01 What the Aurora line is
Aurora is Forest River's value family answer — a three-line family (Aurora, Aurora Light, Aurora Destination Series) that on the 10 July 2026 RVUSA probe carried 857 active listings, more inventory than any other line missing from this catalog. The base Aurora profiled here is the family's 96-inch wide-body tier: twelve tandem-axle floorplans from a 29-foot-9 rear-bath couples plan to a 37-foot-10 triple-slide flagship bunkhouse.
The weight story is unusually clean for the value tier. Forest River's per-plan detail pages print a GVWR for every Aurora, and on every one of the twelve the published UVW plus CCC equals it exactly — no derivation. What the factory does not publish is per-plan axle ratings or any MSRP; sleeps counts and axle class come from RVUSA catalog records, whose weight fields lag the current factory figures on several plans — a logged conflict, resolved to the factory detail pages throughout. Live asking prices on the probe day ran from the high $20,000s for volume family plans into the mid $40,000s for the flagship.
The standard content is the argument: every base Aurora ships with the 15,000-BTU GE ducted heat-pump air conditioner, a 35,000-BTU furnace, the GE 60,000-BTU tankless water heater, solid-surface counters, the 10.7-cubic-foot GE 12-volt refrigerator, an enclosed fully sealed underbelly, a power tongue jack, aluminum sport wheels with a carried spare, an outside shower and a camp-side outside kitchen on most plans (a mini version on the couples plans, the full camp kitchen on the 32BDS and 34BHTS) — heat-pump cooling and tankless hot water being exactly the two line items the value tier usually cuts. Two scope notes: the Aurora Toy Haulers (26ATH / 27ATH / 29ATH) are a separate ramp-door sub-line outside this reference's travel-trailer scope, and a regional Aurora Sky variant family exists with its own distinct published weights — per this site's twin-handling rule its figures are not attributed to the plans below.
02 Floorplans profiled in depth
Six of the twelve 2026 floorplans — the demand leaders and the structurally distinct plans — are profiled in full: the entry couples 24RBS, the volume-selling 27DBH double-bunk, the triple-queen 29TQS, the reconfigurable 32MAZE, the rear-lounge 32RLTS and the flagship 34BHTS. The table is sorted by length.
| Floorplan | Dry wt | GVWR | Length | Sleeps | Layout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24RBS | 6,468 lbs | 8,468 lbs | 29' 9" | 3 | Entry rear bath — couples plan, 21-ft awning, outside kitchen |
| 27DBH | 7,186 lbs | 9,186 lbs | 33' 4" | 8 | Double-bunk family plan — dual entry, the volume seller |
| 32RLTS | 8,842 lbs | 10,342 lbs | 35' 10" | 3 | Rear-lounge entertainer — triple slide, power theater standard |
| 29TQS | 7,892 lbs | 9,824 lbs | 36' 0" | 8 | Triple-queen sleeper — three full-size beds |
| 32MAZE | 8,686 lbs | 10,686 lbs | 36' 10" | 4 | Adaptable triple-slide — rear island kitchen, dual awnings |
| 34BHTS | 9,152 lbs | 10,652 lbs | 37' 10" | 6 | Flagship bunkhouse — triple slide, full camp kitchen; 2-Queen variant |
This is a published-GVWR-clean line: the factory detail page prints a GVWR for every plan and the published UVW plus CCC sums to it exactly, verified against the brand-roster weight table, which agrees to the pound. Sleeps counts are RVUSA catalog fields shown as “up to.” The RVUSA weight records are stale on several plans (24RBS, 29TQS, 32RLTS, 34BHTS among the profiled set; the 27DBH and 31KDS agree exactly) — a logged conflict, factory figures used throughout. Forest River publishes no MSRP for the family. Always confirm against the unit's weight sticker and your vehicle's payload placard before purchase.
03 Catalogued plans — verified weights
The remaining travel-trailer plans carry factory-verified weights below; their layouts are not asserted beyond the factory floorplan summary. The 34BHTS 2-Queen-Beds variant (factory id 12829) publishes weights identical to the 34BHTS.
| Floorplan | Hitch | UVW | GVWR | Length | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26FKDS | 854 lb | 6,977 lb | 9,654 lb | 29' 4" | Front-kitchen dual-entry couples plan |
| 28BHS | 858 lb | 6,986 lb | 8,486 lb | 32' 1" | Dual-entry bunkhouse, outside kitchen |
| 29QBS | 888 lb | 7,124 lb | 9,124 lb | 33' 7" | Bunkhouse with bunkroom jackknife sofa |
| 32BDS | 1,054 lb | 8,154 lb | 9,654 lb | 36' 1" | Dual-entry bunkhouse, full camp kitchen |
| 31KDS | 1,042 lb | 7,743 lb | 10,000 lb | 36' 3" | Rear-kitchen dual-slide, W/D prep |
| 34BHTS (2Q) | 1,310 lb | 9,152 lb | 10,652 lb | 37' 10" | Two-bedroom variant of the 34BHTS — identical weights |
Aurora Destination Series — the family's 40-to-45-foot destination trailers for seasonal sites, catalogued from the factory roster weight strip (hitch / UVW / CCC; the factory prints GVWR on each detail page and it equals UVW plus CCC exactly on all six). The 40BHTS2Q two-queen variant publishes weights identical to the 40BHTS.
| Floorplan | Hitch | UVW | CCC | Length | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40BHTS | 1,382 lb | 9,598 lb | 1,984 lb | 40' 11" | Destination bunkhouse; 2-Queen variant (40BHTS2Q) publishes identical weights |
| 39FLTS | 1,254 lb | 10,323 lb | 1,500 lb | 42' 11" | Front-living destination trailer |
| 43CONDO | 1,494 lb | 13,245 lb | 1,500 lb | 43' 0" | CONDO-series two-level destination; sleeps 10 (RVUSA) |
| 44CONDO | 1,652 lb | 12,711 lb | 1,000 lb | 44' 10" | Largest CONDO; dual A/C (RVUSA); sleeps 11 (RVUSA) |
| 42CONDO | 1,286 lb | 12,715 lb | 1,000 lb | 44' 11" | CONDO-series destination; sleeps 9 (RVUSA) |
Destination trailers are towable to a site and lived in, not toured with — note the CONDO plans' 1,000-to-1,500-pound cargo margins against 12,700-to-13,200-pound UVWs, and hitch weights over 1,250 pounds. Weights are the current factory roster figures; the RVUSA records for several Destination plans are stale (logged).
04 How to choose & what to weigh
Families: the 27DBH is the default, the 34BHTS the destination
The 27DBH is the plan the market votes for — eight berths, a second entry straight into the bunk room, a 74-gallon grey tank and a genuine half-ton weight ticket at 7,186 lb dry. The 34BHTS flagship adds two more slides, a private bunk suite and the full camp kitchen at 9,152 lb — and its 2-Queen variant turns the same trailer into a two-couples coach at identical weights.
Couples: one honest entry, one honest flagship
The 24RBS is the value couples buy — rear full bath, outside kitchen, W/D prep and a 2,000-lb margin at 6,468 lb dry. The 32RLTS is the entertainer — rear lounge, kitchen island, standard power theater and dual awnings — but mind its 33-gallon grey tank and 1,500-lb margin.
The 29TQS three-queen pitch
No bunk pads: a private front queen plus a rear room with two more full queens. Two couples splitting a site, or teenagers who outgrew bunks, each get a real mattress — a layout the bunkhouse field simply does not offer at this price.
Tongue weight and payload are the real constraints
Cargo margins run 1,500 to 2,000 lb across the line — a filled 38-gallon fresh tank alone claims about 315 lb. Dry tongues span 850 lb on the 24RBS to 1,310 on the 34BHTS, with the 32MAZE at 1,218 — figures that come off the tow vehicle's payload placard before a single passenger boards. Weigh the loaded rig; the placard, not the brochure tow rating, decides.
05 What every base Aurora has
06 Where Aurora sits in the value field
Inside its own family, the base Aurora is the wide-body tier: the Aurora Light runs underneath with single-axle X-series compacts and lighter tandem plans, and the Destination Series (catalogued above) stretches the platform past 40 feet for seasonal sites. Inside Forest River, it slots into the crowded value shelf beside the volume Salem / Wildwood twins and the Grey Wolf value family plans — the Aurora counterargument being the heat-pump A/C, tankless water heater, solid-surface counters and the weight math that ties out on a printed GVWR. Across the aisle, the natural cross-shops are Keystone's Springdale, the Coleman lineup and Jayco's Jay Flight SLX — the same sizes, mostly without the tankless-and-heat-pump standard content.