Exploring BigFoot 25' trailer

[MK Evenson]

Good morning! We have owned and camped in our Casita SD 17'
For a year and a half. The climb over bed and general floorplan have me trying to find a FG trailer with walk around bed. I have seen a 25' Big Foot and think it is the only FG with the walk around bed. I may be wrong......
I found a BigFoot forum designed for owners, is there one for non-owners?
Big Foot has told me they sell ONLY through dealers, I am wondering if all their dealers sell for the same price?
If any of you can advise I would appreciate it.
I only see one or two used BFs in the classifieds and assume there are not many, or, this is a poor time of year to look.
Finally, I will need to sell my Highlander and upgrade to a truck. I am thinking 10000 lb tow rating is recommended?

Thanks for your help.

Mark

[Jon in AZ]

There are several recent threads about BF25’s and dealers. Seems like price and negotiating room depend very much on the dealer, and two different people may not have the same experience a particular dealer.

And yup, it’s the only walk-around queen in a current or late model all-molded trailer.

Best wishes finding yours, if that’s the direction you go.

[MK Evenson]

Thanks Jon. I have a year to look so I guess time is on my side, approaching
70 yrs young.
Mark

[alan H]

While not a walk around bed but you might check out a casita independence model
I believe it has 2 twin beds

[MK Evenson]

Originally Posted by alan H

While not a walk around bed but you might check out a casita independence model
I believe it has 2 twin beds

Alan, yes, we still prefer to sleep together.
Mark

[Jon in AZ]

Regarding the truck, payload will likely be the limiting factor and definitely needs to be considered along with tow rating. Passengers, accessories like pickup caps and tonneau covers, gear in the truck, weight of the hitch, and tongue weight of the trailer all contribute. Tongue weight of B25’s seems to vary a lot, depending in part on whether you have the extended tongue with storage box and what you put in it.

A site search on “Bigfoot 25 towing” should pull up several recent threads on what others are using.

[trainman]

The Bigfoot 25 is a 7000 lb. trailer, most I've seen at rallies were pulled by 3/4 ton pickups and most were diesels, make sure you have the right tow vehicle to handle the Bigfoot 25.

trainman

[SnowballCamper]

I recently bought a Bigfoot 17.5, and was surprised at the much deeper discount off MSRP compared to most other campers (just over 20%).

[Glenn Baglo]

MSRP is just that, Manufacturer's SUGGESTED Retail Price.
It can be any inflated number.
Since Bigfoot is sold through dealers, it make sense to allow for deep discounts. Escape, on the other hand, is only sold through the factory and there are no discounts ( other than an incentive to purchase a trailer at certain times of the year to even out production ).

[Karen in CO]

HI Mark. Just some thoughts on the Bigfoot. If you custom order now, last I checked the delivery time is just about a year out. Also, on the Owner's forum, you can get a temp pass as a guest for a short period of time before you purchase a membership. I learned a lot during that time and have since become a member. I think you are in CA and if so, I'd welcome you to contact our dealer here in Denver, Trailer World Denver at 303.329.3006. Ask for Jordan or Terri. They are a small family business and provide excellent customer service, top notch professionals with very fair pricing. They may even have the Queen walk-around in stock that you could see. Best wishes.

[Rzrbrn]

We bought a 25RQ off the lot in a dealership in Atlanta, GA in Feb of this year. Did not get much off MSRP, probably because they are also an Airstream dealer, and don't give much of a discount for that brand of trailer.

Someone said the very best place to buy is a dealer located just west of the plant in BC, Canada. Apparently that dealership will do the paper work for crossing the border. I don't remember the name, but call Grant, pres and CEO of Big Foot, he will know. Someone else said that Apache in Oregon will give a good discount. Most units are special order, you will not find many sitting on a dealers lot.

I have a 2011 Tundra with a 5.7L engine, 4x4, we pulled it from Atlanta, GA to Nashville, TN over long 6% grade, roughly 200 miles, and it did very well. I am hoping I do not have to buy a larger truck.

Join the BF forum, it is free for 3 months.

[trainman]

I'm surprised that Bigfoot dealers would discount very much if wait time is around a year to get a new one, wouldn't the dealer be cutting his own potential profit. I wonder what the built time is for some trailers, I do know that Casita is around 3 weeks, Oliver 3 months. someone said Escape is 2 weeks, is that right, the rest I have no idea. Pitch in if you have other ideas on this. Note here, I'm talking actual build time on the assembly line, not wait time to get in line and get your trailer from purchase date to delivery time.

trainman

[Rzrbrn]

We bought our Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe in 2013. The build time was 4 months. I sure hope the current build time of a couple of weeks does not mean a decrease in quality. We had one minor issue. They put the Television mount on backwards! Took me a while to figure that out. It was our first travel trailer and it took awhile to learn how to operate everything. We drove it back in Feb and did not take enough blankets. We could not figure out how to make the furnace work so we froze our tails off.

My wife likes the Casita so much she is having a hard time letting it go for sale. It is just sitting there, poor thing.

[MK Evenson]

Thanks for all the insightful comments. I am now not so sure I want the costs of making a switch to the 25' BF. The 10mpg towing bothers me. I know camping in a trailer ain't never without expense, BUT I get 14.5 mpg pulling the 17' Casita. I may just have to explore again the 21' Escape. I prob
ably could tow with my 2018 V6 Highlander Awd, at least for a while. I believe several Escape owners do just that.
Anyway, thanks to all for your input.

Mark

[JonRaw]

The BC bigfoot dealer in BC is Get-Away RV of Abbotsford, BC. They did offer to do all of the paperwork and arrange to bring the trailer to the U.S. side of the border. Prices were very good, especially considering the exchange rate. I would have purchased but I wasn't sure my truck would actually work with the trailer I wanted, and then I saw a 1 year old used one for a great price closer to home and thought... why not give it a try and I can't tow it easily I can sell it for not too much depreciation.



Oh, and on the Bigfoot Owners Club forum you get 2 weeks guest membership without owning a Bigfoot, and then you can get a 3 month free guest membership only after you purchase a Bigfoot.

[trainman]

Originally Posted by Rzrbrn

We bought our Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe in 2013. The build time was 4 months. I sure hope the current build time of a couple of weeks does not mean a decrease in quality. We had one minor issue. They put the Television mount on backwards! Took me a while to figure that out. It was our first travel trailer and it took awhile to learn how to operate everything. We drove it back in Feb and did not take enough blankets. We could not figure out how to make the furnace work so we froze our tails off.

My wife likes the Casita so much she is having a hard time letting it go for sale. It is just sitting there, poor thing.

Since Casita does not fill the propane tanks and it's up to you to get them filled, if you don't have propane and the tanks are not turned on the furnace will not work. I feel that Casita during the orientation would have told you that, they did me.

trainman

[Rzrbrn]

You are correct Trainman. I did not mention that we went from the plant directly to the nearest propane dealer near Rice to fill the propane bottles. Then drove directly to Little House Customs and had Larry do a bunch of work, including raising the already high rise axle another 3" as well as other things. We stayed in the trailer in his workshop. By the time well left a couple of days later we had forgotten how to make the furnace, as well as other things, work. This was our first RV of any kind. Our Big Foot is our second RV/trailer. We were nice and warm in Larry's shop, and did not think to have him go over anything.

After we got home I realized the propane bottle valve had to be turned on and the stove lit for a bit to help get propane to the furnace. Hey, we were novices, the company said it was automatic!

[MTRCYCMAN]

Hello MK Evenson

I did a lot of Bigfoot research before I made my purchase. The dealer in Denver had the best prices that I could find, although I did see some good prices online at a few California dealers.

We were ready to pull the trigger this March on a new 25B25RQ from the Denver dealer. But, low and behold a used 2016 model that was barely used showed up 100 miles from the house. If you look around you may find a good used one at a good price. This site is where we found ours about two months ago. Although we did search a lot of other websites. We also called the dealers we were interested in and talked to the sales staff.

Good Luck
MC

[Maggie Harris]

Originally Posted by MK Evenson

Good morning! We have owned and camped in our Casita SD 17'
For a year and a half. The climb over bed and general floorplan have me trying to find a FG trailer with walk around bed. I have seen a 25' Big Foot and think it is the only FG with the walk around bed. I may be wrong......
I found a BigFoot forum designed for owners, is there one for non-owners?
Big Foot has told me they sell ONLY through dealers, I am wondering if all their dealers sell for the same price?
If any of you can advise I would appreciate it.
I only see one or two used BFs in the classifieds and assume there are not many, or, this is a poor time of year to look.
Finally, I will need to sell my Highlander and upgrade to a truck. I am thinking 10000 lb tow rating is recommended?

Thanks for your help.

Mark

We’re putting our 2006 25 rear queen up for sale on RV trader soon. It’s not a fixer upper. We upgraded and remodeled the inside and converted the queen bed to twin beds but it can easily be converted back to a walk around bed using a queen bed frame and mattress. You might want to try twin beds before you choose a queen. You can push them together as well. I get the advantages of both combinations. ~Maggie Harris

[Rzrbrn]

Maggie
We have a 25RQ. The bed sits on a pedestal which houses 2 large drawers and a large outside storage compartment which can be accessed from the inside by raising the bed. How did you make twin beds out of this mess?