John, I had the initial contact with Jim Palmer when I posted the first thread and he was building his first prototype. I know where the Sac City
Burro molds are and I had thought about resurrecting
Burro here in Iowa for a short time. As it turned out, I didn't do it because of the time investment necessary for a startup business. Jim contacted me about the molds, and decided he could do his own and do them better. I believe (conjecture here) that he used the Burro widebody measurements and the basic idea for his molds.
I have not met Jim in person, nor have I seen an EggCamper in person, but from my conversations with him about his trailers, his desire to "do it right", and his other enterprises I'd not have any reservations about purchasing one over the phone, were I in the market again. He "fixed" all of the issues I didn't like in my Burro, and kept all of the best features. The design is sound and actually quite elegant.
That said, I currently have a
Bigfoot 25' rear queen. It combines all of the amenities I wanted and remains very "tow-able". I don't know what size your wife thinks you need, but if a 17' trailer is just too claustrophobic for her (and for some folks they just are...) I can't recommend the
Bigfoot 25' highly enough. I am 6'5" tall, and as I'm getting older, comfort is the #1 priority for me. I wanted something I
could stand up fully in, have a full queen in and stand upright in the shower. While no trailer is perfect, the 25RQ blends the amenities of a much larger trailer (full queen size bed... mine is an 80" length), a
light and airy interior with lots and lots of
windows, nearly full interior space (no apparent "rounding" inside), a full "dry" bath with a 6'8" shower stall height, and all of the other amenities. Mine is a front couch with table rather than a dinette, Mike and Lori Sanders have the dinette model. There is also a front bedroom model. It's a myth that they're "heavy". They're heavier than 16' and 17' trailers obviously, but mine is fully loaded and weighs 5300 lbs as equipped with empty tanks (with a 7500 lb GVWR). That's pretty
light weight for a loaded 25' trailer when you compare them with the "stick built" competition of similar quality in their size range of 25' to 29'. They ARE, on the other hand, more expensive than any other fiberglass trailer out there. They also hold their value used very well, and offer amenities that no one else offers; dual glazed thermopane
windows, enclosed and heated tanks, superior wall insulation, and are cooler in the summer and can be used as a true four seasons camper.
Despite that extra insulation and enclosed body of the winter-package equipped
Bigfoot, for comparison in the fiberglass world, my
Scamp 16 and
Scamp 19 (both loaded custom deluxe oak interiors) both had GVWRs of 3500 lbs, and weighed close to 2700 and 3000 lbs respectively as equipped. My Bigfoot 17' (winter package equipped) weighed about 2800 lbs as equipped, again with a 3500lb GVWR. The dual-thermopane
windows are heavy, and yet the Bigfoot 17 was very similar, weight-wise, to my
Scamp 16 CD.
So, weight ratio per linear foot of trailer remains just about constant in fiberglass trailers when fully equipped; much of the weight difference being the size of the refrigerators (the Scamp 19', Bigfoot 17', and 25' all have 6.0 cu. ft. fridges which add weight, the Scamp 16' had the smaller 4 cu ft.), the size of the
propane tanks, windows (plexiglass vs. single pane glass vs. dual thermopane glass) and the interior treatments.
Good luck finding the trailer you want!
Roger
Linear Mode
