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Fifth Wheel · GVWR Published · Factory Brochure Record

2022 Forest River Cedar Creek345IK

a 38-foot fifth wheel that leaves the factory at 12,224 lbs dry and is rated to carry 3,966 lbs of cargo.

Tow-Critical Data — as built, MY2022

12,224lb
Dry Weight
16,190lb
GVWR
2,190lb
Pin Weight
38ft
Length
3,966 lb cargo Fifth Wheel · Fifth Wheels Built by · Forest River Model year · 2022

01 What makes it unique

The Cedar Creek 345IK leaves Forest River's factory at 12,224 lbs dry, with a published GVWR of 16,190 lbs and 3,966 lbs of cargo capacity between the two. Cargo capacity is 24% of the loaded rating, and Forest River's own definition is worth reading before you plan against it: cargo capacity is what remains for fresh water, gear, food, batteries and every dealer-installed accessory. Fresh water alone is 8.3 lb per gallon, so filling this trailer's 69-gallon fresh tank spends 573 lbs of that 3,966 lbs before anything else is loaded.

Dry pin weight is 2,190 lbs, which is 18% of the dry weight. That figure lands on the truck's rear axle and comes straight off its payload rating - not its towing rating, which is the number most often quoted and the wrong one for this decision. Pin weight rises as the trailer is loaded, and a fifth wheel loaded toward its cargo capacity will put substantially more than 2,190 lbs over the bed. Read the payload figure on your own door sticker rather than a brochure maximum for the model.

Tank capacities are 69 gallons fresh, 82 grey and 41 black, 123 gallons of waste capacity against 69 gallons of supply. The ratio is what governs how long the trailer can sit off hookups: waste capacity exceeds fresh, so the fresh tank is the binding constraint and refilling extends the stay. Forest River publishes these three figures per floorplan, and they are the factory's numbers rather than a segment average.

Against the rest of the Cedar Creek roster this is the 3rd of 11 floorplans by dry weight, in a line that runs from 11,244 lbs to 14,190 lbs. It sits in the lighter third of the line. Comparing floorplans inside one line is more reliable than comparing across brands, because every figure here comes from the same factory channel on the same day.

A useful way to read the pair of weights is to stop planning against the dry figure. Nobody tows a trailer at 12,224 lbs: that is the weight before water, batteries, propane, bedding, food, tools and anything the dealer bolted on. Load half the published cargo capacity, which is modest for a family trip, and this plan is already near 14,207 lbs on the road. Compare that number against the tow vehicle, not the dry weight, and leave margin on top of it - the published GVWR of 16,190 lbs is a limit rather than a target.

Every number above was read from one factory document: Forest River's own 2022 brochure for this line, and each figure was read back against that document's text before it was published. This is a single-channel record rather than the two-rendering cross-check this site runs on factory web captures, and it is described that way rather than dressed up as more. Dry weight plus cargo capacity also equals the published GVWR exactly, which is the arithmetic check this site runs on every profiled floorplan. Where a figure is missing from this page it is because the brochure does not publish it, not because it was hard to find - and the row says so rather than being quietly dropped.

Forest River publishes no floorplan description for this plan in the channel this page is built from - only the numeric specification block. Rather than describe a layout from the floorplan code, which would be a guess dressed as a fact, this page carries what the factory publishes and says where it stops. 345IK is a Cedar Creek designation and this site does not decode it into a layout claim.

02 Full specifications

Dimensions

Exterior length
38' 10"
Exterior height
13' 5"
Exterior width
96"

Weights

Dry / unit base weight (UVW)
12,224 lbs
GVWR (max loaded)
16,190 lbs
Net cargo / payload (CCC)
3,966 lbs
Dry pin weight
2,190 lbs

Capacities

Fresh water
69 gal
Grey water
82 gal
Black water
41 gal

Running gear

Hitch type
Fifth wheel (pin box)
Axles
Not published by Forest River
Tires
Not published by Forest River

Sleeping & layout

Sleeps
Not published by Forest River
Awnings
18 ft

Verified specs, drawn to scale

Original graphics built from this floorplan’s own verified figures.

Loaded weight budget

Loaded weight budget for the 345IKHorizontal bar. Dry weight 12,224 pounds, then cargo capacity 3,966 pounds, against a GVWR of 16,190 pounds. Dry pin weight 2,190 pounds on the same scale.GVWR 16,190 lbsDry 12,224 lbsCargo capacity 3,966 lbsDry pin weight 2,190 lbs — same scale
Drawn from this page’s published figures. The bar runs from empty to GVWR: the dark band is dry weight, the light band is everything you are allowed to add — water, propane, batteries and gear all come out of it.

Size, drawn to scale

Scale outline of the 345IKScale outline of the 345IK. Overall length 38' 10", overall height 13' 5", overall width 8' 0".end view8' 0"38' 10" overall length13' 5"
Overall length and height are drawn true to scale from the published figures, and the end view uses the same scale. Axle count is as published; axle position, wheel size and the nose profile are schematic. This is a size drawing, not a floorplan, and not a claim about body shape.

Holding tanks

Holding tank capacities for the 345IKHolding tank capacities: fresh 69 gallons, grey 82 gallons, black 41 gallons.Fresh69 galGrey82 galBlack41 gal
Published tank capacities on one scale. A full fresh tank is about 575 lbs of water — roughly 14% of this plan’s 3,966 lb cargo capacity, before you load anything else.

These graphics are generated from the same verified record that builds the table above, and are published under this site’s own licence — nothing here is traced from, or derived from, a manufacturer drawing or photo. Where a figure is not published for this plan, the graphic that would need it is omitted rather than estimated. The full record is in the published dataset.

What it takes to tow this

Built from this floorplan’s verified weights. We publish the trailer side only.

Minimum tow rating your vehicle needs16,190 lb
Published dry pin weight2,190 lb
Loaded pin weight, typical range2,428–4,048 lb
Minimum in-bed fifth-wheel hitch capacity16,190 lb towed / 4,048 lb pin
The pin weight above is dry. It is the figure the manufacturer publishes for an empty trailer. Loaded — with water, propane, batteries and your gear — it runs higher, which is why the range row uses loaded weight. Sizing your truck off the dry number under-budgets your payload.
The arithmetic that actually binds. Open your driver’s door and read the payload figure on the yellow-and-white sticker — that number is specific to your truck as built. Subtract from it: loaded pin weight (use the range above), every passenger, everything in the bed and cab. What is left is your margin. Payload, not tow rating, is what most half-ton owners run out of first.

We do not publish tow ratings for specific trucks. A single model can vary by thousands of pounds depending on engine, axle ratio, cab, drivetrain and package — the only authoritative figure is the one on your own door jamb. Loaded pin percentages are industry convention for fifth wheels (15–25% of loaded weight), not a measurement of this unit. Hitch classes are not used here as a rating: SAE J684 covers trailers to 10,000 lb GVWR and does not define Class V, and capacity boundaries differ between manufacturers — read the rating stamped on your hitch.

03 The Cedar Creek floorplan family

Cedar Creek sits at the heavy end of what a three-quarter-ton truck can carry and most of it is genuinely one-ton territory. Across the ten plans profiled here dry weight runs 11,244 to 14,190 lb and dry pin weight runs 2,110 to 3,176 lb, which is the number that matters most: a fifth-wheel pin load comes off the truck's payload rating rather than its towing rating, and a 3,176 lb pin will exhaust the payload of most trucks before the trailer weight becomes the constraint. Cargo capacity runs 2,811 to 4,971 lb. Every plan carries 69 gallons of fresh water, 82 of grey and 41 of black, so tank capacity is not a differentiator inside this line - the variables are length, 34 ft 7 in to 43 ft 4 in, and how much of the loaded rating the trailer has already spent on itself.

FloorplanNominalSleepsNotable
311RL37'11,24414,435Fifth Wheels
291RW34' 7"11,41414,350Fifth Wheels
345IK38' 10"12,22416,190Fifth Wheels
377BH42' 5"12,67916,135Fifth Wheels
388RK241' 7"12,80918,000Fifth Wheels · published specifications only
360RL40' 7"13,13416,525Fifth Wheels
388WDM41' 6"13,14418,115Fifth Wheels
375BHO43' 4"13,35916,170Fifth Wheels
371FL41' 11"13,56416,615Fifth Wheels
375RD42' 6"13,87418,110Fifth Wheels
385TH42' 4"14,19018,000Fifth Wheels

Cedar Creek is Forest River's full-profile luxury fifth-wheel line, and the 2022 brochure publishes eleven floorplans in a single specification table. Ten of the eleven are profiled here. The eleventh, 388RK2, is catalogued weights-only: the brochure gives it a GVWR of 18,000 lb while its own dry weight plus cargo capacity comes to 17,941 lb, a 59 lb disagreement this site publishes rather than resolves. Cedar Creek is one of the few Forest River lines that publishes a loaded rating per floorplan, and on the other ten it ties out to the pound. These figures come from one factory document rather than from the two separate factory renderings this site cross-reads on Forest River's web channel, and every figure was read back against that document's own text before publication. Sleeping capacity, axle count, tire size and MSRP are not published in the brochure and are absent here rather than estimated.

04 What owners & reviewers report

What Forest River does not publish for this line

Sleeping capacity, axle count, tire size and MSRP are absent from Forest River's specification channel for Cedar Creek, so they are absent here. They are not estimated from the segment, not carried over from a sibling floorplan, and not taken from a dealer listing quoting itself. A tire size in particular is a safety-relevant number that differs between two codes a digit apart, and this site does not guess one.

Weigh it before you tow it

Every figure on this page is a factory publication for a standard build. Forest River's own footnote on unloaded weight calls it an estimated average based on a standard build with optional equipment, and options, dealer-installed accessories and the previous owner's additions all move it. The only weight that governs your towing decision is the one under your own trailer on a scale, loaded the way you actually travel.

SOURCING — ownership notes to be expanded with cited threads from owner communities & forums per the data plan

05 How it compares

Lighter
Cedar Creek 291RW

11,414 lbs dry against this plan's 12,224 lbs, a difference of 810 lbs. Same line, same factory channel, same model year - so the gap is a real one rather than a difference in how two brands measure.

Heavier
Cedar Creek 377BH

12,679 lbs dry, 455 lbs more than this plan, and 3,456 lbs of cargo capacity against this one's 3,966 lbs. Stepping up a floorplan usually buys length before it buys payload.

Most cargo in the line
Cedar Creek 388WDM

4,971 lbs of cargo capacity, the highest of the 10 Cedar Creek floorplans profiled here. If payload rather than length is the binding constraint, that is the plan to compare against.

06 Loading it for a trip

This floorplan carries its water comfortably. A full 69-gallon fresh tank is roughly 15% of the 3,966-pound cargo capacity, leaving the 345IK with a usable gear budget even when you tow full.

Weight budgetFigureWhat it means
Cargo capacity as published (CCC)3,966 lbEverything you add: gear, water, propane, batteries, food, people’s belongings.
Fresh tank filled (69 gal × 8.34 lb)−575 lbWater is the heaviest thing most owners add, and it is added first.
Cargo budget left with a full fresh tank3,391 lb14% of this plan’s capacity is spent before a single bag is loaded.

The published dry pin weight of 2,190 pounds is 18% of this floorplan’s 12,224-pound dry weight. Fifth-wheel pin weight rides in the bed of the truck, so it comes off payload rather than off tow rating — and it rises with the trailer as you load it, not in proportion to what you put over the axles.

Nothing above changes the ceiling. Loaded to its 16,190-pound GVWR the 345IK is towing 3,966 pounds more than its 12,224-pound dry figure, and that is the number your vehicle has to be rated for — not the brochure weight.

Tank balance is generous here: 69 gallons of fresh against 82 grey and 41 black, so waste capacity keeps pace with supply and the fresh tank is the constraint that ends a dry stay.

07 Where this floorplan sits

Ranked by GVWR, the 345IK sits 6 of 18 in the Cedar Creek line: 16,190 pounds against a line that runs from 14,350 to 18,115 pounds. That position is the useful thing to know, because the plans immediately either side of it are the real alternatives.

Either side of it in the same line: Cedar Creek 375BHO is 20 pounds lighter at 16,170 lb GVWR; and Cedar Creek 360RL is 335 pounds heavier at 16,525 lb GVWR.

Comparable fifth wheelsGVWR (lb)Dry (lb)SleepsLength
345IK16,19012,224—38 ft 10 in
Blackthorn 3880RBDB16,22013,019—42 ft 1 in
Wolf Pack 397STAY16,15513,869—43 ft 6 in
Sandpiper 3844QUAD16,29513,864742 ft 9 in
Sierra 3844QUAD16,29513,864—42 ft 9 in
Open Range 3X 372MBH16,30013,950—43 ft 9 in
Bighorn 31RL16,00013,060436 ft 0 in

Against the 345IK: the Blackthorn 3880RBDB is 30 lb heavier and 3 ft longer; the Wolf Pack 397STAY is 35 lb lighter and 5 ft longer; the Sandpiper 3844QUAD is 105 lb heavier and 4 ft longer. Those are differences in the published numbers only — what they cost, how they are built and how they live are separate questions each of those pages answers on its own terms.

Those are the nearest fifth wheels from other lines by weight — one per line, picked by proximity on that figure and nothing else. They are listed so the same tow vehicle can be checked against real alternatives, not because they are equivalent inside; layout, build and price diverge sharply across that group.

For scale, the Cedar Creek floorplans profiled here run 11,244 to 15,429 pounds dry and 35 to 43 feet of exterior length across 18 plans. Where a floorplan falls in that spread usually says more about which vehicle can tow it, and which site it fits, than the layout name does.

Every profiled floorplan in this line, with the full weight table, is on the Cedar Creek line hub.

08 Common questions about the 345IK

How much does the 345IK weigh?

It leaves the factory at 12,224 pounds dry, and its manufacturer-set loaded ceiling (GVWR) is 16,190 pounds. Real towing weight lands between the two and depends entirely on what you load. Use the GVWR when matching a tow vehicle; the dry figure is only useful for comparing floorplans against each other.

How much can the 345IK carry?

Cargo carrying capacity is 3,966 pounds. That is the whole budget: water, propane, batteries, gear and everything you bring. Filling the 69-gallon fresh tank uses about 575 pounds of that.

What is the pin weight of the 345IK?

The published dry pin weight is 2,190 pounds. It is measured empty; loaded, it runs higher, and it comes out of your tow vehicle’s payload rather than its tow rating.

What size tow vehicle does the 345IK need?

Your vehicle needs a tow rating of at least 16,190 pounds — this floorplan’s GVWR — and enough payload left over for the hitch load, passengers and anything in the bed. This site does not publish tow ratings for specific vehicles, because one truck model varies by thousands of pounds across engine, axle ratio, cab and package. The figure that governs is the payload sticker on your own door jamb.

What are the tank capacities on the 345IK?

Fresh 69 gallons, grey 82 gallons, black 41 gallons. Tank sizes set how long the floorplan can sit away from hookups, and the smallest of the three is what ends the stay.

How long is the 345IK?

Exterior length is 38' 10". Measure against your site length and your storage before committing — the exterior figure is the one that has to fit, and it includes the tongue or pin box.

Every figure in these answers is read from this page’s verified specification table. Where the manufacturer publishes nothing, the question is not answered rather than estimated.

09 What this page publishes, and what it does not

This catalog tracks 18 specification fields per floorplan. Named sources publish 11 of them for the 345IK. The rest are not shown, because the alternative is reading a figure across from a sibling floorplan or from what the segment usually does — and a number nobody published is worth less than an admitted gap.

Not published for this floorplan: interior height, sleeps, slide count, axle count, tire specification, refrigerator, air conditioning. If you find one of these in a manufacturer document for this plan, it belongs on this page.

The completeness figure at the foot of this page (85%) measures the same thing on the full field set: it is a measurement of how much this floorplan’s manufacturer publishes, not of how much research went into the page.

How every figure here was sourced and checked is set out on the methodology page.

11 NHTSA safety record

This floorplan belongs to the Cedar Creek line, and NHTSA holds 19 recall campaigns and 64 owner complaints against that line. They are separate records and are not added together — a recall is a manufacturer-confirmed defect with a remedy; a complaint is one owner’s account, which NHTSA does not verify.

What to look at on a used one. Across the 64 complaints filed on this line the most-reported components are tires (23%), suspension (20%) and equipment (19%). That is where owners of this family have had trouble, so it is where an inspection is worth the time.

Recall coverage is not complete — our harvest of NHTSA’s recall API ran 1,556 queries, of which 0 failed and 242 returned an explicit zero. A line can still be under-reported where NHTSA files a roster under a parent name, or where a match rests on the wording of the recall rather than its model field. Complaints come from the complete bulk file but are unverified and self-selected: a high count tracks how many units a line sold at least as much as how well it was built. Check a specific VIN at NHTSA before you buy. Full tables are on the Cedar Creek line page.