Looking for first Travel Trailer

carbine, I'm not sure if anyone has clearly addressed this but I am concerned you cannot comfortably tow the TTs you want with your tow vehicle.

I had the disadvantage of needing to buy a tow vehicle, but as it turned out that may have been an advantage. As I did my (months and years of) research, I learned about tow ratings and payload ratings, and driving with ease vs 'white-knuckling' it. I realized that SUVs and half-tons, while capable at their limits with smaller trailers, could be more challenging in the moutains or if the trailer weight was near the limit. And I decided I didn't want to have that experience. At the end of the day I decided to go with the biggest tow vehicle I thought I would ever need, and now have a 2017 RAM 3500 megacab on order, with a Cummins turbodiesel and an AISIN transmission. Bottom line, no trailer is going to stop me now.

So back to your vehicle. It's true that you will be able to pull a good sized TT, if you just look at tow rating. But payload is going to be your limiting factor. Your payload is 1520 and I believe that excludes 150 lb for the driver, but not sure. To that add all the gear in your truck itself - passengers, food, clothing, etc. If you're bringing a deer home from the field you gotta throw that in, too. What's left is what's left for your trailer. Add 12-15% of the fully loaded ("wet") trailer weight for the tongue weight and that goes against your payload, too. When you run these numbers I think you'll see a 7000 lb wet TT is really going to cut it close. 14% of that is 1000 lb. That leaves you 520 lb for passengers, food, clothing, gear, extra fuel, supplies, firewood, etc. I think that's doable but awfully close, just judging by the way we car camp. And that's leaving no margin for error.

By the way I am looking for almost exactly the same trailer as you: 25', bunk model, more heavy duty for national forest, BLM boondocking, etc. Like you I have narrowed things down to Arctic Fox, Nash, and ORV; and possibly Lance (model 2185). These are quality models with well-built chassis and true four season ratings, according to most. They tend to be more expensive but like you I want mine to last 8-10 years or more. I haven't seen any other brands to get excited about for this purpose.

Now understand I am far from an expert. I have not yet towed a trailer of any kind! But My tendency to analyze and overanalyze and to research things to death did educate me, and led me to conclude that a half-ton truck would not be a good fit for the long run for the kind of towing I want to do. A 3/4 would have been ok but I decided to go fully monty and be prepared for any future tow job I wanted to do.

All this to say you might need to look for the smallest, lightest versions of the kind of trailer you're looking at to make sure you have an ideal towing experience. I cannot see going heavier than 7000 lb unless you always plan to travel solo..

Well, after looking at the Nash 29C online with the wife, she got a wild hair and we drove 125 miles to look at one at the dealer (Spoiler Alert: We didn't buy anything and won't for a while).

Night and day difference in the quality of the Nash and the UltraLights I've looked at. While it's $10k more for the Nash, it would easily be worth it.

We still want to check out the OutdoorsRV products; specifically the 27DBHS and the 27BHS

Great questions. I'm following this thread cause we are looking too

Wow, 5,579 is light for 32 feet of camper with a slide. It's mind boggling to worry about who builds what. I have never spent a single second thinking about that. In the long run it won't mean a hill of beans from my experience. Travel Trailers are a terrible investment no matter which one you buy, so that's not a factor. The internal/external parts are all built by the same companies. RV companies come and go. I have always looked at bang for buck. Find the one you like and buy it. If you were to look at a list of RV companies that no longer exist it would be a long one. I have passively kept up with RV prices for a long time. Then got serious about it six months ago. What amazes me is how hot the RV market is right now. It's a sellers market. Buyers are plentiful. My old 1990 Mallard (orphan) motorhome sold for what I was asking in 10 days. Granted it was in good shape and I wasn't trying to make a mint off of it. Point is, if you find one and really like it, and it's a good deal, it won't sit on the lot for long.

Aside from Northwood Manuf and Outdoors RV (who I've learned are connected, but somewhat separate companies).... who else builds similar quality units? Seems that there are hundreds of TT Manufacturers out there.

You really won't regret going with the better built trailer. Good dirt and gravel roads were destroying my Keystone Bullet. It just wasn't built to leave pavement.

Thanks for all the replies! After doing a lot of reading on this site and looking at some others, my wife and I have come to the conclusion that while we liked the floodplain and size of the trailer listed above, that we wanted something a little more stout than an ultralight to get where we wanna camp. We noticed that when we walked in the ultralights we looked at, you could feel the floor flexing - didn't leave me feeling too confidant that it would handle off-pavement use.

Now we are looking at Nash and OutdoorsRV. Little bit more expensive, but I think we'll be happier in the long run.

I really do like that the Outdoors RV tanks are 80gal fresh, when most others are 50.

If it's beastly hot and you are sitting in the sun, yes it will be 85 in your trailer. At that temp and above sometimes 1 A/C isn't enough. Park in the shade if you can, it will help with the A/C as well as your refrigerator.

Battery life / generator useage is all hugely variable.

I have 2 deep cycle marine batteries and a 120w portable solar cell. Between those two items, I haven't used a generator in years. I can go 3 days before the batteries need to be charged if I'm not using the furnace.

Caveat: Without plugging in, I cannot use the microwave or AC. That isn't a huge deal to me in the Idaho mountains. It can be a big deal for other folks. I adjust my camping locations so that it won't be too beastly hot.

Having just bought a new travel trailer I can understand the sticker shock. However, buying a junker isn't worth the hassle. 30 years of used campers taught me that you pay to play. You either buy a junker and constantly worry about the roof leaks and old tires or, you buy a new one and make the monthly payments. At this juncture I find the monthly payments to be much easier on my mind. Are there good used campers out there? Sure. But, they cost as much as a new one in a whole lot of cases and the financing isn't as good.

As for a generator.. It depends on lots of variables. If you're going to be around other people and need a real quiet unit then to get much wattage will cost you big bucks. However, if you can stand a little droning noise you can get enough power to run everything in the RV pretty cheap. I used an 8500 Watt contractor generator when I needed power for years. It worked in the rain and snow till I sold it. Even then it started right up every time. I came to believe that the 8500 was too much generator. If I had it to do over I'd probably get a 4000 or maybe a 6500. Harbor Freight sells a 2k quiet generator that would probably pull your AC and lights all day. It won't do much more than that. The AC will max a 2k out during compressor surge (when the compressor cuts in).

We just stay at campgrounds with full hookups and wireless internet. No need for a generator. Although.. I do think I'll grab that 2k at Harbor Freight pretty soon.