Quad Bunkhouse TT w/ No Slide

Welcome to the Forum...
4 kids under seven. Total of 6 people.
Get one with a slide...

(just wondering - why no slide?)
Anyway, good luck with your search.

Understand not wanting a slide. I really didn't want one either. But you wish list is hard with out one. Jayco has a floorplan with bunks, but not quads. Apex has one with quads but with a smal slide. 5290 dry,
My Apex has 2 full beds for bunks, sleep 4 easily back there, 10 all together. but it too has a small slide, and by small, I mean it does not slide out but 18 inches. You can use the TT with the slide in, and still use the TT as you would with the slide, out. 4811lbs dry. Your Expe will tow it easily. IF it has the 5.4. I know that because we towed our heavier trailer with a 2002 Expe, with a shorter WB than you have with the EL. It towed our 6000lb TT great.

With that many people you need a slide! otherwise you will be bumping into each other trying to move around!

A slide you will want!

Thanks for the opinions so far. My concerns about a slide:

-leaks
-weaker frame (we will be taking this on some rough roads and I worry about it flexing, like logging roads...)
-some places we take it will not have the width to open it
-maintenance
-not being able to close it if it were to break while we are in the middle of no-where in CO.

Not sure if these concerns are valid or not. This TT will be our first.

As for our Exp, it is a 2012 w/ the 5.4 and the HD towing package.

Also, any opinions on brands and quality? I want something that will last. I prefer longevity over lighter and easier to pull.

I would suggest you try to keep it under 30' too. We had an Expedition and our current TT wagged the dog although it pulled the weight (8k loaded) just fine.

New or used? We have a 2006 Aerolite 26QS with quad bunks and rear queen bed slide. It slides straight out the back, no width issues. The GVWR is 6000 lbs.

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notamos wrote:
My family is running into a brick wall in our search for a TT. We have 4 kids under 7 and my wife/me. We are looking for 4 bunks, something where we don't have to use the couch/table for beds and no slide (preferably).

We are towing with a Ford Expedition EL, 4WD, etc. Probably 6500lbs max.

The only thing I've found so far that comes close is a Prowler Lynx 30 LX. It would be perfect if it didn't have the slide.

Thoughts?

A couple of thoughts: 1)Run the vin on your Expedition at a dealer or thru an online database to verify which tow package you have. If you have the HD tow package (not the standard) your max capacity may be around 8900. You would do well to leave yourself a little room on that. 2) With a family the size of yours, I would re-consider the slide. They have been around for a long time and are generally trouble free. There are ways to manually retract them in an emergency and that varies by manufacturer. 3) There are some with the floor plan you are looking for, hopefully in the size and weight you need. Here is one that may be close:
http://heartlandrvs.com/index.php?p=35&c=lightweight&sc=NTTT&i=NT+31QBS&view=floorplans&fcmd=showfplan

notamos wrote:
Thanks for the opinions so far. My concerns about a slide:

-leaks
-weaker frame (we will be taking this on some rough roads and I worry about it flexing, like logging roads...)
-some places we take it will not have the width to open it
-maintenance
-not being able to close it if it were to break while we are in the middle of no-where in CO.

Not sure if these concerns are valid or not. This TT will be our first.

As for our Exp, it is a 2012 w/ the 5.4 and the HD towing package.

Also, any opinions on brands and quality? I want something that will last. I prefer longevity over lighter and easier to pull.

Don't confuse lite weight with flimsy. Many new TT are lighter, and stonger. Many new TT are built using Azdel, instead of lamanated wood. It is stronger, lighter, and will never rot. My new TT is 4 feet longer, and 100lb LIGHTER than my old one. It has a caged aluminum framed Roof, and floor. Has a slide, which you can leave in if there is not room to put it out. It does not cut off the TT. You can use it like a TT without a slide. A great option. And IF it refuses to run in, You disconnet it from the gears, and push it in.

I had ALL the concernes you do about slides. That is why we bought a TT that we don't have to slide out if we don't want to. Many places we camp are also tight, and have no room for slides, because of trees, and such. But it does make lots of room.

Go here ..... http://www.trailerlife.com/category/reviews/trailer-reviews/ ..... or simply google trailerlife click revews, and you will see my TT, and what they have to say about it. It is the 288BHS Apex. Sleeps 10 more if the kids are small. One of the great things about it, is the bathroom. It has it's own door to the outside, so that you, or the kids don't have to walk thru the entire TT to wsh your hands, or whatever. Last year at the beach, we hosed the kids off, and set them in the bathroom. It's great.

We bought one without a slide. Although it was not a bunkhouse. Our floor plan is very roomy for what it is and we weigh about 6500-7000 lbs loaded.

Don't worry too much about the structural integrity of the slide models, they are just as bad without slides as they are with (slight exaggeration, but slide technology has come a long way in the 25 years that they have been making them.

We have two sons and there are times when we are stepping all over each other. On of the reasons we didn't get a bunkhouse model is because we found that without a slide out there was very little living room in the trailer.

When we buy another trailer it will have ar least a sofa slide out, more than likely it will be a superslide in the living room and a slide in the bunkhouse room.... Maybe two.

As far as quad bunk houses without slides. They made several models like that from around 2000- 2008 ish. There are several nice examples on the used market.

Good luck

The more research we put into this, the harder it is. We want something with quad bunks and something that is built tough (Northwood, Outdoor RV, etc.). Problem is, aside from the Outdoor 31kqbs, they don't have anything with 4 bunks.

Are most people not camping with their kids anymore? Are most people using the table/couch for sleeping? We don't care so much about foofoo features, more functional. Nash has a 23 or 25 with 2 bunks in the rear. If it only had 4, I would buy it today! Northwood doesn't do custom orders, do they?