breeves2245 wrote:
Looking to buy a travel trailer and was thinking 16-18ft would be about right. Just me, so only need one bed.
Never stepped foot inside of a travel trailer so I had no idea how it "felt" inside in terms of roominess, etc. Went to Camping World at lunch today for a quick look see.
The 16/17/18 were fine but the 23ft felt exponentially larger and felt more livable.
I can figure which layout makes sense for me based on how I will be using it, but what I can't know is how much different does a 23ft 4,200lb trailer with twin axles tow vs a 17ft 3,000lb single axle. Have a 1/2 ton Silverado with towing package, so no concern there either way with 8,200 lbs towing capacity and 1,000 tongue weight.
I gravitate to the smaller ones because I envision it being so much more nimble to tow and get in/out of gas stations, etc.
If I had to buy today, it would be a 17ft Casita/Scamp/Escape. None of which were at Camping World.
Lots of great advice for you in this thread, but I will chime in with perhaps another consideration . . . i.e. for any given trip, how long you will be "living" in your rig? How you "felt" as you explored the interiors of the 16/17/18' TTs is only a hint of what it would be like to be traveling for an extended period of time. How long is that? Only you can answer that question.
Took us over a year of research back when we bought our 2016 Coachmen Freedom Express 192RBS (it's a tandem axle) for the wife and I and our dog (~46lbs). Each year we have towed only a little over 5,000 miles, consisting of a number of smaller scale ventures of only 3-4 nights and one larger scale trip annually that lasts as much as just over 3 weeks. Our first year we were up your way in the Ozarks (Devil's Den State Park south of Fayetteville and a private park in Eureka Springs). In that region you need the ability to maneuver in some tighter turns both in and out of parks, and our truck and tandem axle trailer were great. That trip lasted only a little over two 1/2 weeks via multiple parks in Oklahoma and Texas before getting back to the Houston area.
2017's longer trip was to the Black Hills/Mt. Rushmore area - just over 3 weeks on the road. And last year's longer trip was to the Midwest; i.e. Illinois, Indiana (Brown County State Park was spectacular!) and Ohio (Zanesville area). That trip was almost one month.
In each case we have felt comfortable and not come anywhere close to committing murder on these longer trips! We think we have found a happy balance between ability to maneuver and comfort while traveling. So think about how you will actually use your home on wheels while on the road. You might not need to be on the road more than a week or so. If that is the case, a smaller TT just might suit you fine.
