Lance 1131 / 1191 w/ tent - pros/cons?
Hi all, I'm officially all over the map looking at truck campers. As much as I'd like to get one of the new multi-slide all hard sided TCs out there to sleep the 4 of us (Adventurer 116DS, Lance...
Forum Discussion
Hey there. I do have an 1191 and love it. The 1191 actually came out with the "LanceMax" series along with the 1181 and at least one other back in 06 (possibly 05 but I think 06). I think A year or later the 1131 came out with slight differences along with the tent bed option. Within 2 or so years they merged the 1131 and 1191 and the tent became an option on the 1191 at the time and it became maybe 6" longer. We had identified these two models as our dream camper at the time and would have bought it with the tent bed option had we bought one new. But we like you would not have been able to afford new anyway (combined with needing a much bigger truck) so when we found our rig for sale used (fresh off a one year 32,000 mile trip to South America) we snapped at it.
We found it to still be in great shape after that huge trip on a bruiser of a truck and figured it was very well battle tested and therefor a solid unit. We put another 400 nights in it before quitting our jobs and moving into it full time last August. We still love it.
There were a number of little things that irritated us (such as carpet around the toilet (how the heck do you keep THAT clean??? And the too-tight service bay...) but I have to give Lance credit in that most all of those little things were fixed or improved, especially by the time they merged the models....so I'd have to say/guess that the sweet spot for an 1191 like you are looking for would probably be between say 08 and when (gasp!) they discontinued the model completely. I'm sad about that because it was such a great model and layout for us and could be fully used with the slide in for stealth camping.
Storage is not as good as when you have no slide, but it is still pretty good for us. In our year you either got a huge closet in the cabover, or a big window. We would have wanted both and they did that later...a big closet and a small window so if storage is key you don't want the early years with a window and no closet. Instead you'd want a closet and no window and then you could add a small window like we did after the fact if you want to (we had Lance do it later.). The best combo again would be a later year where you got BOTH from the factory. Next, for max storage, either get one with no oven and a convection+microwave, or the oven but NO microwave. If you have both you lose the overhead storage. Or just pull the microwave out if you don't need it (or for that matter remove the oven like sleepy did and use that space for storage.
If the kids aren't with, or horrible weather, or for some other reason like a no soft sides restriction you can leave the tent closed and sleep one kid on the floor and one slightly diagonal on the bed. As the other poster notes above. You don't have to out it out. But in good weather, if we had it, my wife and I would probably open it up, unzip all the windows and sleep out there. It also would have been great for our two big dogs. I believe there is even heat ducts to the tent area. The flip side is I would want to inspect the tent itself to make sure it is in good shape. I do not know if they suffer a lot of wear and tear or if they ever leak, but having grown up using tent trailers in all sorts of weather they are actually pretty darn functional and with a good system of closing it up and wiping it down with rags etc we could setup and year down on the rain or damp pretty well.
Storage for us doesn't matter much because we have a flat bed with boxes. If you are looking at a newer DRW truck, you might think about a larger 450/550 series truck if possible for extra capacity and safety leaving you options for flatbed or utility bed type truck and now you have the storage you need.
I've had this reply open awhile and it is on a cell phone so I may have missed some things I meant to say, but the bottom line is the 1191 and 1131 are two of my most favorite models from any manufacturer I have seen in the decade since I've been reading tv.net and looking at new campers at RV shows etc. It is just about perfect for us!
BT
We found it to still be in great shape after that huge trip on a bruiser of a truck and figured it was very well battle tested and therefor a solid unit. We put another 400 nights in it before quitting our jobs and moving into it full time last August. We still love it.
There were a number of little things that irritated us (such as carpet around the toilet (how the heck do you keep THAT clean??? And the too-tight service bay...) but I have to give Lance credit in that most all of those little things were fixed or improved, especially by the time they merged the models....so I'd have to say/guess that the sweet spot for an 1191 like you are looking for would probably be between say 08 and when (gasp!) they discontinued the model completely. I'm sad about that because it was such a great model and layout for us and could be fully used with the slide in for stealth camping.
Storage is not as good as when you have no slide, but it is still pretty good for us. In our year you either got a huge closet in the cabover, or a big window. We would have wanted both and they did that later...a big closet and a small window so if storage is key you don't want the early years with a window and no closet. Instead you'd want a closet and no window and then you could add a small window like we did after the fact if you want to (we had Lance do it later.). The best combo again would be a later year where you got BOTH from the factory. Next, for max storage, either get one with no oven and a convection+microwave, or the oven but NO microwave. If you have both you lose the overhead storage. Or just pull the microwave out if you don't need it (or for that matter remove the oven like sleepy did and use that space for storage.
If the kids aren't with, or horrible weather, or for some other reason like a no soft sides restriction you can leave the tent closed and sleep one kid on the floor and one slightly diagonal on the bed. As the other poster notes above. You don't have to out it out. But in good weather, if we had it, my wife and I would probably open it up, unzip all the windows and sleep out there. It also would have been great for our two big dogs. I believe there is even heat ducts to the tent area. The flip side is I would want to inspect the tent itself to make sure it is in good shape. I do not know if they suffer a lot of wear and tear or if they ever leak, but having grown up using tent trailers in all sorts of weather they are actually pretty darn functional and with a good system of closing it up and wiping it down with rags etc we could setup and year down on the rain or damp pretty well.
Storage for us doesn't matter much because we have a flat bed with boxes. If you are looking at a newer DRW truck, you might think about a larger 450/550 series truck if possible for extra capacity and safety leaving you options for flatbed or utility bed type truck and now you have the storage you need.
I've had this reply open awhile and it is on a cell phone so I may have missed some things I meant to say, but the bottom line is the 1191 and 1131 are two of my most favorite models from any manufacturer I have seen in the decade since I've been reading tv.net and looking at new campers at RV shows etc. It is just about perfect for us!
BT
