Hybrid Travel Trailers on the West Coast

[bristevens]

I am interested in downsizing our 35ft travel trailer to a 21ft Hybrid. I have been searching, and there doesn't seem to be any available anywhere near Las Vegas, where I live. Does anyone know why this is? The only reason I can think of is that they aren't great in extreme hot (or cold) weather?? If anyone can provide insight, I would appreciate it.

Cheers-

Brian

[rbq]

Several dealers up the road in Utah carry the Roo's if you are up for the drive.

[Wavesprite]

PAThwacker wrote:
Pugs should be silver side up year round according to Bob Pitney.

Boondocking. Add solar to run fans and recharge a battery bank. Water/waste water are the biggest challenges.

Most light weight trailers are in the 30/30/30 variety.

Sorry, just saw this, We only put the pugs on in cool weather green side up to keep it dark inside, and to have it look nice, not for "keeping it warmer". We actually like the pugs for keeping it darker on the ends in the morning, more then keeping the heat or chill out.

[waterman7474]

I'm out here in Vegas with you and they are hard to find. They seem to go in fits on craigslist. Sometimes there are lots, then none. Keep the search open on distance, I often see them in and around SLC and Flagstaff. They seem to start showing up in the fall, people done with the summer I guess.

SoCal has them but most that I looked at were expensive and generally not in great shape.

And if you aren't scared of dirt, there is lots of great boondocking you can do around here. In fact, I've yet to go to a proper campsite. I have some good spots that are a little on the remote side but nice and quite and not too far from town.

[PAThwacker]

Pugs should be silver side up year round according to Bob Pitney.

Boondocking. Add solar to run fans and recharge a battery bank. Water/waste water are the biggest challenges.

Most light weight trailers are in the 30/30/30 variety.

[Wavesprite]

We have a hybrid and we're in Carmel on the coast. We've travelled a lot with it and hardly ever see them out here, when we do we are happy and always say hi!!!

We use Pugs every trip, if it's cook out we put the green side up and if its hot out we put the silver side up. When it's cool, we only really put them on to keep it nice and dark in the morning.....plus our hybrid is a tan and green scheme so the green on the ends looks nice.

I know that Pan Pacific in Morgan Hill, California sells new ones....but we got ours on Craigslist.

[PAThwacker]

Reg Tt. Can also turn into an oven if the power goes out or not hooked up. If you use a camper for boondock camping go with a htt and enjoy the open tent ends.

Bring extra potable water and gray water collection system.

[bikendan]

rwbradley wrote:

bikendan wrote:

bristevens wrote:
Thanks for the replies, everyone. Still on the fence about a hybrid. Mainly, because we have 4 dogs. We're concerned about them barking at every passer by or noise they hear through the tent material. I don't think they would rip the tent if we were gone, but that's always a possibility too. I do like the concept though!

You also have to consider keeping the trailer cool and hybrid will be more difficult, if you need a/c.
Barking dogs in a campground aren't appreciated and may draw complaints to the ranger.
If they're barkers, I don't suggest a hybrid.

I would be concerned about the dogs, but I would not worry about heating or cooling. We have had ours in 100 degree with 100% humidity and also at freezing temps. The Air could keep up just fine even with the sun hitting one of the tent ends, and we could heat the whole thing with one of the little square ceramic heaters.

i meant that a regular TT would be easier to keep cool, than a hybrid.
a hybrid needs PUGs and Reflectix to even have a chance to stay cool, in real hot weather. and it will still lose some of the cool air through the tent ends. the a/c will work a lot harder in a hybrid, than it will in a regular TT.

[rwbradley]

bikendan wrote:

bristevens wrote:
Thanks for the replies, everyone. Still on the fence about a hybrid. Mainly, because we have 4 dogs. We're concerned about them barking at every passer by or noise they hear through the tent material. I don't think they would rip the tent if we were gone, but that's always a possibility too. I do like the concept though!

You also have to consider keeping the trailer cool and hybrid will be more difficult, if you need a/c.
Barking dogs in a campground aren't appreciated and may draw complaints to the ranger.
If they're barkers, I don't suggest a hybrid.

I would be concerned about the dogs, but I would not worry about heating or cooling. We have had ours in 100 degree with 100% humidity and also at freezing temps. The Air could keep up just fine even with the sun hitting one of the tent ends, and we could heat the whole thing with one of the little square ceramic heaters.

[bikendan]

bristevens wrote:
Thanks for the replies, everyone. Still on the fence about a hybrid. Mainly, because we have 4 dogs. We're concerned about them barking at every passer by or noise they hear through the tent material. I don't think they would rip the tent if we were gone, but that's always a possibility too. I do like the concept though!

You also have to consider keeping the trailer cool and hybrid will be more difficult, if you need a/c.
Barking dogs in a campground aren't appreciated and may draw complaints to the ranger.
If they're barkers, I don't suggest a hybrid.

[bristevens]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Still on the fence about a hybrid. Mainly, because we have 4 dogs. We're concerned about them barking at every passer by or noise they hear through the tent material. I don't think they would rip the tent if we were gone, but that's always a possibility too. I do like the concept though!

[mgpassport]

Here in central ca, Dealers have them.
I just bought one from Pan Pacific....

[3ontheGo]

I'm on the Central Coast of CA and see quite a few in use and for sale used here. So if you're interested in used, check craigslist for the San Luis Obispo area.

[bikendan]

bristevens wrote:
I am interested in downsizing our 35ft travel trailer to a 21ft Hybrid. I have been searching, and there doesn't seem to be any available anywhere near Las Vegas, where I live. Does anyone know why this is? The only reason I can think of is that they aren't great in extreme hot (or cold) weather?? If anyone can provide insight, I would appreciate it.

Cheers-

Brian

even though we can camp year-round on the West Coast, hybrids are not common out here. i rarely saw them in the 8 years we owned ours while living in California. i've always said that hybrids would be perfect out here where weather is great nearly all the time.

few dealers carry them or know anything about them.
part of the problem, especially in SoCal and your area, is the popularity of toyhaulers. and dealers out here always are pushing the bigger, more expensive units.
a number of salespeople told me that if the customer didn't want to spend the money, they always had popups to push them into. they felt that the hybrid doesn't fit the general buying public.

and the few dealers that carry them, charge nearly MSRP for them, since they know that they are rare out here.
that's why we bought ours from a Chicago dealer and went there to get it. the 3 NorCal Roo dealers told us that if we wanted that Chicago dealer's price, we should drive there to get it but they wouldn't do the warranty work. so Forest River found us a number of other local dealers that were willing to do it.
even with trip costs, we stilled saved $4500 over what the local NorCal dealers wanted.

i will say that if i planned to camp in the Vegas area a lot, i wouldn't buy a hybrid.
don't know where you are planning to camp but if it's in desert or hot regions primarily, get a regular TT.

[donn0128]

Instead of a hybrid have you considered something like an Rpod?