New guy, quality question

I have worked on both and I would buy a keystone or cougar over a forest river any day of the week.

ScottG wrote:
Lee, where do you plan on camping in our fair state? Do you plan on going over the mountains often?

As far as quality is concerned all of those are fairly equal so if you like one of those then any is as good as the other.
I agree with DFM that AF is probably better quality but only marginally so, and an AF will cost quite a bit more too. Worth it if you can get a good deal.

Scott

Most of my camping is on the coast, I'll only travel across the passes 2 or 3 times a year.

LeeMajors wrote:
.....
Forest River SolAire 7
Keystone Passport
Keystone Bullet
Forest River Surveyor

I'm trying to stay under 6000# (most of these are 5000# or under dry)

My question is, which of these are of higher quality build? I'm starting to lean away from the passports as they seem to have really low cargo weight ratings, which seems to me means that the suspension/framework isn't the best.

All of your post seems to ask about capability, although your stated question is about quality. These are two different things.

Regarding quality, the ones listed are all the same - RV industry grade. As for the correlation between low CCC and quality , you can't say because the CCC is "low"its because of poor quality components.They can take the best quality components of lower capacity and have both.

Now is the RV show season, I suggest you go to some of these shows and judge fit and finish for yourself. Fit and finish are good indicators of initial quality, and how the trailer holds up over time is the rest of the equation.

Lee, where do you plan on camping in our fair state? Do you plan on going over the mountains often?

As far as quality is concerned all of those are fairly equal so if you like one of those then any is as good as the other.
I agree with DFM that AF is probably better quality but only marginally so, and an AF will cost quite a bit more too. Worth it if you can get a good deal.

Scott

Have You looked at any of the Arctic fox or Outdoors RV products? They are built in Oregon and I think are better quality product than the manufacturers you mentioned. My next RV will probably be from Outdoors RV.

I realize I'll never pull a dry trailer. That's why I'm not considering anything over 6000#, and most of them are under 5000#, which leaves me close to 4000# for fuel, water, passengers, gear, etc. I'll never actually carry that much, we're used to going light, having tent camped so much (we once did a week with me, wife, and kids in a honda civic, from Tacoma WA to Yellowstone and back) We've always been minimalists until now.

Any insight on quality of those travel trailers would be appreciated.

Most any of those will make it really difficult to stay under your maximum towing rating. Remember and this has been hammered home a lot. NO ONE will ever tow a "dry" trailer/ Look at the trailers GVWR instead. You may never see the GVWR but any under that number will be a blessing. Next thing you have to understand, towing rating is based on a totally stripped truck with 1/4 tank of fuel and one 150 pound driver. So in the real world, you need to load up everything you want to take camping with you and go to the scales. Then find from Toyota the vehicles GCWR, and subtract your scaled weight from the GCWR. That will give you the maximum weight you should consider towing. DD and SIL have a Tundra with the big motor. And it is a nice truck, but when loaded it is going to be hard pressed to tow much over 5000 pounds loaded ready to go. Your small motored truck is going to be a struggle at 5000 pounds loaded with much over a single driver.