Whats MOST important item to you when buying a new unit

[Chester Taje]

(I caught myself looking at more stuff recently then stopped when I realized that the stuff would not enhance the activity just enhance the stuff.)

Good Point

[james kent]

My wife and I took an eight week trip to the west coast in 2001. We drove her Honda Civic and carted along an 8x10 tent and one of those velour air mattresses. Except for a week on Galiano Is and two nights when it was too stormy we slept in the tent at all other times. Now our 13 ft Boler, which we've had for twelve years, is just pure luxury with no heat, no air, no washroom, just a stove and fridge. We've talked about a larger unit but both agree that all the other things are not really needed. It has seen a lot of use and needs new paint and a new axel. New curtains, coushions, and cupboards as well, but with a wedding comming up.......
.......mabee next year.

[drews60]

Someday I'll come up with a good name for this syndrom.
One starts a hobby or activity and grows the amount of stuff to take up all the available space. Then adds more space and continues to grow until you forget what the hobby or activity was all about because it's chanaged to being about the stuff.

I caught myself looking at more stuff recently then stopped when I realized that the stuff would not enhance the activity just enhance the stuff.

I FINALLY found the trailer that could accomodate all my stuff. It turned out to be a 30' Airstream! I had it one season before getting back to basics.

I have a lot of stuff, but only take what is needed for a specific trip. If I go boondocking, the outhouse, shower go. If I have hookups, that stuff stays behind. After 3 days hunting/camping, you would NOT want to be in my trailer without me having that shower! Stuff becomes necessity.

[DonInChatt]

Someday I'll come up with a good name for this syndrom.
One starts a hobby or activity and grows the amount of stuff to take up all the available space. Then adds more space and continues to grow until you forget what the hobby or activity was all about because it's chanaged to being about the stuff.

I caught myself looking at more stuff recently then stopped when I realized that the stuff would not enhance the activity just enhance the stuff.

This sounds a lot like owning a sailboat.

[Byron Kinnaman]

I FINALLY found the trailer that could accomodate all my stuff. It turned out to be a 30' Airstream! I had it one season before getting back to basics.

I have a lot of stuff, but only take what is needed for a specific trip. If I go boondocking, the outhouse, shower go. If I have hookups, that stuff stays behind. After 3 days hunting/camping, you would NOT want to be in my trailer without me having that shower! Stuff becomes necessity.

When boondocking a solar shower hung from a tree branch works pretty good. Also the old fashioned sponge bath, or the modern "wet wipes" work too. There are ways without the stuff.

I think alternatives are important to consider then everybody needs to do what works best for them. I think the most important thing is to get into the great out doors. To me anything above what is needed to survive is luxury. Therefore the decissions are based on how much luxury do you require. Some feel the need for more, some for less, but we all love to be out.

[peterh]

I caught myself looking at more stuff recently then stopped when I realized that the stuff would not enhance the activity just enhance the stuff.

Well, of course. You wouldn't want lonely stuff. Stuff likes company. But not just any stuff. Some stuff doesn't work well with other stuff, so you have to get stuff that works well together.

Take jackets. I thought a jacket was a jacket. It's job was to get pulled over the other stuff that I was wearing to keep me warm. It turns out, however, that jackets have to some how go with the other stuff. "Complimentary colors" or something like that. Some jackets, I am told, are a bad match for other clothing.

Next (courtesy of Columbia Sportswear) it turned out that the jacket needs to be part of a system. A system with vests and liners and stuff specifically designed to work with the jacket, and presumably other stuff I'm wearing.

The trouble is that it all gets very expensive, and it only gets worse. I expect the stuff I'm wearing will someday have to coordinate with the car I drive, the furniture in my house, the paint outside the house, my hair color and even my spouse. And you know how expensive it is to change those!

It's enough to make you want to not pack anything, just buy a pair of plane ticket to some nudist colony in the tropics where you don't need a jacket at all . . .

Just matching towels . . .

--Peter

[Byron Kinnaman]

Well, of course. You wouldn't want lonely stuff. Stuff likes company. But not just any stuff. Some stuff doesn't work well with other stuff, so you have to get stuff that works well together.

Take jackets. I thought a jacket was a jacket. It's job was to get pulled over the other stuff that I was wearing to keep me warm. It turns out, however, that jackets have to some how go with the other stuff. "Complimentary colors" or something like that. Some jackets, I am told, are a bad match for other clothing.

Next (courtesy of Columbia Sportswear) it turned out that the jacket needs to be part of a system. A system with vests and liners and stuff specifically designed to work with the jacket, and presumably other stuff I'm wearing.

The trouble is that it all gets very expensive, and it only gets worse. I expect the stuff I'm wearing will someday have to coordinate with the car I drive, the furniture in my house, the paint outside the house, my hair color and even my spouse. And you know how expensive it is to change those!

It's enough to make you want to not pack anything, just buy a pair of plane ticket to some nudist colony in the tropics where you don't need a jacket at all . . .

Just matching towels . . .

--Peter

Ahh poor Peter, really caught up in the stuff syndrom.
Not only expensive is initial cost, but then you've got clean, fix, store, get out, put back, look at and not use, and on and on with all that stuff.

[peterh]

I think it all comes down to what you plan to use the trailer for and what things are really important to you. For my wife and I the most important things is a toilet she can use without pulling on clothes and boots and trodding to a campsite toilet or lonely bush in the rain. The other thing we decided is that we need separate dining/activity and sleeping areas so one of us can sleep while the other bumps around and does whatever. (An important consideration when your sleeping hours differ.)

Our choice for our first trailer is a "standard" Scamp 5th wheel with the "5th wheel package" that includes a small bathroom and a "loft" area one of us can sleep in while the other uses the rear dinette. It was either that or the 16' with a side dinette; we decided on the 5th wheel because it is only slightly heavier than the 16' side-dinette trailer and has what amounts to a separate and somewhat more isolated bedroom space.

--Peter

[Byron Kinnaman]

I think it all comes down to what you plan to use the trailer for and what things are really important to you.
--Peter

I totally agree with that.
There are lots of alternatives and nobody can decide for you what suits you best.
I do think topics like this are good. They bring out more alternatives than one might think otherwise think of.
Since much of my daily life involves fixing things it's nice to get away from that. Therefore the less systems to fail and require fixing the better. But, that's me and my situation. Others might like fussing with systems want as many as possible so they always have something to fuss with. Or in your case, the desire for some systems out weighs the cost of time and money to maintain those systems. It's all good, if suits your style.

[Roger H]

Then adds more space and continues to grow until you forget what the hobby or activity was all about because it's chanaged to being about the stuff.

I caught myself looking at more stuff recently then stopped when I realized that the stuff would not enhance the activity just enhance the stuff.

Well said, Bryan. Quality of 'stuff' makes a difference in enjoyment. Quantity just makes for extra junk.

Roger

[brendadave]

I have been thinking about this question a lot since we just made the journey from tent to trailer. Although we loved tenting, our tent was large enough, dry, and we had everything we needed to camp comfortably.

What we discovered, and what got us looking at an RV in the first place, we needed a place to keep things cold, we needed a fridge. We could leave home with our coolers full of ice blocks, but after 4 days we couldn’t keep things cold anymore, and it was no fun looking for bags of ice to dump all over your food and get it wet. We got lucky, the Trillium we found has a fridge that still works great on propane, 12volt, and 110volt.

Secondly we wanted to be able to be more mobile, it took far too long to setup and pack up, making it difficult to travel town to town, day after day. This took out our first thought, pop-up trailers – too much work. After lots of looking and lots of RV salesmen, we ended up with a 30 year old fiberglass trailer, which has everything and more than we needed, it is light, comfortable, looks great, easy to tow, simple to maintain, and keeps our food cold as long as we need it.

We couldn't be happier (except if we had gotten it years ago).