TT's

1. Have you ever purchased a car "out of state". It is pretty much the same deal as far as service, and don't forget you will have to pay home state sales taxes, though many (or most) states have agreements so that you only pay the higher state sales tax of the two states.

Warranty issues - most RV dealers do not do a good job of working on warranty repairs for a model they sell purchased elsewhere. In general, a lot of people are unhappy with warranty repair. The dealer I purchased my TT from has seven outlets in Texas and the time's I've gone in, they have been very quick to work on mine.

Also remember a TT is not like an automobile. The basic frame and fittings are warrantied by the TT manufacturer. The slide mechanism is warrantied by the company which built the mechanism (often Lippert), the axles are warrantied by the axle mfr, the fridge, stove, furnace, water pump, water heater, microwave, television - are all warrantied by the different companies which manufactured them.

I once was in Florida in late Feb and the water pump was acting up. The company which built the pump would only authorize a diagnostic visit to one RV dealer in Fort Lauderdale. That dealer had a 2 to 3 month waiting list before I could pull the trailer on their lot. Then it would be at the end of the line of at least 100 other rigs before they could look at the trailer/ water pump. That would be another 2-4 months. If they found there was an issue, they would contact the MFR and see if they would authorize a repair - at least another month. For a less than 1 hour repair. 5 to 9 months wait time.

I paid a mobile RV service technician $200 to buy a new water pump and install it.

For things like hinges coming loose, screws coming out of fittings - buy a couple square head screwdrivers and take care of them yourself.

2. Maybe. Basically older campgrounds like many national parks and US Forest Service parks have not updated the roads and camping spots, so they do have length limits. Many newer or rehabbed parks can hold any size rig. Often it is not the length of the site, but the length of the rig that needs to be turned around trees, rocks and other obstacles. I have a 36' TT and a 22' long pickup to tow it. Seldom in the 46 states we have visited in that rig have I had to choose an alternate campground. But I now have a lot of experience towing and parking the rig, so I can get into places now that I could not have gotten into with my first trailer which was 10' shorter than this one.

Experience towing and parking the trailer is important.

every park is different. need to research where you want to go. my nearby national park (mt rainier) has a 27’ trailer limit for two of its major campgrounds and an 18’ limit for another. in doing my research i found 27’ would get me into 95% of the places I want to go, so that’s what I bought. i just took my TT to Mt rainier this weekend and 27’ fit well, snugly, but not tightly. in general i think the limits are accurate and would plan to adhere to them. obviously, the shorter the better, but we needed a bunk model and like our floorplan for an outdoor camper (it doesn’t have a sofa and wouldn’t be great as a full time trailer or extended indoor living in the snow, humidity, or rain). anything smaller and we would have had to give something up. plus we were set on a particular brand so we had only so many lengths to choose from.

1. Yes a local dealer "can" take care of warranty issues. But "will" he is a totally separate question. He may or may not, you should ask him. Many won't or will only do it if he has nothing else to work on that day.

2. There is always a length limit. Some it may be so astronomically high that it's not even a consideration. Some places the longer sites get reserved so fast that it's for all practical purposes it's impossible to get in. In general, a 19-foot TT will never have a problem getting a site (if the campground isn't booked up). The longer your TT, the less and less sites you will fit into (you can't put a 40-foot trailer on a site that is only 20-feet road to road). The longer you wait to reserve, the less and less likely you are to find a site to fit into.