Small Trailers and Fl Campsites

[Eddie Longest]

I went to the RV show in Tampa Fl. today. The under 25' trailers seemed to have the most crowds around them. I spoke to a couple of salesmen they both indicated most of the interest was from people downsizing. It seems like the large campsites are getting scarce and people are down sizing to get into the smaller sites.
There was also an article in a local paper about an almost 1000 site rv park that only had a very few sites open. Due to the cheap gas and cold last winter, campsites are getting difficult to find this year. The only thing keeping things from really getting out of hand is the exchange rate. That seems to be keeping a fair amount of Canadians up north this winter.
Eddie

[bpfick]

Don't know about Florida, but in both Alabama gulf coast and now here in Texas, spaces are available and the rigs are HUGE. so? I just really have no idea, I guess. LOL

Don't know if interest at a show is the same as units sold at the big lot RV dealers. Along I-10 throughout Louisianna and Texas were ginormous, unbelieveably large RV lots stuffed with giant rigs. Again, what does this mean? I have no idea.

[Cathi]

I wonder what percentage of Canadians are actually staying home this year due to the dollar disparity. I expect that the campgrounds in Florida know already if there has been such an impact.

[vintageracer]

The focus and talk at the RVIA trade show in Louisville last December was the HUGE increase in smaller trailer sales to folks downsizing AND new/younger folks buying their first trailer.

[Gerry Kiernan]

Originally Posted by Cathi

I wonder what percentage of Canadians are actually staying home this year due to the dollar disparity. I expect that the campgrounds in Florida know already if there has been such an impact.

Given that the current exchange rate is around 40%, at a wild guess I would think that at least 20% of Canadians who would normally be travelling South are staying up here because it is simply becoming non-affordable to visit the USA.

[mary and bob]

Originally Posted by Cathi

I wonder what percentage of Canadians are actually staying home this year due to the dollar disparity. I expect that the campgrounds in Florida know already if there has been such an impact.

I heard there were a few that cancelled out of the campground we are at in Georgia. But there are some Canadians here.

[reeves99]

I'll be spending about 6 weeks in the US this year. The dropping dollar concerns me, and I'm a little sick about the extra cost, but I'll go anyway.
On a positive note, my daughter works for a US airline but lives in Canada. So it's like she's gotten a 30+% raise in the last couple of years.
Hmmmm, maybe I should get HER to pay for my trips

[Eddie Longest]

This article was from the Sebring newspaper.
RV parks reporting an increase in snowbirds

[Jon Vermilye]

Lots of Canadians here at Quartzsite. Of course $180.00 for the season or $40.00 for 2 weeks might have something to do with it...

[theresa p]

We've been here in Daytona Beach for a month and trust me, we are the real rarity here at this park. Our Trillium stands out like a sore thumb amidst the 30-45 foot behemouths all around us. People look, stare and then they ask "are you REALLY staying in that thing all winter?". Yup. We are.

And loving it. But we aren't really "camping" at this park. Not like we like to do. This is an RV park...not a campground. However, it is one we've stayed in before and enjoy, for a limited length of time. But we're almost in withdrawal from not having the ability to have a campfire. I know, I know,, some of you could care less about ever having one....but we LOVE ending our day beside one. As we move on to different places, like the Keys, where we head this weekend, we hope to see smaller trailers again.

I have heard that the Tampa RV show is quite something. We went to one here, in Daytona, but the focus was on giant coaches.

[reeves99]

Originally Posted by theresa p

Our Trillium stands out like a sore thumb amidst the 30-45 foot behemouths all around us.

Yeah, it was like that for us in Palm Springs. To each his own, eh?

[CindyL]

No shortage of Canadians in our KOA at Naples. Often the only American in the pool.
We have not been able to find a friendly campground where we go at Christmas. They don't like our small vintage Uhaul VT (Of course, the real problem might be that we are only coming for a week, since we are not yet retired.). We like the KOA in Naples, but the noseeums eat me alive, and they cannot spray, being next to a reserve. We thought that if we moved away from the water, the bugs might not be so bad. We found a place we thought would work last year; their concern was not our camper size but our sewer. Looking into a solution, Kevin called them months before we went down but was just too honest about the year of our camper (not that that has anything to do with the shape of our camper!) They hemmed and hawed enough that Kevin hung up and asked could we try the KOA again. The noseeums were on me the minute I opened the door before we even parked. We are exploring our solutions for next year. I have a disability that is happier out of this Chicago cold, so we want something where my hands and feet don't ache when we retire, plus we have a friend with a house in Naples (gated community - no driveway option there). And, the KOA does not have an accessible bathroom in the event that my plantar fibromatosis sends me full time to my disability scooter.

In our experience in Florida, size does count .


CindyL

[NASA42]

CindyL.....

My favorite place to stay in FL (with a 17' Casita SD) is JaMar Resorts, in Port Richey, FL..... Size does NOT matter there. They honor Passport America year round....if you stay a minimum of 7 days (!) This is more a senior/seasonal Mobile home and RV park. with open, available sites kept for folks like me that stay for only one or two weeks...it's right off Route 19. Impeccably maintained, with courteous and helpful folks running the place. The location puts one within striking distance of a lot of services and attractions. Take a look at their website.....JA-MAR-TRAVELPARK.COM.

Frank

[FJ40Jim]

We had several people look inside our Scamp on our recent southern sojourn. A lot of interest in a right-sized trailer, being towed by a right-sized vehicle. But, we were a rarity. In 3 weeks, we saw 2 trilliums, 1 scamp passed on highway 301, 3 casitas and 1 amerigo (abandoned in NC). We saw hundreds or thousands of ginormous 5th wheels, class A & bus motorhomes. The thing that did surprise me was the number of reasonable size MHs built on Sprinter chassis. I'd only seen a few of those in the last 5 years in our area, but there were several at every CG, and quite a few spotted on the highway.

[CindyL]

J.F.Y.

Looks like a really nice place, but we prefer farther south. A couple of years ago, Kevin thought he had to visit his employee in St. Augustine after Naples. We left beach weather and went to St. Augustine that was colder than Chicago at the time! That was before I was diagnosed with this stupid genetic thing. My hands and feet have palmer and plantar fibromatosis or if you will, Dupuytrens (disease in my hands) and Ledderhose (disease in my feet) and do NOT like cold weather, not even the breezes from fans! (They don't like hot and humid, but it is not so bad.)

Our problem is probably what my uncle said. we visited my aunt and uncle when we were in FL. They have a winter home in Fort Meyers. He said all the rich people live in Naples .

CindyL

[Terry R.]

I'm from Ohio, as is my son. He sells RVs and happens to be working the Tampa show. He just sent me a text, saying mostly lookers, sales seem slow.

Of course this is Thursday, and things usually pick up over the weekend.