A long long time ago over 40 years now, I owned snow mobiles, we would travel most weekends with our friends and kids and have a great time.I also had an acquaintance who owned a RV dealership.I went to him and floated the idea of buying a beater 24 ft travel trailer and gutting it then figure out how to open up the back to bring in a couple machines and live in the front part.He told there was no way that would work and basically said it was a stupid idea. Huh!Now everytime I go to a recreation area and see these toy haulers I realize that I was just underfunded and not brave enough to make something like that happen.I know I probably wasn't the first to think about it, but there was nothing out there like that in mid 70's.Jesseannie

jesseannie wrote:A long long time ago over 40 years now, I owned snow mobiles, we would travel most weekends with our friends and kids and have a great time.I also had an acquaintance who owned a RV dealership.I went to him and floated the idea of buying a beater 24 ft travel trailer and gutting it then figure out how to open up the back to bring in a couple machines and live in the front part.He told there was no way that would work and basically said it was a stupid idea. Huh!Now everytime I go to a recreation area and see these toy haulers I realize that I was just underfunded and not brave enough to make something like that happen.I know I probably wasn't the first to think about it, but there was nothing out there like that in mid 70's.JesseannieI'm with you on that! Long ago while stuck on a hill on my motorcycle I thought I need a hand break for the foot brake .https://thestuntfactory.com/mahc1macyles.htmlMod Edit: Moved reply outside of the quote

Leave it to (whoever was behind) Weekend Warrior to create the category of RV's now known as Toy Haulers; they were the first.I remember an old saying that went something like this:-Did you think of it first? No? Oh well. Yes? Great! -But did you actually do anything with that idea? No? Oh well. Yes? Great!Lots of great ideas out there that just languish until someone takes the additional steps to bring it to fruition. It just takes courage and funding.Edit: Now I see (in another post here) that it was Mark Warmoth who created WW. Sadly, he passed away in October of 2020. RIP, Mark; there are thousands who camp in a way that YOU created for them.

Actually Mark worked for Alpha Leisure who already was building Toyhaulers prior to opening up WW.I purchased my Alpha Toyhouse in 1989 after taking a tour of Marks facility that he had just opened. He had some nice upgrades compared to the Toyhouse but I was towing with a 1/2 ton. The Toyhouse was much lighter. Over the years I would run into Mark and he would tease me about still having the Toyhouse but always invited me to hang out. Nice guy and he will be missed.

Mark definitely made the Toy Hauler category what it is today.It's a shame that his vision was bigger than his organization. I don't know enough about their inner workings besides what I saw when I met them for repairs (and when I talked to Mark on the phone a few times), but I can't help but think that somebody at some level let him down in the quality department, and then when the market caved in, the whole company collapsed.The Toy Hauler category really is driven by the trades, and when housing and commercial construction receded before the crash, he had a small window to start cutting back and hunkering down.Hindsight...

For anyone interested I came across this article about Mark Warmoth's passing that I though was very well written. Toy Hauler Pioneer Mark Warmoth Dies at 64 While he may not have been the first one, he defined the market and has left his mark on it ever since.

Birth of the toy hauler | Good Sam Community

drhutch
Explorer
Feb 12, 2021
Somewhere around 20 years ago or so I would hunt Elk with my brother when he would come to Colorado. He had his cattle hauler set up so we had an LQ in the front of the trailer after taking the horses out. Tarps hung to keep out the weather and a goose blind heater and camp stoves. Lived like kings in that. On a group camp trip 2 years ago at a nearby lake one of the group had a 3 horse slant with LQ. The quarters in that were nicer than any of our campers / 5ers / trailers. Times have changed a bit. Of course my brothers trailer probably cost him around $6K this trailer was no doubt over $50K.
wopachop
Explorer
Feb 10, 2021
dedmiston wrote:
Riding near Ridgecrest/Inyokern this weekend (near the two shooting ranges) we started seeing a lot of horse poop on the trails, and then we saw a HUGE camp of horse trailers.

I told my wife & friends that I'd never seen so many LEQs before, as if I've known forever what that means. :B
That's funny!
dsrace
Explorer
Feb 10, 2021
trail-explorer wrote:
dsrace wrote:
i know alpha was the first but i will always consider ww to be the first.

But the second isn't the first.

correct

:)
dedmiston
Moderator
Feb 08, 2021
Riding near Ridgecrest/Inyokern this weekend (near the two shooting ranges) we started seeing a lot of horse poop on the trails, and then we saw a HUGE camp of horse trailers.

I told my wife & friends that I'd never seen so many LEQs before, as if I've known forever what that means. :B
trail-explorer
Explorer
Feb 08, 2021
dsrace wrote:
i know alpha was the first but i will always consider ww to be the first.

But the second isn't the first.
Y-Guy
Moderator
Feb 07, 2021
dsrace wrote:
i know alpha was the first but i will always consider ww to be the first. the new ww coming out of the rv factory is no ww toyhauler! they are a high end camper like all the other built in indiana.

I agree, WW was Mark Warmoth. The RV Factory acquired the name, nothing more. I'd tried to follow his lawsuits to get them to stop using the name, but never found out the final results since Omega RV went out of business and Mark passed.
dsrace
Explorer
Feb 07, 2021
i know alpha was the first but i will always consider ww to be the first. the new ww coming out of the rv factory is no ww toyhauler! they are a high end camper like all the other built in indiana.
deltabravo
Nomad
Feb 06, 2021
dudeonit wrote:
Actually Mark worked for Alpha Leisure who already was building Toyhaulers prior to opening up WW.

Alpha Leisure Toyhouse was the very first toy hauler I saw. I remember when I saw it - a dual sport motorcycle event in Oregon, July of 1995.

Later on I heard about Weekend Warrior. After the same dual sport event, in 1996, I went to a dealer in the Portland, OR area (Big Boys Toys) and looked at a few WW models. I couldn't believe how cheap looking they were at the time.

In 2003 I bought a Desert Fox 21SW. I kept it through 2009 when I decided to downsize to a truck camper and cargo trailer. I was getting tired of having to unload the motorcycle and leave it outside all the time when camped.
nayther
Explorer
Feb 05, 2021
dedmiston wrote:
Thanks Jim.

if you didn't I woulda
dedmiston
Moderator
Feb 05, 2021
Thanks Jim.

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