1975 Trillium 1300?

[Val L]

Hi i am completly new to camper trailers of any type. I found a 1975 Trillium 1300 on kijiji and am considering buying this over a pop-up tent trailer. What are the pros cons of these trailers and how much are they worth?
Thanks
Val

[Donna D.]

Oh gosh, where to begin. No rotten drippy canvas. Hold value (and can go up) over the years. There are 30 year old trailers that have sold for more than new! Options and decorating can make it uniquely your own.

Boy, have you fallen into the choir pit here. Welcome!!

If you're looking to buy an older trailer, start by clicking on this link: Buyers Checklist

[Kent I]

We have had three tent trailers and we still have one but after a week away from home, unable to come home, in cold, damp, rainy weather, my wife said, find something that would not be so damp and can get warm. We now have a compact junior, she loves it. The tent trailer will likely sleep more than two but the trillium can handle four if two are small and can be accomodated by front bunks or as a single dinette.

[Nate]

in my own personal experience with tents on wheels....it's a tent. yes it has cupboards and appliances, but it's a tent. I was never warm in them, even with a furnace. the cold sort of radiates in through the sweatshirt that is your wall. Canvas - raining when you pack up at camp? better set it back up when you get home until it's dry or else you have mold and rot. noise - i take for granted how dense my thin walls are, but in a tent trailer you can hear a mouse fart. and like your wife mentioned, it's bloody damp when it rains. Space - you can pack a an egg full of your stuff when you're on the road. a tent trailer, you only have the floor space, and even then only about a foot high.

the only good thing about a tent trailer in my opinion is the weight. and if you get a newer large one, they can weigh about the same as a 13' egg.

[Val L]

Thanks for the input.
My new Trillium trailer will be comming home this Saturday! I never thought that i would pick out a trailer that is 10yrs older than i am but i fell in love .

[Larry C Hanson]

Thanks for the input.
My new Trillium trailer will be comming home this Saturday! I never thought that i would pick out a trailer that is 10yrs older than i am but i fell in love .

Great! I foolishly sold my 1972 trillium a few years ago and missed it so much that I bought a 1978 1300 and am getting it into shape for summer road trips.... Congrats... these are great little rigs! Larry

[james kent]

Hi Val
We had a Starcraft cranky-up for several years before changing to a 13 foot fiberglass.
No more setting up or taking down in the rain. Now I can pull in, level up, open the door, and sit and watch someone else setting up their tent trailer.
It's lighter fully loaded than the tent trailer was empty.
Less maintenance, and I don't have to replace the canvass after a few years, or replace any pully systems.
I don't have to dry it out at home after every trip.
How many 25-35 year old tent trailers are still on the road and looking like new? After giving good service to a couple of families for twenty-five years we have redecorated the trailer inside and out and now it's ready for another twenty-five.
My wife hated sleeping on those bunks with no trailer under her and always felt that the canvass would give way and she would end up on the ground.
Since you have decided to change to a solid sided fiberglass trailer you will not regret it. They'll give you a feeling of safety that canvass just can't.
Jim

[Doug Mager]

Hi Val, How many 25-35 year old tent trailers are still on the road and looking like new?
Jim

AAHHHEM !!! JIM, I have taken the liberty to shorten your reply (s'quese me??)
I have sold a matched set, Tow n Trailer to a neighbour.
The tow is/was our 1926 Model T Touring and the trailer, a mid 60's Tent Trailer.
NOT a hard top canvas sided trailer, ALL canvas top. I bought it used in about 1968 and used it ALMOST every year (putting up with ALL the usual tent/tent trailer woes) till I redid the whole trailer to more color match the Touring. While I was in the remodel I finally redid the canvas to be a better match. The shop I went to for the new canvas was located not too far from the Escape Trailer place, BTW, (.... must be summin in the water out there I guess, LOL). Who amung us here that has an early model Glass Egg HASN'T done some sort of upkeep/mmodernization?
Like anything else IF you maintain it, it should last a good long while; but ohhhh that rain !!!!!!

The trailer was an 'Emperor' made in Bresleau Ont!!!!

[james kent]

That's more than just a redecorate. That's a piece of art.

[Paul Weeks]

Thanks for the input.
My new Trillium trailer will be comming home this Saturday! I never thought that i would pick out a trailer that is 10yrs older than i am but i fell in love .

Hey Val,
You made a good decision...My girlfriend and I drove 4200KM 2 weeks ago from Ingersoll Ont. to Summerside PEI to pick up one of the best litttle 1300's in Canada (our opinion). The silly thing is that we sold a '75 1300 last year and ended up missing it tons!!!
Kevin and Donna we love it and Karl, it's in good hands and less then 100km from where it was originally purchased!!

Paul