6 to 7000#.

The truck does tow like a dream. I'm sure you could tow 9,000 lb trailer that's 30 ft long. I just don't know how comfortable that would be. I also think you'd be under 1 mi a kilowatt hour in consumption. That would mean as the previous poster indicated, about 90 miles of range on a full charge. Yikes. An additional 30 to 40 miles range with the smaller trailer makes all the difference in the world.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Although the tow rating on this truck is 11,000 lb, it really is a mid-sized truck. Which would put a normal tow weight maximum at 6 to 7000#.

Is there any reason for that? And is it specific to campers? I've towed 5000lbs - and admittedly a little over at times - with my Tesla Model X. So 6-7k for something that's rated significantly more just seems odd to me. Was the truck rated much higher than it should have been?

 

[Dark-Fx]

Is there any reason for that? And is it specific to campers? I've towed 5000lbs - and admittedly a little over at times - with my Tesla Model X. So 6-7k for something that's rated significantly more just seems odd to me. Was the truck rated much higher than it should have been?

I'm guessing it's just that people have "a gut feeling it shouldn't tow that much based on experience with ICE trucks" Keep all the numbers within the ratings and you won't have any issues at all beyond the range being terrible. Rivian's limiting factor is the frame and not horsepower.

 

[cbrcanuck]

Have a good think about what kind of camping you want to do. If you want to stay close to home, towing should be fine. If you want to stretch your legs and see more of the country (there are a lot of amazing destinations out there!), you're not going to want to do it while towing (with an EV). You might consider keeping the tent life, or a rooftop tent and maintain some "reasonable" range (reasonable is open to interpretation, of course)

 

[Thedude]

Although the tow rating on this truck is 11,000 lb, it really is a mid-sized truck. Which would put a normal tow weight maximum at 6 to 7000#.

I wouldn’t take it to that extreme. It is close to the size of a midsize truck but weighs nearly 3000lbs more and has the torque and brakes of a 1 ton diesel.

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