Cardinal RV Club

I am new to the forum and currently have a Forest River Flagstaff 831BHSS Travel Trailer. Have very much enjoyed the Flagstaff and have had very little problems.

I have been looking at the Cardinal 34QS or 30TS and would like to hear comments or these two units. I like the extra space the 34QS has but am a bit concerned about the weight. The 30TS is a little less weight.

I have also looked at Everest by Keystone and the Open Road by Pilgrim International. I really do like the looks and features of the Cardinal both inside and out. I have a large local dealer which one the three only sells Everest.

I don't have the weights available to me but I suspect that the 34QS may be too much for the F250. Check the factory specs., add weight of fuel, passengers, hitch, propane, supplies, etc., and then add 10%. Welcome to the forum and stay safe. See you on the road!

Will you actually be using the additional space? If you are going to full-time in the unit go for the 34. Full-time loaded trailers get beyond 3/4 ton weights very quickly however. If using it for part-timing or weekends the 30 will get you into a lot of smaller state and federal campgrounds, keep in mind these are model numbers and not actual lengths. Get the floor plan that fits you and your style no matter the brand, although we would love to see you in a Redbird. Good luck with your search and hope to see you out there camping soon.

Thanks for the input. It would be for weekend trips and for as much as I can't sneak away from work. I have two large furry four legged friends (Goldens) so the extra space would be nice. I have other family towing units as large or larger with F250 and F350's without any trouble but I want to be safe and legal.

We custom ordered our 34qs last fall and aside from some minor issues which the dealer quickly took care of absolutely love this bird. We don't full time, and it's basically my DW and I using it for "get away's" but when we do use it with the spaciousness of the floorplan it's as iif we are pulling our little vacation home around with us. Sure she's heavy (the bird ) but the 4 slides sure do give you plenty of room. If I had to do it all over again I would buy the 34qs without hesitation.

But you have a one ton dually and I have a 3/4 SRW and I'm sure it will pull it as I see people do it all the time. I know, we have heard this over and over again and I don't want to open that cans of worms.

Just one clarification maybe someone can help with..... If the pin weight is about 2000 lbs and it sits on the truck then it seems that weight would be shifted to the GVW of the truck and off the trailer. If this is correct then the trailer would actually weigh 10,300 dry. This would cause me to be right at the GVWR but under for the GCWR for the truck.

BTW, Rosey. I think I read in one of the forum threads that you bought your Cardinal at Daly RV in Goldsboro, NC and were very happy with them. Since I am in Concord (near Charlotte) I called them today and they have a 34QS in stock. I may be able to go see it this weekend.

The trailer dry weight will include the pin weight, if the trailer is 10,000 lbs dry and pin weight is 2000 lbs, the actual weight on the axles of the trailer will be 8,000 lbs. I think your 3/4 ton is limited to 2500 lb pin weight so 2000 lbs should be very ok unless you have a bunch of people and stuff in the truck too. Take it to the scales full of fuel and weigh it, add what and who you will carry then subtract it from the GVWR, that will give you allowable pin weight. If you don't take everything from home, and you travel with empty tanks you should do fine.

kingranch wrote:But you have a one ton dually and I have a 3/4 SRW and I'm sure it will pull it as I see people do it all the time.

If the pin weight is about 2000 lbs and it sits on the truck then it seems that weight would be shifted to the GVW of the truck and off the trailer. If this is correct then the trailer would actually weigh 10,300 dry. This would cause me to be right at the GVWR but under for the GCWR for the truck.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprise how well your F250 PSD will pull and handle either 5th wheel.

That is correct. The GVW is the weight of the truck plus everything in the truck and the hitch weight at the pin.

Rob

kingranch wrote:BTW, Rosey. I think I read in one of the forum threads that you bought your Cardinal at Daly RV in Goldsboro, NC and were very happy with them. Since I am in Concord (near Charlotte) I called them today and they have a 34QS in stock. I may be able to go see it this weekend.

Kingranch.......

Yep Alan Daly(owner) @ Daly RV is first class...............he will treat you right!!!!!!...........tell him "Rosey" sent you. He and his employees (AL) in the service dept are top notch....that's why we bought our Bird from him over 5 hrs. away from home in Appomattox , Va.! It's along the way when we visit with my brother in Morehead city anyway then we have an excuse to stay @ "Emerald Isle" !!

You probably have some idea of how willing they are to negoiate a good deal. At first pass they are really giving me a low offer for my trade which is in excellent condition. I know we all think our trade is worth more but this was a really low trade offer. I have been talking with another dealer in Tenn who seems to be more willing to deal and his 34QS has more features and even includes custom paint and a TrailAir Equalizer and is priced lower than Daly's quote.

kingranch wrote:You probably have some idea of how willing they are to negoiate a good deal. At first pass they are really giving me a low offer for my trade which is in excellent condition. I know we all think our trade is worth more but this was a really low trade offer. I have been talking with another dealer in Tenn who seems to be more willing to deal and his 34QS has more features and even includes custom paint and a TrailAir Equalizer and is priced lower than Daly's quote.

In my opinion you will have to go there in person and deal with Alan directly................trying to negotiate over the phone is extremely difficult on both sides..........he is "low pressure"......why don't ya take a little ride over there??

I was curious to find out the end result of this thread. I also have a 07 F-250 and have been looking at the Cardinal models you listed. Did you ever decide on which one and have you got any feedback from that decision?

Rosey, by any chance have you ever checked out the actual pin weight of your 34QS? Just curious how accurate the advertised weight is.

Thanks,

mtiller wrote:I was curious to find out the end result of this thread. I also have a 07 F-250 and have been looking at the Cardinal models you listed. Did you ever decide on which one and have you got any feedback from that decision?

Rosey, by any chance have you ever checked out the actual pin weight of your 34QS? Just curious how accurate the advertised weight is.

Thanks,

To be honest with you....no I haven't cheched out the "actual pin weight".......since I'm towing with a 1 ton dually it really hasn't been much of a concern for me.

We have the 29TS which is the predecessor of the 30TS and an F250 diesel, crew cab, short bed. Here are our actuals. We are over quite a bit on GVW.

Truck weights with fuel, hitch, 2 of us and the 2 dogs on our way out for a weekend of camping.

GVW 7760
Front axle 4560
Rear axle 3200

Weights with truck and trailer (below 1/3 tank of water and full propane) and all of the above.

CGWR: 19140
Front axle: 4660
Rear axle: 5300
Trailer axle: 9180

So with those numbers that puts our trailer weight at 11380 and pin at 2100.

Specs for our truck at 8800 GVW, 6084 Rear axle and 20,000 GCWR.

Label in the trailer has GVWR of 14,084 and a dry weight of 9655.

The numbers all boil down to this:

GVW - over by 1160
Front axle - under by 140
Rear axle - under by 784
Combined - under by 860

I should also add that we do try and keep the trailer loaded fairly minimally.