Hey all...looking for some advice on which travel trailer might work for us.
My family is looking to buy our first camper. I'm leaning towards a small, single axel model. I have a GMC Acadia with ample towing capacity, but I figure the smaller size will be easier to store and tow.
My wife is just warming up to camping. For her peace-of-mind, we want a solid-body model. So soft-sided pop-ups are out. However, the hybrids might work.
I've seen ones that look like a hard-body camper, but with pop-up camper bunks that stick out. Problem is that on these, it seems that those pop-outs are the primary place to sleep. That won't work for us. My wife wants the security of sleeping inside of hard-walls. But I figured the pop-out deal might offer us bonus room and a place to sleep if we brought friends. But I also thought that many times, we wouldn't even put it out...only there if needed. Xo there would need to be other primary sleeping other than the pop-outs.
We have two small children. So ideally, there would be two bunks, and the "parents" larger bed might be at the other end of the camper (vs. below one of the kid's bunks).
One final desire is a shower/bath stall vs. one of those deals where the whole bathroom gets wet.
If your looking for TT then your in the wrong forum. HTT are wonderful if you enjoy sleeping under canvas along with that you get all the amenities of a TT. For sleeping without putting the beds down does not give much space, the couch is actually only big enough comfortably for one along with the table, tried it. It would be OK for short stays but nothing long term. It will be hard to find everything you want in a smaller size TT. You can get a HTT with bunks at the back but you still have 1 canvas end. There is also a TT with a hard slide for sleeping, no canvas. I do not no enough about any of them, you can research them. I know someone here will have better info than I can offer. Good luck in your search.
If your not comfortable sleeping under tentage you won't be satisfied with a hybrid.
Our reason for choosing a hybrid was to "sleep under tentage".
I would need a 30ft+ TT to get the floor space and sleeping capacity i get with the hybrid.
I would cheak the TC of your Acadia then look at the GVWR of some trailers your interested in.
A good practice would be to keep the GVWR of trailer lower then vehicle TC.
I beleive you may find the Acadia limited to the smallest of TT's
From what I see all models of the Acadia have a 119" wheelbase and a 2,000 lb towing capacity. I know of no "hard side" travel trailer with the features you describe that can be pulled safely or otherwise by your vehicle. Seriously to haul your family and tow a trailer to your liking you would really need a half ton pickup.
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My model Acadia actually has a 4500lb towing capacity, although that is for the model with the heavy duty cooling system and factory hitch (and makers always over-estimate). I don't have the cooling system option - just the factory hitch.
Thus, I'd still think a travel trailer somewhere in the 3000-3500 range would be fine.
So are you guys saying that pretty much by default, TTs with the pop-out tent sleeping are designed so that it is a primary sleeping berth, with all the other floorspace then reserved for walking/dining/counters, etc.?
I guess what I'm wondering is, does this exist - picture a standard TT without the pop-out sleeping. It would probably have a queen-ish size bunk somewhere, and perhaps two bunk beds somewhere else. The front face that looks at the back of the tow vehicle would be solid. But then picture a pop-out tent bunk on that face as the "bonus".
Without the factory HD towing package your maximum towing capacity is a wild guess. I'm guessing somewhere between 2000 and 3500 pounds. Since these are all computed (with rare exceptions) with the tow vehicle empty, the planning range for your trailer should be 1000 pounds less, or a 1000 to 2500 pound trailer.
I know of no travel trailer this light and few popups. The smallest popups run 2000 pounds.
Towing a trailer requires a tow vehicle and you don't appear to have one.
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denemante wrote: So are you guys saying that pretty much by default, TTs with the pop-out tent sleeping are designed so that it is a primary sleeping berth, with all the other floorspace then reserved for walking/dining/counters, etc.?
I guess what I'm wondering is, does this exist - picture a standard TT without the pop-out sleeping. It would probably have a queen-ish size bunk somewhere, and perhaps two bunk beds somewhere else. The front face that looks at the back of the tow vehicle would be solid. But then picture a pop-out tent bunk on that face as the "bonus".
yes, the "adult" sleeping on hybrids is strictly the canvas bunk ends. bunkhouse models have additional non-canvas traditional bunk beds for kids, along with a canvas bunk end for adults.
there is no trailer that has a traditional walk-around queen bed(which sounds like what your wife wants) with a pop-out tent bunk, that i know of.
only with the traditional bunk beds for kids(bunkhouse models).
Dan- Firefighter, Shawn- Musician/Entrepreneur, Zoe- Faithful Golden Retriever, 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche LS, 2007 Rockwood Roo 23SS w/Equalizer and Prodigy, and 5 Mtn. bikes and 2 Road bikes
denemante wrote: So are you guys saying that pretty much by default, TTs with the pop-out tent sleeping are designed so that it is a primary sleeping berth, with all the other floorspace then reserved for walking/dining/counters, etc.?
Yes, the pop out tent ends are strictly for sleeping.
denemante wrote: I guess what I'm wondering is, does this exist - picture a standard TT without the pop-out sleeping. It would probably have a queen-ish size bunk somewhere, and perhaps two bunk beds somewhere else. The front face that looks at the back of the tow vehicle would be solid. But then picture a pop-out tent bunk on that face as the "bonus".
This doesn't exist in the current market place. Most trailers with a pop out end has this as a primary sleeping area.
Also, with the Acadia, you are not in the market for a hard sided travel trailer. Your tow rating is short when you consider that the vehicle is loaded down with people and gear and the Trailer is weighed down with gear.
Look at www.trailmanor.com where their heaviest model is around 3500 lbs. and had hard sides when set up.
If you haven't RV'd before you might want to rent for a long weekend or so and see if you like it.
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