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Old 11-07-2018, 12:09 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by thrifty bill View Post
Once you need a shower, then IMHO, a 16 foot Scamp is much better.


To get a bathroom/shower in a 13 footer, you give up the couch or a dinette. Experienced campers tend to prefer a full time bed (back dinette) and then a separate place to sit. A 16 footer allows you to have a bath/shower, bed area, and a separate area to sit.

A full time bed allows you to replace the myriad of dinette cushions (to make the rear dinette every night into a bed) and instead purchase the mattress of your choice. That is a BIG plus! Full time makes this even more important. A bed that may not be very comfortable on a weekend is not that big of a deal. But every night, back to back, it becomes a big deal.
For a solo especially, that is simply not true.
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Old 11-07-2018, 12:15 PM   #22
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Hi Gail, I bought a Scamp 13 Deluxe a couple of years back and have been modifying it with similar intent, small, easy to tow etc. I was new to trailers at the time and fell in love with the hull shape. For all the work insulating and making other changes as well as seeing the construction I would not buy another Scamp. I suggest you at least check out Trillium, the construction seems more solid and the shape is an updating of the original Boler design. BTW Boler was the original design and they licensed it to other manufacturers that is why you will see so many different brands on the same hull shape. Good luck, happy camping.
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Old 11-07-2018, 12:40 PM   #23
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I suggest you at least check out Trillium,.

You can do that using the Google Search at the bottom of the Search menu.
You will find recent reviews that should scare you off Trillium. Might check Better Business Bureau too, for whatever trailer you are considering. An "F" rating gives pause.
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Old 11-07-2018, 02:30 PM   #24
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Great information shared here. Personally, I'd want bath, small dinette, and a full-time bed. I highly recommend browsing travel & RV videos on YouTube.

Try these, all fulltime:
"We're The Russos" [nice Hymer van]
"Kombi Life" [beat up, broken down, burned out, VW bus, Chile to Arctic Ocean]
"Keep your Daydream" [Family of 5 with big trailer]
"Gone with The Wynns" [evolved from years of RVing to Sailing globally]

Here's an entertaining blog by a single woman who set out to choose among Scamp, Casita, Escape, & Oliver. What she chose and her travels in it.
http://supersizelife.com/category/li.../who-what-why/
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Old 11-07-2018, 07:21 PM   #25
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Originally Posted by Nick J View Post
Hi Gail, I bought a Scamp 13 Deluxe a couple of years back and have been modifying it with similar intent, small, easy to tow etc. I was new to trailers at the time and fell in love with the hull shape. For all the work insulating and making other changes as well as seeing the construction I would not buy another Scamp. I suggest you at least check out Trillium, the construction seems more solid and the shape is an updating of the original Boler design. BTW Boler was the original design and they licensed it to other manufacturers that is why you will see so many different brands on the same hull shape. Good luck, happy camping.
I have owned them both... kept the Scamp for more than 14years now.

Sold the Trillium, it was a nice trailer and well made, but it was not equipped to rival a Scamp13D. I have never seen a Trillium 13 with a bathroom, or even real cupboards.
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Old 11-07-2018, 07:41 PM   #26
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Company that made Trillium Sidekick went bankrupt.
Here is link to BBB report on Trillium Outback (Calgary ).
https://www.bbb.org/ca/ab/rocky-view...097/complaints
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Old 11-08-2018, 12:33 PM   #27
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Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo View Post
You can do that using the Google Search at the bottom of the Search menu.
You will find recent reviews that should scare you off Trillium. Might check Better Business Bureau too, for whatever trailer you are considering. An "F" rating gives pause.
Thank you for getting me up to speed on the BBB issue. Sorry to see "Joe" screw Trillum so badly, he definately does not belong in business. Still, I do like the hull and think for someone like me could do a lot in making it offroadable, which is what I'm doing to the Scamp. Without a bathroom it would not fit Gina's purpose anyway.
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Old 11-09-2018, 01:04 AM   #28
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I've seen it done quite a few times. Works for some.
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Old 11-09-2018, 01:07 AM   #29
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I've seen it done quite a few times. Works for some.

What is "it" that you are referring to?
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Old 11-09-2018, 05:22 AM   #30
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I think "it" refers to full-timing in a 13' trailer, the subject of the thread.
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Old 11-09-2018, 08:52 AM   #31
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A person can do and be happy with just about anything if they set their mind to it. Do as the bears do in the woods, eat cold food in the trailer if the weather is so bad you can't cook outside and you won't cook inside and on and on.


The big difference may be you aren't camping, this is your home. You don't go home after a week or month. Your comfort level will be different because of this fact. What you're willing to put up with for a short period of time will not be sustainable long term. It's probably the biggest reason people get "2-foot itis."


Before you get too entrenched in a decision, think about your future and what you want that to look like. Think about what 'items' make you happy from lawn chairs to clothing and food and how you'll prepare a meal.


Good luck!
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Old 11-09-2018, 09:49 AM   #32
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I'm not clear what the plan is for the shower. The OP has mentioned that as a need a couple times. Doesn't that imply full hook-ups unless she is planning to drain on the ground which is usually frowned upon. If I'm frugal (Navy showers) I can store about 2 showers in my grey water holding tank if I don't put the dish water in there. Although I suppose a tow-able grey water tote is an option.

Also implies a hot water heater unless she's into cold showers or she plans on sponge baths with water heated on the stove. I would have though that sponge baths don't really need a shower space. Whatever, I suppose.

I'm sort of the opinion that a shower assumes some level of "infrastructure" to support.
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Old 11-09-2018, 10:27 AM   #33
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13' Scamp to live/travel in full time

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve L. View Post
I'm not clear what the plan is for the shower. The OP has mentioned that as a need a couple times. Doesn't that imply full hook-ups unless she is planning to drain on the ground which is usually frowned upon. If I'm frugal (Navy showers) I can store about 2 showers in my grey water holding tank if I don't put the dish water in there. Although I suppose a tow-able grey water tote is an option.

Also implies a hot water heater unless she's into cold showers or she plans on sponge baths with water heated on the stove. I would have though that sponge baths don't really need a shower space. Whatever, I suppose.

I'm sort of the opinion that a shower assumes some level of "infrastructure" to support.
With a 12 gallon fresh water tank and a 26(?) gallon grey tank, you'll run out of fresh water long before you fill the grey tank.

When not hooked up to water and sewer, you could probably reduce showers to once or twice a week with sponge baths in between. Save propane by turning off the water heater except when needed for the shower. Bring an extra 5-gal water jug or two.

If you're also using the toilet exclusively, the black tank (8 gal) is more likely the limiting factor. With one person exercising careful water management, around a week, maybe, before needing to locate a dump station?

Self containment does require some infrastructure to support. But not having a bathroom requires even more- like a campground with facilities.
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Old 11-09-2018, 10:42 AM   #34
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I've lived out of my trailer 6 months of the year for the past three years and haven't yet been in an RV park hooked up to sewer.

I can last 5-6 days, showering every other day, "navy showers" as mentioned, before needing to break camp and dump my tanks. Really no big deal. A Scamp 13 will have less capacity, but you can make it work.

And I totally agree with Donna and was trying to make that point myself. Barebones camping is one thing. Barebones living is another.
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Old 11-14-2018, 04:44 PM   #35
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Welcome Gail! Can you do it? ABSOLUTELY! Will you be HAPPY doing it? You won't really know until you've been doing it a while (6 ~ 12 months). The great news is that a 13' ANYTHING will be about as inexpensive as you can get. If the limitations are things you can live with, GREAT! If, after "doing it", you realize you want/need more "whatever", you will probably get most (maybe even all?) of your initial purchase price back! That doesn't happen often in the world of RVs.

I started in 2010 with a 17' 2010 Casita Spirit Deluxe Travel Trailer I could pull with the 2004 Toyota minivan I then owned. I picked up my "egg" at the factory in TX and headed right out to the Burning Man Festival in NV (I had a GREAT time!). I retired in 2011 and, quickly realized I wanted something bigger. From 2010 ~ 2014, I put over 50,000 miles on that little 17' Casita, all the while searching for my next RV. In April, 2014, I saw the BEST floor plan I'd seen in four+ years of searching. I got a large percentage of my Casita's purchase price back and, the new owners got a GREAT little trailer to start their RV adventures in. I've had my 2015 Dynamax DX3-37RB since May, 2014. In the four+ years I've owned it, I've logged ~ 50,000 miles and, STILL have not seen a better floor plan (which Dynamax has since "improved"?)! If you're new to RVing, BEFORE you buy, find and attend an RV Boot Camp. The Escapees RV Club run a GREAT RVBC, usually over a weekend (other groups offer their own version of RVBC, some as long as eight days). Mistakes made with RVs are often expensive and, sometimes dangerous. RVBC graduates are smarter RV buyers and safer RVers. There are also groups of women RVers if that's something that interests you. Again, WELCOME!
Regards,
John
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Old 11-14-2018, 05:24 PM   #36
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GO FOR IT!

Don't know if you have read any of the threads here on full timing in a small trailer, so in case you haven't, here is just one to get you started.


http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...amp-52800.html


Cheers John
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Old 11-14-2018, 05:37 PM   #37
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I think a 13 would be perfectly satisfactory for one person. Be aware that some don't have bathrooms. I rarely use the shower but consider the toilet to be one of the factors that elevates trailer life above sleeping in the back of a van.
I think it's stove, fridge and everything close at hand that make the difference between a trailer and van only used for sleeping. Also the furnace. To me the extra 3 or 4 feet of a bigger trailer add nothing to the camping experience. FYI it's 2 of us in our 13' and we don't camp on warm summer weekends. Most camping stays are a week or more up to about 3 months.

Somebody mentioned something about cold food. Well for your information my lunches in 80+ temperatures are often cold, but breakfast and dinner are mostly cooked in the trailer. Exceptions when go to a restaurant.

There's a lot of "NONSENSE" on here about a little trailer.

Enjoyment and happiness is a state of mind with some help from the environment. I look out my window in the morning, and watch a happy ground squirrel running around, or a coyotte or maybe a roadrunner. Much better than looking out my window just to see a large class A sitting beside me, which is what you get at RV resorts (places with hookups)
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Old 11-14-2018, 08:19 PM   #38
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16 foot?

I have a 16 foot scamp. Love it. Not sure I could. I'm in it. now I'll say I do more than half my camping in sites that are nowhere near standard camping locations. So I absolutely have to have the extra facilities of a 16-foot. But I also really love it for what I am in an RV park. Not sure I'd be very happy personally with a 13-foot.
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Old 11-15-2018, 08:07 AM   #39
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Everyone has a personal standard for comfort in a rig and it does not matter at all if what feels right to one person does not for another?

How is it "Nonsense" if someone else simply needs more or less space than someone else?

I have had all sizes of Egg up to 17' and I suppose I could be OK in any of them if I had to.

This doesn't mean I wouldn't be more comfortable in a larger rig and I imagine that I would but this is just me and mine is the only opinion that matters for ME!

I have also been converting Cargo Trailers into Campers in the last few years and I will say again that it is downright amazing just how much more room there seems to be if the trailer has straight flat walls unlike most Eggs here!

I could be happy I think in my 7'x10' Cargo full time as it feels twice as big inside compared to any other 10' Egg that I have ever seen.
I have put pretty substantial insulation in all sides of these trailers for one and it is amazing how much easier they are to heat and cool for it.
The layout is entirely up to my whim and design and I can have everything I want and little that I do not.
I can easily put a stand up shower in if I want to and also not if thats what I want.

All full time RV living involves compromises and each of us get to decide which are OK for us and which are not.

Although bigger inside I think the Cargos pull easier and are lighter in general too somehow,fiberglass can be pretty heavy overall.

I am loving the Cargo Conversions and am having fun with them but clearly this is not for everyone either........so what?

The smaller the rig the bigger small differences make is what I observe.

In the end beauty is in the Eye of the goofball trying to live in the tiny trailer period!

Good thing we have lots of choices too.
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Old 11-15-2018, 09:12 AM   #40
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How is it "Nonsense" if someone else simply needs more or less space than someone else?
Clearly it's not. I think most posts actually have been supportive of OP's idea of a 13. However, she wants a bath and folks have appropriately mentioned that it takes a chunk of space from a 13. Even so, if she's towing with a truck or larger SUV with space for storage, no reason not to try.
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