Length of travel trailers

Congratulations and have fun!

I hope you are all not going to tell me thats a bad model because we went to look at it and it surprised me but my husband liked it and we bought it.

I am excited, we are going to start with a 2 night trip next week at ocean which for us is about 4 hour trip.

They had some insulation and covering underneath, my husband checked it out. I upgraded the mattress.

I spent hours and hours looking on rv trader to find a model I liked, found one then looked all over to find one we could look at. It is the 2018 Forest River Salem Cruise Lite, I liked the set up don't need a lite model but the open bunks easy to get into, thinking of grandkids, the extra outside door in bathroom, the pantry, the wood looking floors for pets, the larger u table for playing games.

Then husband calls and finds out no all weather pkg and is worried about the lower temps not for traveling but our winters here, which while cold we only get snow once that melts in a few hours so we are not in the coldest area.

Its frustrating to find something I like and have husband think its not good enough. All the models I see with all weather like Arctic are too expensive for us or I don't like the set up.

Is it possible to add all weather, will that be good enough and how much is that?

I agree - look in RVTrader and compare. You can see floor plans and prices, and equipment on different models ... When you see one you like, ask here about quality and service from that particular manufacturer.

A quick peek says you could buy a brand new 26' well within your budget ...

J&R wrote:

treegirl wrote:
Thanks, I guess in Craigslist I could just ask as they don't give model numbers usually.

You will need model numbers. They will give you approximate box size and BH will mean bunkhouse.

As a rule of thumb, my observations are that the model number will be roughly three to four feet short of the actual length..at least.

And there are lots of meanings to the letters after things. RB is almost always rear bunk(house) - RK, rear kitchen - RB rear bath, FB front bath etc. But then you will run into things like my Aspen Trail 1700BH (Bunkhouse)vs the identical Coleman Trailer with a 17FQ or FQWE? I have no idea what that means but as noted on numbers, my 1700 and the Coleman 17FQ are 21.4 feet long.

RV Trader.com is your friend. You can put things you like in there from any manufacturer and see pricing across the country. You would be stunned at the differences in pricing like 10K on identical new trailers depending upon where they are located...likely in relation to manufacturing to a degree. but NOT always. But, sometimes the prices are so different it might be worth a trip to go buy one from somewhere else or at least use it as a bargaining chip with your local dealer...

I guess you can tell I don't know a lot about the parts yet! lol about hitch!

About kitty your right I might think about that.

treegirl wrote:
I just thought if she had upper bunk she would feel safe, at home she has a high perch she can run to.

Build or buy a high perch for her rather than buying another bedroom for her!

As an example, we just sold a 19CK which was a 19 foot box (Center Kitchen), 23 foot overall.

We just bought a 285BH which is a 28.5 foot box (Bunk House) and is 32~33 feet overall. As mentioned, not all RV MFGr's follow this very closely. But generally speaking a 24_ model will be shorter than a 38_

good luck

treegirl wrote:
I have been checking specs to on all that I look at. The one we were interested in didn’t have electric hitch so still looking.

The reason I was thinking of bunks is my ragdoll cat is still getting use to my 15 month old golden retriever who still chases her sometimes. I just thought if she had upper bunk she would feel safe, at home she has a high perch she can run to.

I'm guessing that you mean an electric tongue jack, when you say "electric hitch" because there's no such thing as an electric hitch.

You can easily add one for around $100 and it takes about 30 minutes to install.

Well, a bunkhouse will cut out a lot of much more useful space. Unless you get a 30+ foot trailer.

I have been checking specs to on all that I look at. The one we were interested in didn’t have electric hitch so still looking.

The reason I was thinking of bunks is my ragdoll cat is still getting use to my 15 month old golden retriever who still chases her sometimes. I just thought if she had upper bunk she would feel safe, at home she has a high perch she can run to.

Not really for the dog as he is not allowed on our furniture he likes to sleep on the floor by our bed.

We would leave the cat at home but our area is very hot and smokey in August and we are thinking of being gone the whole month and don’t want to leave her that long with people checking on her and we would have to leave air conditioning on for her.