We were at an overland expo recently and my kid and wife seemed drawn to the travel trailers. Wife and I have always been primitive campers/backpackers and that's always been my way of camping, but we were talking afterwards and she likes the idea of easy camping especially with a young kid. It would make it easier to vacation for extended periods of time as tent camping starts to wear on her after a couple of days lol.

If you have experience and don't mind sharing I would appreciate any information you can provide. Tips, Cautions, Brands to avoid or look for, etc. I'm just starting to look around a bit.

Rent a few models from RV share before you buy. Some dealers also have rental programs. You might decide to just rent depending on how often you actually end up using one (vs how much you think you are going to use one). Also, renting gives a chance to work out your tow vehicle and trailer set up. Gives you a feel for size and length you're comfortable with initially. I almost purchased one, have been happier w the rental model for us.

We want one, love everything about the concept, but don't want to pay for one.

Reality is even if you buy it outright with cash, that's only half the cost. Unless you have property and a covered place to keep it, monthly rental space and insurance add up quickly. On their own, its the equivalent of one weekend trip a month to a VRBO or similar. For something that depreciates and can rack up maintenance costs quickly.

The other side of that coin is for the money we would spend on one, we could buy property somewhere. That does appreciate and can be improved over time.

Agreed. I like the idea of renting one first.

I have the pulling power in an F-250 and acreage to store. I would just need to build the covered spot.

It would allow me to save a little bit of money when I travel to WTX and NM for work. Rather than pay $180-300/night for a hotel and I spend a good deal of time out there. The other use is we are looking at buying more land (100+ acres) and it would allow us to have somewhere to hole up.

I'm not lookign for something huge. $25-35k seems to get me something real nice. Spent my life sleeping in the truck or in a tent, so anything looks pretty dang good to me lol

Pulling trailer, setting up, etc. Isn't "easy camping" for its own reasons but we have one. Enjoy it. Bought used and fixed up the known issues.

That's why I'm asking for advice. It seems like "easy camping" but like all things when you get into it you see all the BS annoyances, pitfalls, etc and I'm looking to discover and account for as many of those as I can before spending this stupid amount of money that I should put into something that appreciates.

My experience is packing and maintaining is definitely not easier or quicker than a hotel or rental. Setting up isn't fun either (level, hook up water and electric and sewer, turn in water heater and propping, cable TV, etc.)

You gain something that is your own space / bed that you have to pay for regardless of use.

Except for the tiny trailers with tent-like capacity and accommodations, it's more like having a mobile hotel room or cabin or vacation home. It has the plus of comfort and the minus of costs and maintenance. Its size will limit you to certain camp sites and locations. It lets you bring much more stuff with you. It will murder your gas mileage except maybe with a diesel. If you have a place to store it, that's good.

Having a trailer of course doesn't mean you have to use it. I have one and sadly, I almost never get to take it out. I do still tent camp a bit.

Right now is a great time to buy a camper. You can still find brand new 2022's on the lot and they are desperate to get rid of these, because the 2024's will be hitting their lots in a couple of months. One of the things to keep an eye out for is to buy one that has a dealership near you, or make sure the dealerships near you service the brand you buy for warranty work. Insurance is pretty dang cheap, I think I pay like $600 a year for full cost of replacement through Progressive.

Do not go into this thinking you are making an investment, because you are going to lose money. With the amount of driving you are talking about doing, you will need to replace the tires the camper comes with pretty quick. Get rid of the China bomb tires and put good 14 ply trailer tires on there. You saving money on your pre diem should be a nice incentive though. Also, make the sway control a part of the deal. You will not regret getting the weight distribution and sway control set up, it makes towing so much more enjoyable.

As far as brands go, three companies make 90% of the trailers out there. Thor, Forest River, and Winnebago. So just pick the the floorplan you like and read the reviews on the model you're looking at and go from there. Again, just make sure the dealership near you covers the warranty work.

I know I spend more time in my camper than 95% of the people out there that do not live in one. I do not regret getting one and it makes summer and winter camping awesome. My entire extended family has them as well and we roll pretty deep to different parts of the state in the summer, so I am sure that has something to do with it. Then I leave it at the deer lease in the winter and very much enjoy having my own place out there.

Our first trailer was a fifteen foot long model made in 1960. It had a gas fridge, stove, sink and a freshwater holding tank. 12v lighting would have been nice but it was strictly 120. The sink had a hand pump fed by the freshwater tank. The trailer was very well built, light weight, and basically a tent on wheels. We could set it up in minutes. We loved it. We quit tent camping immediately after getting that trailer, unless we're going someplace in the mountains where we can't pull a trailer.

The great things about the vintage trailer was that it actually increased in value and it was very easy to maintain.

As the family grew and the kids got bigger, we outgrew it and now have one that's longer but simple in design and easy to maintain. Having a toilet is nice.

When we're camping, we spend as much time as possible outside. A trailer is just a place to sleep well and get out of the rain and then get back outside.

We own a small RV park and most of our renters are working in the area and stay from 3 months to a year or two at a time. A couple of our folks have been there for 7 or 8 years. Most of these people have lived in an RV for many years as they chase work, and know about RV issues, can fix them themselves much of the time, or they work with someone who can. We don't cater to, nor really want, short-term renters, so we don't get many newbies as far as first-time owners go.

Over our 9 years of owning the place, I have come to decide there is nothing as poorly built as an RV. Mostly speaking of travel trailers rather than motor homes. And this has been the case for the smaller and less expensive ones, to the rather huge fifth wheel ones that are pretty expensive. And being brand new doesn't mean there won't be problems. As someone suggested, being near a place that can do warranty work is a good idea. After that expires, or if you buy a used one with no warranty, and if you are pretty handy at troubleshooting and doing your own maintenance work, it might not be an issue.

I have seen some discussion groups for some makes and models of RVs and joining one pertinent to what you buy would be a good idea. When something doesn't work right, you can post on the forum and often someone has a solution or a quick fix.

Good luck on your purchase!

If you have the means to pull it (which you do), then I would go with a fifth wheel. Tend to pull easier than the travel trailer especially if you get a longer one. I would certainly entertain looking at used just due to cost, however some new models may need to be moved and a good deal can be had. Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. It can be a lot of work but is very important.

This is just from my own experiences. I no longer own but in about two years, I may be looking at getting a nice fifth wheel to live in. Good Luck. I thoroughly enjoyed the time in mine.

I have owned a fifth wheel since 2013. I have to say it's been a good thing for us. When we lived in Utah we could visit wilderness areas, state and national parks, and have our own space to relax in. Kills gas mileage even with a diesel. I learned on the fly how to do repairs (mostly plumbing and roof leaks). During hunting season I would park it on the BLM land I was hunting and just leave it for the entire season. It now resides in Port O'Conner and is a fine fish camp.
Not a good investment but I think we have got our money's worth out of it. My wife is even entertaining the idea of full-time RVing when I retire.
As others have said, they are cheaply built, but fairly easy to work on. A fifth wheel is easier to pull than a trailer, but good tires are a must. I can cruise down the highway at 70mph easily, but have to stop more than I like to refuel.
It would be a PITA to set up and take down if moving every few days but for a week or more I love it.
The other thing we have found is that 95% of folks at an RV park are the nicest and friendliest people you will ever meet. Always helpful and full of free (sometime useful) advice

TY for the negative information. I want both

I don't need another project on my hands. There is already more to do than I can handle.

We bought a 32' 5th wheel toy hauler with generator. My experience over 4 years included:

Replaced one of the ac units
Bought all new tires
Large slide came out of alignment for some reason. Could not bring it in, took to shop for repair.
Unit had the decorative tinted windows. One fell off going down the road. Hard to find replacement glass. Repaired glass and then had another window fall out while driving and had to fix.
Roof leak, this was my fault, thought I could fit under a tree when going out to dove hunt. New roof.

All said, it was fun, but they are definitely made out of bailing wire and bubble gum.

Do you mind sharing what brand? I will say that some are made cheaper than others, but there are just a few big manufacturers out there. A lot of their stuff is rebranded.

2ndChanceAg96 said:

---

Do you mind sharing what brand? I will say that some are made cheaper than others, but there are just a few big manufacturers out there. A lot of their stuff is rebranded.

---

2012 DUTCHMEN VOLTAGE V3200

Man. That stinks you had so many issues besides just regular maintenance and wear and tear. I was always told in the early 2000's that Dutchmen put out one of the better products.

RV share is great. Do that a bunch before you pull the trigger. Very easy to use. Seems an obvious tip, but pick one close to your destination so you don't have to pull it the whole way. There are thousands of them for rent.

Dang, that's what I have! Better check my windows...

We bought a 39'8" 5th wheel Sandpiper new in 2009. Slept 10, 2 bathrooms, outside fridge, auto find satellite system, onboard generator. Pulled it with F250 Super Duty diesel. Loved this RV, finally sold it last May. The thing I found with RVs, is there's always some issue to deal with! Mostly small but when a big one hits it's expensive. We loved football weekends at Reed before they did away with the RV spaces then we moved out to Equine Center. Would I do it again! Absolutely!

Legett79 said:

---

Dang, that's what I have! Better check my windows...

---

Ha. It was a nice trailer and We had a lot of fun with it, but pretty sure it was built the day before a long weekend for the factory.

Took it to see the ags in Fayetteville, Auburn, Oxford and Starkville and LSU and all the home games. It was a blast tailgating.

AgLA06 said:

---

My experience is packing and maintaining is definitely not easier or quicker than a hotel or rental. Setting up isn't fun either (level, hook up water and electric and sewer, turn in water heater and propping, cable TV, etc.)

You gain something that is your own space / bed that you have to pay for regardless of use.

---

Dumping your tanks, disconnecting your lines and packing up in a driving rainstorm ain't much fun either! But I'm guessing the OP has done similar in tent camping.

We tent camped until it got to the point we didn't want to sleep on the ground or cots anymore.

We've had two different Keystone bumper pull trailers (Cougar then Bullet) and they were both very good. We upgraded a couple of years ago to a Coachmen Brookstone 5th wheel for more space and it's a nice rig but we had a ton of problems (mostly electrical) with it the first year. Quality control doesn't seem to be a priority with them.

Woods Ag said:

---

TY for the negative information. I want both

I don't need another project on my hands. There is already more to do than I can handle.

---

lol didn't mean to sound too negative, but my experience has been they do have more issues than most people realize. I will likely buy one at some point this summer, but nothing too big. I guess my point is that new or used, mid-priced to high-priced, they will all have issues at some point, probably sooner than expected. It seems now that you can buy a decent vehicle and not have anything go wrong with it for quite some time. That will not happen with an RV. I think you and your family will have a lot of fun camping in one. Folks have mentioned renting one and I highly recommend doing so. Maybe take a couple of short trips, 2 to 4 days, and see what it is like. Work out the kinks, what you like or dislike about the RV, it might cause you to go a different direction as to layout and such.

While you likely won't have a project on your hands, there are going to be small things, something won't work or you will have a question about how to make this work or that work. I doubt you will have constant problems, didn't mean to imply that. User groups on places like Facebook can help solve almost all the smaller issues. Someone has been through whatever it is you are going through and are happy to help. One such group is the R-Pod Owners on Facebook. They are smaller sized campers made by Forest River. Take a look at the posts by people having issues and the responses. If you do buy one and go out camping, often people in the campground can help solve the smaller issues.

Keep your tires with those covers over them if you are not storing yours under a cover. The sun is death on tires and the roof.

Again, I think you and your family will have a blast and it would be worth renting one a couple of times to be sure!

As a former owner of an RV, the best advice I can give you is to buy used. They depreciate worse than cars. Be patient and find a 2 to 3 year old model, and you'll save a lot of money. Lots of folks get the bug then find out that they can't use it as much as they thought they would. In my case, a couple of years after we got ours, our kids got much more involved in sports and dance, which left very few weekends available for RVing. We finally got tired of paying to store it, keeping it registered, and worrying about every hail storm…and sold it for quite a bit less than we paid for it. We loved it when we could use it though. Good luck!

I haven't read the thread so this may be repetitive, but before we bought we went to several RV shows and walked in them and took notes. Then after we settled on the exact model we wanted I went to one dealership and got them down to their bottom dollar price, then left without buying and called two other dealerships that sold the same camper and told them the other guys price. They all fought trying to make the numbers work, but couldn't get there so I decided to go to the first guy the next day to sign papers.

That's when things took a turn. At the last minute I got on RV trader and looked up my camper (it was in 2019 and I was looking at a 2020 model). Surprisingly there was a brand new camper listed in the "used" section for $20K less than what I was going to pay. I immediately called the guy (in Georgia) and asked WTF was going on here and he said that he had a 2019 Keystone camper that had a defect that wasn't fixable and they said he could have any camper he wanted in return because the hassle had lasted almost a year apparently and he was threatening lawsuit He chose my model and when it was delivered to him his wife said it was too big and she didn't want it and wanted different one and he needed to get it sold fast. Because it was titled to him, he had to sell as used. I paid a guy $1,500 to deliver it to me in Fort Worth.

My purchase was a 40' 5th wheel that we love because my little boys have their own room in the back with a loft (basically 2 queens on top of each other) and a half bath. Would I buy it again? No. Too damn long and it's 13' 5" tall and I don't like having to dodge trees and worry about bridges and crap all the time. So that was a longwinded way of saying that even though I did my DD in the beginning, I still ****ed it all up so don't listen to me.

EDIT: I keep it at my brothers property and every time there's a hail storm I pray a little that it gets wiped out so I can have a do over.

Hahaha! I love this, and I'm sorry for your loss.

I have a 2020 Kawasaki Teryx, a used 2021 F-250 lemon, and a big log cabin that I wish I could have a do-over on. I hope I've got the issues ironed out on the F-250. The cabin was way under priced with the land and barn and shops on it that I thought "in this market, this is the safest buy", but damnit it's a fuggin headache to maintain.

The reason for my thread. I can't take on another project.

No, I meant it's perfect. I want a good picture of the great times and the bad times.

I feel like that dude in "Without a paddle" who claims to be a river rafting professional and all of a sudden he's like "IM IN OVER MY HEAD!"

Fifth wheels are nice but a bear to back to tight spots because of the total length.
Be aware that some National Parks can only accommodate 28-30 ft, and slide outs may have an obstacle.

I own a NuCamp Avia - 28 ft travel trailer works great for couple and two kids.

You need AC to camp in the south, and you need something 5 years old or newer.

You can get a really nice travel trailer for under $40,000.

Most important if you want way to detach from the crazy culture of America camping is the best.

I've been wondering if used prices on these would start to drop with people putting pandemic purchases up for sale.

Aggie1205 said:

---

I've been wondering if used prices on these would start to drop with people putting pandemic purchases up for sale.

---

Just checked the one I bought in 2019 and on RV trader they're trading for $15-20K more than I paid for mine over 3 years ago. I got a really good deal on mine, but still pretty crazy. That's asking price though so take that FWIW.

Rockwood or Winnebago can't go wrong. Stay away from camper world.

The market is weird. People are trying to unload their Covid purchases but they're so under water that they're still asking for high prices on the used in. It may still be beneficial or more beneficial to buy new.

We had a bumper pull and a 5th wheel. Pulled both all over Texas, to California and Tennessee. 5th wheel was so much easier to pull and so much more room. It is also easier to park into tight spaces given the near 90* you can turn it. Not to mention 3' of the trailer hangs over the bed while a bumper pull starts 3' from the back of your truck. So technically you can have a 5th wheel that is 6' longer but the total length of your truck and trailer is the same.

I've blown three tires. Had one on fire passing me on I-40 outside of Albuquerque. I would have a battery powered impact ready to take the tires off. Makes things a lot easier. I finally got fed up and bought larger tires and higher rated than the originals. Never had an issue again.

If you're handy you can fix anything yourself with the help of YouTube. I've adjusted slides, replaced water heater, air conditioner, plumbing etc. all with YouTube.

We bought before the pandemic and sold during so we made money which is unheard of. Loved a lot of it. Hated some of it. Would absolutely do it again. My kids, the oldest being 8 when we finished RV'ing all hiked the Rockies, Big Bend, Appalachian Mountains, swam in the Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific, Rio Grande, Little Pigeon River, walked broadway in Nashville and the strip in Vegas.

Good luck and remember it will be hard at times but that's what makes it worth it.

Edit- get used to working the national parks reservation websites and state park sites. When we started we could pick and choose places a week before leaving. After Covid we have to get on after midnight 6 months out to grab a spot we want. Can be done but still a pain.

Thank you for the advice. I've learned with backpacking the Sierras that if you aren't planning 6 months out you're asking to be lucky.

Very much enjoying the stories. I am still on the fence of "do I want this headache?" and "this is gonna be awesome!"

Totally agree on the 5th wheel being much easier. When I bought a few years ago I picked up a big Ryobi bag full of tools and I make sure that I have them charged before I head out. Something is going to happen. It's not if you're going to have a flat tire, but when, so might as well be prepared. I keep one of these in my camper, and it turns a 1 hours flat tire into 15 minutes. Changed my tires from "china bombs" to Goodyear Endurance and make sure I have my tires at the correct pressure before every trip. Camping is fun, but if you don't plan ahead it can be a PITA.