Good post Steve. I was prepared to post another rv towing site but yours covered the same points.
Kathie, Safety first is a major priority here.
You don’t say if your trailer is a ball mount or a fifth wheel.
Obviously if it is a fifth wheel trailer, a heavy duty pickup is necessary for mounting a fifth wheel rack in the back.
I too, believe in going for a bit (or a lot, depending if upgrading in trailer size later) of over-kill in tow vehicle selection.
There is an unwritten rule to follow concerning tow vehicles and trailers.
For every foot of trailer you need another four inches of tow vehicle wheelbase length.
Eg. 112 inch wheelbase (wb) for a 20ft trailer, 116 inch wb for 21ft, 120inch wb for a 22 foot, etc.
Using that rule (for safe towing) your 29 ft trailer should have a tow vehicle with a 148 inch wb.
Depending on your individual needs, a pickup (such as a 2007 Chev Silverado Ext cab, 8ft box with a 157.5 inch wheelbase) or a large suv (like the Suburban) will more than suffice, also dependent on trailer style.
Check out the ‘vehicle research’ link at the left of the page for your vehicle of choice. You MUST research thoroughly for your tow vehicle and be aware the trailer sales people will feed you anything so be CAREFUL.
To give you an idea of towing capacity the pickup mentioned (according to the manufacturer) is 10,100 lbs gross weight.
Check out various RV-ing websites for first hand info. See what the full timers use.
Go to state parks and ask the people on their site how they like what they tow with, don’t be afraid to pick their brains as most are more than happy to help.
Naturally, you look for a trailer comparable to yours.
One of the things you WILL need is a brake controller which dash mounts in the tow vehicle and is wired to the trailer.
Personally I use a Teshonka(sp?) Prodigy brake controller in my Tahoe. Of all of them out there it is by far the best and smoothest (and most popular).
I have a 2002 Chev Tahoe (suv) with a 5.3L V8 (285hp) 116 inch wb to pull my 21ft travel trailer.
Now, the ‘rule’ can be bent a little (what else are rules for?) and tow a longer trailer by mounting (for ball hitch trailers) the best weight distribution hitch(wdh) out there. It’s called a Hensley wdh and is expensive (about $4k)
I better stop or some of the posters will get upset.
There is a mountain of towing and RVing info available, I highly recommend you look it up BEFORE buying so as not to waste money and be discouraged.
Above all, do not expect to get decent mpg when towing the trailer. Reducing the mpg by 30% is not unheard of.