Considerations for new RV purchase?

I wish my current trailer had power stabilizer jacks and a power awning. I guess I am lazy.

Intrepid_Family wrote:

kerrlakeRoo wrote:
Well for starters what brands are you looking at?
How many are you planning based on (2 kids may be gone)
How do you travel, what do you do?
Commercial resort camps or Boondocking?
You've been doing this for years, you know what are the deal killers for you, so what are the wishes, hopes and desires?

Well, so far, the two college kids still go with us when we do our one 'big' trip each year, and now the oldest has a girlfriend who might well come along next summer if she's still in the picture.

As of right now, we're almost 100% decided on the Sport Trek 327. It will hold everyone comfortably, even the girlfriend if she comes, and then the "kids" bedroom will become a seating area with table/mini living-room when we just have 2 with us.

I'm concerned that someone here said that the mattress upgrades aren't available, I've been lead to believe that they are. Really, "our" bed in that rig is okay, we've been in and laid down on it. It's the tiny/flimsy mattresses on the bunks that we'd prefer to upgrade. In our old bunkhouse, we'd just bought those extra foam mattress toppers like you can get at WalMart and cut them to size to put under the bunk mattresses, and that worked okay - we still have those cut-outs if needed. But I'd rather have better mattresses for them to begin with.

What do you do with the TV in the outdoor kitchen in the winter time? For that matter, what about the TV in the living area in the winter? We live in Iowa - it gets *cold* here and we do not have heated storage.

I'm reading a lot about tires - more technical than I can follow - but we do a lot of distance-travel. From Iowa to Tennessee to see family, Orlando to go to Disney, lots of places to follow kids' activities and spare ourselves hotel expenses - Branson, Mo., Oklahoma City, etc. Would a tire upgrade be helfpul/important to add to the durability/travel-ability?

This model has 3 slide-outs. When we go camping, I see lots of people with additional jacks under their slides - and lots of people without. Should we plan to buy/use these support jacks?

We only boondock to sleep long enough to get safely back on the road to get to our destination. We like the luxury/convenience of full hookups, but will do with electric and water alone if necessary. I only put a small amount of fresh water in the tank so the toilet can be used while we're doing the short-term boondock, but otherwise only travel 'dry'. I already own a gray water accessory tank to empty the gray if we end up somewhere that we don't have full hookups.

Our last RV purchase was a spur-of-the-moment, used vehicle. We were in the market for a Suburban, with the hopes of then buying an RV after we have the vehicle - and found a person who was selling the suburban and RV as a package deal. We've never been in a position to be able to shop for minute differences (3 way hide-a-bed sofa, jack-knife sofa, theater seating?) and now we're looking for pros/cons/input on how people made those sorts of decisions. I'm sure there are "bells and whistles" out there that we've never heard of. I don't want to miss out on an opportunity to for something that's really beneficial - and don't want to be conned into buying something that's unnecessary/worthless simply from my own ignorance.

You look to be travelling with a housefull.
You have the needed experience and have already done your homework thats apparent. The only concern I would have on the Sporttrek would be the NCC. the listing shows the UVW as 7750 and the hitch weight as 850 and a GVWR of 9600. But they list the NCC as only a little over 1000 lbs.
I assume the difference in UVW and GVWR is them allowing for propane tanks, propane, full FW tank, and battery. And so you end up with only 1050 lbs for cargo. Thats a light load for 6 or 7 peoples food, clothing and general supplies for a group that large.
Water tanks in that unit are somewhat small, but if you mostly stay in parks that shouldnt matter too much unless you cant get sewer, 32 gallon grey and black tanks wont last long with that many folks.

TV I dont think is a problem, I've read that most are ok to store down to 10 below F. (LCD could be an issue)

kerrlakeRoo wrote:
Well for starters what brands are you looking at?
How many are you planning based on (2 kids may be gone)
How do you travel, what do you do?
Commercial resort camps or Boondocking?
You've been doing this for years, you know what are the deal killers for you, so what are the wishes, hopes and desires?

Well, so far, the two college kids still go with us when we do our one 'big' trip each year, and now the oldest has a girlfriend who might well come along next summer if she's still in the picture.

As of right now, we're almost 100% decided on the Sport Trek 327. It will hold everyone comfortably, even the girlfriend if she comes, and then the "kids" bedroom will become a seating area with table/mini living-room when we just have 2 with us.

I'm concerned that someone here said that the mattress upgrades aren't available, I've been lead to believe that they are. Really, "our" bed in that rig is okay, we've been in and laid down on it. It's the tiny/flimsy mattresses on the bunks that we'd prefer to upgrade. In our old bunkhouse, we'd just bought those extra foam mattress toppers like you can get at WalMart and cut them to size to put under the bunk mattresses, and that worked okay - we still have those cut-outs if needed. But I'd rather have better mattresses for them to begin with.

What do you do with the TV in the outdoor kitchen in the winter time? For that matter, what about the TV in the living area in the winter? We live in Iowa - it gets *cold* here and we do not have heated storage.

I'm reading a lot about tires - more technical than I can follow - but we do a lot of distance-travel. From Iowa to Tennessee to see family, Orlando to go to Disney, lots of places to follow kids' activities and spare ourselves hotel expenses - Branson, Mo., Oklahoma City, etc. Would a tire upgrade be helfpul/important to add to the durability/travel-ability?

This model has 3 slide-outs. When we go camping, I see lots of people with additional jacks under their slides - and lots of people without. Should we plan to buy/use these support jacks?

We only boondock to sleep long enough to get safely back on the road to get to our destination. We like the luxury/convenience of full hookups, but will do with electric and water alone if necessary. I only put a small amount of fresh water in the tank so the toilet can be used while we're doing the short-term boondock, but otherwise only travel 'dry'. I already own a gray water accessory tank to empty the gray if we end up somewhere that we don't have full hookups.

Our last RV purchase was a spur-of-the-moment, used vehicle. We were in the market for a Suburban, with the hopes of then buying an RV after we have the vehicle - and found a person who was selling the suburban and RV as a package deal. We've never been in a position to be able to shop for minute differences (3 way hide-a-bed sofa, jack-knife sofa, theater seating?) and now we're looking for pros/cons/input on how people made those sorts of decisions. I'm sure there are "bells and whistles" out there that we've never heard of. I don't want to miss out on an opportunity to for something that's really beneficial - and don't want to be conned into buying something that's unnecessary/worthless simply from my own ignorance.

I bought a memory foam mattress from Sam's Club and used it to modify the length of the bed. The original short queen was, I think, 72" long and while there wasn't room to leave the foam mattress at 80", I cut it at 75 or 76" to extend the bed length a bit. It works great and is more comfortable than my air mattress at home.

So far I have not seen any RV manufacturer offer better mattresses as an upgrade. There is probably someone that does it but it must be rare. Unless you buy a higher end TT, just plan on upgrading it yourself.
One thing in that regard you may want to look for is a full size queen bed. some manufacutrers are installing them as they update floorplans. Norhtwood is one I know of for sure.
If you really want to buy a quality trailer, be prepared to pay for it.

We love our solar! Allows us to stay in National Park campgrounds that don't allow generators for a few days with no problem.

For me quality of build trumps all. Look at the fit and finish of the TT. Simple visual things like a sloppy chalking job or screws that are put in crooked may be a hint as to how the non- visible construction may be. Check the windows, make sure they side open easily. Check the doors, make sure they latch properly. Make sure your cabinet doors and draws work properly.

Most of the appliances are made by a couple of companies so IMO there's no big difference.

Well for starters what brands are you looking at?
How many are you planning based on (2 kids may be gone)
How do you travel, what do you do?
Commercial resort camps or Boondocking?
You've been doing this for years, you know what are the deal killers for you, so what are the wishes, hopes and desires?

Buy your mattress at a store. Better selection.

Avoid most trailers that are marketed as ultra lights