Squeezing into the most places

[poodlepeople]

My wife and I have a 35 ft. FW trailer. It is quite comfortable but we envy the folks that can fit into those state and national forest park campsites and have begun to look for something smaller.

We are looking at travel trailers and FWs at 26-27 ft. length and under. So, two questions:

1. Will something this length actually make much of a difference in what we can squeeze into from your experience?

2. What are some of the brands we should explore that are not necessarily "ultra-lite" but substantial in construction and quality?

We have already decided the small motor home route is not for us for other reasons. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Dave1956]

My wife and I have owned two Mobil Scout now Sunnybrook trailers over a period of 10 years. We are National and State Park campers and rarely stay in a commercial park. Our first trailer was 26 feet with one slide and our second was 33 feet with two slides.

There were many places that we could not stay with our 33 foot trailer. However, we never were shut out of a park with our 26 foot rig. If your goal is to hit National parks then under 30 feet makes a difference in some of the parks that have not been updated. For example, last summer in Colorado we stayed in three National parks with no problem, but could not stay at the Great Sand Dunes NP and moved to a local State Park.

This year we bought our first Motor Home and specifically limited ourselves to 33 feet in length to try and make as many parks as possible. We have learned that you can put a longer MH in a spot than trailer, largely resulting from better shorter over-all length and a pretty good overhand behind the rear wheels.

If we were ever to go back to a smaller unit, we would make decissions on which model to buy based on Bed comfort, Bathroom size and access, and finally living room comfort. Time and time again those were the areas that we had the most complaints in with our first trailer and our pop-ups that preceded the hard sides.

Good luck and happy camping.

[poodlepeople]

Thank you for that input. I think it agrees with what we have been thinking. We thought hard about changing to a motor home but decided this was not the time to make that investment.

I think your order of priorities is right on as well. However, our nest is not quite empty since we travel with two standard poodles and they have demands of their own.

[twogypsies]

Gosh..we have a 40' motorhome and the public parks are our favorite way to RV. We really don't have problems. Of course, most of our travels are now in the western states. We use national parks, state parks and forest service campgrounds. It takes a little more research but there ARE big rig sites out there! Here is our favorite site for finding forest service campgrounds. Hope this helps!

http://http://www.forestcamping.com/dow/list/nflist.htm

[poodlepeople]

Thanks for that link. It does have all the data you would like!

We just wanted to pull into those places we always seem to pass on the way somewhere else and where we can't quite fit for a night or two. Last year it was those Oregon state parks along the shore. Other times it has been along rivers in federal parks. We tried (and got stuck more than once) but just didn't fit.

I know I am limiting my ability to maneuver with a trailer instead of a motor home but I am just not ready to make that move.