My 2008 Ford F-150 has a payload of 1850lbs and a GVWR of 6950.

I currently pull a 14' aluminum boat with 9.9 motor which has a tongue weight of around 50lbs

I am thinking of buying an Adventurer 80SK which has a dry weight of 1276lbs.

I know that I would be over the GVWR by a couple of hundred pounds with the camper, boat and gear loaded up but I can't help thinking that it should still be ok.

Does anyone have any real world experience with this?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards, Hedghog

Well..... acccording to the law, Ford and your insurance company, exceeding the GVWR is never ok. So be aware that should you get in an accident, your insurance company is almost sure not to cover you and you'll likely be fined for driving a vehicle that's overweight.

I did some quick calculations based on info I could find. I assumed your truck has a 27gal fuel tank. Water = 8.5lbs/gal, Gas = 6.5lbs/gal

Camper Water tanks full: add 128lbs
Trailer tongue weight: add 50lbs
Full fuel tank: add 175lbs
Camper dry weight: 1276lbs
total payload (not including passengers): 1629lbs

These numbers leave 221lbs for the driver and additional cargo. So it looks like with just the driver in the truck you might be under the GVWR limit. You could always travel with no water in the camper and fill up once you get where you're going. Or, you could transfer as much cargo as you can into your boat since it won't add much tongue weight. Or you also could travel with less fuel in the truck's tank and stop more often at the gas station. In any case its going to be close.

My Sun Lite weighs 1475lbs..... That's dry weight.

When I load it down with all my gear, and hook up my boat, Then my truck would squat..... Since I put the ''Firestone Airbags'' on my truck I don't have a problem!

I have a 02 F-150 King Cab V-8 4X4..... My truck handles my camper & boat just fine, and I take A LOT of gear with me.

The ''Airbags'' really helped my truck...... By looking at it, You wouldn't think it had much load at all, because the airbags keeps it from squatting.

When we go camping, We never fill up our water tank before we leave..... We always wait ''until'' we get to the campground..... I also agree with what (aqualung said above).... Put what you can in your boat.... It sounds like to me that you don't have enough tongue weight.

If I was you, I would put ''Airbags'' on your truck!...... You can also get ''bolt on helper springs'' at Advance Auto, and they work OK..... But the airbags are much better.

Good luck!

Thanks for the replies.

I dug up some more data on my truck and it has a curb weight of 5043lbs. By most definitions curb weight means an empty vehicle with a full tank of gas

I also found out that the 80SK that the dealer has available is 1365lbs. So when I start adding stuff up:
5043
+375 (Driver & passenger)
+50 (Boat...it isn't more than that since I can lift it with one hand)
+1365 (Camper dry)
+63 (Half a tank of water)
+20 (propane)
+65 (battery)
=6981lbs

And I haven't even put food, beer and gear in yet which is probably going to be around 300lbs for a driver and passenger...maybe a little more...maybe a little less.

So yes your 100% right Aqualung the whole rig is probably going to be about 350lbs over the GVWR rolling down the road and technically illegal.

On another note, this is about 5% over GVWR and probably still nominal for a semi-floating rear axle.

And yes KY_Campers you right, air bags would make the rig handle safely.

I guess the decision I need to make is how I am going to handle it if something goes wrong...like they say...don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

On a final note, a Four Wheel Camper, Outfitter, Hallmark or Phoenix pop-up camper optioned like that 80SK is about 1100lbs dry...which means that even that would make the rig over the GVWR.

In any event, more feedback is welcome.

Best Regards, Hedghog