Looking for guidance from people who know

[Kristen in MO]

Hello, All. Not sure if this is the right place for this question or not… I am still looking but seriously considering buying new. My question is what do I need, what’s totally not necessary and what can always be added at a later date? I guess these questions apply if I actually find a used trailer also. But I was reading the Parkliner site yesterday and I am so confused by all the optional features. I know what I decide I need is personal and no one can really answer that for me. But if anyone would please provide their opinions, I’d really appreciate it. If I were to order a Parkliner, I know for sure we want bunks and the screen door. After that, I’m confused. Is the flush toilet worth $995? Can a keyed deadbolt be added later for less than $135? If we plan to use the shower, is a hot water heater something we’d be totally sorry we didn’t have? Or can that be added more economically later? It just comes with an ice-box… is an ice-box just fine for a week’s trip or do most people decide they are better off with a refrigerator? Is the magic table worth $455? It’s such a big investment. I don’t want to end up deciding to do it, but then cut corners and always wish I had just gone with a little more. But also don’t need to spend more money than necessary for a comfortable and usable home away from home. Thanks for any wisdom you can share.

[carlkeigley]

Here's my back yard photo shoot after getting home from the factory.

Backyard Photo Shoot

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Been there done that.
I was thinking I could get a Fantastic Fan cheaper. But then when I searched them, they weren't as cheap as I thought and then I would have to have it installed. So I opted to get it up front. I asked them to add a outside shower which was not an option but they did it for me.

It is a big investment and that was a reason I opted for a few things I didn't really need. Looking ahead when I might want to sell or trade up. This is all part of the shopping agony. $700 for awnings I thought was a bit much. Then I found the price wasn't that bad compared to what's out there.

I feel for you Kristen. In fact I think I'm having agonizing empathy with you.

Only you can actually decide what you really need. But what you may want we can all pile on for you. lol.

And to the Forum. Glad you joined us.

I'm glad in hind sight I opted for what I got.
For the Parkliner items, Parkites will have to answer that.
They'll be along shortly.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Kristen in MO

what can always be added at a later date?<Cut> Or can that be added more economically later?

Some items especially items that involve running new plumbing or adding tanks etc are harder to add than others after the fact, sometimes impossible. There is a pretty popular brand of trailer here that it not uncommon to see one listed for sale used that the original owner decided not to order a toilet or perhaps a shower into the bathroom but lots of people considering buying it want to know if its possible to add the toilet or shower and you will see potential purchasers asking the original trailers manufacture if it can be done - often the answer is no or if it can be done the price of doing it is *much* higher than had it been done when the trailer was being built.

Even if the item can be adding the cost of adding optional items after the fact is often higher as you will need to order the item and have it shipped to you - that can be costly.

[Gilda]

Perhaps you could start your dream list by answering the question "What Type of Camper Are You?
Camping Personality- What Type of Camper Are You?

My husband and I are basically "adventure campers." We are very satisfied and comfortable in our 13' Scamp, towed by a sedan, with mostly the basics although, I confess, I love to "glamp" it up a bit with themed curtains, pillows, tablecloth, stuffed animals and spare tire cover. Following is a list of our option choices and the reasons for them.

• Kitchen drawer - It is very handy to open the drawer, which we customized with 3 partitions, to easily access our flatware, butane lighter, matches, scissors, large knife, small ceramic knife with protective sleeve, wooden spoon, spatula, manual can opener and few other things.
• Icebox - We did not want to fool around with the electric, gas or battery options to keep the thing running. We did not know if they make a sound that would keep us awake at night. Yes, we need to refresh ice about every 3-4 days but we need to purchase fresh items about as frequently. We always carry extra meals that do not require cooling. A refrigerator, however, provides more room for food because there is not a block of ice taking up room.
• Back overhead cabinet - This adds support to the fiberglass shell, provides space for pillows, bedtime supplies, reading material and games. It also provides a mounting surface for the dome light (included) in the middle and the tilting lights (optional) on each side. We read in bed by the light of one of the tilting lights.
• Tilting lights - see above
• Heater - One advantage of having a trailer is you are not totally exposed to the elements as you are in a tent. Bring on the heat when it's cold!
• 2 propane tanks - This turned out to be overkill. We have never used a full tank on one trip. Our longest trip, so far, has been 3 weeks. We are now, however, confident we will never run out of fuel.
• Screen door - Best decision, ever! Keeps out the bugs! Provides a little bit of privacy when you want air flowing.
• Porta-pottie and no shower - You'll see lots of threads on this issue. We are fine with using the public toilet and shower facilities. Sometimes the big RV campgrounds have luxurious facilities that NO ONE USES 'cause they have their own in their RV bus. That's great for us! Even rustic campground outhouses are WAY BETTER today than I remember, back when. They are clean and have little odor. The porta-pottie allows us to stay indoors when nature calls at night. We limit it's use to #1 for easier cleaning unless we boondock. It's really not as bad as some people make out. Frankly, I'd rather empty a small, hand-held tank at the toilet stall than to deal with a huge blackwater tank at the dump station.

These choices have added significantly to the comfort of our trailer. It's small but cozy, comfortable and cute.

Good luck with your choices.
Happy Camping!
Gilda (Jill-da)

[lpk49]

i'm pretty new so you should listen to others more than me but i know i dont like the propane heater in my casita. i'm not that comfortable with propane anyway...and the safety features often drive me nuts...and i have heard others say it is loud. i found a little elec heater works really well because the camper is so well insulated. i do love my fridge. if it is plugged in it keeps everything cold and then when i travel everyghing stays cold for a long time. oh and i love the fantastic fan too.

[Jon Vermilye]

As long as everywhere you camp has electricity, going without a furnace is practical, although it may reduce the resale value of the trailer. I have both & use the electric when possible. As you stated, it is quieter, and for most campgrounds, cheaper. On the other hand, I often camp on non electric sites. While I don't do much winter camping, I was in Leadville, CO last August. It is at 10,000' and most mornings were in the low 30's. I really appreciated being able to warm up the trailer before climbing out of bed to make breakfast!

[Steve L.]

The answer is "42". (obscure reference to the meaning of life, the universe and everything.)

I suggest you buy a trailer.

No penalty if you don't get it right the first time. Trade up. Trade down. Used trailers hold their resale if not abused. Buy the new trailer after a couple years trailer camping.

Go to a rally. Not everyone's ready to write an epistle on their theories of camping but most are more than willing to bend your ear at the campsite. You'll get good input from more than the usual suspects.

[deryk]

Well everyone has an opinion...


I love my ParkLiner, and go away almost every weekend from aprilApril to novNovember just to not be sitting at home on the weekends lol. I also boondock so heat and refrigeration is important to me. I prefer the port a potty to the flush toilet for simplicity as well as having a grey water tank that can be emptied anywhere. The port a potty can easily be dumped in a toilet/outhouse/port a john etc.

I would order the water hheater now because later you would have some fiberglass work to do. I didn't want the magic table because its expensive and the big dinette stays down as a queen sized bed

[Kristen in MO]

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate all the comments, especially the item specific ones. I am enjoying the search but so ready to be able to just pack up and go. Again, thank you and look forward to reading more. I would love to go to rally, but don't see any near me. I've got to see some of these in person soon!

[Ed Harris]

Kristen I am in STL,where are you?

You are certainly welcome to take a look at mine if you need a walk around and one mans opinion on what has made sense for me.

I am with Steve though in general here,buy one used and get to know yourself and what makes sense to you and then either Mod yours or sell it and find a better one.

They are not so common around these parts and sell quickly in my experience.

The last 2 that I have sold were not even for sale when I sold them!

Ed

[Kristen in MO]

I am just South of St Louis and would love to see a Casita in person. I have noticed they are rare here and figure buying new might be my only option. I can't see investing money to travel to a used one. But I do have family in other states so thought I could ask them to help me. But yes, please, I would very much like to take you up on your offer to see a trailer in person and talk to you more.

[Roy in TO]

Many here will go check out a trailer for you with the buyers check list in hand if it is close to them. Sometimes we already know the trailer in question.

[tractors1]

Originally Posted by Kristen in MO

I am just South of St Louis and would love to see a Casita in person. I have noticed they are rare here and figure buying new might be my only option. I can't see investing money to travel to a used one. But I do have family in other states so thought I could ask them to help me. But yes, please, I would very much like to take you up on your offer to see a trailer in person and talk to you more.

If you call Casita they will refer you to a nearby owner who signed up for their tour program. The owners submit a contact postcard when you visit and if you buy a new Casita they get a cash reward/kickback from Casita for hosting you.

Charlie Y

[RogerDat]

I say buy with the features YOU consider important. More so than resale value. You are the only one that you know what features it needs to meet the owners needs.

If you have a shower you need a water heater, and that is one item that even if you only use it once in awhile is worth having. And as noted by another hard to add. In my old motor home I only turned H2O heater on to shower but it allowed me to convince wife to spend a week at a time in rustic campgrounds.

My sister has only done one thing with her outside shower, fix a leak. Ask yourself will you have a need or desire to wash up with a shower outside? Quick rinse off of the kids (or grand kids) a need you have? Or a lot of salt water swimming where it would be useful to be able to do a quick rinse? If not it's just a gizmo to fix if it breaks.

Bathroom and shower is personal choice but that is something that will probably not hurt resale when you go to sell. And not having it may be a deal breaker for many. I don't mind not having a bathroom but would still have purchased my camper if it did have a bathroom. Do you need the closet, counter or open space more, or a bathroom?

[Bob Miller]

I offer two suggestions:

1. Look around and see if you can rent a trailer or a small motorhome for a week or two, camp in it and find out what you do and don't really need. You will also discover if you do or don't enjoy the RV life. It's not an automatic thing.....

OR

2. Buy your first trailer used. With an FGRV, if you buy smart early in the season you can ususally get back most of your investment when you sell. Then use it for a season and, as above, you will find out what you want/need in a trailer.

And BTW: YES it can be very expensive to add a hot water system after you buy. It's dirt cheap for the builder to just add it in from the start. Same for that refrigerator, you will want one. Only the most hardy of us get by with the icebox anymore. (Not Me)

Good Luck

Originally Posted by Kristen in MO

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate all the comments, especially the item specific ones. I am enjoying the search but so ready to be able to just pack up and go. Again, thank you and look forward to reading more. I would love to go to rally, but don't see any near me. I've got to see some of these in person soon!

[accrete]

Greetings Kristen and welcome to the forum.
First, best wishes on your hunt for an _adventure rig_ for you and your hubby.

OK...I'm partial to Parkliner, and since you seemed at least interested in that brand i will share what my wife and i did in ours, much of which seems to fit with what i read from your posts (with a bit of reading between them also)...

Items we chose in our Parkliner #35 (_link to build thread_)

Ice Box standard... We luv it! The only mod we did was swap out the stock wood grain for white on the panel (~$10 bucks at home depot and ~10 minutes work). A $1.25 block of ice in the upper area keeps fridge at ~40 degrees for 6 days (it was low to mid 60's daytime)...we keep our veggies in there. Our Engle Deep Blue cooler has ~20lbs of ice and our meats and keeps low 30's for ~week. There is still ice in the Engle from a 20lb bag we put in on May 25th. We will put another bag in this Sunday...we keep it cooled down from now till fall freeze. It is a well spent ~$10 a month and it is ready to go when we camp every 4th week from now till November.

(I am adding a PS detailing why we chose the fuel source that we did for our PL#35. Post script will be below this in Blue text.)

SAFETY DISCLAIMER: We arrived at our decision due to our personal experience and camping style. Use your common sense and follow all manufacture's recommendations.

A fellow Egger asked the question "Why Butane?" over at this post in our Adventure Blog here at FGRVforum. I won't repeat the my entire reply, but the gist of it is our choice came about due to our typical camping environment over the last 20 years of adventures in the Pacific Northwest. Our temps are what i would consider _mild_. They run from a low ~40 in early morning to a warm ~high 70 in the late afternoon. Nothing Butane can't take care of in the morning _chill_. IF i were living in the Dakota's or say the Sierra Nevada's we would have gone with the built in Propane system BUT we would have utilized an aftermarket radiant wall propane heater rather than the typical fan-driven propane heater; we've had them in rigs and disliked the noise and battery drain. That said, if you camp during the milder times with temps rarely if ever dropping into the mid 30's Butane will still be fine. We have woken up in our van conversion not knowing it had snowed outside during the night. Got up, put on a kettle to boil on the butane stove in the van's kitchen module and ~5 minutes later the kettle is whistling with 16oz of hot water and all cabin _chill_ is gone. Inside the van recorded temps with the two of us inside run ~8 to 10 degrees warmer than outside.

Also take note that i stated we use this setup to take the _morning chill_ out. WE NEVER use these appliances when we are relaxing or settling down for the evening. WE ARE ALERT and walking about the rigs or getting our clothes on or prepairing a meal. WE NEVER use these in the evening when getting ready for bed. That is what _body heat_ is for

Sooooo....theoretically outside temps would have to be mid 20's before the Butane appliances would have _cold start_ issues. Then one just places a canister in bed with them and warms it up for a few minutes and all is well. Sounds kind of creepy dangerous, but perfectly safe unless you carry pocket knives with you in bed to puncture the can! Also realize these canisters are the size of a can of cooking spray and easily warmed with body heat. OK...i think that ends my PS in blue text thoughts.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program

Heater... No built in Propane by choice. We use a small Stansport Portable Outdoor Butane Heater. We place it on the bamboo floor in the shower/bath area with door open to living area. Last week (5 day trip with temps in low 50's at wake up)...we ran the heater with front shower window open and MaxxFan cracked for about ~30-60 minutes each morning to take chill out of Parkliner cabin (we sleep in the van and eat/entertain in the Parkliner). We have yet to finish that butane canister, but probably close to empty i suppose.

Hot water & Showers... We use a portable 12,000btu butane stove (one fuel source rule for us. we buy our butane canisters at a local restaurant supply for ~1.50ea. Put in a new canister i think the second morning that was nearly used from a prior trip. 3 days of meals/boiling water and canister is still going.) that is clean and efficient. We can cook indoors or out. We boil water for showers in a tea kettle. For showers Cari (My McGirlver) rigged up a battery powered garden sprayer (PS we used a RL Flo-Master 1.3 gal. Battery Powered Sprayer) for use in the shower. First we put in a kettle of room temp water, then a boiling kettle full...and we get two luxurious showers out of that little bit of water!

Magic Table... We ordered it cuz we thought we'd have the unit in the "U" sofa configuration. BUT what we've found by the third adventure is we really like having both main and side tables up and ready to use at all times (remember bed/froli sleeps system is in van conversion). So in retrospect...we could have saved a few bucks and stuck with the standard non-folding main table...but then i suppose i would have always wondered if that "U" was as cool to use as in the pictures. (sure it's nice, but not very practical!). We use the main table to dine & relax at. And the side table to charge electronics and as a galley extension/prep area.

Roof Fan... Ask Chandler to install a MaxxFan 5100K ...it is light years ahead of the Fantastic Fan! (_image link_ to a shot of our van conversion roof where i swap out old FF for MF after loving the MF on Parkliner!)

Galley Window...Ask Chandler to install the same window in the galley area as what is used in the forward shower window. It is a nice hinge-at-top weather proof marine design with glazed privacy glass. Lets in a nice breeze if needed during cooking!

Dead bolt... GET IT. The door hardware is a high quality home schlage matching pair and works excellent!

Parkliner/Chandler was also open to our request of moving things around (such as fresh tank on camp/river/curb side). Ask him...he will probably say yes!

I think i answered most of what i saw in your OP...I will check in tomorrow after work.

Cheers,
Thom

[Kristen in MO]

Wow, thanks for all the detail. I am only on page 5 so far of the build thread and still going. Every time I think of a question, it is answered as I read more. Thank you!

[accrete]

You are most welcome Kristen.

Also, please see my post scrip in blue text in my above post that shares why we chose the fuel source we did for our rig(s).

One of the most important comments in the PS is this:

SAFETY DISCLAIMER: We arrived at our decision due to our personal experience and camping style. Use your common sense and follow all manufacture's recommendations.

Enjoy the day! And thanks for stopping by the Parkliner #35 build thread.
Thom

[Roy in TO]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

Buy your first trailer used. With an FGRV, if you buy smart early in the season you can ususally get back most of your investment when you sell. Then use it for a season and, as above, you will find out what you want/need in a trailer.

Personal observations say early in the season typically has high supply and high prices to catch the unwary. End of season has better prices. The economic laws of supply and demand do not appear to function in what is advertised. The key is to buy smart.