The wife and I are looking at getting into a camper this year and need some advice. We love to wakeboard and hanging out on the boat. but here is where the problem starts we need to tow our 22’ fiberglass wake board boat that is pushing 6k lbs loaded and the soon to be camper. My wife would like a minimum of one slide out. I just want to get a feel of what other people are running with a similar sized trailers.

What size of camper should I be looking for?

How much should I budget for? (air bags, hitch extension, tie downs, Truck bed Wiring)

Oh ya I almost forgot my tow rig is a 03 7.3L power stroke f350 short box

What size of camper will be based on your truck's GVWR minus its total weight (with full fuel tanks) minus the weight of the passengers and minus the tongue weight of your trailer with the boat loaded. What's left over after you subtract all these things is the truck's available payload. The available payload includes all cargo to be carried in the back of the truck.

The total camper weight is the camper's dry weight plus the weight of all accessories installed plus 40lbs for propane plus 8.5lbs for each gallon of fresh water you can carry. You also have to add in food, clothing and any other cargo in the camper. In addition, you have to include the weight of the turnbuckles, tiedowns, hitch extension and any other additions to the truck to carry the camper. It all adds up quick and can't exceed the truck's available payload.

To figure out what camper you can buy total up what you know for weights and subtract from the truck's GVWR. What's left over will give you an idea of how much the camper can weigh. My guess is that you won't have the weight room for a camper with a slide - they tend to be really heavy but look into it, you never know until you add it all up.

Keep in mind that hitch box extensions reduce the tongue weight capacity. My 2500 HD has a 600 lb. tongue weight rating but it drops to 400 lbs with my 24" extension added. I tow a 18" fish and ski and it works pretty well but I would not want to tow much more. Perhaps a pop-up camper would be better for you. No slide, but some are quite nice. Look at Phoenis or Northstar.

You can maintain the tongue weight when using a hitch extension if you switch to the Torklift Superhitch with a SuperTruss extension. Keep in mind that these add significant weight to the truck and take away from the available weight for the camper. So treat this as a backup plan if you max out on the tongue weight.

Thanks for the advice guys. I looked at the trucks gvw and it said 9900lbs. I will also take the boat to the scales this weekend see how much it weights loaded. I like the look of the lance 850 but not sure if it will be to much camper for the truck and boat combo.

I was figuring on having to install air bags and a super hitch truss extension. Im now thinking my biggest limiting factor will be my tires given its not a dually. I running toyo`s but not sure what load range they are.

With the truck you have you should be able to tow a good size trailer. They're made to tow easier than the older trailers.

The tire's load range should be stamped on the sidewall somewhere.

Here's some info on light truck tire load ranges etc.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tec...e.jsp?techid=55

If the tire is considered a passenger tire then have a look at this:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tec...e.jsp?techid=35