Advice for Newbie

Yes, just my own experience.

Rolling Rhoda, The cons you list are only for the particular hybrid you used right?
We have a 23b. We have a ton of storage Above the couch under the sink under the counter wardrobes and drawers on the right side a small tray across the length of each end and a pass thru outside under the dinette and I probably have forgotten a couple more.
I would like larger tanks and larger tires than this model has but other than that ,this is a pretty dam good design.

We didn't grow up camping. We tent camped twice with our kids' youth group, then rented a hybrid for a week. My 2 cents follows. Tent camping is not our thing. The pros of the hybrid - not sleeping on the ground, a warm shower and toilet on board, a kitchen, air conditioning. The cons - noise due to the canvas, woke up freezing but it was hot during the day, no place to store clothes (hate living out of a duffle bag), tiny vanity and no medicine cabinet make getting ready really cramped, tough preparing meals when your have to cover either the stove or sink for counter space, dinette and sofa too small/uncomfortable for sleeping.

For us, the point of an RV is that we could stock it once for the season and go. It was important that we have room to store clothing. The inlaws trailer we borrowed was only 3-4 feet longer. It gave us 18" of kitchen countertop, a foot wider bath vanity, a bathroom where we could use the toilet without hitting our heads and knees, a small slide out, and a larger dinette/table. We also had a bed we could walk around on three sides with cabinets above and on each side and small night stands. All these little things combined made for a more comfortable feeling stay. Plus, we could regulate temperature more easily and it was quieter. You may feel differently.

Good luck, and have fun!

there's quite a bit of misinformation about hybrids here. that's why i suggested you go to the Hybrid section here.

"I also was going to get a hybrid - don't know why, just liked them. But while shopping during the summer, I noticed a huge increase in the temps inside hybrids compared to fully enclosed. My inlaws have one and their AC runs constantly."

most hybrid owners use PopupGizmos or the generic version of solar blankets, on top of the canvas ends. this dramatically helps keep the tent ends cool in summer or warm in colder weather.
nearly all who use these and Reflectix in the tent windows, report of positive temp control results.

"Hybrids are another subject. One question - do you want to camp in bear country / the mountains? Some places require hard sided camper units only - no popups/ hybrids. Do your research."

this is one the most common misinformed statements. only ONE campground that i've been able to read about, has a permanent ban on soft-sided campers. that is Fishing Bridge CG in Yellowstone. all the other major campgrounds in the park, allow for soft-sided campers.
because of this one campground, many report that you can't camp in Yellowstone with a soft-sided camper. i've asked many times when statements like these are made. only one time did someone post another campground and its ban was NOT a permanent one.
also, a unique feature of hybrids is the ability to "turtle", meaning not putting the canvas ends out and sleeping on the dinette or sofa.
by doing this, hybrid owners CAN camp at Fishing Bridge.

we've camped many times in our popups and our hybrid, in many National Parks, including Yosemite, Glacier and Yellowstone and never were told we couldn't camp in any of their campgrounds.

here's the quote from NPS's website about camping in Yellowstone. notice that this is the only Yellowstone campground that has such a statement about soft-sided campers:

"Fishing Bridge RV Park is the only campground offering water, sewer, and electrical hookups-50 amp service; it is for hard-sided vehicles only (no tents or tent-trailers are allowed).."

I would really look around and find out what you want before biting on this 1st trailer. If you change your mind in a few years it's going to cost you much more.

We spent years researching, going to dealers, RV shows, etc. finding just what we wanted.

As mentioned earlier, it's not a bad idea to rent one just to feel it out.

powhatanone wrote:
Thanks all for your input. Gives me lots to think about. Pros and Cons to the hybrid. I like the idea of having the open ends fresh air in the evening but do understand the AC will probably run more often during the day particularly in the south where we live. New vs. used, good advice.

Thanks again! Great place to come for advice.

Look carefully at the windows and flow through possibilities of floor plans. Then when you look at the actual unit - open the windows yourself.

Our TT has a bed slide - with a window on each side near the head of the bed.

In 102 nights as campground hosts at Big Bend National Park Chisos Basin Campground this summer (Apr 27-Aug 8) we slept exactly three nights with the windows closed and the AC on.

Our previous trailer - a no-slide BH26 model - also had good airflow across the bed.

We also like sleeping with fresh air blowing. We just have to avoid those 100+ degree days in Texas.

jmtandem wrote:
RV's get small in inclement weather

Just had to comment about how true this statement is. WOW!!!

Thanks all for your input. Gives me lots to think about. Pros and Cons to the hybrid. I like the idea of having the open ends fresh air in the evening but do understand the AC will probably run more often during the day particularly in the south where we live. New vs. used, good advice.

Thanks again! Great place to come for advice.

A hybrid unit will work great for the type of camping you will be doing. We did it for a year and recently traded our Palomino in for a hard side tt. The only drawback that we found with our hybrid was the set up and break down times were eating into our short weekend camping time. Granted it only took us about 30 min to set up the bunk ends but it's also physical work that gets to be a chore when you are getting older. I'm going to miss our hybrid, but I'm also looking forward to a faster set up time in a bigger tt. Good luck on whatever you choose and Happy Camping!

Quoting from others:
Start used. Keep the price down to bare minimum. It is a lot easier to sell a used trailer loosing maybe a few hundred dollars in the process than trying to sell a nearly new one loosing thousands of dollars if your desires change. Which they likely will judging buy the quantity of decent uses ones on the market.

Again quoting:
This is really good advise when starting out. We found a floor plan we liked but saved a ton on our first RV because we went with a used one from a private owner.

Even though we were thrilled with it and thought we would probably keep it for several years, that didn't happen. In a year we traded it for a new bigger one.

The good thing was the dealer discounted the new unit plus allowed us more than we had paid for the used trade-in.

I would decide what you want to start with then locate any late model used ones. We used Craig's List to locate our used unit in a neighboring state.


This would be my advice also.
You can find dealer who give a warranty for nothing to be wrong with a used RV. I had a dealer let me take a travel trailer for the weekend once just to check it out. But most of the time the things that need warranty work show up in the beginning, once they are fixed your ok for a while.