Cruiser RV not real honest about the weight of DS230

[keyser soze]

I know I should have weighed it earlier, in fact I should have weighed it prior to purchase. The specs on line in 2008 said 3880lbs dry weight and 497 tongue. The sticker inside the cabinets says my trailer weighs 4198lbs as outfitted from the factory, but does not include any equipment installed at the dealer. The dealer I bought it from is a small mom and pop organization, they sell them as they are delivered from Cruiser. Cruiser never weighed it, I would wager some PR guy estimated its weight and it was never checked. Currently online its advertised as weighing 4360, which is still on the light side. Today I drove over to the scales and weighed the truck and trailer together, unhitched and then weighed the truck. Our DS230 weighs 4950lbs, and that is completely empty. I have often heard trailers are a bit heavier than they are advertised, but this is more than I imagined. 4950lbs, dang she is heavy!!

 

[bill-FUN]

was that taken with the unit empty or did you have water ,propane,tools camping gear and so on. did you have any add ons on your unit, bigger battery,fans things like that. Was the fridge emprty or full of food?. it doese not take long to jack up the weight of any unit let us know thanks bill

 

[keyser soze]

That weight represents how much the trailer weighed when I drove it off the dealers lot. The weight includes 1 standard RV battery, 1 full 20lb propane tank, 1 fresh water hose, 10’ dump hose, 2 plastic wheel chocks, 30 amp power cord, awning tool, and jack crank. The TV that was included with the RV, a 13” color, weighed 20lbs, I replaced that with a 20” LCD that weighs 12lbs. There was no food, no clothing, no bath items, no bedding, no dishes/pots/pans/cutlery and all 3 water tanks, (Clean/Grey/Black) were empty. The one thing I should’ve subtracted from the weight was the equalizer hitch, which is 100lbs. So the trailer, in its base state, weighs 4850lbs. My issue is the weight sticker in the unit, the one inside the cabinets says the weight of the unit is 4198 as prepped from the factory. My dealer didn’t add anything to that trailer except the battery, water hose and dump hose. They bought it from Cruiser RV and sold it “As Is”. If you remove the battery (60lbs) and the propane (20lbs), and the supplied tools, (20lbs), you reduce by 100lbs, that trailer still weighs 4750. If they want to just provide one weight for each model why don't they list the weight for the trailer with all the available options installed, then the customer would know what they are buying. Seems it would be safer to let the consumer know what they are buying so they can make sure their tow vehicle is adequate. Being under weight is not a problem, being over weight can be! I know a couple manufacturers that weight each trailer and certify the weight so you know what you are getting. I believe that should be an industry wide practice. Be honest!

 

[bill-FUN]

590 lbs more than they said it was I do not see a real problem with that just my opinion on this one

 

[Radar-FUN]

There is no "real problem". Alans point was for Cruiser RV , to "be honest". That 590 lbs is over 10% of the gross. You think they could be a little closer with the actual weight. To sum it up, HONESTY is what we all want, but if it dosen,t walk and quack like a duck, beware.

Radar

 

[bill-FUN]

well, all I realy can say is I like the unit I have, the wieght thing realy does not matter to me. I dont think any one takes the time to wiegh every item they put in the camper,and in there towe vehical. My piont being, if your towe vehical wieght is that close then I would say it is time to get a bigger truck. I realy do not think any one is being dishonest at fun finder X.. I feel they are making a good product at a good price barring the crap tv that comes with there trailers. now back to the toppic get a bigger truck if you are that close in towing wieght because after you put your gear in the trailer and your vehical you would have been be over wieght anyway. I am saying this based on the fact that 590 lbs seems to be such a big deal. just my point of view.

 

[jb_dd]

The problem being the sticker is supposed to be the actual weight (which it is clearly not). But this is not a Cruiserv specific problem. Every RV Manuf. should be responsible for weighing the trailers as they leave the lot. Although Dealer installed options throws that out the window.

That's a pretty big difference (16%) from 4198 (2008 brochure) to 4950 lbs. I know ideally everyone should buy the trailer first then the TV, but that just doesn't happen. Especially with these small trailers that are meant to be towed by small TVs.

 

[keyser soze]

From my perspective, Radar and jb_bb see my point. These trailers are marketed as Light Pickup-Small SUV towables, that class of vehicle has a more limited tow capacity than your 2500 series truck Bill. 600lbs is not a big deal when towing with a 2500 series Chevy, but it is for lighter duty vehicles. My Nissan is less than a year from being paid off, I don't want to get another truck, that is why we chose that trailer, its stated weight was workable for my truck. And I too love our trailer, we use it all the time, its a great trailer. My point is why do all manufacturers make a point of stating the trailers dry weight on-line, then display a weight sticker on the trailer that in most cases does not reflect the true weight of what people are purchasing? All I am saying is why not be honest?

 

[bill-FUN]

point well taken. I used to be a tech for a local rv store.there are many things that are not honest in the rv and travel trailer world sad to say but it is true. I think the 210 has a lot of bang for the buck that is all..