new to camping/RV best travel trailer

[bandsmills]

Really sorry if I stepped on any toes, I have read really good things about lance also. I love the fact that they are one of the only TT out there you can get with solar panels. That is too cool! Wish more makers would offer that option. I really do want to stress that you need to get another TV or keep your weight under about 5500 towing with that year Tundra. Especially if going through any mountains. Good luck in your search from someone still searching with the same TV. Happy trails

[MarkQ]

I realize we are getting slightly off topic, but Lance was one of two or three on our short list before we bought the AF. As stated throughout this post, you must be aware of the limitations of each. The Lances and similar are built to lighter weights for a reason as people are more concerned with smaller TVs and mpg and convenience. I preferred the Lance 20-22 footers for the weight, but DW wanted the ruggedness and solidness of the AF. It will likely outlive us. Our 2nd gen Tundra pulls it well, but I wouldn't want the 4.6 engine pulling over the mountains. As long as you choose wisely and drive within parameters the OP will be fine. There are a lot of choices in shorter and lighter with amenities that weren't possible 10 years ago.

[gggplaya]

Originally Posted by bandsmills

Really sorry if I stepped on any toes, I have read really good things about lance also. I love the fact that they are one of the only TT out there you can get with solar panels. That is too cool! Wish more makers would offer that option. I really do want to stress that you need to get another TV or keep your weight under about 5500 towing with that year Tundra. Especially if going through any mountains. Good luck in your search from someone still searching with the same TV. Happy trails

Northwood(Artic Fox, Nash, OutdoorsRV and all it's brands) also offers solar panels, and are all prewired as standard even if you don't order solar panels. The main difference between Lance and Northwood is that Northwood has it's own in house chassis shop. All of their trailers are made for off roading. I think they even include shocks on all of their trailers as standard now. These trailers are made for outdoors people that like to boondock or hunt or just get away to remote spots for that perfect view.

The lance chassis is more of an automotive style chassis using stamped metal. If designed properly can be very tough, but not as tough as the northwood chassis. Of course, the lance chassis will be a few hundred pounds lighter which is why they do it like that. But for someone who never leaves more than a few feet from pavement or takes well maintained gravel roads. You would never know the difference.

[bandsmills]

unfortunately they are all too heavy for me if I want a slide and I do!

[amanda_h]

Alphaco, another trailer we've been looking at to do our W/D modification is the Lance 2185 which has a three tiered bunk across the rear of the trailer so each of your boys can have their own bunk and can switch off each night if they want to share sleeping on the top bunk.

It actually has a slide out that holds a wrap-around dinette that will seat your entire family.

Its dry weight is only 3,930 lbs. with a GVWR of 6,000 lbs.

It's built with lightweight materials but is a 4-seasons trailer with good insulation.

[dagmandt]

Just a side note on solar panels. I'd never ever ever order a trailer with solar panels. The factory wiring is insufficient, heck... the charging system without solar panels is insufficient. If you go solar do it right and do an after market system. Just my opinion after tons of research. I bought a brand new Outdoors RV and the first thing I did was replace the battery charging system with a charger that actually charges the batteries. The converter systems in most trailers do nothing more than abuse your batteries setting them up for early failure. You never get a full charge and rarely get over 50%.

Back to the main Topic!

I chose Outdoors RV because of the following not in any particular order:
1. Owned by Nash
2. Trailer Frame made by Northwood, custom like the Artic Foxes
3. All LED lights inside and out standard
4. HUGE awning, almost full length
5. Fresh water, gray, black tank capacities are excellent
6. Build quality, all laminated fiberglass/rigid insulation with aluminum superstructure. Even the rear wall.
7. Steel truss roof
8. Fiberglass cap at the front (Many trailers delaminate here due to the wind/rain abuse)
9. Floor plans were superb for our needs
10. Trailer suspension has shocks, premium wheels that look/function great.
11. Rear HUGE window and dinette (backing up to a lake is an awesome view)
12. Electric tongue jack and stabilizers are standard
13. HUGE kitchen counter space in our model. We have 3 feet more than any other trailer of the same size we considered.
14. Flush no-frame windows with awesome tint... these are the windows you see on high end coaches and are now coming to some TTs.
15. Exterior colors are nice, white, burgundy, blue, gray. Look great and won't look "old" anytime soon.
16. Excellent ground clearance. I haven't found an abrupt hill where I'm in danger of dragging the tail yet.


I could go on and on. I was at the dealership to buy an Artic Fox 25Y when I saw the Wind River... I had to reconsider and in the end ordered a new Wind River by Outdoors RV. Was a tough call but the Outdoors RV product had much more for the money, most of the things I was bummed that the Arctic Fox didn't have although the Arctic Fox is a superb trailer.

[amanda_h]

dagmandt, yes, we like a lot of the Outdoors RV models and floor plans. However, like the initial premise of the OP, we are looking for a lightweight model that might have enough room for our needs and most of their models are on the heavy side. It seemed that initially, the OP wanted a bunkhouse model with extremely light weight.

That's why we are intrigued by the Lance, KZ Spree, and other manufacturers who use lightweight frames as it appears you are getting spacious floor plans with so much lighter weight.

We still like one particular Nash floor plan as it is fairly light but the Outdoors RV plans we like all seem to be heavier than we'd like.

Perhaps once the OP gets a new truck, he will be attracted to the Outdoors RV models.

[dagmandt]

Originally Posted by amanda_h

dagmandt, yes, we like a lot of the Outdoors RV models and floor plans. However, like the initial premise of the OP, we are looking for a lightweight model that might have enough room for our needs and most of their models are on the heavy side. It seemed that initially, the OP wanted a bunkhouse model with extremely light weight.

That's why we are intrigued by the Lance, KZ Spree, and other manufacturers who use lightweight frames as it appears you are getting spacious floor plans with so much lighter weight.

We still like one particular Nash floor plan as it is fairly light but the Outdoors RV plans we like all seem to be heavier than we'd like.

Perhaps once the OP gets a new truck, he will be attracted to the Outdoors RV models.

Then I'll add this: Upgrade the tow vehicle. Much more freedom and money well spent for peace of mind, stability, and a better towing experience That is the exact thing I went through. Traded my F150 for an F350. I realize not everyone is in a position to do this but a used full size truck will vastly improve the towing experience... my opinion. I know it can be subjective.

By the way, my 30' trailer weighs 6,700 dry. Not terribly heavy but I wouldn't want to tow much more than 4,000 pounds with a Toyota, they aren't really built for it by comparison to Ford, Chevy, Dodge when you look at the frame design and wheelbase. They are built for a comfortable ride in a truck format and are great at that.

I guess what all my babbling boils down to is that my philosophy is to always have more truck than trailer. Anything else is dangerous in my book. I tend to be an overkill sort of person but I don't think my philosophy on this is overkill.

[amanda_h]

We couldn't agree more, dagmandt. And it sounds as if that is what the OP is considering doing.

However, in our case, we will be towing ours (and, we are not going to be using it for recreational purposes) with a Dodge 3500 Cummins but it will have a camper on it so it's going to be very heavy to begin with and that's the reason we need to keep the weight down on the trailer as we are planning on having a fully loaded truck and trailer as it is being towed to its varying locations (not far but still need to be safe).

If we were using it for recreational purposes, then we'd be wanting a nice heavy, well made, luxurious trailer too.