What to choose? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

piggy · RV-Dreams Family Member

What to choose?

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

I can't really help you out with TTs since they are not on our radar for consideration. That being said some things still need to be cleared up before the TTs sages can chime in... Your truck. Your description... namely "F350 Diesel Super Duty" does not provide enough info to determine the limits of what is available for your search. What are the payload specs printed on the sticker... RAWR, GVWR etc. Armed with that info, some will be able to provide you with a better idea what you are looking for. Is the truck SRW or DRW, 2WD or 4WD, what is the rear axle gear ratio, Regular cab, Supercab or Crewcab, long box or short? All these thing play into your towing capacity, stopping ability and stability on the road and thereby the potential TT you can look at or not. While the F350 can probably tow whatever TT you want... better to know exactly beforehand, rather find out after the fact that you were wrong.

Good luck with your search.

-- Edited by biggaRView on Friday 27th of November 2015 10:45:13 AM

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

Surprisingly most TT will stand the test of time if properly maintained. The first TT we had only had one problem that I would attribute to build quality. One of the bench seats broke. The glue came loose at one of the joints. It was an easy fix that I took care of. That TT was considered at the time a mid level quality. We had it for 16 years and sold it.

Our current 5th wheel is 21 years old and is a mid level unit. We are just now having to replace the roof membrane otherwise it has been relatively trouble free with just a few expected minor problems none due to build quality.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Patricia,

While it's been a while since we had a travel trailer, I would still like to caution on them in one respect. With the longer ones, one really needs to pay close attention to odd angles at intersections or pulling into fueling places or into campsites. When we had a 26-foot travel trailer, I managed to not be paying attention and caught the rear steps at a place where the road to the campgrounds was at an angle from the highway. Going off the road we dropped a few feet in elevation and when the trailer wheels went over that drop, it caught the steps on the pavement.

Most travel trailers are lower to the ground than fifth wheel trailers. And with fifth wheels, our entry is actually just in front of the axles, so no problems there.

With all that in mind, what length of trailer are you considering? Are there any particular layouts that you would want (i.e., bunk beds somewhere, rear living rooms etc.) and does your choice of trailer need to be capable of withstanding cold temperatures without freezing up or being uncomfortable inside?

As for tax purposes, I won't go there because I'm not anywhere knowledgeable about taxes, but would the benefit in money saved with taxes to you be enough to counter the benefits of another type of RV? Of course, I don't need details, but I asked the question only to mention a cost/benefit ratio to your mind.

Terry

piggy · RV-Dreams Family Member

I am so sorry that I left out a lot of info. Our truck is an F350 Crew Diesel 4x4 SRW. We don't want to consider anything longer than approx. 30'. I don't have the tow capabilities on this truck at the present time, but I am sure that this truck could pull anything we were to consider. We put a 20' Goose neck livestock trailer and our current TT is 27'. About the tax question. The only way we can write a TT off is to consider a bumper pull because: We have an aluminum livestock topper that fits in the bed of the truck. We use this when we haul to livestock shows/sales when we only have a few pigs. If the camper is being towed at the same time, they consider it a business use. Hope that answers a few questions. We don't plan on full timing, but may travel in the winter sometime. We want room for two grand children sometimes. A bunk bed design would be nice, but don't see this fitting in such a short TT. If we had a pull out bed that would work. Other than that,this is all I can think of at the present time. Just looking for answers about quality TT's with good build,quality and performance. We currently have an Everlight and are not quite sold on it's quality. Husband had to do some work on bottom of trailer, when we snagged it on a stump and was not impressed. So ANY help would be so appreciated. Patricia in La.

-- Edited by piggy on Friday 27th of November 2015 02:43:55 PM

-- Edited by piggy on Friday 27th of November 2015 02:44:37 PM

JonRV · RV-Dreams Family Member

Jayco has a ton of great models to choose from for TT and you can find them pretty cheap used.

kb0zke · RV-Dreams Family Member

Patricia, unless you really have to have a brand-new coach, there is no reason why you can't have an Airstream. Go to www.airforums.com/ and then go to the Classifieds. Do the advanced search and select your price range OR age decade. Membership is free, and there are lots of good people there to answer all of your questions.

If you don't find what you want there the other TT brands to consider are Arctic Fox, Excel, and Open Range. Excel is no longer made, and most of their output was on the 5'er side, but there are some TT models available. AF shouldn't be too hard to find, both new and used. OR has several models (lines) so pay attention to which is which. I'd avoid the "Lite" ones. They had a Journeyer 340FL that has lots of storage space, but didn't have as much CCC as the 337, which doesn't have the storage space. None of the three are in the same league as Airstream, though.

As you probably know, most used Airstreams are sold by private parties, although those who always like to have the latest and greatest will trade in every couple of years.

piggy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Oh I don't have to have a new one for sure, lol, thanks for the reply, keep them coming, Patricia in La.

piggy · RV-Dreams Family Member

bump

cejones4210 · RV-Dreams Family Member

kb0zke wrote:
Patricia, unless you really have to have a brand-new coach, there is no reason why you can't have an Airstream. Go to www.airforums.com/ and then go to the Classifieds. Do the advanced search and select your price range OR age decade. Membership is free, and there are lots of good people there to answer all of your questions.

If you don't find what you want there the other TT brands to consider are Arctic Fox, Excel, and Open Range. Excel is no longer made, and most of their output was on the 5'er side, but there are some TT models available. AF shouldn't be too hard to find, both new and used. OR has several models (lines) so pay attention to which is which. I'd avoid the "Lite" ones. They had a Journeyer 340FL that has lots of storage space, but didn't have as much CCC as the 337, which doesn't have the storage space. None of the three are in the same league as Airstream, though.

As you probably know, most used Airstreams are sold by private parties, although those who always like to have the latest and greatest will trade in every couple of years.

I will echo what kb0zke has said; we have a 1974 25' Airstream which we have used for the last 14 years. (weekends and 2-3 week long trips) It was pretty rough when we purchased it but did a few upgrades (air conditioner, heater, water pump, curtains, and cushions) and it did great. Two years ago, we did a major renovation on it and then proceeded to live in it for a year. We also owned a 30' Airstream and loved it also. So in saying all that, I would highly recommend the Airstream and looking at airforums.com for used ones. I would NOT look on Ebay, too many people have had horrible results purchasing through Ebay. Also, on Airforums you can ask any type of question and like here get great and helpful answers very quickly. The only drawback of the Airstream, in my opinion, is the shortage of storage if you live in it full-time. Good luck!!

cejones4210 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Also your truck will pull the Airstream like it isn't even back there!

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just stay away from Jayco if you want high quality and something that will stand-up in the long run.

piggy · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have found exactly ONE used Artic Fox TT and it is in Texas, as I said Airstream may be a bit too small for us. Anyone else got any suggestions, Thank youSO much, Patricia in La.