Thinking of getting into the TT market

Hybrids are great. We've owned two and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Great for families and you'll love the extra floor space. For what it's worth, both of our hybrids were Jayco and we never had any problems. Very versatile.

A good rule of thumb, whatever the max tow rating is on the vehicle, buy a trailer that is half that number empty. You live in Colorado, this advice will make your first impressions of towing much better. Even at this load, you will be amazed how hard your vehicle will work, both uphill and down..

Thoroughly enjoyed the RV Show at the Denver Broncos stadium... and after going in and out of various RV's, I think that we are in the market for a Hybrid. I think with a family of kids aged 9 and 5, this would be the best option to maximize floor space as the tradition trailers that my wife's vehicle could pull were too cramped and limited beds. I guess after Labor Day, used prices will start dropping, so maybe looking for a buy in November - February when I guess prices are low and people are sick of paying storage fees. Presumably, if RV's are like cars, people would prefer to sell as opposed to trade?

Thanks again all....

DSL70 wrote:
I truly appreciate all of you feedback - I feel a great deal more comfortable today than what I did yesterday... rent then buy used!

Good luck

I truly appreciate all of you feedback - I feel a great deal more comfortable today than what I did yesterday... rent then buy used!

As a newbie 7 years ago, I bought new. I didn't know about this site.

I wish I had bought used.
Good luck and welcome to the site.

DSL70, Do't be afraid of looking at the Popups or Hybrids. With your towing capasity limited, they very well be the options that work out best for you. Just know what you are getting into.

Campers with tenting for beds (Popups and Hybrid) have the benefit of havig that sleeping space OUTSIDE of the floor plan, significantly increasing the size of the camper when it's opened up. Having 2-3 beds outside of the floor box leaves a lot of room for the dinette, bathroom, kitchen, seating area's. Thats the benefit over a hardsided travel travel. The downside is the canvas tenting needs some additional care and depending on the layout, you may have to open it up to pack things in or our of the camper. Popups will require you to raise the roof and pull the beds out to get into the frig or cabinets to preload or unload items from inside the camper. Hybrids may or may not, depending on where the beds are stored in relation to those inside storage area's. The other thing is if they tenting is damp or wet when folded up, It will have to be opened up to dry on a sunny day shortly after returning to prevent it from getting musty or mold starting. Just like you've done with tents. Not a big deal if you don't mind the extra crank it up (popup) or fold it out (Hybrid) and then once dry, putting it away again.

TT's or other hard sided campers, you don't have to do those things. It's pretty much load your stuff and go, camp, return and unload what you have to (Food/Clothes/stuff you will need prior to going camping again). You pay for this less work conveinence with a little less interior space per the same width/length floor plan since your beds are INSIDE that foot print.

GO check out some campers, walk around and inside and out of the different types. Take everyone that will be camping with you and have them check out their spaces they will be sleeping, sit in the bathroom on the toilet (often cramped in smaller trailers), sit around the dinette, etc. Spend a few minutes in each acting like your "living" in it for a few minutes and you will see the benefits of each. Then come back here and ask some more questions and tell us what your thinking and I'm sure we will have some that agreed with you and some that will bring up points for you to consider.

Good Luck in deciding!

Welcome! Was a newbie at one time and didn't have a clue. We jumped, probably earlier than we should, but we got lucky and the RV Gods were looking out for us. So you've been tenting and that's gotta go. Understand. Are you familiar with hybrid travel trailers? A step up from a pop-up, but not as big a step up as going straight to a travel trailer. You're towing smaller and lighter, but when you're set up, you have a ton more room than you realized. We bought our '07 Rockwood ROO 23SS and loved it....gave us the outdoorsy, tent experience, but with a full kitchen, bathroom, dinette, sofa, A/C and furnace - the whole 9 yards. When we were set up, we had 30' of living space. But we're not young with children and it was getting to be more work than OLD FOLKS are up to some days. We never dreamed we'd have anything other than our hybrid, but age crept up when we weren't looking. We recently moved to a Rockwood Ultra Lite 2604 and have confirmed that this was a good move for us at this time in our lives. If you're not familiar with the hybrid, click over to the hybrid side and read on. Some shows are loaded with hybrids, some have none. Some salesmen will tell you it's a piece of trash with a zillion problems, they likely don't sell hybrids. The truth is that any RV from entry level to literally high dollar Class A's can have issues. None are perfect. But you might find that a hybrid is a good start, less weight and also generally less investment than a TT. Do your homework first. Any questions can be answered on this forum - either travel trailer or hybrid trailer sides - or the Hybrid Explorer forum by people that have them, use them, know what they're talking about. Sometimes salesmen are more dedicated to getting your signature rather than getting the right camper for you and your family. Good luck, happy shopping and happier camping.

If I could throw in my 2c worth.......rent a few different ones. Gain tons of "hands on" experience and then buy new. We cut our teeth on older TT`s and wished we would have rented instead. To each their own, and live and learn. There is no one right answer for your needs.

Attend several or more shows, great place to see what is available and also to determine what you can use comfortably.
We attended many and thought that we purchased exactly what we wanted and needed.
Want was correct need no. We will be trading DOWN to a smaller unit, have a 31 Ever Lite by Evergreen, looking at another by same company the ELEMENT a 27 ft??!!
We have put over 30,000 miles on this unit so we have a good feel now for what we really "need".
CCC