Travel Trailers

[DeacWatcher]

Anybody got one? My wife mentioned this to me last week about how it might be nice to have one since we like to camp, but not necessarily tent camp (I'm a little tired of setting up in the rain and using bath houses at odds times in the night). Since its just be and her we could get by with a 14'-15' that would only be about 9K depending on bells and whistles. My questions revolve around how nice are the campgrounds you would visit, how safe are they while you're there and what happens when you leave it to go out somewhere? Below is one I am casually looking at.

 

[tsywake]

My parent have been camping in RVs my entire life, and are even a member of a "camping club" that meets at a campground once a month. Their biggest argument for it was that you could travel the country and know who slept in your bed the night before. Be careful. They started out with one of the old truck campers and have progressively upgraded in size and luxury. Now they've got a 32' fifth wheel with 3 slideouts, hardwood floors, surround sound, and a fireplace.

I use my grandparents camper when we go to one of the Nascar races each year. They're really not too bad to set up and take down. You've just got to make sure its level, you hook up the power, water, and sewage line correctly.

 

[2&2 Slider To Leyritz]

I imagine you could get a used one pretty cheap. Those types of things are often the first to go when people run into financial troubles. See how you like it and then flip it for a nicer one if you use it often.

 

[forensicdeac]

We bought a 30' trailer last summer after at least 6 months researching them and bring it up for all the Wake games. Ours is bigger/nicer than we needed but our family is growing into it. Shoot me a PM

 

[AMCDeac]

I have a Fleetwood E-3 off road pop up camper/toy hauler. If you get a camper, be prepared to deal with low-quality construction. You will find yourself needing to replace plastic pipes, fiddling with gas systems, etc. That can be a real PITA unless you are good at that sort of thing or at least know someone who is good at it. On mine, I have replaced most of the faucets with real metal fittings instead of cheap plastic crap. I also replaced the toy deck with diamond plate.

Mine is a bit of a hassle to set up, but it has a shower, toilet and heat so the essentials of camping with my young daughters are covered. If I didn't need off-road capability and had a better place to store it, I would have gone with something like you posted or perhaps attempted to rehab a vintage Airstream.

 

[tbird]

Probably like owning a boat...your two best days are the day you buy it and the day you sell....

 

[richis711]

My family had one for a few years. In my brief experience with that one and other folks who have had them, there is always something breaking. As AMCDeac mentioned most campers, particularly in the price range of the one in the original post, are constructed really poorly. I'd stay away unless you enjoy having to work & spend money on something all the time.

 

[WilmingtonDeac]

My parents have had one since I was a kid. We did cross country trips (parents, brother & sister) in a Coleman pop up camper similar to this a couple times growing up:

They now have a Casita like the below that they use pretty often in the Summer for the two of them:

 

[Wuffey]

Here's my RV.

 

[Wuffey]

Seriously. My brother has a kick ass truck camper with a 4wd club cab F250 diesel as the base. It's awesome and he can go where ever he wants whenever he wants. Best surf fishing accomodations available. He's also a big birder. He spend 3 weeks after Christmas down in the keys kayak fishing and birding. Had a blast. I wouldn't want to mess with it but he loves having it. I'll look for a picture to post.

 

[Wuffey]

 

[tsywake]