Which trailer do you regret selling?

[lisantica]

Thank you all for your replies, I enjoy reading them.

I'm with you @kootenaigirl, would love to find a 13' Deluxe, but they are priced quite high right now.

Jon, that's kind of what I thought would eventually happen, you'd stick with the tried and true and easy on the tow vehicle Scamp 13.

CPAHarley, 11 campers, I'm in awe and kind of envious.

@theremin, my sister-in-law is delivering a vintage Bambi (1960s era) to a buyer in Nova Scotia this week. I think she likes it better than her 24 foot Streamline.

Raspy, I didn't know you sold your Oliver. I considered one at one time, but didn't want to invest that much at that time.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by lisantica

Raspy, I didn't know you sold your Oliver. I considered one at one time, but didn't want to invest that much at that time.

There is no doubt that Olivers are nice trailers, but they do have their shortcomings. And as time goes by, they are becoming in need of an update. Ours gave us good service, and towed very well, but was better suited to shorter trips with full hookups in good weather. Our camping style is going the other way.

[jgilliam1955]

I had a Trailmanor 25 years ago. I thought was pretty cool.

[theremin]

Originally Posted by jgilliam1955

I had a Trailmanor 25 years ago. I thought was pretty cool.

My uncle invented the TrailManor, and he and my cousins built them until he had a major stroke about 15 years ago. He only died recently. My uncle was a metallurgist at the Y-12 Nuclear plant in Oak Ridge, TN. The TrailManor was originally named "Nokomis" just as a "keeper" name until he came up with the final marketing name. My uncle and his stepfather (a machinist and welder who was a welder at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked) built the prototype in his basement. Very innovative for the day with vacuum laminated metal/foam/metal panels. The original even had a floor made this way with no frame other than what it took to mount the tongue and the axle. It was way ahead of it's time--maybe too far ahead. This was in the 70's following the gas crunch.

Very clever design, and it improved a lot over the years. Still a lot of moving parts, which sometimes required a bit of adjustment. It was torsion bars working against springs to get the whole thing easy to setup and take down without any kind of motors or anything like that. A very cool camper. My mom and dad had one for many years.

One of my cousins who worked on TrailManors later worked with BigFoot out of Canada--back to the Fiberglass RV theme here...


Dave

[lisantica]

I enjoyed reading your post theremin about the TrailManor.
Time for me to Google it to see what it looks like.

[jgilliam1955]

Wow! Thanks for the information. Sad to hear about your uncle. They were great trailers.

[Ruban&Martha]

Originally Posted by jgilliam1955

I had a Trailmanor 25 years ago. I thought was pretty cool.

Originally Posted by theremin

My uncle invented the TrailManor

We also used to have a Trailmanor. It served us well during its years with us.

Nancy

[Roy in TO]

Originally Posted by theremin

My uncle invented the TrailManor, ... built the prototype in his basement.

Reminds me of the character "Gibbs" on the TV show NCIS building a boat in his basement.


I've always wondered how you get it out once you finish the project?

[theremin]

Originally Posted by Roy in TO

Reminds me of the character "Gibbs" on the TV show NCIS building a boat in his basement.


I've always wondered how you get it out once you finish the project?

Funny you should mention that--my Step Grandfather, who assisted my uncle in building the first prototype built a boat once. He had a two car garage with double doors, and carefully measured the opening before designing the boat. He built the boat, but had failed to account for the extra width of the gunwales! Boat wouldn't come out of the garage.

He took out the center support between the two sides of the garage and put in a hefty steel I beam to support the garage, and made it into a single door 2 car garage...

Dave

[Jack Walter]

An update to my old posts in this thread - I said I was regretting selling my Eriba Puck so I sold the Escape 17 (very nice trailer but it just never clicked with me) and went on the hunt for another Eriba Puck. I found a really nice 1995 Puck for sale in northern England (just outside of Liverpool) and had it shipped over from Southampton to Brunswick on a RoRo ship. I picked up in early March 2020 just before Covid hit and towed it home where I spent the next year rewiring the trailer for 110V, fixing the fridge and replacing the axle assembly.

It's much nicer than my previous Puck and has a longer pop-up roof section. I've used it for several camping trips over the last year and a half and its a great little trailer. Buying a Puck in England and shipping it over was a little less expensive than buying one over here - it just had to be 25 years old to meet DOT import Regulations.


I've decided that I just don't need a trailer over 16' long and even that is pushing it. The puck weighs around 1000 lbs loaded with gear and is the same width and height as the Land Rover. The Rover doesn't even know its back there.

[lisantica]

That is great news about your new-to-you Eriba Puck! Thank you for updating the thread.

[jgilliam1955]

Wow looks nice. Congrats.

[Perryb67]

We regretted selling our 2003 25RQ Bigfoot for a Lance 1995. Big Mistake! The Lance made it one trip to the west coast, where we saw our first Escape. On the way back we were on the phone ordering an Escape.

We've loved our Escape 5.0 for the past four years, but my back needed a better place to sit.

Next month we pick up our new-to-us 2016 25RQ. It's 8 feet longer behind the truck and 4' longer in the campsite. We know we'll not be able to get into some of the campsites we've been before, and the gas mileage will not even be close, but hopefully my back will agree with the 25RQ. However, getting back to 45 gallon tanks, true 4-season camping, dry bath, and more convienent storage will be great.

Enjoy,

Perry

[lisantica]

That will be great getting your new-to-you Bigfoot!

I still have all three of my trailers. I have had several opportunities to sell, but just can't do it. Hoping to get some trips in come Spring.

[Jack Walter]

Originally Posted by lisantica

That is great news about your new-to-you Eriba Puck! Thank you for updating the thread.

I really, really should have kept the Eriba Triton that I had - it was about three feet longer than the Puck and a half foot wider. It weighed about 1500 lbs empty so it towed like a dream. When I bought this one I had a Uhaul and Puck, sold the Uhaul and the Puck first and was pretty happy with the Triton. The wife pushed me into buying something bigger and fancier - hence the Escape 17 but then she never wanted to go camping. For my solo camping trips the Puck is the perfect size but the Triton was really the very best camper I've ever owned.