A pop-up camper is small and portable. Pop-up campers originally came about to give travelers a quick way to explore the great outdoors.
Much of the internals are pull out after you stop and erect your trailer. Many come with beds, possibly a gas stove and refrigerator. It all depends on the size of the pop-up camper and what can fit inside once it is packed up ready to travel.
While they cover the basics, you can find pop-up campers are not designed to have endless luxury features, and some may not have hard-sided walls once erected.
What can catch many new RVers out is understanding if their vehicle is suitable to tow their pop-up camper or even that they are over the threshold and the overall weight is too much for their vehicle. (Read Is It Legal To Live In A Camper In Your Backyard)
In our guide, you can learn all about how the unloaded weight and the overall weight and how it can affect your tow vehicle and ultimately the pop-up camper weight you can pull.
How Much Towing Capacity Do I Need for a Pop-Up Camper?
Before you look at pop-up campers, you must understand what they weigh and if your vehicle can pull such a weight. It isn’t just the towing power as a heavy camping trailer; it is the stopping power.
Even with trailer brakes, should travel trailers be too large, they can cause the trailer to push the tow vehicle faster than it can slow down.
Here is an in-depth look at towing capacity and your pop-up camper towing requirements.
Pop-up camper towing capacity and requirements can be confusing. You’ll find there isn’t one answer as there are endless variables such as the weight of your car, what you are carrying, the number of passengers, and the weight of your trailer.
A couple of things that make a significant difference and are often overlooked are having a full LP propane tank on your camping trailer and having a brimmed freshwater tank.
Checking the vehicle’s towing weight in the manual won’t be enough. It is better to get weighed properly so you can work out the towing weight. (Learn How to Insulate a Camper Trailer)
Maximum Towing Weight
Maximum towing weight is your vehicle empty. If you are loading your vehicle and taking passengers, all these need to add to the weight of an empty vehicle. Once you have an empty vehicle besides a full tank of gas, you have your unloaded vehicle weight (UVW).
Once you have your UVW (unloaded vehicle weight), you can then look at everything else and determine the size limit and weight your pop-up trailer can be before you become overloaded.
You may have seen the abbreviation and wonder what they mean. They aren’t too confusing once you learn what they mean.
GVWR
The GVWR means the Gross Vehicle Weight Ratio (or gross vehicle weight rating), which includes things besides the weight of the empty vehicle.
Apart from the weight of the carrying capacity of our pop-up camper (which includes cargo and passengers), your GVWR includes your hitch weight. The GVWR is the combined weight of your pop-up camper’s hitch and the weight of the carrying capacity in the basic meaning.
GAWR
The GAWR or Gross Axle Weight Rating is what any axle can carry. In simple terms, it is the maximum weight, including all the cargo carried on an axle.
CCC
CCC is the abbreviation for Cargo Carrying Capacity. Cargo Carrying Capacity shows the amount of cargo that can be loaded. By seeing the numbers, we will know the amount of weight that we can allocate on different things, such as water, optional equipment, luggage, etc.
UVW
The UVW means the Unloaded Vehicle Weight and would be the base weight of your pop-up camper when you purchased it without adding anything. It does, however, include the weight of the hitch and would also include the weight of a full propane tank.
A weight distribution hitch is a device to help balance the trailer or pop-up camper towed by your vehicle. They can be handy most times, yet essential when a vehicle is under too much pressure because of the load weight.
Towing a travel trailer that is too large or too heavy leads to instability. It can lead to your vehicle and a typical pop-up rolling over. Most times, it means you could be in an accident; hence the reason trailer brakes or brake controllers are used on trailers weighing over 3,000 lbs.
Experts recommend a weight-distribution hitch be used if the weight of the fully-loaded pop-up camper is over 50 percent of the towing vehicle weight.
TTW or the Total Tongue Weight is used to determine the total weight of the tongue. To do this, you’ll need to load your pop-up camper with all the gear you will carry, and you then measure the weight of the tongue. (Learn How Does An RV Fridge Work)
To do this, you can easily buy a tongue weight scale. Once you arrive at the result, you can add them to the total weight of your cargo loaded in your pop-up camper. The result from both is the Total Tongue Weight.
While having too much weight towed by your vehicle, you can also not have enough, and when this happens, the trailer tongue can lead to small pop-up campers sway side-to-side as they are towed and making it thought to control the towing vehicle.
On the other end, if you have too much weight on your hitch ball, it is easy to overload your rear tires. This can cause the rear end of the towing vehicle to sit lower from the pop-up camper weight and be pushed around.
How Much Does a Coleman Pop-Up Camper Weight?
Sadly, it isn’t easy coming up with an average weight of a popup camper as there are many sizes from each manufacturer. The cargo weight can be found in the owner’s manual yet it isn’t reliable when towing popup campers.
Coleman built the Evolution E3 series for adventure, and sadly, the company making the Coleman pop-up models, Fleetwood, decided it was closing production for the pop-up campers. The Evolution E3 was considerable once erected and offered lots of space. The Evolution E3 is 12 ft long, and the traveling length is around 22 ft.
For the weight, you could need a larger than average tow vehicle as the GVWR of this model of Coleman pop-up campers weighs 4,400 lbs.
How Much Does a Jayco Pop-Up Camper Weight?
Jayco is a well-known firm offering a 60-year history. They have a broad range of fifth-wheel travel trailers and RVs that highlight their name, yet they excel with their pop-up tent camper range.
Jayco’s recent models offer a new perspective on pop-ups while retaining some old features and conveniences. Offering off-road wheels and a bumper-welded steel structure, the modern Jay Sport delivers lots of reliability for your travels. The Jay Sport pop-up trailer weight is more because of the substantial welded steel.
Safety from these doesn’t encroach on comfort. They offer up to three sleeping units and an interior and outdoor stove, an external grill, and far more handy essential utilities.
When you open your Jay Sport, you’ll find the length is 23.25 feet long and offers a length of 18.5 feet in length when closed. You will find the average weight of a pop-up camper for these models of pop-up campers weigh 3,375 pounds gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) or slightly over. (Find the Best Anti Rattle Hitch Device)
How Much Does a 20 ft Pop-Up Camper Weigh?
Most vehicles, including compact cars, can pull a small pop-up camper. However, you would need to check the towing capacity. The “dry weight” of a pop-up camper will be used to determine this, yet any spare tire, extra camping equipment, water, and propane fuels are not included in the capacity.
The weight of a pop-up camper can now range from 500 pounds to 2000 pounds or more. The average weight of the lightest pop-up camper or mini pop-up camper weight range is from 500 to 650 pounds.
As some campers have soft sides, you can refer to it as tent trailer weight. Meanwhile, the average weight of a medium pop-up camper will be around 800 pounds, and as a weight comparison, a large pop-up camper comes with campers weighing up to 3000 pounds.
If you are considering a popup camper, you’ll need to know all about the weight of pop-up trailers. You’ll find pop-up campers are a terrific way to time outside.
Besides, they are far easier to store than other campers since they are smaller. However, you need to be aware size can become a disadvantage for sleeping space if you have a large family or intend to travel for an extended period.
A pop-up camping trailer can, however, can meet the needs of RV owners who enjoy spending time away from home.
