Which Trailer

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:wave My wife & I want to purchase a Trailer. I have a 2002 Explorer with a V8 & tow package.
Which trailer has a good track record?
Least repairs as in none?
Good value?
Heard the Jayco's are pretty good.
Thanks everyone....

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You do realize that your on a fiberglass rv site right? ;)

If you want new I'd suggest: a Casita, Scamp, Trillium or Bigfoot.

If you want used I'd suggest: Amerigo, Bigfoot, BIOD, Boler, Burro, Casita, Compact Jr., Fiber Stream, Lite House, Love Bug, Oxygen, Play-Pac, Scamp, Surfside, Trillium, U-Haul & homemade.

<img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3f14515299d093e3dbf53ddc41fiberrules.gif/>

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Jack,

This is probably not the best site to evaluate Jayco's. We are all about Fiberglass Travel trailers. You probably won’t find our kind of trailers at RV Dealers because their resale is so high and people hang on to them. They just don’t have the problems the stick built do. I was told there are two kinds of RVs: those that leak and those that are going to leak. Water damage is the number one killer of RVs. (and that held true to both my 5th wheel and first camper.) Thus, I bought an all Fiberglass. Liked it so much, I just bought a new second one last week.

Before I bought my first one I checked the resale values. UNBELIEVABLE!

Things to think about.
1. How many in your family.
2. Where do you want to camp?
3. What creature comforts do you need?
4. What is your price range?

I would think you could tow anything up to a 17’. If I remember correctly, the Explorer has a tow rating of 5,000 lbs. My 17’ Casita weighs (ready to go) 3,200 lbs.

I hope this helps,

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The Outback:cheers
ps Jack if you want to see what an old 1978 Trillium 1300 looks like i live down the road in Hampton:cheers

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:wave YooHooo... lest us not forget the new Escape!!!

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Oh, Eric.:r I never forget my Escape. But your talking trailer. Just kidding you. :wave

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We are looking at all Trailers. The Fiberglass one interest me very much.
I perfer them BUT are there any bigger than 17 ft? I love the Casita's but wife says she may want one bigger. I have been reading this site for about a year. So now I got a vehicle to tow with (Explorer tows 7,000) & now we are looking for something next spring. Thanks for the information.....
We plan to take a trip to Montana from Virginia next year. We will be doing some boondoogling
Jack
from Williamsburg

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To go larger than 17 foot and stay fiberglass you have to either go 5th wheel Scamp (not Explorer SUV compatible) or go Canadian (Bigfoot or Oxygen - new. Biggar - antique and very hard to find)

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Be kinda hard to escape without the Escape wouldn't it?:)

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If Jack's wife thinks a 17 foot trailer is too small, I doubt she would be overly impressed by the extra two inches offered by the 17 foot 2 inch Escape Trailer. FWIW: They only recently began advertising the extra 2 inches.

Most folks have a hard time seeing the difference between a 16 foot and 17 foot Casita without an explanation or diagram of the size/weight gain.

The Oxygen and Biggar offer 19 foot models. Bigfoot has over the years offered a range of sizes larger than 17 foot.

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Greetings, :wave :wave
I started RV'ing in a 13 ' Trillium, which we could hook onto in a moments notice and go where ever our little imaginations directed.
As our two boys grew into their teens, we thought we needed more room.. We purchased a 24 ft. Kit Companion, which slept 10 people, had roof top air conditioning, a four burner stove with an oven (Which was not used even once in the 11 years the previous owners had it) and a four piece bath, with a four foot bathtub. There were conveniences in this unit which we thought were lovely to have, and we recieved a number of compliments from other campers who saw it. We found that instead of 14 - 16 mpg with the trillium, we now got 6 - 6.5 miles per gallon, which now limited our travel budgets and caused us to use the trailer a week or two each summer instead of every other weekend for about 8 months a year.
If I was not home, my wife would not hook the 24 ft. up, as it was complicated, and very intimidating to pull. She had to use load leveling bars, anti-sway bars, and extension towing mirrors , none of which were nessecary with the Trillium. So she and the family stayed home if I was not there to do the driving. We only had four people in the family, so the other six beds were not nessecary. We used the bathtub for storage of extra luggage, which was full of clothing that we seldom unpacked enroute. The oven stayed unused during the three years we had the unit. The roof top airconditioning drew more current than most smaller campgrounds supplied, so it was seldom used. We soon sold this unit and went back to a 16' fiberglass unit. This unit sees use from April through October and for the same budget we used in two weeks with the bigger unit.
Our lesson was to only buy what you needed to keep you warm and comfortable enroute (Half the clothes and double the Money) and leave the idea of impressing the neighbours at home. You will have way more fun. CHEERS:cblob

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Orginally posted by Eric C

Be kinda hard to escape without the Escape wouldn't it?:)

glad you brought that trailer up though, Eric. I had been sitting here trying to remember what it was called. :wak If you can believe that? I think there was one more mentioned a few months before the Escape. I can't think if it was still being made or just stopped. Where's Suz when you need her. she is so good at finding that stuff.
Wouldn't you know it. <img src=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/uploads/3edb92fa0263akopfpatsch.gif/> She's camping.

and Owen, I loved your story. Has a familiar ring to it.

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Owen - you said it so wonderfully!! :wave We have a 24ft. stick-built. It doesn't leak yet, but it will. The roof materials get 'sun burned' and start going (drip). It's also so big (sleeps 6) that we have NEVER taken it anywhere - and don't plan to. It's parked at our permanent campsite. Taking it there was an adventure - the truck tried to kill us! It pulled like an anvil and I can't imagine taking that thing to the beach! Yikers! We have a vintage 24 ft. Airstream (parked in the driveway) Structural integrity is questionable. I think we've stopped the leaks.
Having said all that - whew! FIBERGLASS RULES! Casita is a doll house on wheels. Can pull it with a 6-cylinder, backs into parking or camp site easily.
I think the real question here is "what kind of camping do you do?" If you need to bring the condo with you, I don't know if you'd be happy camping in a Fiberglass and a stick built would only postpone the conclusion that you don't like camping that much anyway :E (even with a bathtub and double sink).

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:wave I think the recommendation for the BIGFOOT is great. There's BigFoot dealers around, too. I know of one in Gettysburg PA. That might be just what the doctor ordered. I can't image a trip from Virginia's coastal plain to Montana in our 24ft. Fleetwood Wilderness. EEK!! it was bad enough from Maryland, through Virginia to West Virginia highlands. I aged 5 years on that Saturday, so I won't even imagine what it would be like in Colorado or Wyoming! And we were pulling with a Chevy 3500.
Have you thought about renting that trailer to see if you could live with it?

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Jack
Go for the Bigfoot. W-A-L-K around a queen-size bed?:omy .WOW. check your e-mail
Info for everyone else-You couldn't swing a cat on the floor space of our oxygen. It has lots of head space. But if 3 people wanted to stand up, one of them would have to be in the bathroom.- unless of course you really liked being awfully familiar with them.
Floor space was definitely not on our wish list when we bought it.- but a bathroom door should have been.
Jean

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looks nice d, but dont know much about it

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:cblob Well guys & dolls, looks like the lady of the house is leaning towards a Casita 17 ft. She started thinking we arn't camping to live in it but use it to sleep, eat, & poop (poop was my idea). All other times we'll be running around like escaped monkeys from the zoo. She does have a question or two....
1. Is it better with captain chairs or bench?
2. What was that other one..er...oh yea! Bed is to hard. What do you people do to improve the sleeping bed. Her back will bother her if not comfortable.:banana
Thanks

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Beds - comfortable. there are so many opinions.
try doing a search with ''mattress'' or ''bed'' in the subject line.
more ideas then I can list. and then :huh it depends.

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:wave

What floor plan you decide on will be your own personal preference. Everyone has their own idea of ideal. Our 17ft. has the dinette that converts to a King Size bed. We have two BIG dogs, whose devine right apparently includes sleeping on the bed. The bed is very firm, so if they move, we don't feel it. :) We all sleep very well in our eggtrailer. And I believe it is fairly bear proof. ;)