Looking to buy

[BHodges]

I will be trading in my motorhome for a TT soon. I've had many RVs so I know the features I want. I was wanting your input on the brands I am researching in terms of your experience and how well they have held up. I am asking since my Jayco motorhome had TONS of problems which resulted in it being in the shop for a good 6 months of the first 2 years I owned it (bought new).

So I am looking at new TTs. Below are the brands I am considering....any real experience with craftsmanship would be appreciated.

Venture Sonic
Grand Design Imagine
Keystone Bullet
Highland Ridge Open Range
Heartland Mallard
Heartland North Trail (top of list)
Coleman Light
Dutchmen Kodiak
StarCraft Launch Outfitter
Forest River Hemisphere (top of list)
Forest River Flagstaff Microlite
Coachmen Freedom Express
Coachmen Catalina
Cherokee
Coachmen Apex (top of list)

[Normal_Dave]

If we take a look at your top of list brands:
-Heartland is owned by Thor Industries
-Forest River (Hemisphere) is owned by Berkshire Hathaway
-Coachmen Apex is a division of Forest River, (a Berkshire Hathaway company)
-Your Jayco Motorhome that you struggled with is owned by Thor Industries.

Hmmm...

I recognize that these brands have decent histories, I just wonder now that they are just that, (brands)...are we missing something these days? What makes one standout from the other?

For the price of new travel trailers, I find myself leaning towards smaller manufacturers, hopefully with better quality and construction, as opposed to the typical for the industry. Northwood Nash comes to mind. While not "smaller", Winnebago Minnie, (birthed from the former Sunnybrook RV), Grand Design, even now owned by Winnebago.

What trailer size and floor-plans do you like best? I agree floor plan is the biggest factor, long after everything else has passed, but I wonder is the perfect floor plan worth it if the trailer fails due to quality issues in a short time? (Apologies to the soap box manufacturer, for wearing it out again...).

Anyhow, welcome to the madness!

Edit: we have an English Shepherd, and a Louisiana Cur Dog, in our family, I just checked with them, and they indicated that Cattle Dogs really love all-aluminum toy haulers like this one: 7 x 20 model for starters.
http://aluminumtoyhauler.com/models.html

They advised Texas Heelers especially love to go inside after an active dock diving session, the rubber coin flooring, air conditioning, and utilitarian interior is perfect for hanging out and cooling off. No worries about messing up the interior of the camper. Just hose it out every once in awhile. Take them down a gravel forest service road to their favorite boon dock site, no problem. Extremely well built trailer, made to withstand the rigors of travel, yet give dogs and masters space and comfort. (at least that was my interpretation, yours might say otherwise, but seriously, check them out).

[Tcounty1]

My Keystone isn’t made very well.

[Mobjack22]

Take a look at the northwood line. Hard to beat the arctic Fox.

[Papa_Jim]

Outdoors RV



Jim

[BHodges]

Thanks for the laugh Normal Dave! We are actually looking to stay under 25k, under 5500 lbs, around the 24-29' range. Having had 2 motorhomes and a 5th wheel....a walk around bed is a MUST, as is a slide and layout so the pups can all have their space. DH prefers a "roomier" shower, no curtain unless it's a tub (we would get water everywhere). One of the factors that will go into all this will be a dealer that can give us a "decent price" for our motorhome (I've looked up nada and used MHs in the same age/size/brand).

[JM0278]

Originally Posted by BHodges

We are actually looking to stay under 25k, under 5500 lbs, around the 24-29' range. Having had 2 motorhomes and a 5th wheel....a walk around bed is a MUST, as is a slide and layout so the pups can all have their space. DH prefers a "roomier" shower, no curtain unless it's a tub (we would get water everywhere). One of the factors that will go into all this will be a dealer that can give us a "decent price" for our motorhome (I've looked up nada and used MHs in the same age/size/brand).

...we bought a Winnebago Minnie 2250DS about a month ago at Camping World in Grand Rapids Michigan. After two trips, we remain very satisfied with our choice.


FWIW

Jim

[Normal_Dave]

Originally Posted by BHodges

We are actually looking to stay under 25k, under 5500 lbs, around the 24-29' range. Having had 2 motorhomes and a 5th wheel....a walk around bed is a MUST, as is a slide and layout so the pups can all have their space. DH prefers a "roomier" shower, no curtain unless it's a tub (we would get water everywhere). One of the factors that will go into all this will be a dealer that can give us a "decent price" for our motorhome (I've looked up nada and used MHs in the same age/size/brand).

With this new information, let me highly recommend a phone call and a road trip to London, KY. Brand new 2017 Winnebago Minnie 2401RG. Rear kitchen, dual entry doors, walk around bed, single slide, near top of the line quality for the typical industry built trailer. I also hear it's cattle dog approved as well, they especially appreciate the two doors, and cool exterior colors.
https://www.daybrosrvsales.com/defau...=xnewinventory

I know nothing about this dealer, I just imagine a new 2017, might be ready to deal? Chilhowee in Louisville, TN shows two newer 2401RG in stock if you just wanted to look at one.

Here's a good walk around of a 2017 2401RG from "that Haylett RV guy", he sounds like Clark Howard consumer advocate, but does a really good job of presenting the product.
https://youtu.be/znN7fzJ0_F4

You said 5,500 lbs, what's your tow vehicle?

[Dmrad]

We have owned our new 2017 Heartland North Trail 26RLSS Calibur Edition since April of 2017. We love it. It was the first RV of any kind that we've ever owned. I don't know if it was just beginners luck but right out of the dealer's lot it worked perfect. Everything ran like it should. There wasn't any dings or anything that needed fixing. Soon after we bought it we retired and sold our house in Colorado. We were planning to relocate to a warmer climate, had Florida in mind. We decided to take our time getting there and traveled in our North Trail all over the west then headed to Florida for the winter, thought we'd stay at different areas around Florida during the winter looking for a spot to settle down and buy/build a home. Well long story short, we enjoy this life style so much we never settled down and we're still traveling in our North Trail 14 months later! LOL There have been some minor things that needed fixing, but so minor that my husband (who is some what handy) fixed with no problem.
After we bought it we happened to be going through the Elkhart area where they are made. We took a factory tour of where the North Trails were being made. My husband was pretty impressed. It solidified our decision that we had made the right choice in buying a Heartland product.

We've thought about upgrading to a 5th wheel but then we'd have to buy a different truck too. So we're happy with what we have, it's easy to maneuver, not too big, not too small. And best of all we're debt free.

I'm sure not every Heartland product is as problem free as our unit has been, but so far it's been a great decision for us in purchasing a North Trail.

[BHodges]

[QUOTE=

You said 5,500 lbs, what's your tow vehicle?[/QUOTE]

We have a F-150 with ecoboost (DH truck) which has plenty of towing power for the smaller trailer. Since we live in the "mountains of East TN", we want to keep it light and all the dogs stuff can add up .

[Normal_Dave]

Originally Posted by BHodges

We have a F-150 with ecoboost (DH truck) which has plenty of towing power for the smaller trailer. Since we live in the "mountains of East TN", we want to keep it light and all the dogs stuff can add up .

Smart man, i.e. "Good Dog".

[Starbreaker]

I have a Sonic Lite by Venture RV. I really like it. Venture is made by KZ, but they seem to be a little better in amenities then the usual KZ. It's still made on an assembly line so there are quirks with some of them. Ours has been very reliable and comfortable. Best TT I've owned.

[Normal_Dave]

Soooo...this looks a little bigger than you wanted, but consider used. Winnebago Ultralite models were later combined with their top of the line model to make the current Minnie Plus.
#G1E13000 - 2016 Winnebago Ultralite 27RBDS for sale in Ringgold GA

Good news is most dealers back in the day, ordered Ultralite models with the upgrade packages, so sometimes the old Ultralite with it's boring beige exterior was as well or better equipped than the new Minnie Plus.

Take a look at the specs, consider your cargo, share your truck specs with user SmokeyWren, see if this Ultralite might skate by as a match for your particular EcoBoost truck?

https://winnebagoind.com/products/to...ite/floorplans

I've read of a few happy customers with this dealer near Chattanooga, TN, maybe snap a bunch of pics of your motorhome, email them, see what kind of response you get on a potential trade?

[BubbaChris]

New guy on here, been a member of other forums for years.

I absolutely love our 2013 North Trail 22FBS Caliber Edition. The kitchen is so big and usable, the bathroom is great with the window, and our dogs love it too.

We used to bring 2-3 large sized crates inside for them to sleep, but they've agreed to stay on the sofa and that works for all of us.

The biggest design defect we've found so far, no easy way to access the shower diverter. We bought ours used, and the prior owner did not winterize properly. Our mobile RV tech needed to buy a special stand-off from Heartland to accomplish the repair.

We ended up taking down the bedroom curtain and the window valances up front.

If you're looking at North Trail TT's you may already know the model number is not an approximation of the box size. I believe our 22FBS has a 26' box. I looked at it because I thought it was only a couple of feet bigger than the 20-footers we were shopping at the time.

With all the storage, we weigh about 6,000 lbs loaded for our trips. We can dry camp for 3 nights at a time, I would prefer a bit more gray tank size in my next RV.

Best regards,
Chris