Well the truck camper experiment is over. Thank God! It was really just too small for the kind of travelling we do and we aren’t in a position to travel around Canada with it like we thought we would. When we’re back, we pretty much stay in Ontario and the time flies by anyways.
So after the truck camper, the 5th wheel toy hauler, 25’ tow behind trailer and the 18’ pop up tow behind trailer we started out with (pics of all of them here) we now know exactly what we want and what works best for us on the road.
What we learned:
1. Toy hauler 5th wheel is the only way to go. Having the garage for all our gear and the separate entrance from the living quarters is essential. It’s like having a mud room and we missed that like crazy with the truck camper, especially when the weather was bad. It also keeps all that stinky fishing stuff out of your way!
2. The right layout is critical.
a) the TV needs to be situated directly opposite your couch/chairs. You’d think that’s a no brainer but most RVs have it at a 90 degree angle....not good for the neck. You watch a lot of TV when you travel for extended periods, the weather can suck, it gets dark early and there’s no way you have fires every night. Comfort is VERY important!
b) When the slides are in we still want to be able to access the bathroom, the bedroom and the refrigerator. We’ve been stuck at the side of the road during various accidents in the past for hours, so having access is important. Can’t tell you how many trailers we looked at that nothing was accessible when the slides were in.
c) Storage is important! The bedroom layout in most 5th wheels has the bed going north /south in the section that goes over the bed of the truck. But when it goes west/east and the head of the bed is in the slide, it’s amazing how much more storage they include. It’s ideal.
d) Many of the newer toy haulers have an additional 2 piece bathroom in the garage and a single bunk overhead. We don’t need that, it takes away living space and storage we’d rather have.
3. Auto leveling and hydraulic jacks make set up and take down so much easier. Definitely on Dave’s wish list!
4. There are some monster 5th wheels out there…over 40 feet! They are gorgeous and very spacious but we really don’t need anything that huge. Our ideal is less than 40 ft.
5. Used is better than new, less money and hopefully fewer problems. Can’t tell you how many owners of new RVs we met last year who were dealing with problems, and not small ones. Buying used you hope the original owner has properly worked out all the bugs!
So what did we find that met all our criteria, this 38 ft. TESLA toy hauler. It’s amazing, and checks off everything on our wish list so if you look hard enough and long enough, you do find exactly what you want. Yes it’s a higher end trailer but it’s got nothing to do with the TESLA cars…I’m sure you were wondering! :-)
Two slides on the other side really increase the living space. No inside pics for now, you’ll have to wait until we get back on the road (hopefully in Jan 2019) for that! We can’t wait to get travelling in this!
Now we just have to get the camper sold! Supposed to happen today, fingers crossed!