Traveling across the country in a Hybrid???

[debden]

We are going to be newbies to the RV world and my husband wants to get a hybrid. I would like to have experienced RVer's opinions on using a Hybrid to do an 8 week tour across country. We are from north of Toronto Canada and want to travel in the US.

Thanks in advance for all input!

[debden]

Thanks so much everyone for your knowledge and assistance. We just bought a Jayco Jayflight 22FB Travel Trailer. Decided against the hybrid after all. Can't wait to use it. Probably next year. My husband retires in spring. Yay! See you out there.

[Wavesprite]

Don't forget that if you were to hit bad weather, you can always turtle. There is space to sleep inside the Hybrid on the fold down couch, or the dinette area. Not a long term option, but if the weather was too rough to set up. We LOVE our hybrid!!

[Mr_Beebo]

I'll piggy back a couple of the other comments and speak from experience, not 2nd hand stories from a customer's BIL or another forum. Our Roo is 30' when set up, 23' when on the road. I can tow it with our Tahoe or our 1/2 ton Silverado without issue and can squeeze out 11mpg at times. We have camped from Orlando to the Smokies to Branson and now Yellowstone. No water leaks and the additional set up time is insignificant to a hard sided camper. Wife and kids like it, sometimes get a visit from a curious neighbor on campouts.
Not everyone or their spouse is a camping type. Some are vacationers and others are travelers. Makes a difference in how they view RVs. We made a good choice and it works for us. God bless everyone who has a class a or a pup or something in between.

[GLaidlaw]

We moved from a pop up (20 years) to an ultralight trailer (now 13 years old). We started to find the pop up damp since there was no insulaton. We have towed our hard side trailer all over North America. It is nice to simply pull in and step in the door without having to open trailer beds. In cold, damp weather, (Alaska) we found the hard side fantastic- simply put on the furnace and warm in minutes. It really comes down to lifestyle and expectations- we wanted less dampness, convenience of set up, warmth, etc. We are unusual in that we ordered ours without an AC since we seldom toured in the extreme heat seasons of the US southwest or Florida- never needed it in Florida in March. Heading south in February is a cold trip until past Kentucky- we have slept in ours at -13 degrees C and no problem- that creates a problem with a hybrid unless the ends are kept shut. Hybrids give more of a camping experience. Good luck and happy touring. We have enjoyed our 21 foot since we can go places the large units can't but have to live with a smaller space inside.

[ncrowley]

I saw the restriction at Yellowstone. At Yosemite, you cannot store your food inside a soft-sided RV. Same with some of the federal parks in Alaska.

[bikendan]

CA62Mini wrote:
When you say Van, are you refering to a full size van or minivan? Big difference in towing capacity. Don't know the towing capacity for your Dodge 1500. You might look at some of the hybrids with a solid wall rear bead slideout. Like the Rockwood Roo 23RS. GVWR 6145 lbs.

http://www.forestriverinc.com/TravelTrailers/Roo/default.aspx?model=roo&page=floorplandetails&floorplanid=4013&RVType=trailers

just for clarification, trailers like the 23RS are not hybrids, since they don't have any canvas. a hybrid is the combinations of canvas beds of a popup with the body of a travel trailer.

rear hard-sided bed slide trailers can be called "expandables", but then any RV with a hard-sided bed slide should be called an "expandable". the only thing different about these trailers, from other regular travel trailers, is that the bed slide is on the rear, instead of the side like other travel trailers.

[CA62Mini]

When you say Van, are you refering to a full size van or minivan? Big difference in towing capacity. Don't know the towing capacity for your Dodge 1500. You might look at some of the hybrids with a solid wall rear bead slideout. Like the Rockwood Roo 23RS. GVWR 6145 lbs.

http://www.forestriverinc.com/TravelTrailers/Roo/default.aspx?model=roo&page=floorplandetails&floorplanid=4013&RVType=trailers

[bikendan]

richardwise wrote:
We bought a hybrid to take a week's trip in, sold it soon as I got back home.
To me, it seemed to have all the disadvantages of a tent and very few advantages
of a tt. I bought a class c and love it.

too many new hybrid owners buy them without taking in consideration the canvas ends. they are attracted by all the sleeping space and openness in a much shorter/lighter package.

one of the Hybrid Forum's sayings is: "if you don't love the idea of sleeping under canvas, DON'T buy a hybrid".
most hybrid owners are former popup owners and still love that experience but want a few more amenities. they are willing to deal with the few negatives to be able to continue that love of canvas.

[bikendan]

ncrowley wrote:
In parks with bears, hybrids can be restricted, I assume because the bear can get through the material in the slide out section. I have seen these restrictions in a couple of national parks.

please name the national parks you have seen these restrictions.

when ever the bear/soft-sided camper topic comes up, the only place i've ever seen, with a permanent ban, is Fishing Bridge campground in Yellowstone. all the other campgrounds in the park, allow soft-sided campers. and if you "turtle" in your hybrid, you can stay at Fishing Bridge.
i have never read of any other national park with a permanent ban on soft-sided campers, not even Yosemite.

but i'm always willing to be shown proof in other national parks.

[debden]

Wow! Thank you all so much for your input. Very valuable information and even some things I never thought of...bears!!! I will link my husband into this thread and let him take in all of the great advise. My main concern was worrying about parking overnight in places like Walmart or truck stops and "Turtling" as it would be called but there is so much more to think about!

[tomman58]

If you are doing retirement why would you settle for a hybrid? Being retired allow winter use and summer use and although we had a hard side Apache for 10 years prior to our first trailer we would never want anything less than a TT again. Our current TT is 32' and works nicely for the two of us. One should list what they really want while enjoying the trips, ie: king size bed, full living area, full size shower and stuff.

[tenbear]

Thinking about bears, you will have to be much more careful with food in a hybrid when in bear country. When we were canoe camping we always hung our food up in a tree and never had food in the tent. Part of the evening entertainment was trying to throw a rope over a high enough branch of a tree. If you have food scraps in the trash in the hybrid you are asking for trouble. Cooking smells could also attract bears.

OTOH, you may never be anyplace near a bear.

[richardwise]

We bought a hybrid to take a week's trip in, sold it soon as I got back home.
To me, it seemed to have all the disadvantages of a tent and very few advantages
of a tt. I bought a class c and love it.

[2gypsies1]

We used a canvas pop-up for a lot of camp trips and they can get extremely cold and damp depending on the outside temps. If they're wet when it's time to move on, you'll be dealing with the wet canvas to fold up on the bed top.

In summer heat they can be very hot.

Personally, I would suggest a small travel trailer and it will be a more enjoyable trip for you.