Dale, I've read that the most dangerous thing on the road is a vehicle pulling a camper! I guess a lot of people don't know how properly pull one or even know how to correct if the thing does start to fishtail. Once I came up on a small travel trailer laying on its side in the middle of the road. Looked like it jumped off the towing vehicle. Perhaps they didn't have it secured correctly. What a mess!

And I also once saw a boat, motor and trailer that came off truck and smashed into a tree in someones front yard. That boat was totally destroyed! That fellow must have had his foot to the floor.

It's my guess that speed is usually the culprit. You just can't run wide open when towing anything.

Everyone drive safely out there!

Jo

To all you trailer towers:: Here's a tip!
Go out to the trailer hitch place and buy an anti-sway bar, and if you can't install it yerself-get the seller to install it! It wiil help you or anybody who has the "smarts" control yer trailers out there on the highways! I'd be willing to bet that guy was towing his trailer on a boat trailer hitch, sans anti-sway bars, and thats why he got into trouble!
I recently saw a 17 ft. travel trailer being towed by a Dodge window van, on a small boat trailer hitch bar! No sway bars, no safety chains, nothing, just that 1 1/2 inch tow ball, on a small hitch! Whooeee! We got away from him quickly!
Oh, i know, i'll get letters pooh-poohing my statements: "Oh Rusty, you're an old fogey, the modern trailer tower knows all about that stuff, i've never had any problems-yatada, yatada, yatada! I don't use any sway bars"!! Yeah, and the conditions have to be just right and then you have BIG PROBLEMS!! Like yer trailer passing you up, going backwards, with yer back bumper still attached to it, boat trailer hitch and all! Or it swings to one side, contacts the guard rail, which opens it up like a big can opener, allowing all the world to see just what you had in there! And, the only thing that usually doesn't come out is the toilet!! Its nailed down securely! I even saw one trailer setting on the median guard fence of the P.A. turnpike, with the towing car, a big Olds. wagon still attached--but lying upside down on the road! No anti-sway bar! HMMM? Don't need one? HMMM???
Rustyj

Not all small trailers can handle a sway-bar, Rustyj.

My first popup was larger and NEEDED a sway-bar; it was a bear to tow! Now, my present smaller one, has most excellent road manners and I don't use a sway-bar. But I should also add that I'm mighty careful how the cargo is packed aboard so that it's balanced; and, my tow vehicle has much towing capacity to spare, in fact, could handle a trailer three times of what this one is. A lot of times tow vehicles are at their max (or beyond) and here is a major cause of trailer disasters just waiting to happen.

Dale

Yeah, i saw a guy towing an 18 ft. travel trailer with a Jeep CJ5! He was having a very hard time keeping it straight on the road.
and yes, you might not need an anti-sway bar on yer small tent trailer! But, if you have any kind of "stand-up-inside trailer" some day, when on the interstate or a turnpike, and several fast running tractor trailers go past close together, you just might have a BIG problem, trying to stop the swaying. That is what causes most of the sway condition, plus towing without sway bars!
Stepping on the brake usually begets more problems! Best way to stop sway is to step on the gas, get it straightened out, then gradually slow down!
Rustyj

Rusty - speaking of trailer brakes ...

What's your thinking of electric brakes vs surge brakes?

I've had both and I suppose each has it high points. Sometime back I had a large utility trailer that had the surge brakes and I liked them in that you could hook any tow vehicle up to the trailer and the trailer brakes would still work. My last popup had electric brakes and as you know, one has to get into a brake controller mounted in the tow vehicle and all that associated hassel and additional expense. Since Starcraft only offers electric brakes, I was thinking (day dreaming?), that on the next camper I would make sure it did not have brakes from the factory and then look into installing the surge brakes later.

Dale

Dale: Buy the one with the trailer brakes!! I can't say enough about the stopping distance without brakes on the trailer!
the only draw-back to surge brakes is the fact you have to stop, get out, go back, set a lockout bar, or whatever, then get back in the car/ truck, back up into a parking space or whatever, and set up camp! And then, next morning, remember to hook it back up again!
i have towed many years with several different tow vehicles, and electric brakes, to me, are the only way to go! Only time i ever had any problems were if a wire had broken, or something as simple to repair as that!
Now, the truck and car makers have designed systems that are included in the tow vehicles wiring and hydraulic set-ups, so you don't have to mess around installing it yerself! And most are hard wired for the rear trailer plug receptacle, too.
I would think you should get the trailer with brakes, but don't hook the brakes up, so, if you get into trouble later with sway, and poor braking, then you can reattach the electric hook-up!
Try this scenario: Me, driving my 76 Ford Pickup, almost new, towing a new Taurus 18' travel trailer, going around a 90d. curve at speed, when a produce truck comes out from behind the vegetable stand, and pulls out onto the hiway! Right in front of me!! Lockup time!! but, i got stopped in time!! Those trailer electric brakes sold me!
the way i figure it is this: If trailer brakes weren't needed, they wouldn't spend all that money to engineer them, and advertise them in the camping magazines, or wherever!
Rustyj
p.s.: and, ya can't run back and hook them up right before ya hit the car in front!