I have a 07 with a 5.4 , auto trans and 3.73 gears, been hauling my samurai on a 16' trailer with a pop up camper in the bed total weight under 6,000 lbs loaded. My truck pulls it OK and gets around 13 mpg. I recently bought a 16' x7' enclosed trailer to use as a poor mans toyhauler/camper, this thing feels like pulling a 3 story house down the road behind me and gets 11 mpg EMPTY!! at around 2,200 lbs. A few miles after I left the dealer I had to get out and check that the brakes weren't dragging and I was only going around 40-45 mph.
I'm going to add a canopy with a wind deflector to the truck, and boat tail plates to the rear of the trailer to see if that helps, does anyone have experience with this? Other than wind drag the only other difference is that the new trailer has bias tires but I cant believe that would be that big of a deal.
Any suggestions?

 

Wow, I have never had that experiance at all. I use to tow a 12 enclosed haulmark with two or three 700-800 lb bikes in there and never even noticed the trailer back there. Even had to look back a few times to see the trailer was still there.

 

A tandem 7x16 is a much larger trailer than a single axle 6x12.
Weight could be almost double.

2200#'s is too conservative for that 7x16
It is closer to 2500 if not more. A 6x12 could be as light as 1200#'s, most are about 1600#'s.

Square nose trailers are like sails, or parachutes and v-nose make an incredible difference in tow-ability and fuel economy.
A topper on the truck will help break up the wind hitting the front of the trailer.
If you get a topper that is higher than the roof of the truck (sloped) to try and break the wind more would also help more.
Like this:

 

The tag on the trailer claims the dry weight is 2,223#. It has 6" extra height and stands around 7 to 8' tall, I already have a canopy that's roof height. I thought I could whip up a wind deflector that would mount to my detachable roof rack, and see what kind of difference that makes. If it helps I may try the boat tail plates on the back, from what I've been reading there's just as much drag there as in the front of the trailer.

 

Next time get a v-front enclosed trailer. You won't have this problem as bad. I have a 16'x7' v front and it pulls very easily loaded and empty.

 

Do you have a car topper boat? My dad uses our 12' aluminum boat to cut the wind around his trailer. Works like a charm

 

sounds semi normal to me. colorado osprey as well as wyattboche both are correct. the main difference your feeling is simply wind drag. a flat trailer wall is much less aerodynamic than the car and pop up camper. that the reason why boats often are much easier to tow than most toy haulers of equal, even less weight.

 

Now that sounds like a good idea, and won't look as corny as my wing idea.