Looking to buy trailer - help me not screw up!

Travel4Life wrote:

What easy mistakes should I avoid?

Listening to about half the advice you get on online forums like this. Trouble is, which half. Throw out the most extreme for starters. Disregard the "My way or the highway" crowd.

Check out brand specific forums and look for common complaints and problems. Stay under all tow vehicle ratings. Visit the factory, if that is practical. Shop, shop, shop, there are huge difference's in RV prices out there.

First, sit in the trailer at the dealer and imagine a full day there. Is there enough room for everyone to not be up each other's noses? Is there enough storage? When the kids go to bed, can you still use the trailer - have a drink, read a book, maybe watch TV without waking them up? Sounds silly, but some bunkhouses have doors that close and some have curtains - big difference.

Are there AC ducts in every room? One TT I had didn't have one in the bathroom and it got very warm in there.

Make sure that all the connections, valves, etc are easily accessible when the trailer is fully deployed (slides out, etc). One of mine had the tank valve handles UNDER the slides.. Little things like that get old VERY quickly.

A backup camera is a very wise investment - not just for backing up, but for ensuring that lane changes are safely made.

A ladder to get on the roof is very handy.

No matter how much storage you have, space will be at a premium. Anything that saves space is worth considering, from the number of tools you carry (and you WILL need tools!) to the length of hoses and how many kids scooters and toys you bring.

Get an Electrical Management System (I recommend Progressive Industries) and a water pressure regulator. The EMS is pricey, but less pricey than a new AC if the power fluctuates and kills it. The water pressure regulator is cheap.

When towing, go slower than normal and leave lots of room in front of you. Towing a trailer requires extra vigilance because there much less margin for error.

We have a rule for the kids - when camping, no electronics except for right before bed and right before breakfast, or when it's raining. They go outside and PLAY! We also keep a lot of movies on board for rainy days and late evenings when we are camping with friends. The kids watch a movie before bedtime at one trailer while the adults socialize outside.

Splurge on the items that make camping easier - whatever that means to you. For me, an electric awning is SOOO much nicer than a manual awning. I have a bit for my drill that fits the stablizer jacks, making them easy to lower and raise versus the lug-wrench hour-long affair. The ice machine eliminates the need to (have to go) buy ice, and it's faster and easier that doing it in the freezer. Andersen Levelers make leveling easy. And if I didn't have an electric tongue jack, my first tow would likely have been my last.

The argument over whether or not an SUV is capable of towing a trailer rages on... But from my experience, it's less about towing capability and more about towing SAFETY, and wheelbase (in my case) matters. The difference between towing with my Jeep Commander and my Silverado 2500 is literally night and day. With the Jeep, the drive scared me to death and had me stressed and aggravated on arrival. With the Silverado, I barely know the TT is back there. I arrive stress-free and ready to enjoy myself versus looking up the nearest therapist in the Yellow Pages.

Lastly:

Read these forums - a lot - you will learn a metric ton of knowledge here that you likely will NOT gain through experience - certainly not the painless kind, anyway. This forum has saved my bacon numerous times and given me great ideas for improvements to the trailer and just better ways of doing things.

With four kids, floor plan is going to be especially important - a kitchen suitable for cooking for the family, sleeping space and just general usable space.

As far as build quality, you can definitely rank some units above others. But, with anything mechanical, you will have some issues. Whether they become merely an inconvenience or a full-blown nightmare is largely a function of your dealer's level of customer service. Scrutinize the dealer quality as rigorously as the TT itself.

Lynnmor wrote:
Quality is poor across the industry, all you can hope for is that they threw it together with materials that are better than the bare minimum.

Materials used are pretty generic across the industry, it's the "throwing together" that can vary from one manufacturer to another. Based on my own experience in owning a number of trailers all from different manufacturers, whether you get a good one or one fraught with problems is as much luck as anything else ... sometimes you win, sometimes you lose no matter how careful you think you are during the selection process. More important IMO is having a dealer's service department you can rely on when problems do arise.

After deciding the size of trailer you need, look for the highest NCC (net carrying capacity). Many manufacturers use the bare minimum axles, brakes, tires and axles. Don't look at the pretty stuff first, start at the ground a work your way up. Quality is poor across the industry, all you can hope for is that they threw it together with materials that are better than the bare minimum.

Look over the specs carefully. I've seen TT's with holding tanks that if FULL would put the TT over GVWR. There's no point having holding tanks that you can't use safely. I would recommend figuring out how much cargo capacity remains if all tanks are full.

Also take 'specs subject to change' seriously. My TT specs said it had a 12 gallon black tank, the tank itself had 10gallon embossed on it. I found out the manufacturer de-rated it to 7.5 later, but what it actually held was 6 gallons on a good day.. and that included 3' of 3" pipe!

IMO kids are going to eventually want their own space, consider tents if possible.

Take your time! Learn about what all the weights mean for both TT and TV, it'll be a process exploring what's available. In the end the more you understand, the better you'll be able to make educated decisions.

pay attention to payload more so than towing capacity. be prepared to take 2 vehicles or go to a 1ton van

Travel4Life wrote:
What easy mistakes should I avoid?

Bumpyroad wrote:
avoid a rubber roof.

Although you may have some personal foundation for your dislike of EPDM rubber roof membrane it's a bit silly to warn someone else to "avoid" it since the vast majority of recreational vehicle roof membranes these days are in fact EPDM rubber. Do that and one would instantly and vastly reduce potential make / models from consideration based on that limitation alone. :R Fact is, there are millions of RVs with rubber roofs in use every day, year after year, with no issues at all, the key being regular inspection and maintenance as required. Between EPDM or TPO vinyl I'd prefer the latter myself having previously owned a KZ Spree with one but the roof type is nevertheless the last thing on my list of considerations when choosing just which trailer to buy. Neither should the OP let this dictate which trailer he should buy. :)

Travel4Life wrote:

What easy mistakes should I avoid?

avoid a rubber roof.
bumpy

Worst mistake would be to buy the TV based on the tow capacity. Payload is the more important number - you should learn more about tow vehicle capacities.