Zinger Z-1

[hippy45]

Hi there, i'm a newb so just tell me if i'm posting in the wrong place.
We are looking at a 2012 Zinger Z-1 271 BHS to replace our way too heavy trailer that the salesman said "should be ok". iI have learned a lot since then.
Just wondering if anyone could tell me the difference between a Zinger, and a Z-1 Zinger.
Also can't seem to find out things like ceilng height, if it has two grey tanks, what size are tanks, is the underbelly covered, and accurate tongue weight.
It would be good to know before i proceed much farther.
Thanks for your help.

[anaro]

Hello and welcome. The Z1 is a spin off of zinger that came out about a year or so ago. It has a more rounded front. The floorplans are similar. The Z1 271BHS is a very similar floorplan to my Zinger 26BL but the bunks and bathroom are reversed and the Z1 has stairs to the bunk. Also my 26BL appears to be 2 ft longer. That said they are the same weight. This is not a light trailer. The GVWR is 7700 for both trailers. I know mine weighs in at 7000 lbs loaded, ready to camp. My tongue weight is somewhere between 910 lbs and 1050 lbs if you use the 13-15% of loaded trailer weight calculation. I had to trade in my armada because it was too much trailer for the truck. I now have a 3/4 ton truck to pull it and it handles well.

What are you towing with? You need to look carefully at your TV's capacities (never evedr trust the salesman). What is your available payload (payload minus the weight of all occupants and gear when loaded ready to camp)? The best thing you can do is go load your TV up ready to camp, with all occupants, pets and gear that usually go on a trip and weigh your TV w/ a full tank of fuel. This will give you an accurate weight of your TV. With this number you can figure out a lot of things. SUbtract the weight you got on the scale from the vehicles GVWR to find your available payload. SUbtract the weight you got on the scale from the vehicles GCWR to get your adjusted towing capacity. Once you know these things, you can start to look at TT"s again. Remember that you will never haul that trailer empty so don't shop for a dry weight. You can however either shop by TT's GVWR as you will probably not exceed this or figure out a loaded TT weight.Do you know how much weight you carried in your last TT? If so then you can add that to a TT's dry weight to get an idea of what it will weigh loaded. If not, most campers loaded approximately 1000-1500 lbs into their camper so you can get an idea here. Understand that your tongue weight will be approximately 13-15% of the loaded TT's weight. Your tongue weight will need to be subtracted from your available payload.

As to your other questions, I am not sure of the answers but if it is truly as similar to my TT as I believe it is then it will only have 1 grey tank. According to the website, i thas a 40 gal fresh water tank, 26 gal black and 26 ga grey tank. Good luck and I hope this helps you some.

[hippy45]

thanks for the info, current t.v. is a 2004 Expedition. payload is 1450, tongue weight is 900. Trailer weighs 8300 loaded. GVW of trailer is 9800, thats a lot of stuff!
My concern is the tongue weight is at max, trailer weight and GCWR are close but ok. Rear axle weight on truck is close, but better since I adjusted hitch to put more on the front ( it was low).
I dont really like pushing things to the limit, and the Zinger had a 200lb lighter tongue spec, and 1200 lighter published dry weight.
I really dont want to upgrade my truck at this time, so the trailer seemed like a better option.
As for tank capacity, i watched a video on this trailer, and it showed two grey tank valves, one for kitchen and one for tub. If so would the grey tanks be both 26 making 52 total?

[anaro]

It sounds like the Z1 is pushing the limits of your expedition. With the payload of 1450, you need to subtract the weight of all cargo, occupants and pets etc in the expy. If what is left on your payload is truly 900 lbs then you are pushing your limits with the zinger. The tongue weight of your old TT is more likely to be about 1080-1245 lbs (13-15% of the 8300 lbs you listed). If you have a TW of 10-11% that is likely too light for the TW and will make your TT too heavy in the rear possibly inducing a swaytype of condition. The dry tongue weight is a useless #. The dry brochure weight of a TT is useless as it usually doesn't include the weight of things like propane and batteries etc. The dry weight on thesticker inside the trailer should include the weight of these items. Still the only thing the dry weight is good for is a place to start from when adding in the weight of your gear. You are actually safer to do the calculations using the TT GVWR.


I will tell you that I started hauling my TT with an Armada. I had a very white knuckle handling experience with it even with a reese dual cam WDH and a prodigy P3 brake controller. The final straw came when I didn't have enough truck to stop the trailer (keep it slow) down a 7% downgrade (2 lane road w/ twists and turns and no runaway truck ramp area). I used every trick I had learned in 20 yrs of hauling horse trailers. I still had virtually no brakes by the bottom of the mountain. I was done. I upgraded the TV instead of trading the trailer because that was the better option for us. Our TV was a 2004 but was starting to head down the road of needing several repairs. We upgraded the TV to something we knew would work with this TT and if we chose to upgrade in the future. Changing TV's is not in the cards for you andI respect that. ButI think you might still need to look lighter than this Z1 to have a good towing experience. I hate to shy people away because they are nice trailers but I would rather you be safe and have a good experience then be unsafe or miserable.

Edited by: anaro