How Long Should Our Travel Trailer Be?

I also think the OP needs to just get out and look at different unit until they find a floor plan / features that fit their needs.

Our TT has 2 freestanding lounge chairs that stow in one slide during travel. If you got rid of those, there would be a perfect spot for a desk.

davidshq wrote:
How Long Should Our Travel Trailer Be?

Well, if you want to lie down it will need to be at least equal to your height either in width or length. :B

Seriously, no one can answer this for you. You need to wear out some shoe leather and look at what is available and will meet your needs.

Longer gives more room inside, but is harder to get into smaller campsites.

My Aliner is only 10' long and works great. There are also 40' long trailers.

OTOH.....we started with a HTT, a ROO 23SS. Box was 20'+ a smidge, bumper to ball about 24'. Loved it for 7 years and with just the two of us most of the time, we were plenty good for space. With a HTT, the beds fold out of the ends, somewhat like a PUP, so you do end up with more living space not taken up by beds. In May of '13 we moved to a Rockwood Ultra Lite 2604. It actually is 26'4" box and right at 30' bumper to ball. It feels huge to us....still after 2 seasons, we have more than enough room. Personal opinion is that more than size, you need to consider what you actually NEED in this trailer. I was also thinking a toy hauler. You can find some smaller size - mid 20'? - and set up whatever you need in the garage area + still having a bed and dinette. May or may not have a sofa, likely not in the smaller size. I've also seen folks that had no toys at all, but set up the garage area to be more of an indoor, screened porch area. You can get screens that have an opening to fit the rear and even if it's pouring down rain, you can feel like you're sitting outside, but stay dry. Something to consider. A desk and chair + whatever should fit easily in that space. You don't necessarily need to go 30' box to have the space you need.

I would say find the largest RV Dealer and/or RV Show in your area (you already missed the Hershey show for this year) and go looking at different floor plans. Actually walking into the trailer tells you much more than looking at a diagram. When looking at length of a travel trailer you need to think about maneuverability. I have a 38 ft 5th wheel and a lot of backing experience. And it can be tight in some of the local campgrounds. Remember with the 5th wheel some of that length is over the truck. With the travel trailer it is all behind the truck. Personally if I was looking at my first travel trailer with limited towing experience, I would not go over 30 feet and would prefer something around 25 feet.

That said, buy enough truck that if you do later decide you need a larger trailer and now have experience pulling and backing to get one, you don't need a new truck.

You will be getting up to a pretty large trailer if you want one that leaves enough empty space for a four-foot desk. It also might have a lot of furnishing you don't want or need. RVs are built with all of the space against walls used by some furnishing, and to create open space they use slideouts, putting the space in the middle of the room.

I suggest you look at RV layouts with the idea of what size has the furnishings you want, and another piece you don't want, that you can sacrifice to build a desk into the space. If I finally decide to full-time, my jackknife sofa will be coming out to install a workspace. Sofa is in an 8-foot, 30" deep slideout, so it would be room for a 2x7 desk, at least.

There are floor plans that include desk space, with a shallow built-in desk. My motorhome put a 18x30 inch desk/vanity in the bedrrom, and I've seen a larger desk inthe living room of an Airstream TT in the 26 to 32 foot range. Probably not as long as 4 feet, however.

Depending on budget, there are high-end manufacturers that custom build towable RVs, just as there are custom builders for motorhomes (Sportmobile, Winnebago Specialty Vehicles). A lot of custom builds are to your purpose, creating an office/workplace combined with a living space, or sometimes just the mobile office.

In towables, also look at toy-haulers. These often have a compact living area up front, garage and some convertable living space in the back. That can be as small as what is needed to haul a couple dirt bikes, on up to enough to carry a small car. I've watched a 34 Ford cabriolet roll out of a fifth wheel toy hauler.

I'm thinking replacing the dinette is a definite option - we could use the sit/stand desk as a table if needed, especially since there is only two of us.

We haven't purchased a vehicle yet, so that is why I've been specking out the TT first, so we can choose what we want and then get the appropriate vehicle. :)

Dave

How much weight can your vehicle tow?

That will be the size of trailer you want to look at.

Then within those that your vehicle can tow.....find the floorplan you like

One option may be to sacrifice the couch or dinette and replace it with your desk.

The TT in my sig is 26-1/2' ball to bumper. I wanted it under 30' so I could get it into some of our favorite sites. DW & I have spent 2 weeks in it at a time and it was adequate for us. YMMV.

ScottG wrote:
Rather than be concerned about some arbitrary length number, why not just look at some and figure out what you need in a trailer. That will point you towards a necessary size.

That's what I'd do too. don't be concerned about "getting a certain length"

Go to a dealer and look at various RVs. How long do you plan to be out using it during a long trip?

What's your tow rig?

Are you willing to remodel in order to accommodate the desk?? I ripped out my bench dinette and this was the space left..



I put the benches end to end to get this because I didn't want the dinette anymore.



But, had I wanted to put a desk in it's place, that would have worked too.. ;)

This is only a 22' total length TT (19' actual camper size) and weighs #5000..

As has been already said.. You need to determine what other features you require for your "camping" experience.. :)

When it rains, I put out the awning and setup the propane fire pit and enjoy... If it's windy and cold and raining... Well, we get in the truck and go explore the local town or civilization.. We don't do much boondocking, so we are usually pretty close to some kind of small town.. :)

Good luck with the search.. As there is no answer WE can give you because we all have different needs and wants too..

Mitch