GVW for a 1981 sunline 18 foot

[rudisillbt]

I was wondering if anybody out there could help me. My wife and I just purchased a 1981 18-foot Sunline and we can't find a listing for the gross vehicle weight. We looked all over the trailer and the owner’s manual but could only find the dry weight. I even tried to contact the manufacture only to find they are out of business. If anybody could tell me the GVW of this style of trailer, or give me any suggestions as to where I might find a listing, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[PTHutch]

Hi rudisillbt

Welcome to the forum.

There’s a Sunline 1981 Brochure on the Files page.
A club member here (i.e., SunlineFan) has been restoring all the brochures and having the posted here. They really come in handy sometimes.

On the last page they provide specifications for the various trailers for that model year. There is no 18’ but there is a 17½’ SB, which I'm guessing may be the model of your trailer.

Unfortunately the brochure doesn’t list any GVWR, but it does list GAWR @ 4200. Typically the GVWR is a little higher than the GAWR because some of the weight is carried by the tongue, but in this case you could use the GAWR as the GVWR, it just has a built in safety factor.

It also indicates that the dry weight of the trailer is 2090 and a tongue weight of 260.

Therefore, I would guess you have ~1850 lbs of cargo capacity available in your trailer.
Calculated from GAWR – Dry Weight – Tongue Weight (4200 – 2090 – 260 = 1850 lbs).

The cargo capacity would include weight of cargo, water, LP, battery, and the weight of any options added to the trailer, like an awning. The LP and Battery may weight ~100lbs. Water weight depends on how much water you carry, water weighs 8.3 lbs / gallon.

Hope this helps
Hutch

[Dhicks]

This info. Was very helpful, we just purchased one as well! Thanks!