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jrs1871's avatar
jrs1871
Explorer
Jul 13, 2013

suggestions for light weight bunk house with slide out(s)

My nephew asked for suggestions for a light weight bunkhouse with slide out(s), not a hybrid. I did some looking and found several possibilities. But our experience is with fifth wheels and I feel there may be some really nice ones out there that I don't know about. He is doing it the right way, taking his trucks towing capacity into consideration. We have discussed that he would be best served by something in the 5500 to 7000 weight range. That would still leave him capacity for stuff and be under his tow ratings. He knows that he needs to get a weight distributing hitch and would like pros and cons of brands from the folks that are using them. Thanks for your suggestions.
  • We have a Amerilite 25ft bunk house, ours does not have a slide but there are two 25 ft versions with a slide.
    It is a entry level 3 season trailer that has served us well for three seasons. They are light weight, the slide versions are under 5000 pounds. They are also less expensive. (ours was $13.500)
  • I'm very happy with my Heartland North Trail 28BRS. 5500 pounds dry yellow sticker weight. Lots of great features like slam latch storage doors, power stabilizer jacks, solid surface kitchen counter, and rear slide out bike rack, for about $20k OTD. We are on our 4th summer with it for our family of 5.
  • The Lance 2185 hits it out of the park in my opinion. They take about 6 weeks to build, come with a 2 year warranty, are made with composite materials (Azdel in the walls instead of wood (luaun) that can rot, mold and mildew) and BeauFlor flooring. 2" thick block form insulation (as opposed to house "pink fluffy stuff" and Luaun (an inferior product used in 95% of RV's on the market today) Lance also uses LitePly, which is 50% lighter than traditional plywood. LitePly is used in corporate jets, etc. Pex plumbing, Dexter torsion suspension axles, pinch rolled fiberglass exterior.

    4,000 dry weight and a GVWR of 6,000 lbs.

    Take a look at the links in my signature. The factory tour will help explain a lot about their corporate mentality and the care taken to build each trailer or truck camper.

    WoodGlue
  • Right now it is a family of three but expect the family to grow by at least one more. I was thinking of something in the 22-25 foot range because I figured they would be most likely to be with in weight range. We don't want the tail wagging the dog here.
  • I forgot to add that three that I came up with in my search was a Lance 2185, Keystone Bullet and KZ-Spree Escape. I am not familiar with those specific trailers but have read comments, good and bad, about the manufacturers.