We looked HARD at the Camp Lite. In fact, we went to a show to buy one... but the dealer didn't bring any (and they had several on their lot).
Like you, I was VERY impressed with the AL construction and "woodlessness". I feel like it would offer some peace of mind to know that such a big investment wasn't slowly rotting away in my driveway.
The price for that peace of mind, tho, is the Spartan fitment of the Camp LIte. This actually appealed to me a bit - it felt more adventurous... more like "camping" in it. It seems like more thought went in to their design, too - floorplans aren't just a copy of every other TC. They are nice units - if I could have multiple TC's, one would be a Camp Lite.
We also looked HARD at the Palamino 8801. It's wood framed (as far as I know)... but it's "Lance-y": it's fitted out and looks and feels like a TC is "supposed to" according to the lemmings that are the RV industry.
We ended up with neither - again because the Palamino dealer didn't want to sell us one.
What we DID end up with is a Travel Lite. It's looks/ feels like the Palamino but was less expensive and we found a dealer who wanted to sell us one a few hours away. I did all the obsessive online research, then took my wife out to dealers and shows to check out TC's.
When she stepped into the Travel Lite, her first words, "THIS is OUR camper!"
... a big chunk of that is due to the "couch option" in the Travel Lite. She was 100% opposed to a dinette. It was the right call for us - we've been VERY happy with it and would make the same decision again.
