Starcraft AR One

We have a 2015 AR-1 18QB
It has A roof air conditioner.
Auto light water heater.
The power awning can be adjusted to tilt.
We have been very satisfied with it although we have not had it very long.
It is great for two people which is what we wanted.
The small gray and black water tanks could be a problem as someone else mentioned.
We bought a tote for ours in case we need it.
We have had zero problems with it so far.

Thanks for the feedback.

I have one of those Hengs fans I added to my Coachmen, I will remove it to put in the new trailer. I'm glad you mentioned that.

I have the same problems with my smoke detector so that will be nothing new.

My KZ Escape E14RB had the 5000 BTU, and in anything over 95* it couldn't cool the trailer. 8000 BTU should be pretty good, though.

My detector's alarm would go off every time I took a shower! :o

xteacher wrote:
I think the new AR-ONEs have an 8000K a/c now.

In our camper, there's no exhaust fan in the bathroom, only a vent. There's no electical up there either, so if you wanted to add one, it would be kind of a big deal to add it. We camp in warm/hot weather, so it's a pain. The bathroom gets hot and steamy fast - we leave the door open when showering to help.

We can't seem to keep the smoke alarm from going off whenever the furnace kicks on in cold weather.

The 17RD always had the 8000 BTU AC. The smaller trailers had the smaller AC units, I'm not sure if they've put bigger ones in the smaller trailers yet.

I almost forgot about the lack of fan in the bathroom. I added a Hengs Vortex fan to ours. I was going to go for a Fantastic Fan, but the price was much higher and, from what I saw, you had to replace the entire vent. The Hengs fits into the existing vent. Yeah, it's a little louder than the FF, but we use it primarily for when we're showering, and it does a great job. I tapped into the nearby overhead light. It's only 12 volt, so it's not hard wiring. The whole install took less than an hour.

I've never had the smoke alarm go off with the heat on, but it does when we cook. My previous 23' class C did the same thing, so I really thought nothing of it.

The 17RD does not have a pull out bed, so there will be no issues with reinforcing that.

Something to remember is, unless you get a high end camper, you're going to have the same components (ac, fridge, heater, water heater, etc) as almost any other camper out there.

I think the new AR-ONEs have an 8000K a/c now. If not, I'd pass; we have the 5K and it barely keeps up in GA/FL summer camping weather. We have the 14RB, which we got b/c the price was right (end of model year clearance), and I can tow it easily with my 2010 Pathfinder. The tanks are tiny (9 gal. black/15 gal. gray), so you'll need a tote to take along to empty them frequently, if you don't have full hookups.

In our camper, there's no exhaust fan in the bathroom, only a vent. There's no electical up there either, so if you wanted to add one, it would be kind of a big deal to add it. We camp in warm/hot weather, so it's a pain. The bathroom gets hot and steamy fast - we leave the door open when showering to help.

We can't seem to keep the smoke alarm from going off whenever the furnace kicks on in cold weather. We've replaced the smoke detector, replaced the batteries, let the furnace run to try and get the chemical smell to dissapate, but it still does it - always in the middle of the night, of course... We've had to take the batteries out when we use the furnace, which is not safe. Our furnace is not right under the smoke detector, so we can't figure what the problem is, other than the camper is so small that the heat rises quickly and sets it off.

We had to have the frame for the couch and the bed reinforced b/c they were shoddily built and the corners were pulling apart after only one or two uses (my husband and I are not big people either). The dealer was great, and rebuilt and reinforced the couch frame for us, and reinforced the bed frame, which wasn't in as bad a shape. It's fine now.

The camper is okay for our needs, but if I had a choice and the money, I'd go with a different one - JMHO. I'm glad we have a two year warranty!

Thanks for the reply.

I saw the AC is an 8000 btu which is better than the 5000 btu my friends Jayco has which is the same size trailer, that and your experience eases my concern.

I don't think the tanks will be much of a problem, I am single and camp with friends who have their own campers so it will just be me using it.

My Coachmen has the electric light water heater, I guess I can adapt.

Hello,
We've owned an AR-One 17RD for a few years now, currently going on our 4th camping season. We've found it to be a solid well made camper, and the floor plan fits us perfectly. We've had absolutely zero problems with it.

We've camped in some pretty hot conditions (around 100f in the day) and found the ac to be adequate. Not frigid, but adequate. A small fan on the counter will push around the air a little better.

Ours has a manual awning so I can't comment on the electric. I'd leave it open in the rain but not the wind. We also close it if we're gone for the day.

If I were to complain about anything (and this isn't really a complaint) is the small black and gray tank capacities. If you don't have full hookups you might have to move it to dump every few days

Also, the water heater is a manual light. Yes, there is a pilot light, but you must light the pilot. Not every time, just when you get to the site (it's not an electronic light). But, hey, you're camping, you can't light a water heater?.

That being said, we found the camper to be solid and well made, has plenty of storage, and is the perfect fit for two people. With three or more it gets a little cramped but is doable. We also liked the price, we think we got a lot for our money.