Campers 101

[killianak9]

I would avoid toyhaulers altogether. I don't think Forest River is any worse or better than any others. The manufacturers all have low end and high end units. A friend in the RV biz has a Forest River Cardinal if that tells you anything. He tells me that the highest warranty claims on toyhaulers prize seems to go to Keystone's Fuzion.

We have a Keystone Cougar and except for an issue with the (Lippert) frame in the front I repaired, and the recalled axles replaced under warranty, it's been a good rig even with those issues. I did replace the crappy drawer slides on a few of the larger drawers with ball bearing slides, but it has otherwise held up good. All RV's are a maintenance pit. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

Agree with brutal a 100%. Every make has their issues (high and low end units). We bought our first New Forest River Wildcat 323Qb 5th wheel last year from RVWholesaler in Ohio. Had it for ten months and so far the only issue was the fan on our AC fan got stuck and the motor wouldnt kick it over. Removed the cover, have it a little push and it turned freely. Before that we ownd a Jayco hybrid 23J (bought used from Ketelson) and never had a single issue! Those are the only two brands I have own/own. As said before, Do your research at the dealer and get what your tow vehicle can handle and comes close to your needs. Almost never going to have that "perfect" unit but can get damn close.Sniper and Kazoo's advise are dead on. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Dave_L]

Yeah, I think I'm going to end up with a pop-up for now. I'm not in any rush so I can be picky and find one that has been well kept/maintained. I just can't afford to buy a truck, camper, etc at this point. I need to baby step my way into trailers. A lot of good information in here though. Thanks everyone! A pop up will be leaps and bounds better than tent camping and for how often I'll use it, I think it'll do the trick for now. Also let me get a feel for how I like dealing with a trailer (storage, maintenence) for a smaller investment cost.

[Holger Danske]

Heres my advice. Campers are money pits. So far this year mine needed the roof sealed, four new tires, and a new charge controller. Will take it out only 3 times this year. You can travel and get a lot of nice hotel rooms for the price of a camper.

[sniper7]

But they also don't let you have fires right outside your hotel room, and you can't park a hotel room in the middle or a Forrest.

yes, it will cost you some money, but for the experience it is worth it IMO.

[Irving]

I plan to do what Colorado_Outback did with an in-bed camper on a trailer.

[jerrymrc]

But they also don't let you have fires right outside your hotel room, and you can't park a hotel room in the middle or a Forrest.

yes, it will cost you some money, but for the experience it is worth it IMO.

I will agree. The only reason I sold mine was the nice place in the middle of nowhere I could not camp in. I love solitude and the late season time spent at BCGC was priceless. I had mine for 7 years and it was 6 when I bought it. A good one is worth it. I paid $6k and sold it for $4k. The $2k difference for the 7 years it gave me good times= priceless.

And mine was never a money pit. Spent all of $700 for tires and repairs during it's time with me. Roof was still good 13 years later.

[Great-Kazoo]

Heres my advice. Campers are money pits. So far this year mine needed the roof sealed, four new tires, and a new charge controller. Will take it out only 3 times this year. You can travel and get a lot of nice hotel rooms for the price of a camper.

Maintenance, helps prevent mechanical failures, before they begin. Nothing personal, unless the leak was caused by a falling object or vermin damage, it's easy to spot needed repairs, before it gets out of hand. Tires, that's a basic upkeep item, controller, those can irritate you when they crap out.

[a98kdoc]

Heres my advice. Campers are money pits. So far this year mine needed the roof sealed, four new tires, and a new charge controller. Will take it out only 3 times this year. You can travel and get a lot of nice hotel rooms for the price of a camper.

One way around this is to rent one for just the time you use it you can save 10Mo of payments.
Or buy used put up with old save a LOT$$$

[ruthabagah]

Yeah, I think I'm going to end up with a pop-up for now. I'm not in any rush so I can be picky and find one that has been well kept/maintained. I just can't afford to buy a truck, camper, etc at this point. I need to baby step my way into trailers. A lot of good information in here though. Thanks everyone! A pop up will be leaps and bounds better than tent camping and for how often I'll use it, I think it'll do the trick for now. Also let me get a feel for how I like dealing with a trailer (storage, maintenence) for a smaller investment cost.

A good in-between choice would be a hybrid camper: still light, but hard sided in the middle, with plenty of room inside. A 17ft should be around 3000lbs, a 19/20ft around 3600. Add food, water and beer, and you should be around 4000lbs.

I have owned 3 of them over the years (2 new, one used) and they are very easy to resell if times are tough or just want to change (high demand for hybrids), easy to maintain and tow.

Current setup

[MED]

Yeah, I think I'm going to end up with a pop-up for now. I'm not in any rush so I can be picky and find one that has been well kept/maintained. I just can't afford to buy a truck, camper, etc at this point. I need to baby step my way into trailers. A lot of good information in here though. Thanks everyone! A pop up will be leaps and bounds better than tent camping and for how often I'll use it, I think it'll do the trick for now. Also let me get a feel for how I like dealing with a trailer (storage, maintenence) for a smaller investment cost.

I like my popup a lot. I can take it into the back country up some pretty good trails before pulling off to find a camping spot. Link to thread on my last trip. There are tradeoffs on all of them. I like the popup because it is small and I can take it up some pretty rocky trails. I could care less about the heat or anything else because I am fine with a tent. I run the heat before I go to bed and when I get up otherwise I just leave it off. It is nice to have running water, a sink, and a stove. It is also nice to have comfortable beds. I don't care about the bathroom or a shower; never had them before when tent camping. I also don't care about security; never had locks on my tent. Although, I wish that I had an off-road axle. This is important to consider with these; I can fabricate what I want, but others may need to look at popups that are built for trail riding. I plan to either put an off-road axle under the pup-up or I will build a trailer frame with ATV storage in front and tandom off-road axles and mount the popup on the back half of the new trailer frame. I haven't decided and I am not in a hurry because I can put two ATVs on the back of my truck.

Mine is a '97 Viking and the inside still looks like new; I paid $2,500 for it four years ago. I still use a tent if 4-wheeling is the main purpose of the trip. It was a relatively small investment, and I don't mind if it gets banged around. It is nice to be able to maintain it myself. If something breaks, I just fix it; not a big deal.

The larger travel trailers are nice in that you have everything enclosed as well as great storage. However, they are more limiting in both the tow rig as well as the trails. For camp grounds I would use a travel trailer. For mountain camping, I think a popup configured as an adventure trailer is more to my liking. Since, you have a truck, you should have plenty of room for storage unless you put an ATV in it. A slide-in camper is nice too because you can pull a utility trailer. However, I purchased my popup before my divorce and needed the space (I think my pop-up can sleep like 8 or 9 people). As soon as I can afford land somewhere in Wyoming, I am going to get a large 5th wheel, but that will be to live in while I build the cabin. Whatever you do, buy one that is maintained but fully depreciated because they are horrible investments.