2015 Arctic Fox 25Y or 2015 Timber Ridge 240RKS?

[Sifter]

Help us decide. We love both layouts! Ron Nash owns both, so we are hoping both will be quality. We just sold our 2007 Terry Resort 240RKS.

[carringb]

matt_r wrote:

My only regret was not getting the thermal pane windows. Highly recommend for cold-season and/or PNW.

Best of luck

X2 - I was in a time crunch so I had to take dealer stock. I'll probably upgrade to those later down the road. For now reflectix woks pretty well on winter nights.

[RollandB]

I'll share a little regarding the floor plan. Out of the two choices I would pick the Timber Ridge. We had a rear lounge Trailblazer and found the kitchen to be inadequate. Little counter space and limited place to store things. Loved the big back window, but not the kitchen. It was traded on our rear kitchen 5er we have now. As for the two brands, I'd pick Artic Fox. I don't have an issue with what I've seen Outdoors RV build, but would probably step up to a Wind Ridge. Good luck with the decisions.

[214skier]

Both of these are very nice units. We opted for the ORV/Timber Ridge product and have been very happy. Ours did not have any of the quality issues that you noted at your dealer. The few issues we have had post-purchase where promptly taken care of though warranty. Overall, it has been awesome--we have spent over 20 nights in it since buying last August.

My only regret was not getting the thermal pane windows. Highly recommend for cold-season and/or PNW.

Best of luck

[carringb]

Between the two, I would pick the Arctic Fox. ORV uses more low-end Lippert components, and those have given me no shortage of headaches. My trailer has been back to the factory 3 times for slide out drive repairs! ORV has been really great about replacing those defective items, but it's still been lots of extra hassle.

[stufarmer]

Don't confuse the fact that the model you're looking at is an Arctic Fox Classic. There is a substantial difference between the Arctic Fox Classic and the Arctic Fox Silver Fox.

[n7bsn]

n7bsn wrote:
The Arctic Fox is a little more "up scale" then the Timber Ridge.

What they said

[fugawi]

Hello,

I am currently looking at these two trailers. Below are some thoughts/questions. I would appreciate any insight from those of you who own or have considered the same trailers. We are towing with a Ram 2500 diesel crew cab with factory rear air suspension.

1. We looked at the Timber Ridge 240RKS today. We really like the shower/sink open to the bedroom area. Are there any other manufacturers with this floorplan other than the Northwood Snow River 246RKS, which is nearly identical?

2. We also like that the Northwood Arctic Fox 25Y has the same shower/sink open to the bedroom area. Are there any other manufacturers with this floorplan (rear lounge with larger windows, shower/sink open to bedroom, and 30'±?)

3. The only thing we don't like about the Timber Ridge 240RKS or Snow River 246RKS is the rear window compared to the Arctic Fox 25Y or other rear living units with larger windows in back.

4. With the 240RKS at 28'8" and 246RKS at 28'4", is there really that big of benefit to being shorter compared to the 30'0" Arctic Fox 25Y? I have read a lot about difficulty finding spots in some campgrounds with longer trailers. We currently have a 19’ trailer and have been able to get spots because of short length. However, I just wonder if it matters between 28’ vs 30’ vs 32’? (32’ being the length of some of the trailers with rear lounge and nicer rear windows, like Timber Ridge 250RDS or 260RLS.)

5. For those of you with either of these trailers, do you need sway control if towing with a ¾ ton truck? We have towed our much smaller 4,500± lb 19’ trailer without sway control or weight distribution and it is super solid. I’d prefer to hitch and go without hooking up sway control if possible, but wonder what length/weight starts to warrant sway control?

Thank you very much!

[SweetnSassy]

I own a 2012 Timber Ridge and have had no end of problems. I have posted my issues which you can read . My family owns both a Creek side and a Timber Ridge. The Creekside has had few problems but we just noticed a big bubbble in the left rear corner which means it is d-lamming. Both our units are 2012's.

[WesHawkins]

Wow that's a bummer about your TT being like that. I haven't heard any complaints close to that about that manufacturer. I have read several posts on various forums stating exactly what Brulaz has said. They are very cooperative with warranty repairs even at non dealers. Hope you can find what you want out there. Like Brulaz I do all my own repairs, with the exception of replacing walls and such.

[Sifter]

Bummer news today. After driving over 1300 miles to go pick our Timber Ridge 240RKS, we left the dealer without it. We were not impressed AT ALL with the quality/workmanship with the unit. Cabinetry was cheap, floor was bubbling up in places, and just the overall finish was lacking.

The search continues and now focuses on the 25Y.

[brulaz]

WesHawkins wrote:
Brulaz
I think I am still leaning toward the Creek Side or one of the Outdoors RV line trailers. I've got a 2000 Dodge 2500 Diesel that has a towing capacity of 9400# but I still want to keep the weight down if I can. The small things that I find not to my liking can be changed out to suit what I want relatively easily. I do all of my own repairs and modifications, except for replacing major things like walls and panels. Their chassis and frames off set the minor issues I'm looking at. With our 2011 Heartland North Trail I had to reinforce the underside of the shower, replace the water pump, repair hinges on the cabinets and have the front bonded panel replaced because it separated in about twenty places all in about a year and a half. Of course when I contacted Heart Land all I got was sorry its out of warranty. Had to contact the Pres and they finally provided the materials to fix it but it still cost me over $900.00 to have repaired. It was like pulling teeth to get them to do anything with that issue, so of course I won't buy another Heartland product.

I've done all the repairs on my Timber Ridge as we're several thousand miles from the nearest dealer. The guy I've dealt with has been very good about sending replacement parts under warranty after sending in a photo of the problem.

[WesHawkins]

Brulaz
I think I am still leaning toward the Creek Side or one of the Outdoors RV line trailers. I've got a 2000 Dodge 2500 Diesel that has a towing capacity of 9400# but I still want to keep the weight down if I can. The small things that I find not to my liking can be changed out to suit what I want relatively easily. I do all of my own repairs and modifications, except for replacing major things like walls and panels. Their chassis and frames off set the minor issues I'm looking at. With our 2011 Heartland North Trail I had to reinforce the underside of the shower, replace the water pump, repair hinges on the cabinets and have the front bonded panel replaced because it separated in about twenty places all in about a year and a half. Of course when I contacted Heart Land all I got was sorry its out of warranty. Had to contact the Pres and they finally provided the materials to fix it but it still cost me over $900.00 to have repaired. It was like pulling teeth to get them to do anything with that issue, so of course I won't buy another Heartland product.

[Highway_4x4]

If you are looking at the Arctic Fox in the Northwood line then look at the Wind River in the OutdoorsRV line. My 2014 250rdsw is a great floorplan. Both factories are about 5 miles from each other. There is a nice RV park close to the factories that Northwoods has their rally at and is close if you need warranty work done. I think it might be easier to get a good price on a Wind River over a Silver Fox.

[brulaz]

WesHawkins wrote:

...
I looked at a OutdoorsRV Creek Side 23rks yesterday and was a little disappointed with the medicine cabinet over the sink in the unit. It was a cheap plastic cabinet. It just didn't fit with the rest of the quality in the trailer. I know it seems insignificant but it makes me wonder about their supposed quality now. I do like their chassis on these units but it just seems like they got cheap on the little things. Faucets also seemed cheap and felt like they were plastic.
...

I think our medicine cabinet is the same. It is light weight, as are the faucets. The sinks are also plastic. Only the toilet is porcelain.

But having lived in ours for over 4 months, they do still work fine (knock-on-wood). And the shell/frame seems pretty solid, but heavy.

It's always a compromise in trailers between more solid/heavier/expensive components and lighter-weight stuff. At least with these little things you can upgrade them. Can't really do that with the shell/frame.

Actually there are areas where I've thought they could cut weight more. Much of the interior "wood" trim is very heavy composite board. But maybe there isn't enough of it to make much difference.