Why did you buy the trailer you have?

[Timber Wolf]

Originally Posted by TomK

Tim, there will be plenty of Scamps and others at Scamp Camp near Sebring, FL this coming Feb. We'll be among them. Stop by if you're anywhere near there. Tom

I really wanted to come but unfortunantely I have to hoard my time off work for when the kid is out of school, and February is not one of those times.<_< Pure luck would be for a Scamp Camp to coincide with her Spring Break.

[Jon Vermilye]

I looked at a number of fiberglass eggs, and settled on the Escape 17B, primarily because Reace, the owner of the company was willing to do a couple of modifications during the build including adding a rear view camera & a cell phone antenna & amplifier. I've had the trailer 3 1/2 years, and so far towed it 55,000 miles with a 2010 RAV4.

[BillE]

We have ordered a 13 Deluxe with a front dinette. Wanted the larger rear bed and still have a spot for the wife and I to have coffee in the morning.Also like the birch interior can hardly wait to pick it up.

We did look at the Trillium 1300 and 1500. The Trillium had nice appliances and refrigerator, and Maxx Air fan. The interior was so ..so. The 1300 bed was 48in. the 1500 we looked at had lot rot with rust staining ALL over the outside of the trailer .and the door seal leaked so the floor was damaged.

Scamp will deliver right from the factory a new shiny trailer.

[Todd Reed]

Was driving to a high school volleyball match and saw my future fiberglass egg sitting on the side of the road, in horrible shape, with a for sale sign on her. I snatched it up on the way home, and it's been true love ever since.

[Anders Laurits]

All RV manufacturers should read and carefully digest this cool thread's content. I believe that it would make the consumer's choice so much better. I have posted a link to this thread over on the Oliver Forums.

[tidewater]

When family circumstances enabled me to travel this spring (2014) instead of just lurking on egg sites, I noticed a Casita on the classified section of a Casita site in Illinois. It was a 2007 and the owner's son represented it as unused except for a trip from the factory in Texas to rural Illinois. The gentleman's parents had purchased it in December 2006 and pulled it straight home without stopping. Since then, it had sat in a barn. I've looked at enough used cars and trucks to be wary but it was, in fact, new and shiny, never slept in, cooked in, or 'relieved in'. The remove-when-first-used labels were still in the fridge. So I had a brand new 2007 egg.

I've kept the son apprised of my travels, which he appreciates since his parents never were able to enjoy using the camper.

jack

[RogerDat]

Originally Posted by Tip T.

HA! Roger, No doubt about it, man vs bear, bear probably wins, most likely. I guess it's mostly psychological...something about something more fibrous than mosquito netting between me and wherever a bear "might"... "possibly" appear.

Considering that a bear can peel the locked door of a car open if it really wants to I figure anything less than a steel shipping container won't keep one out if it wants in.

From what I know (by no means an expert) bears tend to examine the situation a bit before deciding what to do, even if the bear decided to check it out further there would be some poking and prodding on the outside that would hopefully wake one up before any attempt to come inside. Giving you time to react. Bears are smart. Food smell in here, screaming people running that way, think I'll go for the food. Oh look they left the door open for me!

Having some barrier does make you less accessible and interesting than those folks in the next site with cooler sitting under the screen tent. Or the bag of snacks in the tent. It's like that old joke about not having to outrun the bear, just having to outrun the slowest person in the group running from the bear.

[ruscal]

Camping for me was always a way to get out to where the activities were. Skiing, motorcycling, river sports, hiking, etc. I didn't care what the sleeping arrangements were, as long as there was a place for my sleeping bag. My camping stove, utensils, coolers were always ready on their shelf in the garage. Pick up beds and tents were mostly employed for bunkhouse duty.
Years later when I met Kathy we took a couple of camping trips using a tent and air mattress. She was uncomfortable and didn't want to go any more.
A few years went by and we passed a fiberglass egg on the freeway. Kathy said "I want one of those". I didn't think it would work for us, and didn't give it much thought. I am claustrophobic and couldn't see myself being able to sleep in there.
Then one day I saw an egg at a showing outside a REI store and I walked in and was able to acclimate to the tight surroundings. HMMM maybe?
I discovered this web site and started reading about these trailers and began to think seriously about picking one up.
There were none for sale in San Diego County, but I found 3 in LA. One of them seemed like a flakey deal with a lot of red flags about a scam, and the other two had people ahead of me to look. The Casita sold before I could view it, and the Scamp 16 sold before I got there, but I could still check it out. The buyer left to go to the bank and had been gone for a couple of hours. The trailer looked to be very lightly used for a 2003, and I told the seller I would be interested if the buyer backed out.
He called later in the day and said he never heard from the buyer again, so I had a deal.
Now a few years later I find that having the comfort of the trailer is really appreciated. It is nice having conveniences and shelter that is so easy to hook up and go. Kathy loves it and wants to camp as much as we can find time for. All is good.
Russ

[Letitia]

I came across an article about small campers, which led me to this Forum. I learned a lot about fiberglass campers from reading information and advice from members, and I knew that there were only a few brands with enough interior height for my 6'4" husband....Eggcamper being one brand. So I set about searching ads on this Forum and also CraigsList. Low and behold an ad popped up on CL for a 2011 Eggcamper about a 4-hour drive away....from an RV dealer. Then the ad disappeared. Assumed we had missed out. Then a few days later, the same ad reappeared. Then disappeared. About a week later, the ad was back. This time I decided to call the dealer...yes, he said they had the Eggcamper sitting right there. I was skeptical. 😕 But hopeful. We said we'd drive up on Saturday to take a look. Called back Friday to see if it was still there....yes, they said. Called again Saturday before leaving home...called again from the road. Boy, I sure did not trust that ad!! Pulled into the lot and there sat the Eggcamper! 😄
My husband and I sat inside and discussed making the purchase. A two minute discussion! In the cabinet, we found a 3-ring binder with the original sale contract and the first buyer's name.....which I googled and found out that he was a member!! So we quickly read all his posts to see if there were any red flags, but all seemed fine. We gave the Dealer a check and they let us drive it away😍. Later I emailed Raymond C, the original owner, to tell him we had purchased his camper! He was very nice....said they traded it in for something bigger. So that's how we lucked into our Eggcamper!

[rova]

1. Our kids are grown up and my wife and I wanted to get back into camping, but I don't want to sleep on the ground any more.
2. We want to be a single-vehicle couple, which means the two vehicle must also be a superb in-town vehicle, which means the tow vehicle must be a 4 cylinder, which means the trailer must be very light.
3. To reduce our carbon footprint - more car camping means less air travel; lighter trailer means less gas consumption and less pollution.
4. To save money on purchase price, repairs (the less stuff you have, the less stuff that breaks), insurance and gas for both the trailer and the tow vehicle.
5. To have a project that my wife and her dad could work on together.
6. To have a trailer that would match my father-in-law's antique 1953 Mercury pick-up truck (which we also use as a tow vehicle, but one that is free to us!)

We found the Boler advertised on kijiji. Boler invented and originally manufactured in Winnipeg - nice Canada touch. And we're Winnip - eggers.

You might say that Boler put the egg in Winnipegg.

[Rob Outlaw]

That is such a cool setup Rova, nicely done!!

[rova]

Thx Rob!

[Timber Wolf]

Originally Posted by rova

6. To have a trailer that would match my father-in-law's antique 1953 Mercury pick-up truck (which we also use as a tow vehicle, but one that is free to us!)

Looking good doing it is very important. And that is a good looking setup inside and out!

[rova]

Thx Timber. If you imagine you will use it for 25 years, putting in a bit extra up-front so you are feeling good about your rig makes a lot of sense to us.

Tom

Boler - putting the egg in Winnipeg since 1968.

Rust never sleeps. - Neil Young
Fiberglass never rusts. - Boler

[Jon in AZ]

Yep, rova - beautiful combo. The shape of the Boler perfectly echoes the fenders on the truck!



Afraid our own reasons for buying our Scamp were a bit more prosaic. We love spending time at the beach, but the rising price of hotels pushed us further and further inland, which rather defeats the point. We tried S. Carlsbad Beach State Park in a tent, but my back no longer enjoys sleeping on the ground. We were in the market for a small tent trailer in the $3-4K range. I knew about FGRVs (friend had a Scamp 16' and had visited their website) but thought the 13'ers would be too small for the four of us and the 16'ers too heavy for our vehicle. Several nice tent trailers were sold out from under us in Phoenix when this Scamp 13' showed up on the side of the street in nearby Show Low. First time I'd ever been in one, and I was amazed at how much room there was inside! I grew up with a tent trailer, and the idea of NOT having to fold up wet canvas appealed to me a lot. Brought the family to see it, did some research online (and discovered this site), and bought it the next day. Being late October, we got a great deal within our budget. Right place, right price, right time, right trailer!

[accrete]

I guess i'll chime in since somebody else resurrected a three year old thread

Like many of you, my wife and i started out car campers when first married. Our first rig was a 1975 Toyota FJ40 set up for tackling the Rubicon Trail in our (then) backyard of Reno Nevada. We had a nice tent setup and a chuck-box set up accessible from the rear of the FJ.

Moved to Oregon and tents had to go! and were replaced eventually with a folding solid wall A-Frame trailer we towed behind a Tacoma 4x4 and hit the forestry trails.

That got to small and we got the AWD van...but found ourselves toting and setting up a screen-room for the outside kitchen/table/chairs. After a few to many rainy June/July camp trips we said the "Tent has got to go" one more time and i looked for a trailer to tow.

We knew we wanted something small and light (under 3K if poss.) We also believed we would continue to sleep on our Froli Sleep System inside the van conversion that also had a nice bathroom for use at night. So all we were really after is a conversation area with a table, a functional galley, and a shower. And since we were in the Pacific Northwest and have rarely had a completely _dry_ adventure, we wanted Jalousie style windows so we could open them up rain or shine. We would not need an A/C unit. We would not need a fridge (our 7 to 10 day coolers in the van were working fine), and we did not want propane on board.

With those _wants_ in mind i began the research and contacting various small fiberglass trailer manufacturers. The one that stuck out that said "Yes" to every one of my perceived needs (to camp in our style) at that time (fall of 2012) was Chandler of Parkliner in North Carolina. I went in eyes wide open knowing they were a start up, but i liked what i saw in a prototype (#2 or #3 hull i think). If i were to do this all over knowing what i know, now in our second season (we got our #35 in April 2013), i would do it all again with another Parkliner.

Happy Trails in the trailer & rig of your _choosing_.
It's what makes the world go around

Thom

[Byron Kinnaman]

Much of the beauty of Oregon is in the back country. Some of the best swimming lakes are small lakes 2 to 5 to 10 miles from the nearest road. Some of the best views are from peaks that you have to walk 2 to 3 miles sometimes with 2,000 to 3,000 ft gain. Spending a night with stars as a ceiling, nothing like it. We carried a tent, but didn't always use it. We found car camping a pain with noise and the crowds.
Things changes as the years rolled on. First we started going to events that required camping to attend. This started to cause a problem with the backpacking tent. In the out back, you get in the morning step outside stretch look around and enjoy the sights and smells, then put on your pants. At events when you woke up you had to get dressed lying on your back. So that the first excuse to buy the trailer. It took two years of looking before buying new. It took another 2 to 3 months going over and over the options list until we got right. Then the almost perfect new trailer was delivered. Short trips on the week-ends year around were now the norm. Longer trips for vacation weeks. Once retired two week vacations and traveling 300 to 400 miles turned into 3 to 4 month trips with travel distances closer to 6,000+ miles. I consider us fortunate to have camped, backpacked and knew mostly what we wanted.

As the years of backpacking wore on we upgraded our equipment, but did not dispose of the older replaced gear. As a result most of it went straight into the trailer. The backpacks are still packed with the upgraded gear. Would like to get back into shape enough to take at least a mile hike to a little lake I know and spend a couple days there. I'm sure it would be real quiet Monday - Thursday.

[jazzjunkysue]

Me?
I was getting ready to buy an aluminum one with a guy I was dating. He turned out to be a total liar.

Bottom line: I wasn't sad about losing him, just the camper!

No, really! I was totally bummed. "Geez! I really wanted to buy it!!!."

So then I got thinking, if there was some way for me to do this alone, and something that would fit in my narrow driveway (I live in a small city.)

The eggs are 1 +1/2 feet narrower than the aluminum, and I started reading these forums.

One was listed on the Penn/Jersey border used, and I ran right over with a rented uhaul. It had a 4 pin plug! I found a local rv guy who built me the hand-made adapter on the spot and hauled my Puppy home. That was 3 months ago, and now I can even back up!

Living in the bustling northeast, right on the I95 corridor, I need the state parks for a refuge. As soon as I pull into the gate, the advertising stops. No one is asking for my money. No one selling anything, except firewood and marshmallows. I already had the kayaks going, so this gives me a home base to travel alone, high and dry, bathroom included. No more wet tents.

Now, I have the whole coast, the cape, R.I., and I'm looking at the jersey shore this weekend. I'll use it in my retirement, and to visit my future grandchildren. "Grandma's here!!!"

The Casita Patriot 13 is so easy to tow, and I can even wheel her around by hand a little. Anything bigger would be beyond me. She just fits, and the quality is great.

My rv guy said the 2005 needed nothing but new tires. Great value retention.

Loving my Patriot!!

[gage]

I've been in Teardrops and Vintage trailers for more than a few years and a Burro was on my bucket list for when I sold my other TT's, still have the teardrop and now I have a Burro that I restored and use.


PS: I guess I need to get a pic of the Burro behind my '56 F100

[Borrego Dave]

NICE looking big window Gage and I agree about the pic, would look so sweet