Toy Hauler Information Overload! HELP!

[travelmaybe]

New member here and worse yet... NEWBIE TO CAMPING!
That being said, we have decided to make the plunge and purchase a toy hauler. Problem is I am completely overloaded and overwhelmed with trying to decide which toy hauler is the best bang for the buck and which one offers the best quality in construction.

Our NEEDS:
Durable
Quality
Nice!!!

Our WANTS:
Durable
Quality
NICE!!!

Okay so I suppose I should list a few specifics:

We race motocross so we will be hauling 2-3 race bikes
We have a 2011 GMC duramax
We also have a Ford F-550
Not sure which one we will outfit to haul our new addition but know they both will get the job done nicely.
We want a king bed in the bedroom and a loft as well as sleeping capabilities in the hauler.
We want storage space in the basement of the unit
Like I said earlier, we like the Raptor Velocity and the XLR
We will primarily use at the tracks but want something to use in our down time as well.

Point is we would like opinions on ownership of the various brands/ models on the market. What brands held up the best. The least amount of warranty issues and overall satisfaction of the brand you own. We also want to hear from people that have has problems and what those issues consisted of.

Thank you again!!
Functional
User Friendly

We have looked at the Raptor Velocity, XLR, and Heartland. Kind of scared of the Voltage. Any and all thoughts and experiences are appreciated. So far we are leaning toward the Raptor Velocity.

Thank you and thank you for helping us.. we are going to need it!!

HAHAHAH

[lumpy790]

BIG + 1 on trailers of the east coast..... bought my wifes enclosed trailer from them (great prices!) and also had them do the Moto Hose wrap on my box van..... Very good folks!

I picked up my hitch tow THer up in MD just before the Budds Creek national last year....keeping it in the moto family as it was Gary Baileys 🙂 Its bigger than I had planned but must say the extra room is nice for Lorettas and the Mini O's.

[invstr55]

Go to featherlite and request a trailer designed for your racing needs and the number of people it will accommodate. Do not forget to take into consideration the type of roads leading to the tracks. It will also require a serious tow vehicle. According to the needs you specified this is your best route as TH are designed for campers not racers with spare parts, tool boxes and other heavy items. It will cost a little more but will be a much more satisfying racing experience.
There are. Others that will build race trailers but in my opinion they are by far the best.

Happy camping

[WGLASSJR]

I would seriously look at work & play they are well built no frills unit. They are affordable as well. As for all units there are good and bad. I used to work at a dealership that sold fusion's,w&p,raptor's and i can say the w&p had very few issues compared to the other brands.

[joebedford]

travelmaybe wrote:
Kind of scared of the Voltage. Any and all thoughts and experiences are appreciated.

The Voltage is fine. A very small number of people have had serious problems but not enough to rule them out. There are a LOT of Voltages on the road.

[RickSo]

Have you thought about a living quarters race car trailer. I have a 40ft Exiss all aluminum race car trailer that we used for snowmobile racing and was more suited to the work required when racing. There sure are some nice trailers out there with living quarters. Even dual slide units now.

Floorplans

Model with bunks

[travelmaybe]

THANKS!!! Apparently that's the case with a lot of these forums... People take things way to personal. I am simply trying to do my homework before buying like anyone else.

Ill check the websites out you mentioned.

Steve O Reno wrote:
I think the structural part of the work and play's are better/stronger than the mass produced TH. The interiors are still the same low level rv stuff as everyone else. Look on Racing junk and a good number of trailer mfg are doing some nice stuff. I would guess that a race trailer or a custom TH like spacecraft offers is going to be in the 100-120 range. Cha freakin ching ! Also pirate 4x4 has a forum section that has a hauler/trailer build section. Some interesting ideas. Be prepared as that site slings the insults so put ur teflan undies.....

travelmaybe wrote:
Thanks!

We hit about 25 or so annually so if you don't mind... what brands are you talking about in terms of "serious race trailer"?

Steve O Reno wrote:
We have a Raptor and its been pretty good so far. We do the Dirtbike and quad thing and it works for us. It does sleep a butt load of people. Quality is a bit subjective. Since you guys race and are used to stuff failing/breaking than a RV is right up your ally. IMHO if you go to the local races and camp a mainstream TH should be ok. If you are racing 30 or more weekends a year than u may be disappointed. A more serious race trailer may be in order.

[travelmaybe]

Sorry if I offended you. I was just doing exactly what forums are designed to do.. state my cause and opinion. That being said, It was more than just 1 person we talked to about the Voltage. Trying hard to not throw them under the bus as I realize there are problems with all the different manufacturers and models out there. Just when WE weighed out the pros vs cons of the feedback we received it was and is in OUR best interest to avoid that brand.

Best wishes..

mpierce wrote:

travelmaybe wrote:
We are in NC as well. I'd say 75% of the usage will come from racing. I have drooled over the Jayco Seneca HD on a Freightliner Chasis but can't stomach the price tags on them. I have looked at a few racing trailers but the ones I have found on other websites that are tailored to racing people aren't outfitted to our needs and seem to be tailored to car racing.

We have a friend that I feel completely sorry for that has a Cyclone so I totally agree on "nuff said" 🙂

The reason we are cutting Voltage off the list is again.. another person track side talk filled us in on the problems they have had with their Voltage so we just decided that we should probably look at the the two I mentioned as we can't find anyone that owns one (again at the track) that has had issues.

Trying to get out of the crazy hotel bills we are paying because we could darn near paid for a nice hauler by now!!

Thanks!

lawnspecialties wrote:
We race quads in NC and SC. So we're in a similar situation as what you're getting into.

For starters, our Cyclone and dealing with Heartland has been a nightmare. Enough said about that.

I love the Raptor Velocity and the XLRs. Great choices but I think leaving out the Voltages is a possible mistake. I like them. Infernos are great and I believe they still come with a 2 year warranty. That's a rarity.

Now the BIG question. Will you be using this for almost entirely racing at the tracks? If so, I'd go a different route. Look into the Work & Play toy haulers or a dedicated race trailer. Their garages are usually much bigger and they seem to be built tougher for that type of camping.

But they aren't nearly as "nice" inside as the typical brands you've already mentioned. If you plan to use it a lot on just regular camping trips, you'll probably want to stay with the Raptors, etc..

Best of luck.:)

So, ONE person said they had problems with Voltage? You will find that with ANY trailer. Many of us have Voltage, and very little trouble.

You can find someone with bad things to say about ANYTHING! I am not saying they are the cats meow, but they are no worse than others you listed. I have seen others post about all the problems they are having with EACH of the others you listed.

[Steve_O_Reno]

I think the structural part of the work and play's are better/stronger than the mass produced TH. The interiors are still the same low level rv stuff as everyone else. Look on Racing junk and a good number of trailer mfg are doing some nice stuff. I would guess that a race trailer or a custom TH like spacecraft offers is going to be in the 100-120 range. Cha freakin ching ! Also pirate 4x4 has a forum section that has a hauler/trailer build section. Some interesting ideas. Be prepared as that site slings the insults so put ur teflan undies.....

travelmaybe wrote:
Thanks!

We hit about 25 or so annually so if you don't mind... what brands are you talking about in terms of "serious race trailer"?

Steve O Reno wrote:
We have a Raptor and its been pretty good so far. We do the Dirtbike and quad thing and it works for us. It does sleep a butt load of people. Quality is a bit subjective. Since you guys race and are used to stuff failing/breaking than a RV is right up your ally. IMHO if you go to the local races and camp a mainstream TH should be ok. If you are racing 30 or more weekends a year than u may be disappointed. A more serious race trailer may be in order.

[Yamahauler1]

Go over to the new thread "2012 Voltage 3905" and read about the Voltage!!

[mpierce]

travelmaybe wrote:
We are in NC as well. I'd say 75% of the usage will come from racing. I have drooled over the Jayco Seneca HD on a Freightliner Chasis but can't stomach the price tags on them. I have looked at a few racing trailers but the ones I have found on other websites that are tailored to racing people aren't outfitted to our needs and seem to be tailored to car racing.

We have a friend that I feel completely sorry for that has a Cyclone so I totally agree on "nuff said" 🙂

The reason we are cutting Voltage off the list is again.. another person track side talk filled us in on the problems they have had with their Voltage so we just decided that we should probably look at the the two I mentioned as we can't find anyone that owns one (again at the track) that has had issues.

Trying to get out of the crazy hotel bills we are paying because we could darn near paid for a nice hauler by now!!

Thanks!

lawnspecialties wrote:
We race quads in NC and SC. So we're in a similar situation as what you're getting into.

For starters, our Cyclone and dealing with Heartland has been a nightmare. Enough said about that.

I love the Raptor Velocity and the XLRs. Great choices but I think leaving out the Voltages is a possible mistake. I like them. Infernos are great and I believe they still come with a 2 year warranty. That's a rarity.

Now the BIG question. Will you be using this for almost entirely racing at the tracks? If so, I'd go a different route. Look into the Work & Play toy haulers or a dedicated race trailer. Their garages are usually much bigger and they seem to be built tougher for that type of camping.

But they aren't nearly as "nice" inside as the typical brands you've already mentioned. If you plan to use it a lot on just regular camping trips, you'll probably want to stay with the Raptors, etc..

Best of luck.:)

So, ONE person said they had problems with Voltage? You will find that with ANY trailer. Many of us have Voltage, and very little trouble.

You can find someone with bad things to say about ANYTHING! I am not saying they are the cats meow, but they are no worse than others you listed. I have seen others post about all the problems they are having with EACH of the others you listed.

[lawnspecialties]

travelmaybe wrote:
Thanks!

We hit about 25 or so annually so if you don't mind... what brands are you talking about in terms of "serious race trailer"?

Steve O Reno wrote:
We have a Raptor and its been pretty good so far. We do the Dirtbike and quad thing and it works for us. It does sleep a butt load of people. Quality is a bit subjective. Since you guys race and are used to stuff failing/breaking than a RV is right up your ally. IMHO if you go to the local races and camp a mainstream TH should be ok. If you are racing 30 or more weekends a year than u may be disappointed. A more serious race trailer may be in order.

Have you talked with East Coast near Mocksville? We've been there to look around. They mostly had horse trailers but "Wow". They could have easily been race trailers if the garage was set up differently.

Does something like this interest you at all? I could see us going this route if we keep racing. It would need a few mods but even the wife is OK with this. Its certainly not as glamorous as the mainstream toy haulers.

Race Trailer

[sin_cal_hd]

KZ is a mfg.

If you are looking for a good looking. Good quality toyhauler look at the garage model stellars or attitudes, Eclipse Mfg. They have really nice layouts and very nice interiors for the price. The cyclone, raptor, inferno, those are on the higher end in the baller status. Since you are new to all of this the eclipse or even forestrive brand haulers may suit you.

[travelmaybe]

TxTiger wrote:
KZ has a really good reputation. They have some nice 5th wheels.

Sorry to be so dumb but what is KZ?

[travelmaybe]

Thanks!

We hit about 25 or so annually so if you don't mind... what brands are you talking about in terms of "serious race trailer"?

Steve O Reno wrote:
We have a Raptor and its been pretty good so far. We do the Dirtbike and quad thing and it works for us. It does sleep a butt load of people. Quality is a bit subjective. Since you guys race and are used to stuff failing/breaking than a RV is right up your ally. IMHO if you go to the local races and camp a mainstream TH should be ok. If you are racing 30 or more weekends a year than u may be disappointed. A more serious race trailer may be in order.