Personally, I would
NOT get the
NEW Lance 1,685. It's heavier than the outgoing version and is too heavy for the Ascent - not to mention that if you get into an accident,
your insurance WILL fight you over paying any claims because its GVWR clearly exceeds the Ascent's rating.
If you have it ENTIRELY empty with
NO added accessories, NO supplies, NO pillows and blankets, NO gear, it starts at 3,980 pounds. If you forget to empty ALL dirty tanks (lets say when traveling from place to place, and you just keep refilling the potable tank until you get to a dump station), then that's as much as 1,126 pounds in the water tanks. That puts you at 5,106 pounds, which is already over the Ascent's max towing spec.
Then, let's add a couple propane tanks and subtract an entire water tank by being diligent about emptying your tanks. That's 899 pounds plus empty weight, meaning 4,879 pounds. No gear, no blankets, no towels, no soap, no dishes, no food, no drinks, no clothing,
no accessories.
Even using the 9-11% tongue weight recommendation in the Ascent manual, at 10%, that means an empty trailer (just 2 water tanks and propane for food you couldn't bring), that's 488 pound tongue weight. That drops your inside car cargo weight by that 488 pounds. On a Touring with 1,132 pound cargo weight, that means you have 644 pounds left for people and gear in the Ascent.
- Gross Dry Weight 3980 Lbs.
- Hitch Dry Weight 425 Lbs.
- Axle Weight 3555 Lbs.
- Cargo Carrying Capacity 1520 Lbs.
- GVWR 5500 Lbs.
The specs for the 2020 Lance 1685 remain
the same as last years and 2018's. This is directly from Lance's website today:
I've been researching this trailer for over a year, it is
not too heavy for the Ascent as long as you
diligently manage the available options and the total cargo weight. This is something that should be done with any trailer btw.
As far as GVWR, we've talked at length about this before. A better GVWR means a trailer is
safer than one with an inferior GVWR. I've heard of trailers like the typically chosen
Apex Nano 187RB with a GVWR of only 3800 lb, a Gross Axle Weight Rating of 3500 lb (!!), and a Gross Dry Weight of 3054 lbs, and typically loaded to a Gross Trailer Weight of around 3700 lbs! Now
that's something an insurance company should take note of because the trailer may fail catastrophically with only a cargo load of a few extra hundred pounds. Yet this is a trailer one might easily consider more suitable to the Ascent than the 1685!
On the Apex Nano 187RB, with a GVWR of only 3800 lb and a Gross Dry Weight of 3054 lbs, that leaves only
746 lbs left for all cargo, including any added options. The 1685 has a GVWR of 5500 lbs and Gross Dry Weight of 3980 lbs leaving a cargo weight of
1520 lbs, including added options. Staying within the Ascent's towing limits, you can use up to
1,020 lbs of that for all cargo weight combined, including all options and all added cargo. Compare that to the Apex Nano's miserly 746 lb maximum for options and cargo. So please don't state that the 1685 is cargo limited over other trailers. And I'll take the 1685's far superior and safer ratings over the seemingly more suitable Apex Nano any day and challenge anyone, including insurance companies, as to which trailer is safer and less likely to result in an accident or failure. The worst you're likely to do with a foolishly overloaded but well built 1685 is to damage your transmission, with a foolishly overloaded and less well built Apex Nano, the axle can fail and cause a major accident involving other vehicles. If you were an insurance company, which would you be more concerned about? The Lance 1685 has an incredible GVWR because it has
two axles, not one, meaning that it's much better built than most other trailers of its size and much less likely of a catastrophic failure due to overloading.
I've discussed this at length in an
earlier post here and I thought we were now beyond this kind of thinking, but now it looks like I'll need to repeat some of it again here.
Technically, the greater the trailer's GVWR
the better (up to practical physical limits),
as long as you never exceed the maximum gross trailer weight allowed by the tow vehicle and the Gross Dry Weight is acceptable.
We all should know that it is the lesser of the towing spec of either the trailer or the tow vehicle which applies. That's trailer towing 101.
It's completely up to the owner to properly stay within the limits of either the tow vehicle or the trailer
whichever is the lesser. You could select a trailer with a GVWR well above 5000 Lbs for the Ascent just as long as you fully understand that the maximum you could ever load it
must stay below 5000 lbs total gross weight.
So this is why I disagree with any advice that states not to purchase a trailer with a GVWR of more than the tow vehicle's maximum towing capacity. It simply does not make sense as long as the owner is smart enough to know the limits of the tow vehicle. It's merely dumbing down type advice that should be given
only to people who are incapable of understanding what all the numbers involved mean. It may (or may not) help keep unknowledgeable people safer, but it may also likely put them into an inferior, less safe trailer. It's much better to go a few steps more and try to teach what the numbers actually mean so buyers can select the best and safest trailer available within their needs and budget. Why rule out a better-made, safer trailer on a misleading premise?
Using the Lance 1685 with an Ascent allows up to around 500-1020 lbs of cargo depending upon which options you choose. That's enough for most people and very similar to many lighter weight trailers which are instead limited by a single axle rather than the max tow rating. Yes, a superior GVWR of 5500 lbs could conceivably encourage someone foolish to grossly overload it for a specific tow vehicle, but again someone foolish may just as likely overload any trailer. I assume we're not talking to anyone so foolish here and that anyone buying any trailer would have done enough homework to understand that the lesser loading specs of either the tow vehicle or the trailer is the overruling factor.
As far as tongue weight, the 1685 is no different than any other trailer, it's much more about the final weight
distribution than the trailer/cargo total weight. I've seen ultralightweight trailers weighing much less than the 1685 with a much higher dry tongue weight. This is something every trailer owner must manage via diligent weight distribution. No one knows for certain what the final tongue weight of their trailer will be until they load it. This applies to any trailer, light or heavy. It can be greater or lesser than the rated dry tongue weight.
I've stated every time we discuss the 1685 that the owner needs to be diligent about cargo weight and not be so careless as to drive around with the tanks full or other such overloaded cargo, but this is true for all trailers, often for different reasons. To properly load
any trailer, you have to factor in
everything. There may be a bit less room for error towing the 1685 or other trailers in its weight class, but it can be safely done within the limits of the Ascent's capabilities with careful diligence. If this is not for you, then find something lighter, but do not rule out anything until you carefully work out all the numbers.
