I don't know what your tow vehicle can handle, but around 4K?
you need to look at size 14' or 16' and 18' under 4K in weight most times.
don't even think of a larger used unit. Used what you want might be hard to find for the weight issue. the newer 'extra lites' might be handled. good luck in your search
to the OP, i also live in the SF Bay Area.
if you want to camp out here, you will have lots of mountains to deal with and trying to pull a full-height TT with a minivan isn't going to be a good thing for you or your minivan.
for a family, you are pretty limited to a popup. your Honda will have a frontal area towing limit and all full-height travel trailers will exceed that.
I don't think you are going to find one without a kitchen, but having a bathroom.
Most really small trailers are going to have a dinette that makes up into a bed, you find this at 13 feet. Bathrooms would be rare at this size.
You could get a 16-foot fiberglass shell TT with a dinette that makes up into a bed, a small table with two chairs, and a bath. Leave the dinette made up as a bed, and you have a permanent queen-size bed. The bath is going to be a wet bath. But you still get a kitchen. Casita's Freedom floorplan works this way. When I checked models on the floor at the factory showroom, a 17-foot Deluxe (means bath) was about 2800 dry with the accessories it had installed, which included A/C and the entertainment package.
Forest River is making at least one model of A-frame pop-up with cassette toilet and shower; the others have a PortaPotti. One model has a permanent bed at one end and dinette at the other, that one doesn't have toilet and shower. All the F-R hardside pop-ups have A/C heat pump and come in under 2000 pounds dry. Bed sizes are closer to double than queen, i.e. 54x80, long as a queen, wider than a double but not as wide as a queen.
Forest River has a whole series of full-height TTs called R-Pod, too new to find them used. These all have the same wet bath unit, but with holding tanks rather than the cassette toilets used on pop-ups. Several models have a permanent bed they call a queen, others a dinette that makes up to a queen, but these are not really a queen, because they are short: 60X74. They are all under 3000 pounds dry but may be a lot heavier than that ready to go, and they will exceed the frontal area limits for towing by most minivans, compact trucks, and small SUVs.
* This post was
edited 07/05/12 02:06pm by tatest *
Hasn't been made since 2000? You mean you want one the company that made it went out of business? The few manufacturers that made decent small, lightweight TTs before 2000 are still making the same trailers today. Other manufacturers have used advances in technology to make yet larger TTs lighter and easier to tow, witness F-R's R-Pod and Jayco's Swift.
I agree it's gonna be hard if you have a full bath, to not have kitchen.
BUT...our Livin Lite VRV toyhauler doesn't have a kitchen (just a sink) because you custom-order each one and that's how we ordered it. Actually, Livin Lite brand makes all-aluminum lightweight products that you could tow, but they are hard to find used.
I think you are going to have a hard time finding something that specific on the used market (meaning w/ bath but no kitchen). I suggest you just accept the kitchen and look for something that meets your budget & other needs. (sorry, that advice isn't very fabulous, is it?)
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