Buyer's remorse??
Hi. I'm totally new to this site and RVING. Hubby is in the Navy and got orders to Virginia...we decided to take advantage of living on the other side of the country by traveling to all the neat plac...
Forum Discussion
If you have never towed anything before I would seriously consider going shorter and smaller for your first TT. We were experienced RVers with small, used TT's. They were less wide and less tall than what is offered now.
We tow with a 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 quad cab Cummins Turbo diesel, plenty of hauling power. That was never the issue. But when we "upgraded" to a new, larger longer TT (26ft.) we both HATED towing it.
We had gotten used to having a small, light and easy to maneuver TT that we could park in smaller areas. The new TT was much taller and wider, as well as long. It caught the wind from passing trucks (even with sway bars) and it just wasn't the same fun, easy towing we liked even though the truck "could" handle it easily.
I always tell newbies to really think about what they like to do. We like to travel long distances and stay only a few days, up to one week, in one place. Smaller is definitely better in this case. You don't need all the comforts and space of home.... you are camping and recreating. Not living! So what if it's a little crowded on rainy days? Our family would watch movies or work on a puzzle. Not anything we ever did at home(the puzzles lol). But in a small TT is was fun and new and our son loved this. Even if we all had to snuggle on the bed to watch a movie, again, it was cozy and for a short amount of time totally doable.
If you want to stay for weeks at a time in one area you might want something bigger. But for us, it was all about seeing the country and we just didn't spend a lot of time in the TT except to sleep and shower.
We sold our "dream" TT that I had spent 7 years dreaming about less than 2 years after we bought it and downsized to a truck camper. Which we LOVE. One kid, one dog and 2 adults.
Our campers:
1st - 1980's used 18 ft. camper - used it for 7 years
2nd - Brand new 2010 26ft TT
3rd - 1965 birch wood 18ft. vintage TT (loved it but it didn't have a shower or AC)
4th - truck camper that fits in a 6.5ft. truck bed - most fun one we have ever owned for our way of travel.
Even with our larger truck I would get something less than 20ft if we ever get another TT because we LOVE using state parks and boondocking (in Walmart lots while en-route to a destination, in friend's driveways, in parking lots at sporting events, museums.) for free camping. State/local parks especially are just not always suited to 30ft+. campers. I find the large ones so very limiting. Plus I like saving money on the trailer part and using it to spend on the traveling part! We parked that 18ft. vintage camper in downtown Syracuse one weekend just so we could eat at Dinosaur BBQ. We found 2 parking spaces at the end of the street that were empty and DH was able to pull right in! when we left he just backed up slightly and pulled right out again. No way would we be able to do that with the 26ft. TT. People looked at me like I was CRAZY when I fed quarters into 2 parking meters. Just my 2 cents.
Welcome to RV.net and don't hesitate to ask questions, everyone here is very nice.
We tow with a 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 quad cab Cummins Turbo diesel, plenty of hauling power. That was never the issue. But when we "upgraded" to a new, larger longer TT (26ft.) we both HATED towing it.
We had gotten used to having a small, light and easy to maneuver TT that we could park in smaller areas. The new TT was much taller and wider, as well as long. It caught the wind from passing trucks (even with sway bars) and it just wasn't the same fun, easy towing we liked even though the truck "could" handle it easily.
I always tell newbies to really think about what they like to do. We like to travel long distances and stay only a few days, up to one week, in one place. Smaller is definitely better in this case. You don't need all the comforts and space of home.... you are camping and recreating. Not living! So what if it's a little crowded on rainy days? Our family would watch movies or work on a puzzle. Not anything we ever did at home(the puzzles lol). But in a small TT is was fun and new and our son loved this. Even if we all had to snuggle on the bed to watch a movie, again, it was cozy and for a short amount of time totally doable.
If you want to stay for weeks at a time in one area you might want something bigger. But for us, it was all about seeing the country and we just didn't spend a lot of time in the TT except to sleep and shower.
We sold our "dream" TT that I had spent 7 years dreaming about less than 2 years after we bought it and downsized to a truck camper. Which we LOVE. One kid, one dog and 2 adults.
Our campers:
1st - 1980's used 18 ft. camper - used it for 7 years
2nd - Brand new 2010 26ft TT
3rd - 1965 birch wood 18ft. vintage TT (loved it but it didn't have a shower or AC)
4th - truck camper that fits in a 6.5ft. truck bed - most fun one we have ever owned for our way of travel.
Even with our larger truck I would get something less than 20ft if we ever get another TT because we LOVE using state parks and boondocking (in Walmart lots while en-route to a destination, in friend's driveways, in parking lots at sporting events, museums.) for free camping. State/local parks especially are just not always suited to 30ft+. campers. I find the large ones so very limiting. Plus I like saving money on the trailer part and using it to spend on the traveling part! We parked that 18ft. vintage camper in downtown Syracuse one weekend just so we could eat at Dinosaur BBQ. We found 2 parking spaces at the end of the street that were empty and DH was able to pull right in! when we left he just backed up slightly and pulled right out again. No way would we be able to do that with the 26ft. TT. People looked at me like I was CRAZY when I fed quarters into 2 parking meters. Just my 2 cents.
Welcome to RV.net and don't hesitate to ask questions, everyone here is very nice.
