Any "sleeper" brand trailers?

[IAJack]

I am wondering if there is a "sleeper" brand TT that is quality made and cheaper. What I mean by "sleeper" is a brand that is lesser known or unheard of that many ppl. overlook or that dealers want to get rid of.

The best example of a "sleeper" product that I can give would be the TCL brand televisions with built in Roku. These TV's are amazing quality and feature filled for the price.

[Bigbird65]

IAJack wrote:
Well, I ended up buying a used 2011 Lance 1881 today for 11,000. It had everything I wanted including a walk around bed, dual axle, lightweight, WDH included, and it is in good shape. The best part is I paid cash so I am not upside down on it.

Congratulations and post a photo of it.

[Vintage465]

IAJack wrote:
Well, I ended up buying a used 2011 Lance 1881 today for 11,000. It had everything I wanted including a walk around bed, dual axle, lightweight, WDH included, and it is in good shape. The best part is I paid cash so I am not upside down on it.

That's a nice looking little rig! Has a pretty high payload capacity too. My brother bought a 2017 Lance. It is appointed with some very nice equipment and features.

[Ralph_Cramden]

Atlee wrote:
Dang. Wish I had known earlier that my 2017 Jayco Jay Flight 23RB was going to fall apart, and rot away shortly after the 2 year warranty runs out.

old guy wrote:
RV manufacturing is not rocket science. and in saying that I would stay away from entry level rv's. they are the worst investment in rv's. wood frames and poor quality. you will spend more time working on them then enjoying them. bite the bullet and get a better quality rv with a metal frame. they don't shake apart when going down the road

Atlee, after around 10 years of being around RV forums I have often wondered what the line is between entry level and non entry level. I have come to the conclusion its mostly "what I purchased is superior and some other level above your entry level trailer" LOL. Having been to a few factories I can assure you that no better materials are used, nor better workmanship, QA or QC, from a manufacturers lowest price to highest priced unit other than a select few models, and they have their own share of build defects.

As far as stick or tin, or laminated aluminum super structure, with one being entry level and the other being superior......pick your poisen and believe what you want. As far as there being a difference between and entry level or higher level laminated trailer....good luck. The panels are laminated in one facility for all lines using the same materials, methods, and workers. At least where the big guys are concerned. At best you'll get a little bit thicker of a panel where 1-1/2" foam and tube is used opposed to 1".

[Ralph_Cramden]

atreis wrote:

IAJack wrote:
This is not a TV adertisement, I am in the IT Tech field and the TV is just an example that I could think of. I really have my eye on a Lance trailer but I am going to have to sell some blooed and get a second job or find a good deal on a used one to be able to afford it.

Lance are good.

Yes they are...about as good as anything or anybody else. I know someone who had a 2013 Lance. Shortly after the warranty expired while filling the water tank with the gravity fill, the hose on the inside of the fill port popped off. By the time he noticed the water pouring fron bottom of the closed entry door and then the perimeter below the skirting, he had pumped about 50 gallons into the trailer. It seems Lance had sort of forgot to install a hose clamp on that line and it held through numerous trips. Lance told him to take a hike, and so did his insurance as they claimed a manufacturer defect, eventually they paid however no where close to the amount he had in the thing.

The trailer was totaled because the floor buckled at every seam.

Also saw another along a campground entrance road once where the entire fresh water tank dropped out taking the underliner with it.

Yes sir....Lance is just as good as other manufacturers.....although at a premium.

[Atlee]

Dang. Wish I had known earlier that my 2017 Jayco Jay Flight 23RB was going to fall apart, and rot away shortly after the 2 year warranty runs out.

old guy wrote:
RV manufacturing is not rocket science. and in saying that I would stay away from entry level rv's. they are the worst investment in rv's. wood frames and poor quality. you will spend more time working on them then enjoying them. bite the bullet and get a better quality rv with a metal frame. they don't shake apart when going down the road

[IAJack]

Well, I ended up buying a used 2011 Lance 1881 today for 11,000. It had everything I wanted including a walk around bed, dual axle, lightweight, WDH included, and it is in good shape. The best part is I paid cash so I am not upside down on it.

[wanderingbob]

Quality for a manufacture is dangerous , if they do a good job on one RV then they will be expected to do good on all . Never happen !

[atreis]

IAJack wrote:
This is not a TV adertisement, I am in the IT Tech field and the TV is just an example that I could think of. I really have my eye on a Lance trailer but I am going to have to sell some blooed and get a second job or find a good deal on a used one to be able to afford it.

Lance are good. Actually, MOST are good if you're a little handy and don't mind fixing the (usually simple) things the factory messes up.

More importantly, get one you can afford without having to sell blood. (heh) You also want to be able to afford to use it after you get it.

[LVJJJ]

W'eve have numerous TT's over the past 30 years, new and used. The best new one we had was the cheapest, kinda like a box of chocolates, don't know what you're gonna get till you tow it for a while. The one we liked the best was an off brand called Frontier Flyer, made by Damon.

As for chosing a TT, we always start with the floor plan we need and go from there.

As we are finally debt free, we only buy used, cash. So our current TT (TrailCrusier) is the floor plan we need and has the aerodynamics that allows our fairly weak engined Suburban to tow it easily. took us about a year of constant looking to find it. Even made a 700 mile trip from Blaine to Idaho to look at two pieces of junk that the sellers said were pristine (what's wrong with you people)?

[IAJack]

I am going to look at a used Lance, I was impressed with the quality of the couple that I have looked at so far.

[deltabravo]

troubledwaters wrote:

ppine wrote:
Outdoors RV made in Oregon.

Starting at about $30,000.00 and Up, I don't think that qualifies as "And Cheaper".

Outdoors RV units don't start that high. Staring prices are more like 21-23k, for the Blackrock 18DB and 20RD (their smallest units)

[ppine]

If you want quality in an RV you have to pay for it, pretty much like everything else.

[Clicck]

No sleepers in the camper world, you pay a little or you pay a lot and you deal with a few problems or you deal with a lot of problems and the price is not necessarily a correlation.

Taylor Coaches are highly regarded however they only sell factory direct and are in Canada.

[gbopp]

IAJack wrote:

Jay Coe wrote:

IAJack wrote:
I was just wondering if there was a brand that people often overlooked that maybe stands out as a bargain. An example the other way would be APPLE PRODUCTS being waaaay over priced for what they actually are. (and no this is not and ad for Android LOL)

😉

LOL yes, that is a more better example

Yes it is. 🙂