New to the tiny camper hunt...

[liladventurer]

We found the perfect camper on the first day of our search and our hesitation caused us to lose it. So, we're diving in headfirst this time and searching everywhere we can. Any advise would be helpful! We're excited to join the little camper community (as soon as we find one for sale )

My partner and I are a young professional couple in search of a small camper trailer to continue our minimalistic lifestyle on the road. Ideally, we would like to find a light weight molded fiberglass camper that is towable with our Toyota RAV4 ( 13' - 16' and less than 1500 lbs) . Some specific brands we are interested in: Burro, Scamp, Happy Camper, Trillium outback , Boler, Armadillo, Lil Bigfoot. We are willing to spend 6 -10K but are also open to negotiation. We are open to trade a car as well. We are WILLING TO TRAVEL for the right camper!

A little about us:

I am a farmer, cook, and most recently an administrator for a organic food distributor (remote work!) . He recently completed his master's degree in environmental policy and is pursuing career work in sustainable agriculture and conservation. We have been traveling together for the past few years, living in strange dwellings, sometimes tent camping and picking up jobs that we feel passionate about along the way adding to our ever growing list of experiences. The pandemic put a halt to our traveling and gave us an opportunity to slow down and really think about what's next. Eventually, we want to find a piece of land to call our own and a camper would be an ideal way to explore new places and revisit ones that we may choose to establish roots someday.

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

[Rickteiper]

Great get away camper for cross country touring

[Jon in AZ]

Welcome to the forum!

1500# is a tough target. Many 13' trailers end up over that once you load them for travel. Our 13' Scamp (which is pretty basic: bunks, stove, icebox, and furnace, no fridge or A/C) weighs around 1700# on the road. Nothing bigger than 13' is going to even come close. Here's a link to a spreadsheet of actual scaled weights (loaded for travel in most cases) of various makes and models.

Originally Posted by Jon Vermilye

...The excel spreadsheet can be downloaded at http://lakeshoreimages.com/spreadsheets/Weight.xls

The Trailswest Campster shown earlier is one of the lightest, and the pop top makes a lower profile for easier towing with a smaller vehicle. The Hunter Compact Jr. (not Compact 1 or 2) is similar in layout and weight.

Best wishes in your “egg hunt”!

[Glenn Baglo]

Keep in mind that Toyota maintenance is not cheap either. The harder you are on the vehicle, the more maintenance is required.
Former owner of a 2008 RAV4 Sport V6, with tow package. It had a 3,500 lb. max. tow and 350 lb. max tongue weight. My 17B Escape, loaded for camping weighed in at 3,200 lbs ( or more ).

[liladventurer]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

Welcome to the forum!

1500# is a tough target. Many 13' trailers end up over that once you load them for travel. Our 13' Scamp (which is pretty basic: bunks, stove, icebox, and furnace, no fridge or A/C) weighs around 1700# on the road. Nothing bigger than 13' is going to even come close. Here's a link to a spreadsheet of actual scaled weights (loaded for travel in most cases) of various makes and models.


The Trailswest Campster shown earlier is one of the lightest, and the pop top makes a lower profile for easier towing with a smaller vehicle. The Hunter Compact Jr. (not Compact 1 or 2) is similar in layout and weight.

Best wishes in your “egg hunt”!

Thanks for the link! That's really helpful 1500# dry weight max it what I was referring to.

[liladventurer]

Originally Posted by Rickteiper

Great get away camper for cross country touring

Wow! This looks fantastic! Are you selling this?

[Rickteiper]

Yeah, I think I am. My wife and I are getting older (and larger) and want an inside tolilet and a little more room. This has been great for our 4 cyl. Ford Escape. We loose about 2 miles per gal. It tows really really sweet and works well in rest areas on road trips. Sorry you live so far away cause I'd be proud to show it to ya.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by liladventurer

Thanks for the link! That's really helpful 1500# dry weight max it what I was referring to.

I mentioned it because most RAV4s have a 1500# tow rating, which always refers to gross (loaded) trailer weight.

If you have a hybrid (1750#), an older V6 (3500# with factory tow package, 2000# without), or a newer Adventure model (3500#), you have more options.

With a 1500# dry weight, you’ll need a minimum 2000# tow rating. Besides your food and gear, dry weights do not include a lot of equipment people take for granted: spare tire, battery, propane tank, fridge, tools, set-up equipment like levelers, awnings, to name a few. It adds up faster than you think!

[liladventurer]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

I mentioned it because most RAV4s have a 1500# tow rating, which always refers to gross (loaded) trailer weight.

If you have a hybrid (1750#), an older V6 (3500# with factory tow package, 2000# without), or a newer Adventure model (3500#), you have more options.

With a 1500# dry weight, you’ll need a minimum 2000# tow rating. Besides your food and gear, dry weights do not include a lot of equipment people take for granted: spare tire, battery, propane tank, fridge, tools, set-up equipment like levelers, awnings, to name a few. It adds up faster than you think!

Thank you for being so engaging

The link you attached isn't working on my end. Is there a website you would recommend for this info?

Also, I know it's a hard question to answer but if my car can tow a max of #1500 what would be the max dry weight i should be considering? I assume 1100.

We truly are minimalists and I would use my vehicle to store our heavier items while driving (cooler with food, ski equipment, etc.). If the trailer is slightly under under or at #1500 when full and I pack my vehicle with a few heavy items would this be an issue?

[Jon in AZ]

Not sure what’s going on with the link; I’m getting an error message too. You could try sending a private message to Jon Vermilye, who manages the spreadsheet.

As to moving stuff from the trailer to the tow vehicle- limited value, I’m afraid, and sometimes it makes things worse by overloading the rear axle when combined with the tongue weight of the trailer. Tow ratings are based on two “average” adults in the front seats and minimal cargo in the back. Best place for heavy stuff is in the trailer over the axle or slightly forward.

Yes, to stay within 1500# gross weight, you need to be looking at 1100-1200# empty weight and packing lightly.

In addition to the two pop-tops already mentioned, keep an eye out for an Eriba Puck. It’s actually a hybrid aluminum and molded fiberglass design, around 900# dry weight. There was a slightly larger Eriba Faun for sale on www.fiberglass-RV-4sale.com recently, probably gone by now (listing is still up, though). There’s also a modern knock-off made in San Diego called the Meerkat, also around 900# dry, but it’s pretty pricey.

[Jon Vermilye]

Originally Posted by liladventurer

Thank you for being so engaging

The link you attached isn't working on my end. Is there a website you would recommend for this info?

Also, I know it's a hard question to answer but if my car can tow a max of #1500 what would be the max dry weight i should be considering? I assume 1100.

We truly are minimalists and I would use my vehicle to store our heavier items while driving (cooler with food, ski equipment, etc.). If the trailer is slightly under under or at #1500 when full and I pack my vehicle with a few heavy items would this be an issue?

The link is to a spreadsheet, not a web page. It will download a .xlsx Excel file that requires software that can read it. The advantage of the spreadsheet version is it can be sorted & filtered by a number of variables. The original version is on this site at https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...rld-43010.html

I also towed an Escape 17B weighing 3200 pounds & 345 pounds of tongue weight with a 2010 RAV4 Sport with the V6 engine & a tow capacity of 3500/350. Biggest problem was the small fuel tank - but it did fine for 85,000 miles including a trip to Alaska.

As to the 4 cylinder version of the RAV4, as others have said, you are going to be very limited on a trailer that keeps you within towing & payload ratings.

[Gilda]

Looks like Rick's trailer is a gem! Perhaps, you could view it online and talk with him on zoom. Perhaps you know and trust someone in Oregon who could view it and save it for you after you pay for it. While it's difficult to view and purchase trailers in a good market without the pandemic, it's even harder now. It might be worth it to you to travel cross country or if each of you was amenable to travel halfway. Oh, no way, in this terribly cold winter. I'm sure you could work something out.

[Gilda]

I have another idea. I don't know Oregon very well but our son, who lives in Seattle, drove to Boring, Oregon recently and commented on how beautiful and rural it is. Oregon has a lot of open land. Perhaps your road trip could be an excursion for you to scope out Oregon to view areas where you might want to settle? I'd wait for springtime, myself. Just an idea. You could also PM (private message) me for some other, brainstorming, ideas.

[Jon in AZ]

I figured out the problem with the link. It was an older version of the spreadsheet, and the older link does not work. Here's a post with the link to the latest version. Seems to work for me. As said your device has to be able to read an Excel file.

Originally Posted by Jon Vermilye

I don't know if it will make a difference in the links to the trailer weight spreadsheet, but I upgraded it from a .xls to a .xlsx file format. 193 trailers in the spreadsheet!

http://lakeshoreimages.com/spreadsheets/Weight.xlsx

Thanks to Jon V. for managing this very useful resource!

[francene]

Welcome, Perri.
I winter in San Diego where the little Meerkat trailer is made and sold. I've seen it in person. It is very minimalist but not cheap. They've been selling a lot of them, so it might be worth your while to check Craigslist or Ebay, etc. for used ones. Sometimes the dealer has used. They rent them out, I think, for short trips. Either way, they are very lightweight, aluminum body, like the Eriba Puck. Good luck on your hunt!
https://littleguytrailers.com/trailers/meerkat/

[alan H]

Originally Posted by francene

Welcome, Perri.
I winter in San Diego where the little Meerkat trailer is made and sold. I've seen it in person. It is very minimalist but not cheap. They've been selling a lot of them, so it might be worth your while to check Craigslist or Ebay, etc. for used ones. Sometimes the dealer has used. They rent them out, I think, for short trips. Either way, they are very lightweight, aluminum body, like the Eriba Puck. Good luck on your hunt!
https://littleguytrailers.com/trailers/meerkat/

Have you looked at this site

https://www.fiberglass-rv-4sale.com/

[Rickteiper]

I am in no rush to sell so waiting till spring would work. It's stored in daughters barn and should get a spring cleaning before showing. I didn't mention that we insulated the whole interior with trunk lining felt so the walls and roof are much more friendly than cold bare fiberglass. The floor is wood planked, the heavy pop up top was replaced with a lighter plexyglass skylight including new canvas and zippered windows. Also the original propane burning wall lamp is fully functional and adds warmth.

[DavidG]

[QUOTE=liladventurer;805485]Thank you for being so engaging

The link you attached isn't working on my end. Is there a website you would recommend for this info?

Also, I know it's a hard question to answer but if my car can tow a max of #1500 what would be the max dry weight i should be considering? I assume 1100.

We truly are minimalists and I would use my vehicle to store our heavier items while driving (cooler with food, ski equipment, etc.). If the trailer is slightly under under or at #1500 when full and I pack my vehicle with a few heavy items would this be an issue?[/QUOTE

__________________________________________________ __________


Perri, You mentioned carrying things in the vehicle. If you have a tow limit of 1,500 lbs, you can't just load everything from the trailer into your car to satisfy the tow limit. The ice chest weighs the same whether it's in the car or the trailer, it still has to be counted. You can move things around in the trailer to change tongue weight, but everything you are bringing counts, no matter where it sits. David in Fresno and Sonora

[Drobbins]

Originally Posted by liladventurer

We found the perfect camper on the first day of our search and our hesitation caused us to lose it. So, we're diving in headfirst this time and searching everywhere we can. Any advise would be helpful! We're excited to join the little camper community (as soon as we find one for sale )

My partner and I are a young professional couple in search of a small camper trailer to continue our minimalistic lifestyle on the road. Ideally, we would like to find a light weight molded fiberglass camper that is towable with our Toyota RAV4 ( 13' - 16' and less than 1500 lbs) . Some specific brands we are interested in: Burro, Scamp, Happy Camper, Trillium outback , Boler, Armadillo, Lil Bigfoot. We are willing to spend 6 -10K but are also open to negotiation. We are open to trade a car as well. We are WILLING TO TRAVEL for the right camper!

A little about us:

I am a farmer, cook, and most recently an administrator for a organic food distributor (remote work!) . He recently completed his master's degree in environmental policy and is pursuing career work in sustainable agriculture and conservation. We have been traveling together for the past few years, living in strange dwellings, sometimes tent camping and picking up jobs that we feel passionate about along the way adding to our ever growing list of experiences. The pandemic put a halt to our traveling and gave us an opportunity to slow down and really think about what's next. Eventually, we want to find a piece of land to call our own and a camper would be an ideal way to explore new places and revisit ones that we may choose to establish roots someday.

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

Minimalist, Low cost, Light weight = WEE ROLL. I believe they have different locations.

[liladventurer]

Originally Posted by Rickteiper

I am in no rush to sell so waiting till spring would work. It's stored in daughters barn and should get a spring cleaning before showing. I didn't mention that we insulated the whole interior with trunk lining felt so the walls and roof are much more friendly than cold bare fiberglass. The floor is wood planked, the heavy pop up top was replaced with a lighter plexyglass skylight including new canvas and zippered windows. Also the original propane burning wall lamp is fully functional and adds warmth.

Hi! This is all great to hear! Feel free to send me a direct message so that you don't get lost in this forum My partner and I would be willing to travel for this but in the meantime we would love to video chat with you and potentially get a little tour of the camper. We're not incredibly rushed either but we don't want to pass up on a great offer such as yours!