My wife and I have given this a lot of thought and we have decided to sell our Jayco 26BH for a smaller unit. I have a Tundra with the 5.7 so I have plenty of truck for any small unit we are looking at. During the school year we spend most weekends at Texas State parks so we have water/electric. But in the summertime we often spend up to 6 weeks traveling to other states and try to stay in small out of the way campsites with some light boondocking (forest service road camping and whatnot, nothing 4 wheel drive). There are 3 of us and we'd like a small bunkhouse. Currently we are looking at...Coachmen Clipper 18bh (and the bhs)Starcraft AR One Maxx 19BHLEWhat I don't like about my Jayco is the length. My main issue is I'm not sure if I'd rather have a narrower trailer with a slide, or the 8 foot without a slide. Does anyone have any experience with either of these models? Are there others I am overlooking? I have been inside both, and felt like the Starcraft was better built but that was just a brief walk through. Thanks for any insight you can give!

It's a very personal decision. We tried it.... it didn't work for us! Good Luck with your decision. memtb

Jayco makes some nice models in their small trailer line. We picked up a new 154BH and like it a lot. We use if for traveling not troubling. Simple and relatively inexpensive at $12,000.

Some folks will get two setups... One for the long haul trips and then a much smaller unit for the local camping trips off grid...My OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer is perfect for us to go to the local high country around here and get back off the Forest Service roads and enjoy the view or setup along side a creek somewhere and wake up to the fishing jumping in the creek...Both styles of camping has the good and bad...Being an avid Tent camper from the 50s and 60s I still just like to to get out and enjoy mother nature sometimes... Our OFF-ROAD camper is mostly just for sleeping off the ground... When the grandkids joins us they love sleeping in a tent or patio canopy we bring along with us... No complaints there haha...Roy Ken

I'm a fan of Jayco, but man they put some crazy small holding tanks in those. It just won't work for us. We've had 2 different pop ups and they were fun, but we are a hard sided family. When we want actual nature we go backpacking which we do a few times a year for several days at a time. WantsUnder 23 feet tip to tailminimum of 35 gallon fresh/gray tankbunkhousefront queendry bath

sherpaxc wrote:My wife and I have given this a lot of thought and we have decided to sell our Jayco 26BH for a smaller unit. There are 3 of us and we'd like a small bunkhouse. !Take a look a some of the smaller Lance trailers.

Downsizing trailers, need opinions | Good Sam Community

Lwiddis
Explorer II
Mar 21, 2017
"My main issue is I'm not sure if I'd rather have a narrower trailer with a slide, or the 8 foot without a slide."

Not with these models but I like my 7.5 foot width Winnie with a slide. Easier to see both driving and backing than 8 or 8.5 footers. Wouldn't want the current Winnie 7.0 footers however...with much smaller fresh water and holding tanks.
SoundGuy
Explorer
Mar 21, 2017
Back in 2006 we bought an RVision TrailCruiser hybrid that had no slide but was 8' wide. For whatever reason RVision that year also offered the exact same floorplan in another series that was only 7.5' wide and boy was that difference of just 6" ever noticeable. :E My suggestion - if you go with any trailer without a slide look for an 8' wide model and only consider any less than 8' wide if they do have a slide.

Since the Clipper is a Coachmen product you might want to consider a Coachmen Apex series instead ... a model such as the Apex 193BHS would seem to meet all your requirements in a trailer much more nicely appointed than that entry level Clipper.
MarkTwain
Explorer
Mar 21, 2017
sherpaxc wrote:
My wife and I have given this a lot of thought and we have decided to sell our Jayco 26BH for a smaller unit. There are 3 of us and we'd like a small bunkhouse. !

Take a look a some of the smaller Lance trailers.
sherpaxc
Explorer
Mar 21, 2017
I'm a fan of Jayco, but man they put some crazy small holding tanks in those. It just won't work for us. We've had 2 different pop ups and they were fun, but we are a hard sided family. When we want actual nature we go backpacking which we do a few times a year for several days at a time.
Wants
Under 23 feet tip to tail
minimum of 35 gallon fresh/gray tank
bunkhouse
front queen
dry bath
RoyB
Explorer II
Mar 21, 2017
Some folks will get two setups... One for the long haul trips and then a much smaller unit for the local camping trips off grid...

My OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer is perfect for us to go to the local high country around here and get back off the Forest Service roads and enjoy the view or setup along side a creek somewhere and wake up to the fishing jumping in the creek...

Both styles of camping has the good and bad...

Being an avid Tent camper from the 50s and 60s I still just like to to get out and enjoy mother nature sometimes... Our OFF-ROAD camper is mostly just for sleeping off the ground... When the grandkids joins us they love sleeping in a tent or patio canopy we bring along with us... No complaints there haha...

Roy Ken
TomG2
Explorer
Mar 21, 2017
Jayco makes some nice models in their small trailer line. We picked up a new 154BH and like it a lot. We use if for traveling not troubling. Simple and relatively inexpensive at $12,000.
memtb
Explorer
Mar 21, 2017
It's a very personal decision. We tried it.... it didn't work for us! Good Luck with your decision. memtb

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