TT Recommendations

[tundranurse1]

I would not recommend a Keystone. We have a Cougar 5th wheel that leaked at the first rain around the kitchen window. When the dealership fixed it, they found a bad caulk job.
We just had a leak around the front top light. My husband found a crappy caulk job there as well.

[gl150099]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

Here is my opinion after owning 2 trailers and 1 5th wheel.

I am now looking to replace one of my trailers for a bigger, more roomy trailer.

Best small light trailer - Lance

Best built (solid) trailer - Artic Fox, Outdoor RV used Peterson Ind. Excel. Used Keystone Vantage.

Best blend of price and build quality - Winnebago, Grand Design.

Best new features on trailers - the new design of steps, auto leveling. LED lighting. Without auto leveling you need boards to level. LED lighting saves battery power if boondocking, new design on steps reach to ground for a more solid feel.

I Done a lot of research in 2014 and found reports that arctic fox was one of the best billt, My wife and I bought a 20 14 35 foot fifth wheel, what we found was every time I used it went back to the dealership almost always for electrical issues last time we took it out on the way home lost all breaks due to the inner wheel bearings seals on all four tires leaking grease out we can also bought the extended warranty 2 1/2 years old and about 2500 miles on it this was kind of crazy. Ticket in to get fixed extended warranty with all the paperwork and her crew seals would not pay for brakes and backing plates nothing else is a large waste of money. With all the electrical issues continuously and then they would not stand behind their product ,we traded off and purchased a used motor home and hopefully we will have

[gl150099]

They are all about the same new or used play there have something broken or have something that is going to break shortly.Best thing you can do look around that many models find what you like and go for Brooke.

[gfarmcafe]

Originally Posted by BigSkyCountr

Check out Outdoors RV in Oregon. Great all season campers. Nice floorplans. Quality builds.

Totally agree! Love our 2011 Wind River. Best TT we've ever owned.

[jcubeta]

I'm not sure where you are located, but I live in northern VA and we are selling our 1.5-year old Highland Ridge Open Range Ultra Lite bunkhouse. It's a wonderful trailer and we used it to "cut our teeth" (we are upgrading to a Class C)...

In any case, I would definitely recommend Highland Ridge. Very nice build quality. We had no significant problems.

James

[MajorOz]

Originally Posted by telincoln64

Greetings,
I am new to this forum and I am wondering if I can get some recommendations as to what are reliable TT manufacturers; TT that are reliable but also offer good value for the $$. I understand that Airstream is considered the "gold standard" but I don't want to spend that kind of $$ on our first rig.
Thank you.

From personal experience.......RUN, don't walk, from anything made by Forest River.

[pobstlmo]

First time buyer.

Buy used, don't put a lot of money into your first trailer, all RV owners have gone through a number of them, if you enjoy the life style you will change trailers as your needs change.

Be careful some dealers such as camping world have been accused of screwing you on the cost of the trailer thought exorbitant financing fees.

Get pre-approved financing at your bank!

What are you going to pull it with? where are you going to store your trailer and truck when not in use?

As the other posts stated what are you going to use this (first) trailer for.

Happy Camping!

[pobstlmo]

Almost forgot:
ALL RV's are junk, its a New York apartment crammed into a box truck or storage trailer, I have yet to hear or see a quality trailer, although some are more junk than others, I have a Winnebago, Horizon, "new" a $250k Motor home, they left a 2" gap in the rubber gasket for the slide outs causing allowing it to rain inside. My first camper was a $10k Starcraft truck camper, the gap under the fridge was SOO big you could see the outside.

[Ret.LEO]

Originally Posted by telincoln64

Greetings,
I am new to this forum and I am wondering if I can get some recommendations as to what are reliable TT manufacturers; TT that are reliable but also offer good value for the $$. I understand that Airstream is considered the "gold standard" but I don't want to spend that kind of $$ on our first rig.
Thank you.

Check out Arctic Fox and ORV. Some of the VERY best made units out there w/out paying the Airstream price.
The ORV and Arctic Fox are both well known for quality. Very well made..............not slapped together and kicked out the door. Check the suspension and frame. Others will also use a aluminum frame for wall structures but the secret here is instead of the sheet metal screw going through the alum frame they use a wood blocking on the back side of the frame that the screw is going through the alum AND the wood block behind it. Very solid!
Link to ORV
ORV | Titanium Series

[nursecammy]

Originally Posted by Normal_Dave

I'm mostly pulling for Northwood or Outdoors RV, but if somebody would build something like this in the U.S. well, then I could start the wait to find one in the used market.

What a beast: check out the frame and suspension...
https://www.kokodacaravans.com.au/pr...t-ii-platinum/

Ok. I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

[BigSkyCountr]

A lot of good points have been brought up by a number of people. As pointed out, you will go through a number of RV's in your life. Used, but not abused, normally means someone else got to deal with the problems and have already gotten them fixed. Floor plan is very important. With the slide(s) in if you can't get to the icebox or bathroom while your traveling, keep looking. Buy what you really need, not what you hope or think someday you might need. Our first RV was a 35 foot class C. Slept 6, room for days but too big for the two of us. My wife picked it out thinking the kids would want to go with us. Don't think that ever happened. They got a trailer of their own. Next was a truck camper so we could pull the boat too. Well by year three we decided it was just too small. Not to mention I started worrying about her climbing out of bed in the dark and missing the step and taking a header. We just bought a Creekside 21RBS ORV. Just the right size, easy to park and maneuver, large fresh, grey and black water tanks. An easy pull for our F350 SRW Crew Cab gasser. When we had first gone looking for a truck camper, every salesman told us our F150 1/2 ton would carry it. What BS. Even if we had had a full 1000# carrying capacity, which we did not (super crew cab, 4x4 all the bells and whistles) the campers were weighing 2400# plus. Empty. Oh, just put in airbags they said. Airbags DO NOT CHANGE YOUR GVWR. Anyway, as others have pointed out, make sure you have a enough tow vehicle, or make that your FIRST purchase. We went from a loaded F150 to a okay equipped F350 and gained 3000# bed capacity and a lot more in towing. It has a manual a/c but I still got back up camera and sensors, electric doors and windows. But it was more than enough truck to handle the truck camper and now, is just fine with the ORV. We live in Montana, I see your in Oregon, so camping here at 6000 feet even in the summer it can get down to the low 40's. We needed an all season trailer, you may not. The quality of the ORV is obvious as it is in a few others mentioned. If you can't enjoy the trailer because or layout or quality, you are not going to use it as much. Now on a side note we bought the class c used with very low miles, it apparently wasn't moved very often but lived in a lot. The truck camper we bought used and fell into a pretty good deal. Less than a year old the owners had moved up to a 5er. The stove, microwave and even the heater had never been used. We got a lot of optional/upgrade items basically free because it was used. The ORV we bought new, because this time we think we actually bought what we wanted and needed. Hope this helps.

[LargeMarge]

Rent. Go for a weekend. Take notes:

I like this part of this floor-plan.
Closing this door blocks that.
Criminy! What's that smell!
Outside noise infiltration?
Birds tap-dancing in your belfry?
Tanks capacity.
Length x width fit along roads, sites.
Side-by-side 14,738cf stand-still house fridge with room for decades of left-overs? (most of north America is a few minutes from a supermarket)
Genset? PV? Neither?
Am I doing this for my ego? To impress somebody I don't know and probably despise?

And most important, how many sinks? Is two enough? Could you use four sinks? Five? If your goal is displacing the cat-lady from the front page of the weekly fishwrap, an even half-dozen sinks oughta put you in the running.

Game it:
What happens if a tire blows? How much equipment do I lose?
What happens if I dump a hitch?
If this gizmo toasts, can I continue my trip?


You may believe you need thirty or forty feet, then discover your activities outside mean you are inside for limited times == eating, sleeping, showers. In this case, maybe twenty feet might be too large for your purposes.

A smaller trailer requires a smaller tow vehicle.

Do you need to purchase a factory product? After renting different models and sizes, you might realize you can construct a rig to suit your needs... with better materials including stouter axles and insulation.

* * * * *

After delivering RVs from manufacturers-to-dealers and dealers-to-shows, we developed our concept of the perfect RV... for us.

We boondock exclusively, often in remote Baja. And we constantly evolve our rig to meet our needs. Our rig of a few decades ago wouldn't meet our needs of today.

[JG]

Originally Posted by telincoln64

Greetings,
I am new to this forum and I am wondering if I can get some recommendations as to what are reliable TT manufacturers; TT that are reliable but also offer good value for the $$. I understand that Airstream is considered the "gold standard" but I don't want to spend that kind of $$ on our first rig.
Thank you.

On Face Book look at RV Horror Stories. I would look at the different Fiberglass campers. a lot less trouble. The Oliver, LiL Snoozy, Big Foot, Escape, Scamp, Castia. These are some. Do you want a TT that spends months in the shop or one you can use? Do you want to take your house with you or do want to camp? Good Luck on your choice.

[ALLOY]

Originally Posted by JG

On Face Book look at RV Horror Stories. I would look at the different Fiberglass campers. a lot less trouble. The Oliver, LiL Snoozy, Big Foot, Escape, Scamp, Castia. These are some. Do you want a TT that spends months in the shop or one you can use? Do you want to take your house with you or do want to camp? Good Luck on your choice.

X2!!