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Old 05-20-2008, 06:58 PM   #1
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Trailer: Rockwood Roo 17 ft Expandable
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Hi Folks. I enjoy your website. I would love to have a fiberglass camper and give up the extra weight of my trailer (Roo 17' expandable) but I have three kids and we wouldn't fit in a fiberglass unit. I guess I'll have to wait until they grow up to get better gas mileage. Keep posting so I can keep dreaming.
Cheers,
Doris
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Old 05-20-2008, 07:57 PM   #2
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That 'extra' kid sure makes a difference in a lot of things from finding a trailer to choosing a car. I know our next door neighbors with 3 kids are constantly trying to find motel rooms that will take the 5 of them. Guess the concept of the 2+2 nuclear family never went away.
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Old 05-20-2008, 08:20 PM   #3
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You could buy a 17ft fgrv with a awning and get a add a room. That could work for you.
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Old 05-20-2008, 08:48 PM   #4
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we camp with our 2 kids in our 17 Casita Standard that has bunkbeds and a king size bed with no problems
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Old 05-20-2008, 08:57 PM   #5
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Quote:
I would love to have a fiberglass camper and give up the extra weight of my trailer (Roo 17' expandable) but I have three kids and we wouldn't fit in a fiberglass unit.
You all might fit in this Modified Scamp 16' (with slide-out) that is for sale...
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Old 05-20-2008, 09:19 PM   #6
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Hi, Doris. If you haven't already done so, check out this topic on Family Friendly Floorplans. It has some good ideas for camping with kids.


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Old 05-20-2008, 10:11 PM   #7
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Trailer: 1998 17 ft Casita Spirit Deluxe / Red F150 X-Cab
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Have you thought about a 17' and a small tent pitched outside (depending on how old your kids are)? As they get to be teenagers they kind of like the independence of being in a tent by themselves anyway. It's worked for us in the past. Otherwise an add-a-room might work.
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Old 05-20-2008, 10:45 PM   #8
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If you carry a good-sized screen room for daytime expansion in inclement weather (and to keep traffic out of the rig during the day; people tend to congregate under overhead shelter), then the only space problems are at night and people take up less space when sleeping!

Actually, the best rig for room for weekend camping (not road trips) is a pop-up camper. They usually have lots of sleeping room and are much more of a nature experience than a closed trailer.
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Old 05-21-2008, 10:40 PM   #9
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If two of your kids are small enough (under 120 pounds total weight) they could share an upper bunk bed on an Escape. Lately I have been taking the kids camping by myself while mom stays home and scrapbooks (we make memories, she records them). I put the two kids on the upper bunk, I sleep on the lower bunk and the big bed stays up as the dinette. You could do the same except put two on the big bed. If you really wanted to push it, a small kid could sleep under the big bed in the foot area of the dinette.

Five in fiberglass can be tight.
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Old 05-21-2008, 10:47 PM   #10
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Don't know what you tow with, but a Scamp 5th wheel might be the ticket for you. It will sleep at least 5.
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Old 05-22-2008, 04:31 PM   #11
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I had to look up a Roo 17'. I assume it is something like this: http://www.rvtrailers.ca/rockwoodroo/image...33_Extlarge.jpg
With this type of floorplan perhaps:
http://www.rvtrailers.ca/rockwoodroo/rvtrailers-1.htm

If so, you have a very nice unit, with a lot of room for a growing family. Remember the old saying, a bird in hand is better than just having a wish for one. Well, maybe it isn't that old since I just made it up. Twin axles, tandem wheels are really nice. Or is this more like yours with a single axle: http://www.rvtrailers.ca/instockrvinventor...trailers-31.htm

Which ever it is, they really look nice. You have it, and it works for you. No sweat. Wear it out, get something else. Maybe a molder fiberglass one next time, maybe not. What works, works.

And you may have all of this now, already: Model 17
Length 18 ft. 8 in. (5.69 m)
Exterior Width 90 in. (2.29 m)
Exterior Height 110 in. (2.79 m)
Interior Height 76 in. (1.93 m)
Hitch Weight 285 lbs. (129 kg)
Axle Weight 2,189 lbs. (993 kg)
Unit Dry Weight 2,474 lbs. (1122 kg)
GVWR 3,785 lbs. (1717 kg)
Tire Size 13 in. (33 cm)
Furnace BTU 20,000
Refrigerator Door Single
Fresh Water Tank 31 gal. (117 L)
Gray Water Holding Tank 25 gal. (94 L)
Black Water Holding Tank 25 gal. (94 L)
Converter w/ Charger 55 AMPS

And only 2,474lbs empty and can reach a maximum gross weight of 3,785lbs.

And you more than likely have Fiberglass Exterior, which is in the right direction toward molded fiberglass. My son tells me, "mine is fiberglass". A huge 5th wheel Courgar by Fleetwood no less. ha! It does have Fiberglass Exterior on an aluminum frame. Not bad really. Pretty good in fact.

Enjoy it, you have it made. Good travels. Happy camping in your Fiberglass Exterior rig with expanding ends.

Only draw back would be in bear country, maybe.

AW
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Old 05-22-2008, 06:21 PM   #12
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Yes, my 17' Roo is single axle and it has a U shaped table that sleeps 2 kids and both ends fold out to make sleeping for two on each end. So it sleeps 6 total. My kids like the bathroom, lol. They love when we travel on the road that there is always a bathroom and eats in the fridge, lol.

The main drawback is the towing weight. I have a 1/2 ton truck but going up mountains is a slow process and the gas mileage it terrible when towing. I could get a fiberglass camper but they don't sleep 5. When we travel I don't like to have to put up a tent and set up the trailer it's to much work for one night. With gas prices as they are we might go back to camping in one spot for a week though.

We just love camping. We have a great time exploring the outdoors. Hopefully we will be off and camping in June. I want to go to Cape Cod and to the Thousand Islands. We are staying closer to home this year because of gas prices.



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Old 05-22-2008, 10:36 PM   #13
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Another thought outside the "box". Not a tent... But tow with a Minivan, and use it for an extra "bedroom".

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I have modified my Honda Odyssey to do that. The 2nd row seats come out, and the 3rd row folds into the floor.

The Chrysler Town & Country's seats ALL fold into the floor.
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Old 05-23-2008, 02:45 AM   #14
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Our Trillium has the front bathroom, so my daughter and I sleep on the rear dinette/bed. My husband sleeps in the back of the Astrovan, and actually prefers it.
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Old 05-23-2008, 09:20 AM   #15
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My husband and I have a 16ft U-Haul, no potty but a changing room with a port-a-pot (original). My best friend and I are planning a camping trip or two this summer with her 2 kids without husbands (no one watch us set up please!!). They'll be 4 of us all total, 2 old ladies, 1 12 year old and 1 6 year old. Our sleeping plan is I'll sleep on the bottom bunk, her son on the top bunk (holds 150lbs), daughter in the back bed with mom.

Sure we'll be snug as bugs in a rug, but it's only while we sleep, right? Remainder of the time we'll be out on the picnic table, under the awning, sitting around the fire, hiking, swimming, etc. After a full day and all that fresh air, going to sleep in the trailer won't take any time at all!!

Sure, when the kids are 15ish they won't fit, but by that time they'll want their own tents to put near my trailer while they're out there with their friends. They'll sleep til noon, crawl out and wonder what's for breakfast....

Just my thought on the matter..
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Old 05-23-2008, 10:49 AM   #16
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There was a time when people slept on the ground with no shelter or just a tarp. Then along came the tent. In my youth the adults slept in the tent, the kids slept outside on the ground under the stars. Pup tents became cheap enough that it didn't break the budget the purchase a pup tent, the kids then got to actually sleep inside a tent. Along comes the trailer. Now the adults can sleep inside a trailer and the kids can sleep outside in a tent. (maybe even the one the adults used to sleep in). In this day and age when you can't get along with AC, Microwave, shower, etc. in your trailer, and the kids have to have television, computer games, etc. the art and fun of "sleeping out" appears to be gone.

That isn't exactly true. My grandkids still sleep in tents as do their parents.

My point is, maybe all the children don't have to sleep inside the trailer.

Byron

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Old 05-23-2008, 12:50 PM   #17
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Tent camping was my norm before we got a trailer. Whether in Cub or Boy scouts with my son, out on a camping trip or trek, or off to a days-long airshow, I or we stayed in a tent.

Lynne got tired of camping in a tent. Not only do rocks seem to somehow migrate from elsewhere to somewhere under her back during the night, she dislikes getting up in the cold when nature calls because the combination of chill and migrating rocks make it very difficult to get back to sleep.

My original thought when we went looking for a trailer was a kind of hard-sided tent-on-wheels, but what we wound up getting has become something more akin to a Bonsai-tree version of a hotel room that goes where we do. (Within limits.)

Doesn't matter. Lynne and I have been out on more "camping" expeditions in the first six months we owned the trailer than we had in the last several years, but I still have a tent. It goes places my trailer can't.

My son never had troubles sleeping in a tent. My daughters, now in their 20s, sleep in tents when they go off to "SCA" events. For them the trailer can be a nice warm and dry place to gather on a rainy day, use a dependably clean and more private toilet, and have a nice collection of camping gear stowed and ready to go on short notice without having to pack the car.

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Old 05-23-2008, 01:08 PM   #18
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Try this for size. Two adults and four kids in a 13 ft Boler

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