Choosing our first travel trailer! Big family

spoon059 wrote:
OP, how old are the kids and what gender are they? That will influence some of the decisions. I'll give you this advice though...

Look for a camper with a bunk room, rather than just bunks. I grew up camping in a small trailer with bunks with a curtain screen for "privacy". There is no ventilation in their and it gets HOT in the summer. They were tight little coffins. Close walls on 3 sides and a tight ceiling.

We have a 2015 Jayflight 29QBS that has a back bunk ROOM. The box is actually 31' and the overall length is 34' and its GVWR is 9500 lbs, including over 2000 lbs of cargo and water capacity. It has 2 bunks on one side and an elevated double bunk on the other side. The bunks are mostly open, except for the last 24" on the 2 single bunks. There is a curtain to close off the room, but there is an AC and heat vent in the room itself. Having open bunk areas allows for air to circulate and maintain a comfortable temperature. As much as we like our camper, we wish we had gotten a slightly different model that had a slide out in the bunk room as well. We had a half ton truck at the time and tried to make the truck work with the bigger camper. Ultimately we didn't like the towing experience and bought a bigger truck. If I had known a bigger truck was in the immediate future, we would have bought the slightly bigger camper too.

We have an outdoor kitchen as well, that sits under the elevated double bunk. Initially we didn't want the outdoor kitchen, but loved everything else about the trailer. We anticipated taking out the kitchen and turning it into more storage space. We quickly learned that we LOVE the outdoor kitchen. We cook most meals outside, rather than having the odor and humidity inside. Having the outdoor fridge allows us to keep drinks there so our older kids aren't constantly in and out, leaving door open, letting heat in, waking up the toddler, etc. We don't use the outdoor stove as much anymore now that we bought a 22" Blackstone griddle.

Staying in a camper for more than a week, you're going to want a slide out. Rainy days with kids can be a disaster in a small camper. Having open space inside where they can play, color, read or just have separate space from each other is golden. We do several week long trips every year and a 3 week Florida winter trip every year. Inevitably you'll get a day with less ideal weather (rain, too hot, etc) and need some downtime inside. A slide in the main room gives you that space.

We have friends we camp with that now have a 16 year old daughter and 13 year old son. They bought a bunkhouse model when the kids were slightly younger and they shared it. Now the 16 year old has the bunkroom for her own and the 13 year old sleeps on the dinette every night. We like the idea of some of the 5th wheels that we've seen that have a loft area. We have a girl, boy and girl. Our next trailer will serve as they hit their teens and we want to have separate space for the girls to have privacy. Something to consider depending upon age/sex of your kids.

You talk about a cross country trip, which is going to be lots of moving with a couple days rest between. Some recommended ditching the 3 way fridge and getting a residential style... I don't see that as a benefit for cross country travel. I don't know that I would feel comfortable leaving a residential style fridge unplugged during a long day of hauling and hoping its still cold enough to keep the food safe at the end of the day. Now, if you stay at a campground for a month at a time, a residential style sounds more appealing to me. We carry food with us and keep the fridge running on propane while we drive to keep food cold. I would do more research and get real-world experience from people about whether or not a residential style will keep food cold while you're on the road.

Good luck, have fun!

Thanks so much this was all so helpful and what you said makes sense and sounds like the direction we are heading in! Which is reassuring!
We have all girls - 9, 6, 3. We definitely prefer that bunk room format for sure! And I think theoretically we would get a lot of use out of the outdoor kitchen!
So interesting about the fridge, really good points.