Airstream or Lance?

eeltinge wrote:
When I was in my 20's, I lived for 3 years in a Winnebago Minnie Winnie. My one remaining memory is the very small fresh and grey water. I was in no way self-contained.

In my spare time I fly fish, bird hunt, and sea kayak. I hire guides and their equipment to do all three. I will get dirty and do need to shower. Clothes, food, and my bulldog will constitute most of the weight.

My Coast Guard duties take me from the lighthouses in Puget Sound to the gun ranges at the Mexican border. I very rarely go to the mountains. Our scientific lab equipment is digital and weighs virtually nothing. I will camp most of the time at military RV bases with full hook-ups.

A fully optioned out 1985 weighs about 4,200lbs. 30 gallons of fluids at 8lbs. per gallon is 240lbs for a total of 4,440lbs. With food, clothes, fly rods, 43lb. 2,000 watt Honda generator, I am pushing it. I wonder how much the a weight distributing hitch and sway control will add? I don't mind driving 50-55mph, but a must be able to brake under control

Sell the Toyota and get something with a small 3.0L 400 lb ft of torque or some such diesel motor... A RAM 1500 Eco diesel, or the new Nissan Titan XD. I tow with a VW Touareg Sport SUV TDI with the 3.0L 240HP 406 lb ft model rated for 7700 lb of towing, with the tow package.

Or scale down and get a smaller, lighter TT.

I toured the Lance factory and was not impressed at all with the quality of material or workmanship, not for the price they ask for a Lance TT. Lance may have a good name in Full Length Campers in 8 foot pickup beds, but I didn't find them any better in the TT's they make.

Soliciting from where you did will get you fanboi input from various owners. Find input from people that don't own the product and don't have a dog in the hunt for better input.