DRV vs Excel

What do you all think of the new Excel feature with the entry door in the slideout?

drfife wrote:
We ordered an Excel Winslow in 2012 after looking at many different manufacturers.

We preferred the interior of the Excel. It was sleek and was not overly glitzy compared to others.

The vents in the stair risers are a kinda funky Excel idea. I don't care for the look of them.

New Horizon is another top quality camper we are considering. They give you the option of floor plan customization or you can use their stand plans.

drfife, which Excel model is that one? Also, the truck looks like a SRW - how's the stability when you pull the trailer?

Personally, I'm thinking of going DRW but I'm personally not crazy about it's extra width during grocery runs...

We ordered an Excel Winslow in 2012 after looking at many different manufacturers.

We preferred the interior of the Excel. It was sleek and was not overly glitzy compared to others.

They allowed many customizations. We picked all our fabrics, coverings and flooring. We omitted all the carpeting except where required in the slides. They made the trailer we wanted at a fair price.

The Excel frames are stout and the unit is well insulated for cold, and hot weather.

We have been very pleased with our trailer and would buy another.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Getting a trailer with a better quality frame means less chance of failure. I'm sure there are many people who have successfully lived full-timing on the trailers with lesser frames but the chance of experiencing frame related issues will be greater on those. The question for the individual is, how much are you willing to pay to get that additional safety margin.

Personally, something like Cedar Creek is more than enough if I only look at the surfaces and it costs significantly less than the likes of DRV, Excel and Lifestyle. But I'm hoping to use it for 8+ years and I'm looking forward to drive it all over North America hence at least in my case, the extra cost is partially justified.

kakampers wrote:
During our recent search DRV and Excel were serious considerations. Beautiful, well built units. However, after side by side comparison and specing out both units along with our current home, which we understand is at a different level, we could not, even with different construction methods and different frames, justify the more than $30k we would have paid over our Landmark. That also included the IS and disc brakes we added after market.

We also found the new, more modern interior of our Landmark more appealing. DRV and Excel although nice were too "behind the times" for our taste.

We put more than 80k miles on our Bighorn Lippert frame and the only problem was busted springs and torn spring hanger, which by the way, is the exact same hanger used on DRV...so Lippert isn't a concern to us.

We also have no issues with our insulating factor, although we never believe the "R" factor hype...we've been in temps pushing zero without any issues whatsoever and our furnace runs normally, cycling on and off as expected, only needing auxiliary heat source at the lowest temps

Everything considered, if budget were not an issue, as it is for the majority of us, we would have probably gone to a good custom builder.

HMMMM

Veebyes wrote:
The DRV 32TK3 was on our very short list. The only negative was who makes the frame. Who makes the Excel frame? What is the tankage? The DRV has 100gal fresh water making it a great 5er for dry camping in comfort & for a long time.

Do not worry about the frame. The frames are made to the spec that the RV mfg wants. Cheap RV equals cheap frame!

Acei wrote:
What is your fulltiming style? Do you move around a lot or do you tend to stay at the same place for a while?

kakampers wrote:
During our recent search DRV and Excel were serious considerations. Beautiful, well built units. However, after side by side comparison and specing out both units along with our current home, which we understand is at a different level, we could not, even with different construction methods and different frames, justify the more than $30k we would have paid over our Landmark. That also included the IS and disc brakes we added after market.

We also found the new, more modern interior of our Landmark more appealing. DRV and Excel although nice were too "behind the times" for our taste.

We put more than 80k miles on our Bighorn Lippert frame and the only problem was busted springs and torn spring hanger, which by the way, is the exact same hanger used on DRV...so Lippert isn't a concern to us.

We also have no issues with our insulating factor, although we never believe the "R" factor hype...we've been in temps pushing zero without any issues whatsoever and our furnace runs normally, cycling on and off as expected, only needing auxiliary heat source at the lowest temps

Everything considered, if budget were not an issue, as it is for the majority of us, we would have probably gone to a good custom builder.

We did move frequently prior to the jobs we now have. With the Bighorn we owned a business and traveled the rally and show circuits...we moved at least every week.

Now we are sitting months at a time, but as soon as we stop working this Landmark will be moving as much as the Bighorn did...thats's why we beefed up the suspension.

Acei wrote:

Veebyes wrote:
The DRV 32TK3 was on our very short list. The only negative was who makes the frame. Who makes the Excel frame? What is the tankage? The DRV has 100gal fresh water making it a great 5er for dry camping in comfort & for a long time.

I don't think DRV's frame spec is anywhere near the typical Lippert spec used by other manufacturers so I'm not concerned about this.

Excel makes their own frames.

In terms of holding tank capacities, DRV has the slight edge - 100/75/50g for the DRV, while Excel has 88/67/44g. Lifestyle is similar at 84/72/38g.

Found these numbers through this site.

I've selected Sierra 3500 dually as the vehicle, and important things are stuff like 4-season capable, holding tank sizes, length (shorter is better), weight (heavier is better), etc. It is interesting to see the trailers it comes up with as suggestions.

Must admit that when I did the DRV plant tour in 08 I did go outside & looked at the frames but at the time I was not aware of the Lippert reputation. I was aware that I had a Lippert framed Alpenlite which had reinforced spring hanger areas post build.