New member looking for Casita info

[Boonville Jeff]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum. I've been impressed how upbeat the postings and comments are on the topics that I've read. Seems like a nice group.

My wife and I are semi-retired and would like to take a cross country trip next year. We have a Toyota Tundra that will pull a trailer quite nicely. I've had some experience pulling a big boat trailer and I didn't enjoy it. Sooo we checked out our neighbor's Casita 17 which seems about right. Not too big but big enough for the basics.

They have the Spirit model but I think that the Liberty or Indepndence floor plan might be better. The idea of crawling over each other for those inevitable "calls of nature" at night isn't too appealing. My question is how do those floor plans work for those of you who have them. We are about a hundred miles north of the San Francisco Bay Area but go back and forth regularly to the east bay. If someone in this area had one of these floor plans and wouldn't mind us taking a look that would be awesome.

In any case I'll keep poking around. Lots of good stuff here.

Thanks!

[Borrego Dave]

Welcome to the group Jeff. I have the SD17 which I like but the LD17 would be better for the......cross over moves at night. Plus being able to make up a king bed if you want to. Might have to change to that layout as we really don't spend much time inside so the sleeping setup is the biggest factor for us. The bigger refer in the 17's is another plus. As far as layouts working, everyones idea is different. You may want to go to a rally to see a number of different makes and sizes to get an idea of what's out there that may fit your needs best.

[David L. C.]

Jeff, towing the SD 17 is a breeze with our 06 Tacoma 4x4 V6, it is much better towing than the boats you may have towed in the past, follows like a puppy dog even at higher speeds or bad weather too, the jet boat I used to tow fishing was ok to 55 but got weird at higher speeds, it will be even easier with your Tundra due to the extra power when in the hills towing. Good luck on your hunt, I posted a wanted ad on CL and got a response from the wine country area and bought mine about 5 yrs ago.

I wouldn't mind checking out a LD myself, I am the one that has to crawl over during the night!!!

[WaltP]

Jeff
If you call Casita they can give you phone numbers of owners in your area willing to show their trailers.
I recommend also looking at casitaforum.com. Easy to use and free.
You'll find a forum on there that shows all the rallies, and as already mentioned, visiting a rally is your best option.

Good luck.

Walt

[kootenaigirl]

Welcome Jeff. We have had the Liberty and Spirit. I like them both.
The Liberty is really nice with the King bed if you are taller or like extra space. My feet touch the sides on the Spirit when sleeping.
Yes, no climb over in the Liberty in middle of night, you just need to perfect the 'scoot' down.
I did find in the Liberty the trailer appeared a little more compact with the bed down and I quite like having the separate dinette in the Spirit not right next to the bed.

I second what Walt said join the Casita forum tons of info there.

[kcwild]

Casita factry has a refers program call the factory and the will give you a ph# if a owner is near by

[Boonville Jeff]

Thanks for the responses. I've got a couple of options now to see a Liberty floor plan.

[Boonville Jeff]

Hi All, It happened pretty fast. We found a lightly-used, Liberty Deluxe not too far away. Probably paid too much but as my wife points out, negotiating price isn't my strong point. In any case the owner took great care of it and the more I poke around the better I like it. Not fancy but good construction and design. I watched those You-Tubes that Donna did and that made me feel like I took a trip to the factory. As suggested by earlier posters the Tundra pulls it along with minimal effort. I love the narrow profile. Only went over one curb on the way home. Not bad for me.

I don't think the converter was working when we bought it. The battery was charged and it was plugged in so I didn't notice it. Got it home and finally found that both the 30 amp fuses were blown. Oh Oh, but after replacement it all seems fine. Maybe there was an incident that knocked them out. Also the propane heater wouldn't come on, as it did at the seller's. Pulled that fuse out and reinstalled it and now it works, go figure.

Got to get the bed padding and configuration figured out now. I think that we will adopt a non-crawl over sleeping arrangement. We'd like to leave the little dinette in but not sure how that will work. I'm thinking a have-a-sack type sleeping bag with sheets might work well. Any suggestions?

Good to share the happy news with others that appreciate the trailers.

Jeff

[Jon in AZ]

Congratulations on your new trailer, Jeff!

My wife is also the negotiator in our family (regardless of who is actually doing the talking ). Walmart is about the only place I haven't seen her try to wheedle an additional discount. You'd be surprised at how often she scores.

Enjoy your travels! Do watch those curbs. There is no alignment adjustment on the wheels and torsion axles are generally not repairable.

[mary and bob]

In our Liberty we leave the rear bed made up with a memory foam topper over the original cushions. Wife gets the outside of the bed (toward front) so I get to do the climb over. The two things we like best on this camper over our Uhaul is the bathroom and the side dinette. I modified the dinette so that the table stays up, can't be put down

[Boonville Jeff]

Thanks for the good wishes. The curb jumping was only semi-accidental and I did it with my truck not the trailer