My wife and I have talked for years about how much we would enjoy having a TT, then we had twins! Well that put us in a bit of a holding pattern for a while, but we are now looking again. I have no clue where to start lol! We are young and active and love being off the grid with our kids, but would also enjoy going to parks with all the amenities. My question for you is this. What brands should we be looking at in the 30k range. These don't need to be new units by any means. We want something for weekend and vacation use and are not looking to be in it full time. any help would be greatly appreciated.
cherylbrv said
06:35 AM Jun 30, 2014
If you're able to go to an RV show, that's probably the best place to start - to get an idea of the many different styles, shapes and sizes.
kb0zke said
09:00 AM Jul 2, 2014
Welcome, Heavylifter. You mentioned both 5'er and TT, so I'm assuming that you would consider either. I'm also assuming that you have a truck that can SAFELY handle your choice. If you already have a truck you should start by finding out the capabilities of that vehicle. The easiest way to get a base weight is to put the "stuff" that would be in the truck into it, fill the tank, load the family in, and go weigh it. That will give you what the truck actually weighs as you are going to go down the road. You can find out the gross vehicle weight from a sticker on the truck. Subtract the weight you got from the gross vehicle weight and you have the amount that the truck can carry as hitch or pin weight. Your dealer can look up the VIN and find out the gross combined weight rating for your truck. Subtract the weight you got at the scales from that and you will know how much the trailer can weigh FULLY LOADED. Sales people will often just give you the empty (dry) weight of the trailer. Water weights 8 pounds per gallon, so a 40 gallon tank can weigh 320 pounds, just to point out one item.
If you don't have a truck yet, or are going to trade, get the gross weights and tongue or pin weights of the trailers you are considering. Just use the heaviest one as your guide for buying the truck. It is always better to have more capacity in the truck than to be right at the limit. If you are looking at a gross combined weight rating of 30,000 pounds and the combo you are considering will come in at 29,950 I'd look for either a lighter trailer or a stronger truck.
As for brands, I'm partial to Airstreams for travel trailers and DRV for 5ers. In your price range you will be looking at used rigs, but the biggest depreciation hit will already be taken by someone else, so you can use it for a few years and then trade it in for not a lot less than what you paid for it.
Camper Chronicles said
01:42 PM Jul 2, 2014
HIGHLY recommend going to an RV show and walking the units. We did tons of research online but nothing is better than physically standing in the space. For that level of investment you definitely want something you will be very happy with and you'd be surprised at he things that will end up mattering that you can't even think of now.
Terry and Jo said
07:52 AM Jul 3, 2014
Don't rule out checking out different RV dealer's lots. Unlike an RV show, you'd have more time to linger in the RV and get a feel of how things would work for you with such things as preparing meals, taking showers, doing morning prep work (shaving, showering, putting on makeup) and just generally living in the area of the inside. I recall one couple full-timing in a Casita that described what they and their pet had to go through just for one of them to get to the bathroom. It sure seemed complicated to me.
Terry
The Junkman said
09:03 AM Jul 3, 2014
There is a place called " cranky ape" auction .. search it..
They sell rv's , and other stuff.. all over the country. They sell salvage AND clean title stuff from insurance , banks, repos, and consignment companys.
If you want to buy, use it for a while , and MAKE MONEY when you sell it.. it's a good place.
I would not normally post something like this, as less bidders.. less cost to me. But I am out.. so have at it.
I bought mostly classic cars and hot rods from them.. flipping them. They also sell boats, utv, trucks, trailers, and motorcycles.
for under 30k .. you can get a really nice rv there.. You are competing directly with the dealers.. mostly.
-- Edited by The Junkman on Thursday 3rd of July 2014 09:04:03 AM
My wife and I have talked for years about how much we would enjoy having a TT, then we had twins! Well that put us in a bit of a holding pattern for a while, but we are now looking again. I have no clue where to start lol! We are young and active and love being off the grid with our kids, but would also enjoy going to parks with all the amenities. My question for you is this. What brands should we be looking at in the 30k range. These don't need to be new units by any means. We want something for weekend and vacation use and are not looking to be in it full time. any help would be greatly appreciated.
If you don't have a truck yet, or are going to trade, get the gross weights and tongue or pin weights of the trailers you are considering. Just use the heaviest one as your guide for buying the truck. It is always better to have more capacity in the truck than to be right at the limit. If you are looking at a gross combined weight rating of 30,000 pounds and the combo you are considering will come in at 29,950 I'd look for either a lighter trailer or a stronger truck.
As for brands, I'm partial to Airstreams for travel trailers and DRV for 5ers. In your price range you will be looking at used rigs, but the biggest depreciation hit will already be taken by someone else, so you can use it for a few years and then trade it in for not a lot less than what you paid for it.
Don't rule out checking out different RV dealer's lots. Unlike an RV show, you'd have more time to linger in the RV and get a feel of how things would work for you with such things as preparing meals, taking showers, doing morning prep work (shaving, showering, putting on makeup) and just generally living in the area of the inside. I recall one couple full-timing in a Casita that described what they and their pet had to go through just for one of them to get to the bathroom. It sure seemed complicated to me.
Terry
There is a place called " cranky ape" auction .. search it..
They sell rv's , and other stuff.. all over the country. They sell salvage AND clean title stuff from insurance , banks, repos, and consignment companys.
If you want to buy, use it for a while , and MAKE MONEY when you sell it.. it's a good place.
I would not normally post something like this, as less bidders.. less cost to me. But I am out.. so have at it.
I bought mostly classic cars and hot rods from them.. flipping them. They also sell boats, utv, trucks, trailers, and motorcycles.
for under 30k .. you can get a really nice rv there.. You are competing directly with the dealers.. mostly.
-- Edited by The Junkman on Thursday 3rd of July 2014 09:04:03 AM