2026 Cherokee Alpha Wolf280QBS

The 280QBS closes off a rear bunk room: a 28-by-72 bunk over a dinette, a 32-by-72 double bunk and a TV stand with a dresser, by the drawing in Forest River’s December 2025 Alpha Wolf brochure. The brochure also draws a rear queen bedroom option (a 60-by-80 queen and a wardrobe) and lists the rear queen bedroom as a 280QBS-only feature. Mid-coach, the slide carries a U-shape dinette and a jack-knife sofa; the bath has a shower, and the kitchen has a 12-volt refrigerator, microwave, overhead cabinets and a pantry, facing an entertainment center with a fireplace. Up front is a 60-by-80 queen with wardrobes. Outside: an 18-foot awning, an outside kitchen and outside storage. One slide-out and one entry door.

Forest River’s December 2025 Alpha Wolf brochure prints a 6,668-pound UVW, a 2,027-pound CCC and an 880-pound hitch weight, 34 ft 0 in long, 11 ft 0 in high and 96 inches wide, with 81-gallon fresh, 35-gallon grey and 35-gallon black tanks; Forest River’s 2026 Alpha Wolf roster (saved 6 Aug 2026) agrees on the four figures it prints. Neither prints a GVWR, so none is shown and none is computed.

Its 2,027-pound CCC is 697 pounds more than the 26DBH carries, for 43 pounds more unloaded weight. The brochure’s standard, Weather Guard and Limited package lists apply line-wide: laminated exterior walls with block-foam insulation, a drop-frame design with “SuperStor” basement storage, an 81-gallon “Niagara” fresh tank, an armored underbelly tank enclosure with forced-air heat and 12-volt heat pads, a 15,000-BTU central air conditioner, an on-demand tankless water heater, a 12-volt residential-style refrigerator, 4-corner power stabilizer jacks, a power front jack and the Juice Pack 100-watt solar package.

How the 280QBS differs from the other ten Alpha Wolf floorplans. Most distinctive first. How these ranks are worked out.

• Tongue weight as a share of dry weight, 13.2%: second-smallest of eleven, between the 21RB (11.9%) and the 22SW (13.3%).
• Tongue weight, 880 lb: third-lightest of eleven, between the 22SW (735 lb) and the 25RB (910 lb).
• Cargo capacity, 2,027 lb: fourth-smallest of eleven, between the 24TRUNK (1,542 lb) and the 21RB (2,087 lb).
• Dry weight, 6,668 lb: sixth-lightest of eleven, between the 26DBH (6,625 lb) and the 26RL (7,258 lb).
• Length, 34 ft: sixth-shortest of eleven, between the 26DBH (32 ft 8 in) and the 26RL (34 ft 6 in).
• Grey tank, 35 gal: smallest of ten, level with the 21RB, 24TRUNK and two others; next are the 26RL, 29DCB and three others (70 gal).

Next to the 26DBH, the nearest lighter floorplan by dry weight, the 280QBS is 43 lb heavier by dry weight, has 697 lb more cargo capacity, has a tongue weight 75 lb lighter and is 1 ft 4 in longer; the two publish the same exterior height, fresh tank, grey tank, black tank and slide-out count.

Next to the 26RL, the nearest heavier floorplan by dry weight, the 280QBS is 590 lb lighter by dry weight, has 465 lb less cargo capacity, has a tongue weight 200 lb lighter, is 6 in shorter, stands 2 in lower, has a grey tank 35 gal smaller and has one fewer slide-out; the two publish the same fresh tank and black tank.

Alpha Wolf is the laminated-fiberglass tier of Forest River's Cherokee travel-trailer family — a construction step above the metal-sided Grey Wolf and Wolf Den on the same drop-frame bumper-pull architecture, and a cross-shop against Forest River's own Salem / Wildwood, Jayco's Jay Flight, Keystone's Passport and Coachmen's Catalina. Eleven floorplans are published for 2026.

A full 81-gallon fresh tank is about 672 lb of water, 33% of the 280QBS’s 2,027 lb cargo capacity, leaving 1,355 lb. Across 11 Alpha Wolf floorplans the water share runs 26% to 51%, and 3 give up more than this one. Nearest on that share: Alpha Wolf 21RB at 32% and Alpha Wolf 24TRUNK at 44%.