Choosing our first travel trailer! Big family

Jas1317 wrote:
I wondered about this with the lightweight trailers - I was told at camper world that they are just as sturdy, just made better/lighter/etc. But what you are saying makes sense. What travel trailers do you recommend?

My recommendation is to go to lots of RV shows. Living in the DC area, we had yearly shows in VA, in MD and PA that we went to. I went for 2 years straight and walked through as many campers as I could. Different manufacturers and different build levels.

Floor rigidity- lots of campers had soft or spongy feeling floors. I quickly discounted those.

Cabinets- lots of campers are glued/stapled drawers or very thin cabinets. That is to save weight and save time assembling. I didn't care for those because wear and tear will quickly destroy them.

Floorplans- Lots of floorplans look good on the internet, but when you actually stand in the space they are poorly designed. I remember cabinets that couldn't open all the way because they hit the slide out wall. I remember a bathroom that didn't provide enough room for me to stretch my arms out to towel off my back. You see some floorplans that appear to have a walkaround bed in front, but the mattress is 6" from the wall and you can't walk around it.

Build components- I wanted a trailer with Dexter components, which give me more confidence than Lippert. Lippert, in my opinion, builds to an absolute bare minimum. Having looked at Dexter axles and Lippert axles, I wanted to avoid Lippert. Having looked at Lippert frames, I wanted to avoid Lippert.

I ultimately decided on my 2015 Jayco. My in-laws bought a 2016 Jayco, which must have been after the sale to Thor, and some things were still higher quality, but some things had obviously changed for the "cheaper" while the cost increased.

This is a long way of saying I don't know enough about what is out there now to make a recommendation. Airstream are known for being top notch, but they are also 3-4 times as expensive and I don't think they have slides anymore. We have a friend that owns a Grand Design Reflection series 5th wheel that seems well made. I have always had an affinity for Northwoods, who make the Arctic Fox and the Nash. Our first trailer was a Nash and was very well put together (but pretty heavy for a small trailer). They are more expensive and harder to find, but they put a lot of features and quality components in them. I like to research how things are built, but lots of manufacturers won't list the build type or components or stuff like that. That worried me.

Take recommendations from people here and start going to RV shows and walking through these campers. Have your kids lay in the bunks and see how ergonomic it is. Go into the bathroom and sit on the toilet, step into the shower and simulate washing yourself, step out and simulate drying yourself. Practice walking around with your spouse in the kitchen area as you would be preparing and serving meals. Think about where you would store stuff, how much clothes you need for a cross country trip. Do you need a washer/dryer in your rig or do you expect to wash clothes at the campground equipment? Do you plan to bring food and make your own meals? If so how much pantry space do you need, how much fridge space do you need? Are you a coffee drinker? Where can you stow a coffee maker for transport, where can you put it on a counter when you have arrived?

Things like that really helped narrow it down for us and got a great camper. We are about to complete our 6th year with our camper and still love it. We wish we had bought the slightly bigger one with the slide in the kids room, but we didn't know we'd have a bigger truck when we bought it. Too many people see a cool feature, or a flashy design and buy without planning ahead. Don't get into that mess. Take your time try things out. Buy the right trailer the first time!

Good luck!!!