What options does someone in the know suggest on a new unit?

[Judi Unglaub]

We are going up to see the Scamp this weekend? What options can you
not live without?? We have an explorer 6cy-thinking about the 13' but hubby
thinks might be too small-but don't want to try and pull too much. Any words
of advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Christi V.]

You should have No problems towing a 13 with your Explorer.. did you look up the towing capacity? I believe it said from what I am finding 3500Lb....
Personally i cant do w/o my little microwave oven

[Roger H]

Judi,

That's an interesting question, and one I suspect the various manufacturers would find amusing. They produce all kinds of new trailers for folks from the 13' equipped with a table and bed to the fully-loaded 25' such as I have.

I've sampled many trailers in various states of "optioned" over the years. The way I use our trailer, we like it fully optioned. Other folks will tell you they only want a hard-sided tent, and the 13' stock stripper fits the bill nicely.

I think an assessment of how you plan to use the trailer is in order, and then you'll begin to get a sense of how you'd like it equipped.

I will tell you that the more deluxe and the more options a trailer has in the fiberglass trailer world, the wider the resale market will be and the more quickly it will sell even if it's more expensive. That's especially true after the trailer is ten or so years old. They all hold their value well, but a heavily optioned trailer will hold it's value better that a similar trailer not so well equipped.

Your tow capacity for your Explorer can be found in your owner's manual. You'll want to know what the capability of your Explorer is before you start on your hunt. A better way is to find the trailer you want, and then buy something competent to tow it, but I realize that not everyone can afford that either.

Roger

[Byron Kinnaman]

We are going up to see the Scamp this weekend? What options can you
not live without?? We have an explorer 6cy-thinking about the 13' but hubby
thinks might be too small-but don't want to try and pull too much. Any words
of advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

The very first question one should ask ones self is how you're going to use the Scamp. If you plan on have shore power all the time, or if you don't want to depend on shore power.

Options that work well for me. I bought the package. Then added one of the overhead cabinets(makes one on each end), the gray water tank, and brakes. I did get the furnace, but I don't remember if that was part of the package or not.

Left out/off -- Air Conditioner, toilet including porta-pottie and fantastic fan.

Wish I would have had them leave off - 120Volt light above the sink.

What we don't bring with us, Television, microwave, electric coffee pot, etc.

Regrets - didn't get 12 Volt power wired into the overhead cabinets where I could add low current lights.

That's for our style of camping and certainly not for everybody. I can be totally self reliant, totally off the grid.

Options that you probably want include screen door, fridge, maybe furnace, gray water tank, and brakes. The rest depends on your style.

[peterh]

Another two thoughts:

We found it invaluable to visit a FG gathering to see what other people had and had done to their trailers before we bought our trailer. Our initial thoughts on what we would like to travel with were completely re-written that weekend . . .

The other thought is: Buy a trailer used and go camping with it. Most people who adopt an RV lifestyle buy, then trade in their first RV. By buying used you'll find out what things you really need, want or appreciate in a trailer and won't get burned too badly when you sell the used one off.

As for the two of us . . . We bought a Scamp 5th wheel "Standard" floorplan unit and are gradually remodeling the whole thing. It's almost like buying our first trailer, then trading it in one piece at time.

--Peter

[Byron Kinnaman]

Judi,


I will tell you that the more deluxe and the more options a trailer has in the fiberglass trailer world, the wider the resale market will be and the more quickly it will sell even if it's more expensive. That's especially true after the trailer is ten or so years old. They all hold their value well, but a heavily optioned trailer will hold it's value better that a similar trailer not so well equipped.

Roger

I'm not so sure about this for 13' foot. The more stuff you have in there like shower, microwave, etc. the less space there is for you. A 13' with a shower feels really closed in. Without, it feels quite roomy. Some of us don't want deluxe, would rather have simple. When I first started looking the price of used 10+ years old wasn't much different than new. I think you're right when you get into the 16' and larger, mainly larger, trailers. Those that buy bigger want deluxe with all the bells and whistles. Those that buy smaller want simple. At least that's how things appear to me.

[Gina D.]

Here is a topic covering this very question

What do you wish you had in your trailer?

[David & Leslie]

Hi Judi! We have been full-timing in our Scamp 13 for over 18 months, and will share what works (or not) for us.

Conveniences:

As an example of different Egg-styles, Christi mentioned her microwave ... I thought I used ours a LOT in our house, so we packed it along on our first snow-bird winter. Turned out we boon-docked over 60% of the time and the microwave (with it's unnecessary weight) stayed in the tug the whole time. It is now blessing a dorm room at some college in Boise, ID!

We have a 12-amp solar panel to keep our trailer battery topped off - we have only 2 12-volt lights. When we do not have shore power we use a small inverter in the cigarette lighter to charge laptops & cell phone, or for D to use his shaver.

We don't carry a TV but enjoy watching movies on the laptop. Might get a hand-cranked radio one of these days.

One thing I DO wish we had was a grey water holding tank! We are not the original purchasers of this Scamp - those folks apparently did not want may 'bells & whistles". We use a portable "blue boy" for our grey water, which works quite well but as we have discovered, this arrangement is not welcomed in some RV parks. If we had an 'official' holding tank this would not be a problem.

Storage:

We don't have a fridge or ice-box; our trailer has an ice box but the seals were weak and we were already supplementing with an ice chest so that's all we use now - the ice box space is now wonderful added storage. If we had a fridge it would be nice, but what we use has worked well so far.

We visited the Scamp factory last summer for some upgrades, all of which have proved great:

1. We now have upper storage fore & aft ... great place for light stuff like paper goods, etc and now the potato chips don't get crushed by the frying pan!

2. Small access-doors at the front of each dinette bench. This was a suggestion from another member here, Joy A, and we really like not having to undo our bed to get into those rear cubbies.

Hope this helps - we know your will LOVE you Egg. Wishing you safe journeys and many, many happy memories! Hope our travel paths will cross down the road. L 'n D

[pjanits]

Judi,
I am most interested in how you do with Scamp on your visit.

We went up and spent the night in the next town to see the factory and Units.

Let us know how it went.

[Nancy]

Judy,

You are from Minnesota so opt for the screen door. We have one but seldom use it as we camp away from Minnesota.

The front and rear overhead cabinets for us are a must have.

We got a 12 volt light under the front bunk and over the rear dinette. Would not want to be without those.

Do no like to use the 12 volt over the sink, but I think that is pretty standard.

I like the little window over the sink, and the fantastic fan. Use them a lot.

We would rather have the space than the refer so did not order one, also keeps weight down. They made a door for us and we put shelves inside.

We also did not want the water tank as that is also weight and we just carry a jug of water, for resale purposes I suppose the water tank is a must.

We much prefer the space with the front and rear bed areas, and put up with a Thetford 135 potty. I have a curtain I put up between front and rear for times I want privacy.

We also removed the back rest (top bunk) to make a wider bed for sleeping in front.

Hope these ideas help. It all depends on how you use your unit.

Nancy

[Nancy]

Brakes, I forgot the brakes, get them.

Nancy

[Judi Unglaub]

Brakes, I forgot the brakes, get them.

Nancy

To ALL who took the time to reply, I thank you much, your input was
terrific. I'll let you know after the weekend how it went.
Thanks again all.
Judi

[peterh]

I'm not so sure about this for 13' foot. The more stuff you have in there like shower, microwave, etc. the less space there is for you. A 13' with a shower feels really closed in. Without, it feels quite roomy. Some of us don't want deluxe, would rather have simple. When I first started looking the price of used 10+ years old wasn't much different than new. I think you're right when you get into the 16' and larger, mainly larger, trailers. Those that buy bigger want deluxe with all the bells and whistles. Those that buy smaller want simple. At least that's how things appear to me.

We have a side bath with a "shower" in our Scamp 5er . . . but don't really use it. Several reasons, but the major one is, when we have hookups and all that, there are usually nice, roomy camp site showers to be had, and our little side-bath shower is very cramped. When we don't have hookups I generally do the sponge bath thing in the kitchen sink , even wash my hair there, to conserve water and gray water tank space.

--Peter