What is a must have in your camper?

[homemaker]

A while back I posted a thread about looking for a new camper. We thought we found one, but the price wasn't right. It had everything we were looking for, a slide out for extra floor space, oven, queen bed for us, and quad bunks for the 4 boys. We also have to keep the weight down between 4500-5000lbs. To keep the price down I think we need to give up some wants. What would you give up? Quad bunks? Oven? Do we really need all these things or can we manage without them. Did without for years in the popup. With that said we just found a KZ Sportsmen LE 272, no oven, slide or quad bunk. Does have a queen bed, double bottom bunk and top single bunk (for 3 of the boys), jack knife sofa(for our 4th son). Also has a microwave. What to do. I am afraid of buying something we won't be happy with but I am also afraid of the payment if we buy what we really want! What would you do?

[NO NO NO E-Z-GO!]

I would think the the quad bunks or either the queen bed would be the items to give up. A full sized bed would suffice, and I'm sure you could find room for your boys. :cool2:

[clkelley]

The oven would definitely be something done without. A toaster oven for baked potatos and biscuits will do just fine, and those are less than $30 at Wally World.

Don't know about the beds. How old are your boys?? I would toss up a tent for them.

[big kahuna1]

A 5 or 7 day cooler is a MUST for the BEER and a dedicated cabinet for the CROWN. The coke can go with the BEER in the cooler.

What else do you need while camping?:thumbsup2

On a more serious note. A slide out is a must for us. After you have stayed in a trailer without a slide out and then one with...you will wonder how you ever did without them in the past.

[lawnspecialties]

The Slideout. I can't imagine a family of six in a travel trailer without a slide. :thumbsup2

[olbear]

Our Fleetwod Bayside Pop-Up has a slide out. And I do love it! Makes fro some nice extra space.

Have fun in looking. And good luck with your decision.

Blessings,
Winnie

[T. Lynn]

A must have for me is definately double doors. When it's nice out it gives that extra breeze when leaving the door open. Also, it's a safety issue for me. Should there be a fire, there is another escape route.

[cajunpeach]

I don't believe there are any slides out there in the gvw you are looking for. :sad2: We've been looking ourselves and have given up the dream of a slide for now. Want, want, want, a double w/ a bunk over and a queen island, the rest is icing on the cake :cloud9:

[mamaloya]

We have a camper with quad bunks and a queen bed. No slide though. Like someone else said, too much wt. After having been in a popup and a hybrid with 1 set of bunks, I would not give up my quad bunks or the queen bed. You can find a hybrid or expandable with both of those in your wt range. Fleetwood orbit and Jayco jayfeather I believe. We have a Kodiak Skamper 26QS with a hard slide out for the bed only. It has a UVWR of about 4800 and a GVWR of 6000. Our van has a 6600 tow capacity.

Keep looking and you will find exactly what you want. We too dreamed of the quad bunk with queen bed but balked at such a big debt. Finally we found one for several thousand less than the new price that was only 1 yr old. IT CAN BE DONE!!!!:yay: :yay:

Happy Camping.

[mrtroutjedi]

My wife and i are in the same boat as you so we chose to wait and buy what we want rather than settle for something we might not be happy with.
we are looking at the outback (cant post links yet just google keystone rv then outback)

26KBRS but they have differant floor plans. Just trying to help.:cool2:

[SunshineCamper]

We have an 06 Outback 26rs-queen slideout, quad bunks, microwave, oven, stove etc. and a bonus outside stove and sink-we absolutely LOVE it. We have a dd-9 and ds 7 and space for grandparents every so often.
We looked and looked and my dh found the outback (actually the 25rs) I wasn't hooked until they presented us with the 26rs. :cool1:
It was an AAAHHHHH! :woohoo: moment. After tent camping for a few yrs. we bought a used pop-up (king and queen bed and a stove outside and inside-then got hooked on camping. Out Outback TT has been everywhere-even CO and we live in orlando. We camp monthly so it's really paid off. here's to a vote for the outback!!:goodvibes

Good luck and happy shopping!

[Shannone1]

A while back I posted a thread about looking for a new camper. We thought we found one, but the price wasn't right. It had everything we were looking for, a slide out for extra floor space, oven, queen bed for us, and quad bunks for the 4 boys. We also have to keep the weight down between 4500-5000lbs. To keep the price down I think we need to give up some wants. What would you give up? Quad bunks? Oven? Do we really need all these things or can we manage without them. Did without for years in the popup. With that said we just found a KZ Sportsmen LE 272, no oven, slide or quad bunk. Does have a queen bed, double bottom bunk and top single bunk (for 3 of the boys), jack knife sofa(for our 4th son). Also has a microwave. What to do. I am afraid of buying something we won't be happy with but I am also afraid of the payment if we buy what we really want! What would you do?


My advice would be to get what you want now, even if the payment is a little higher. If you buy something small and can't live with it, you will either go camping less, or trade up for something bigger and lose money. I am speaking from first hand experience !! :laughing: You want to make sure you can comfortably sleep everyone inside. Some campgrounds won't let you put up a tent, and sometimes the weather is just too bad. Put your whole family inside the camper you are looking at and see if you could spend a whole day inside if need be. Trust me, there will be days when you end up having to do that !! Space is VERY important. Having an oven is NOT so important. We have no problem cooking our food on the grill or on the stovetop. :) Good luck with your decision and happy camping.

[lisa8200]

wait for what you want. We wanted big and nice but, after checking prices we figured the biggest would be 24-26 ft. We past on a few but then we got a call about our 38 ft. This was way bigger than we were looking at but,the price was several thousaand less than the smaller ones, it was fully contained ( generator etc ) and just as nice inside ( very well maintained ) . The point is don't settle, the deals are out there, they just take a little looking sometimes. How many times have we all bought the best we could afford just to have the perfect thing come along right afterward.Don't misunderstand, if it hadn't been for DW keeping me in line, who knows what we would have ended up with. To keep with the post, Slidouts and a large enough bathroom to move in.

[Napria]

You can definitely do without an oven. We bought a pop-up and it was manufactured during an oven shortage (in 2004) so it had a cabinet where the oven was supposed to be instead. I bought a large toaster oven and it worked fine.

What we couldn't do was without the extra room. We are a family of only four, and we had the biggest pop-up on the market, but still found we were falling over each other. Now we've got a 33' fifth wheel with a slide and bunkhouse and we have spent many a rainy vacation day in it comfortably passing the time.

We looked at hybrids before we bought our fifth wheel and if weight's an issue, I feel that's the way to go. I loved the Starcraft Antigua's layouts and white interior. Also check out the Starstream expandable. http://www.starstreamrv.com/

Good luck!

[kmccain]

I second to wait for what you want!

We looked at hundreds of RV's at a show and never found what we wanted. We stopped by a Sunnybrook dealer one day and there it was, exactly what we were looking for!

We were looking for double bunks for our 2 kids. If you have four, I would look for the quad bunks because they give you a little more room. Our DS 17 6' 250 does not fit in his bunk well anymore. I knew he was going to grow but not that much! PTL that he still wants to go with us!

We did not want the water heater under our kids bunks either, one less worry!

If I had to do it again, I think I would look for one that the couch is not along the wall but is width wise, if you know what I mean. That will save you a couple if feet in length.

We looked for a large sturdy table too and a big pantry.

I would try to get to a RV show where you have hundreds of them to choose from. You can usually get good deals there from the manufacturer too!

Hope this helps!

:tink:

[Boomer1]

We waited for almost two years before our perfect TT. It is a 33' with a slide, quad bunks in a bunk room , and a front queen bedroom. It has an oven but we don't use it very much. The trailer was a 2005 leftover and we got it for less than what we had planned to spend. With three growing children( 13, 11, and almost 9) the extra space helps to keep the peace when family togetherness is required. If you can wait then wait. Keep looking especially during the off season (if there is one in your area). Good Luck!

[homemaker]

I found online a leftover 2006 29bhs with a weight of 5150. I called and the dealer said oh yeah you can pull that just fine. I said shouldn't we stay under 5000 lbs for a dry weight. His response was that we can go up to 5500lbs if we are not traveling with full water tanks. Is the crazy or would we be safe with a dry weight of 5150? Also, in the pictures it is hard to tell what to rear bed are. Is it a double bed with a single bunk over it? Does anyone know? If so we can put 3 in the back beds, 1 on the sofa bed and us in the front queen. It has plenty of storage space and we can get a good price for a leftover. Thank you all for your help!

[ftwildernessguy]

What are you pulling with? Beware of the advice of dealers who want to sell units. Keep in mind the dry weight is the weight of the trailer without ANY options, not just empty water tanks.

[homemaker]

ftwildernessguy

We are pulling with a 2000 ford expedition. Wow travel trailers and weights are complicated! Our pop up was never an issue with the weight. What is the weight listed inside the trailer? Is that as it sits on the lot or do I need to add for the awning, oven, air, etc...?

[clm3]

We have a KZ Sportsman 32 FT with Queen bedroom and bunkhouse w/1slide. We have NEVER used out oven after 4 years. I swear by our bunkhouse with our 3 kids, they slide the door shut and their in their own little world. I feel a slide and bunkhouse is a must.

[mamaloya]

Actually the wts are not that complicated once you understand the abbreviations. UVW is the UNloaded vehicle wt. That is what the unit weighs w/o ANYTHING like water, clothes, food, extra options, etc. The GVWR is the gross vehicle weight rating. Basically it is the max it will weigh. If you take the UVW and add in clothes, gear, food, etc, you should never load it beyond the GVWR or it can not only be a hazard on the road, but damage your axel or frame.

Salesmen try to sell you on the UVW. IGNORE them!!! Look at the GVWR. You want to get a GVWR that is about 10-15% BELOW your tow capacity. Some say even lower. Our van has a tow capacity of 6600lbs. Our camper has a GVWR of 6000lb. It has a UVW of around 4800lb (can't remember off hand). I COULD put 1200 lbs of stuff in it. But I won't. I am very aware that the 6000 is pushing my limit and I pack VERY lightly. Do not let a salesman push you on the UVW. Insist on the GVWR or look it up. The sticker in the camper should list both. Ignore the UVW and watch the GVWR.

Also, you need to load evenly. You don't want to put all of your wt in the front or back of your camper. I try to keep most around the axle. There is a formula on how to load, but that is where I get confused. I just make sure that the hitch is not sagging.

You will also need a wt distributing hitch to balance the wt between the camper and vehicle. And a sway control to keep the wind and bigger vehicles from pushing you all over the roads. After driving from NC to LA w/o sway control, it is being added right now at the dealer.

You can check out www.irv2.com and they will have lots of advice for you on how to figure out wt and loading.

Happy Camping!

[disney6family]

We have had a 29' Mallard we pull with our k1500 Suburban for 7 years and we do great, even totally loaded down with two weeks worth of stuff (read stuff as beer & water). It has a queen at one end for us and 4 bunks at the other for the kids. They love the bunks. We have an oven - never used! We don't have a slide out and the only time this is a problem is when SOME people (kids) sit on the couch while OTHERS (me) are trying to get themselves together in the morning. They now know to not rest their feet on the dining seat while sitting on the couch when mom is trying to walk through.
We have lots of room to move around and while I admit a slide out would make even more room, we couldn't justify the weight and expense already have the four kids and all of that expense. Good Luck and happy hunting.

[PenskeSth1]

I guess A must have for us in our 5er is a washer and dryer. I couldn't live without them. It is just to nice to be able to throw a load in when you step in for a moment.

We had a two bedroom 40' 5er at one time and thought I could never live without the two bedrooms. Now we have the 36' with just one bedroom and 3 slides, we still feel we have plenty of room. Our kids are 18 and 9, so they don't mind an air mattress on the floor.As long as there is plenty of cubbard space and I have my w/d I'm happy!:thumbsup2