Hybrid Vs TT - dampness?

[loriandmatt]

OK, while chatting with AlyLynn about the Hershey RV show and that we will likely buy there next year.....i came up with questions for you camping experts.

BACKGROUND INFO: we have a pop up. love it. but we are growing out of it. there is DH, Myself, DS who is getting ready to hit his teen years and DD who is 3.

We went to the Hershey show this year just to get a look at the hybrids out there and see what sizes they come in. could they be pulled by our 6 cylinder mini van? and if so, would that model be so small that we would feel cramped?.....that kind of stuff.

we pretty much answered our question about the mini van....yes, it is possible, with the smallest of the ultra light models. the smallest ones aren't really giving us that much more room for the $ though. We already have an 8 cylinder pick up anyway - we just prefer not to use it when camping because of the fuel it eats. That may be unavoidable.

We are leaning towards either a traditional travel trailer (with the master sleeping area being a slide out) or a hybrid. (with the tent like bunk ends that fold out)

for those of you who have one or the other and/or have any experience with both.....do the hybrids still give you that "damp" camping feeling? you know the one, even if you vent your bunk ends and have either your AC or heater on....your bed sheets still feel a bit dampish.

And does a hard sided TT eliminate that damp feeling? or do you still get that with them also?

 

[Donna]

Can't answer any of your questions but i was wondering how the Hershey show was? We were going to drive over and decided not to. One of these days, i am going to that show!

 

[hebbynan]

Hi! The Hershey Show was nice. We went on Thursday and it wasn't too crowded. I was a little disappointed in the fact that there weren't a whole lot of RV "goody" stands or accessories. All in all, it was set up pretty nice.

We went from a pop up to a 21' TT with a queen bed that slides out. It's a hard side slide out, not a hybrid. It's not damp at all since we don't have any canvas. My guess would be that the canvas would still cause some dampness, but probably not nearly as much as you had in the pop up. I don't know about yours, but in the morning, ours would have condensation all over the ceiling! I hated that! I will NEVER go back to a pop up.....I'm way too spoiled now!

 

[Donna]

That seems to be the norm for RV shows lately. That was the main reason we were going, we are looking for certain accessories and just a general look-see to see what is out there. I'm kind of glad we didn't go now.

 

[Pirate-Jeff]

I was also a little disappointed about the lack of "goody stands". You did go inside the Giant building, most of the goody stands were in side.
The food prices were nutz $ 12.50 for 3 chicken fingers w/fries and a soda. Makes Disney prices look great. At least the parking and the bus ride was FREE

Jeff

 

[hebbynan]

Yeah, the food prices were crazy! DS 3 and I split a $6 hot dog! Yikes!! We were glad that we didn't have to pay the normal Hershey parking fee too. That would've been nuts! We did go inside, but I wasn't impressed. And honestly, I was looking for more campground stands/info. DH and I were joking that paying those prices just got us "in the zone" for our trip in 19 days. I'd much rather spend the money at Disney (19 hours away!) than Hershey (40 minutes away)!!!!!

 

[Pirate-Jeff]

hebbynan

37 day now and counting untill our Halloween trip to FW.

Jeff

 

[cyberdeb]

We had a pop up that we used for several years and then traded up to a hybrid. I do love it but dh hates it. To answer a couple of your questions....Yes you still get that damp feeling. In fact last weekend we had the heater on and i still felt that dampness. Last year i took off the week of labor day to stay at our campground (local) and it rained every single day. It was so horrible that even our typically dry tent ends were dripping. THey developed mold on them and although i was able to get rid of most of it, there area few stubborn spots. Otherwise, i love our trailer. We have a slide out couch and kitchen and two tent ends. My dd sleeps on the end where the bathroom is and when she opens a cabinet door and the bathroom door she almost has her own room closed off. We have a lot of storage and the trailer is just really nice. It is a BS22 Bantam by R-Vision.

My dh hates the trailer because he feels that it takes almost as much time setting up as a pop up. He plans to trade it in next year for a regular trailer.

 

[mamaloya]

Well, I have camped in a tent, popup, hybrid, and now an expandable TT.

Well, our popup was a 2005 fleetwood with the sunbrella tenting. We never got much condensation. Sleeping was tight, fridge was small, but we loved the canvas. We also wanted a bathroom.

We moved up to a hybrid with 2 tent ends and a set of bunkbeds. We loved the u shaped dinette. The sleeping was tight, but we made it work. It was a 2000 Cub. Well, the condensation was so bad that it rained in the bunkends. Also, we found out that that year and a couple years prior had defective bunk ends that were letting water in and our bunkends collapsed. Newer models have fixed the problem and some even have superior canvas that helps prevent condensation.

We now are in a 2006 Kodiak Skamper with 2 sets of bunk beds. Our queen bed slides out the back. It is like a hybrid, but instead of a tent popping out, a metal box slides out the back. It adds to the weight alot though. We do not get any condensation so far. We have not camped in the cold yet though.

Now, I love our camper and like not having to set up the tent ends. I miss sleeping in canvas though. The plus of the canvas model over our slide model with the same floor plan is that to slide our bed in, we must collapse our dinette and fold down the sofa. At least we can do this inside and out of the rain. It just makes it harder if you want to use it at a rest area. We have to slide out the bed and set up the dinette. If we had the tent end it would be easier. I feel more secure in the "metal box". I also feel trapped in it.

FWguy has a newer hybrid than I had, so he may be able to let you know how much condensation he gets. I think he has a Kiwi, which I have heard a lot of good things about.

Personally, if I had it to do all over again, it would be a tough call between the hybrid and the expandable. I like them both. It would come down to tow capacity and price for me. If we had a hybrid, we may have enough spare weight to have a slide out for the sofa and more floor space. Hybrids weigh less foot for foot because the hard slides add a lot of extra weight. Hybrids get you more camper for your weight.

For your family, you could get a small hybrid with the 2 bunk ends and a sofa bed for your little one that may be in your weight limit. I would go to a few websites and look around. www.fleetwoodrv.com and www.dutchmenmfg.com are a couple. Also, just google hybrid camper manufacturers and see what you get.

 

[mamaloya]

Cyberdeb has a great point that I forgot about. RAIN!!! Oh, we did hate that in our hybrid. Once we had to pack up after a rain and then had to open it all back up at home to let it dry out before we could pack it up for storage again. We don't have that prob in our new one. We do need to squeegee the water off so it does not drip inside, but that is mostly taken care of by the seal.

That is one problem I had forgotten about, and it is a big one. I guess that would make me lean toward the expandable if I had to decide again. Then the only issue would be weight. If all you can tow is a hybrid, then that is what you should get. I would rather have a bigger camper and deal with the rain than be cramped in a tiny TT.

 

[CyndiL]

We have a 2007 starcraft centinneal pop-up with a side slide-out. We love it! We camp in it with 5 people and yes it's cozy but it's comfortable. We spent 5 weekends camping this summer, some of them were 4 day weekends and spent a week straight in it on vacation. We were very comfy. I have never noticed the damp feeling in the sheets in this trailer, we did camp in rain several times. Maybe it's the heated mattress, they might take the dampness off. But we also had no condensation at all in the camper.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I have a 2001 Jayco 21c hybrid. I have not noticed a problem with condensation, at least not any more than a normal TT. It's always wise to crack a roof vent, especially at night, since humans breathing inside produce a lot of moisture which can condense on the ceiling and walls. This will happen in any trailer, though. We had a minor roof leak due to some cracked caulk on the roof - lesson learned, check the caulk on the roof every year. We also had a minor leak around one bunk when it was closed due a faulty gasket - easily repaired at the dealer, no problems now. I like the hybrid because, opened, we have the interior room of a 30 foot TT, but it closes to 21 ft for towing. We can use it buttoned up to sleep up to 4 (great for overnight on the way to WDW) or opened to sleep up to 8 (kind of cozy for 8, though). Jayco's tend to be on the heavy side for hybrids due to their construction. There are lighter weight hybrids of the same size out there. I tow with a Ford F150, though, so the weight is not an issue with this size trailer.

 

[loriandmatt]

thank you all so much for your replies.

We have pretty much reserved ourselves to the fact that anything we can tow with the mini van would have to be so light/small that it woudn't be much of a step up in useable space from our pop up.

We have a Dodge Ram V8 that we will likely use as our tow vehichle. that opens up so many choices for us in size and type of camper.

We were really looking for a hybrid, (the jayco model that ftwildernessguy has actually. we really liked the floor plan on the 21' jay feather.) but then we walked across the way and saw the jayco expandable TT. about the same size and not that much more money, but some really cool features. We were impressed with how much extra living space you get with that master bed expansion pushed out. Yes, it adds gobs of weight, but since we have decided we are pretty much set towing with that Dodge Ram, we could pull that extra weight easy.

We also really loved the Cub/Kodiak hybrids and TTs. (ok, chick moment here....) i especailly liked the color schemes you could get in these models. the newest thing we saw (not just in the cub/kodiak's but in many other makes) was the white cabinets with what looked like a pine finish Pergo type flooring. it was just great. I am against RV carpeting. not much space to vaccume and when camping in sandy areas....sand and carpet do not go together. the look of a hard wood floor in there was SWEET! the white cabinets really opened that small space up too. Oh here's a plus to the Jayco's too....they new models are pretty much all coming with flatscreen HD TV's standard now. Bracketed down so they won't be all over the place while you are on the road, but can be unbracketed and moved to different cable jacks thru the RV (some even have a cable jack on the outside of the rig. DH is drooling over the thought of football season at the Fort....a crisp fall Sunday with a beer in one hand the remote in the other....

We are definately going to do some extensive product comparisons over the next year and will likely go to Hershey next year with a large wad of cash looking to make a buy. (ok, that sounded bad.)

i am sure i will be back asking more Hybrid vs. TT questions. I am emotionally torn. i love the bunk end feel - like you are still tent camping, but the damp thing is a real drawback for me. (even though we always unzip our bunk ends a little to cut down on the condensation inside from all of us breathing in there.) I love the expandable TT's but will i still feel like i am in the great outdoors? Decisions, Decisions.

Oh, and for those who asked.....the Hershey show was quite cool. not the place to go if you are looking for a pop up. definately the place to go if you are looking for a mongo rig. they really catered to them there. we had to look and look thru rows and rows of campers before we could even find the hybrids/toy haulers/smaller TT's.
Yes, the vendors for camper goodies seemed slim, even though we went inside the stadium. the food vendors were slim too and what was there was WAY over priced. thank goodness we stopped for brunch at Krieders Restaurant before we hit the stadium. S#%^ on a shingle over white toast with a side of hashbrowns and a large tomato juice......$5.00, can't beat it. Bonus though....Hershey had a stand there with candy for cheap. Two of the extra large size candy bars for 1.70. Yummm....can you say "Nutrageous"?!?!?

 

[hebbynan]

hebbynan

37 day now and counting untill our Halloween trip to FW.

Jeff

We'll just miss each other!! If you're half as excited as I am.........this wait is killing me!!!!!

 

[dtum]

Go to RV.net and post your questions in the hybred section or TT section and you will get tons of help. I have read that one particular brand hybred was really bad about condensation on the bed ends...they even had to take the mattresses out each morning to dry them and no one seems to have a solution on how to solve it.

We looked at Jayco, but couldn't get past a few small things that, having camped for 30 years, we really thought were important. Finally found the exact fifth-wheel trailer we had dreamed about on e-bay for a price not much more than the Jayco. We are really happy we went that route (we did have the truck that could tow it already.)

 

[gwiser]

We have a Rockwood Roo model 233 hybrid camper, and we love it! We have 2 teenage daughters and chose this model because it has 3 queen size beds that flop out -- one on each end and a third on the back side. This way each of the girls has her own space, which is especially nice on long trips.

Yes, there is always going to be an issue with condensation when you have canvas. Our Rockwood has heated mattresses, so we almost always keep these on low, and that really cuts down on the moisture a lot. The second solution, which supposedly really works, is putting covers sort of like solar blankets over the ends. My husband has been looking at some custom-made-to-fit ones online called popupgizmos. I can't post with a link here, but you can google it.

We have had our camper for over a year now, but still haven't ordered any or decided to make our own. I guess the condensation hasn't been that big of a deal for us. We always put the beds out again once we're home and let the whole thing air out for a day or two anyway. BTW- the bed platforms in the Rockwood are covered with a laminate finish -- not raw plywood like on some other campers, so it's really only the mattresses that are getting damp underneath.

There's another model that we almost bought - an RVision that had three beds AND a slide-out. I sometimes wish we had gone for that, because the slides make a huge difference on "perceived" space, even if the actual square footage isn't increased that much.

If you're moving to a hybrid because you think it will be easier than a pop-up, though -- think again! I'll admit it's easier to pack. But that's about it! You still have all of the work with the beds PLUS the septic and hot water heater and gas.

It's harder getting them into the site, too. One of the greatest things about our little Coleman pop-up (our first camper) was being able to push/pull it into the EXACT spot on the site, even turning the door to face the side we wanted. My husband probably doesn't miss that as much as I do -- since he was the pusher/puller!

 

[donatalie]

We moved up from our beloved Viking Popup to our even more beloved Rockwood Roo 23SS Hybrid at the Hershey Show in 2005. We absolutely love it! The bed tents take about 10 minutes to put out (or away). Other that that it is the same amount of set up as a TT......levelling, water, sewer, etc.
The kids LOVE the bed tent ends.....especially in the fall when we open everything up like we used to in our popup.
We love the super slide out!

Quote " The second solution, which supposedly really works, is putting covers sort of like solar blankets over the ends. My husband has been looking at some custom-made-to-fit ones online called popupgizmos."

We purchased mylar covers for the bed tents that work great. They keep the extra heat and moisture far away from the beds.

 

[mdoc]

We've always had a hardsided trailer or fifth wheel, but I've camped in my BIL's hybrid. You definitely can get the "damp" feeling in the hybrid. Not always - it depends on the weather - but if it's at all humid outside, it seems like it's humid inside if the tent ends are open, and sometimes even if they're not. Having camped in both of them, I personally prefer the conventional trailer if you can pull enough of one to give you adequate sleeping space.