Looking to buy a ightweight, modest travel trailer
Looking to get my first trailer. I have two kids, and none of us want to share a bed so it needs to have three separate sleeping places. I am super lazy, so would prefer those sleeping places be permanent-beds, because I know that once turned into a bed at a campground, that is how it will stay until we get home. I've got a 5000lb tow capacity (2014 Nissan Pathfinder 4WD), so don't want to go much over 3500lb GVWR. I realize that most people want a larger trailer after a while, but given that my kids will grow up and likely stop camping with me, I'm more likely to downsize in the future.
It seems like there are a few models with very similar floor plans, bunk beds and a queen... Jayco (174bh... previously 184bh?), Coachmen Clipper 17bh, Coachmen Apex Nano 185bh, a couple of others, too (I found one with a slideout, but still sub-3500lbs gross, but now I can't find it) then maybe a Forest River RP-172 and I don't know what else to consider.
I'm such a newbie I can barely differentiate any of these. I want to keep it around the $15k range, and I know I'll need to get things that don't come with them, like sway bars, weight distribution hitch, bits and whatnot that I didn't know I needed, other things I'll think I need that are totally useless, etc etc.
I'm open to all sorts of advice (though telling me I need a bigger and better tow vehicle has to fall on deaf ears, because reality; telling me I have to get a pop-up will make me cry). My current obsession is about how to choose among the available options, and whether any are a particularly poor choice.
It seems like there are a few models with very similar floor plans, bunk beds and a queen... Jayco (174bh... previously 184bh?), Coachmen Clipper 17bh, Coachmen Apex Nano 185bh, a couple of others, too (I found one with a slideout, but still sub-3500lbs gross, but now I can't find it) then maybe a Forest River RP-172 and I don't know what else to consider.
I'm such a newbie I can barely differentiate any of these. I want to keep it around the $15k range, and I know I'll need to get things that don't come with them, like sway bars, weight distribution hitch, bits and whatnot that I didn't know I needed, other things I'll think I need that are totally useless, etc etc.
I'm open to all sorts of advice (though telling me I need a bigger and better tow vehicle has to fall on deaf ears, because reality; telling me I have to get a pop-up will make me cry). My current obsession is about how to choose among the available options, and whether any are a particularly poor choice.
