2013 Alumalite ultra 218ES
Well, I've been meaning to post my thoughts on our new trailer for a few months now, and after a bunch of trips with it, here's my thoughts...
First off, we moved from a 1998 Dutchmen duck 12 foot popup, which served us very well, and took us (family of 5) tens of thousands of miles of travels over 15 years. The only problem I ever had with that popup that I can say most likely wasn't my fault was wearing out the cable for raising the top. I did have to replace broken leaf springs along the highway two times (once each side), and had numerous blown tires, and not until after I started reading on this forum did I realize I was severely overloading the trailer. The old 'if it fits it ships' motto was how I packed that popup, most likely hauling three times the weight it was designed to haul...
... so anyways, we ended up choosing a 2013 Holiday Rambler Aluma-lite ultra 218Es hybrid. We bought it in November last year, and picked it up from the dealer in April. Other than us not knowing how to operate a couple things, the transition went smooth. The construction of the unit seems very good, we haven't had to do any tweaking on anything except the handle for the crankup antenna, the allen screw backed out and the handle and guts came flying out. Easy fix though. The slide moves in and out smoothly and quietly, making the trailer huge inside. The couch on the trailer is pretty comfortable, but I wish it was a hide-a-bed type instead of a jackknife , but the storage under it would be missed then. The tent end material seems quite a bit lighter than that of our old popup, so I doubt it will hold up as long as the old popup, time will tell. One thing I noticed.... In the morning when we get up, there seems to be quite a bit of moisture under the mattress on the bed platform. No, I don't piss the bed, but I assume its condensation from the warmth of bodyheat against the coolness of the bed from the outside air? Am I on track with that? The foam mattress on the beds on this trailer are marginal at best, not near as comfortable as the old trailer. If I add a couple inches of memory foam will that help on the moisture issue as well as add comfort?
I have read on here that not many trust the tank capacity lights, and I guess I can see why, we can drain our tanks completely and they always read 1/3rd full, and the black tank light said full this past camping trip, and I know for a fact it only had four flushes in it, and only one turd because I don't allow anyone to******in there because I have to empty it! So tank warning lights aren't accurate.
Stove, fridge, water pump, micro, air, everything works fine. One outside speaker quit working on our most recent trip, not sure if its a loose wire or what. Also noticed, we can not use two electric griddles at the same time, it will blow the circuit, I kind of figured that would be the case, but SWMBO had to try anyways!
When looking underneath, the axles don't really to have much camber in them at all, the front one does have more than the rear one though, but I see no tire wear at all on any tire after a couple thousand miles travel. I wanted a lot of ground clearance and I think this may be the highest hybrid in that aspect, but it makes reaching the levers for the bed ends hard to reach from the ground. For that I have built some little tongue mounted steps to make that easier.
I first learned on this forum of a recall notice on the holiday rambler holding tank, and a week later got the letter in the mail about it, so I will be taking it in to get a little brace mounted under the tank for support, but otherwise this trailer has been a very pleasant purchase. The thing about it is that there isn't enough storage space which may be a good thing or I would overload it
I pull it with 2008 Chevy 1500 4WD with V8, and I don't think I would want to pull a heavier trailer with that truck.
First off, we moved from a 1998 Dutchmen duck 12 foot popup, which served us very well, and took us (family of 5) tens of thousands of miles of travels over 15 years. The only problem I ever had with that popup that I can say most likely wasn't my fault was wearing out the cable for raising the top. I did have to replace broken leaf springs along the highway two times (once each side), and had numerous blown tires, and not until after I started reading on this forum did I realize I was severely overloading the trailer. The old 'if it fits it ships' motto was how I packed that popup, most likely hauling three times the weight it was designed to haul...
... so anyways, we ended up choosing a 2013 Holiday Rambler Aluma-lite ultra 218Es hybrid. We bought it in November last year, and picked it up from the dealer in April. Other than us not knowing how to operate a couple things, the transition went smooth. The construction of the unit seems very good, we haven't had to do any tweaking on anything except the handle for the crankup antenna, the allen screw backed out and the handle and guts came flying out. Easy fix though. The slide moves in and out smoothly and quietly, making the trailer huge inside. The couch on the trailer is pretty comfortable, but I wish it was a hide-a-bed type instead of a jackknife , but the storage under it would be missed then. The tent end material seems quite a bit lighter than that of our old popup, so I doubt it will hold up as long as the old popup, time will tell. One thing I noticed.... In the morning when we get up, there seems to be quite a bit of moisture under the mattress on the bed platform. No, I don't piss the bed, but I assume its condensation from the warmth of bodyheat against the coolness of the bed from the outside air? Am I on track with that? The foam mattress on the beds on this trailer are marginal at best, not near as comfortable as the old trailer. If I add a couple inches of memory foam will that help on the moisture issue as well as add comfort?
I have read on here that not many trust the tank capacity lights, and I guess I can see why, we can drain our tanks completely and they always read 1/3rd full, and the black tank light said full this past camping trip, and I know for a fact it only had four flushes in it, and only one turd because I don't allow anyone to******in there because I have to empty it! So tank warning lights aren't accurate.
Stove, fridge, water pump, micro, air, everything works fine. One outside speaker quit working on our most recent trip, not sure if its a loose wire or what. Also noticed, we can not use two electric griddles at the same time, it will blow the circuit, I kind of figured that would be the case, but SWMBO had to try anyways!
When looking underneath, the axles don't really to have much camber in them at all, the front one does have more than the rear one though, but I see no tire wear at all on any tire after a couple thousand miles travel. I wanted a lot of ground clearance and I think this may be the highest hybrid in that aspect, but it makes reaching the levers for the bed ends hard to reach from the ground. For that I have built some little tongue mounted steps to make that easier.
I first learned on this forum of a recall notice on the holiday rambler holding tank, and a week later got the letter in the mail about it, so I will be taking it in to get a little brace mounted under the tank for support, but otherwise this trailer has been a very pleasant purchase. The thing about it is that there isn't enough storage space which may be a good thing or I would overload it
I pull it with 2008 Chevy 1500 4WD with V8, and I don't think I would want to pull a heavier trailer with that truck.
