Hybrid with a big family

[oldbird]

I'm planning on getting an RV in the near future, and I'm thinking that a hybrid might be best. I'm hoping the great knowledge and experience here can help me out.

A little intro might help. I live outside of Portland, OR right now, and most of our trips would be fairly local, hopefully growing into longer and farther trips later on. We've got two sets of twins (yes, you read that right) that are 7 and 4. Tow vehicle for the next few years is a 1991 GMC suburban 1500, so weight is a concern.

My wife refuses to camp in a tent on the ground, but will do an RV.

Any thoughts on whether a hybrid will be good for us?

Coast is a concern with kids that eat us out of house and home, and weight. Most of our time would be spent outdoors, but on rainy days we would need enough room for all of us. Any suggestions on which used models to look at?

Thanks in advance!

[Oasisbob]

My wife and I have four children ages 4,11,14 17. We also have a black lab. We are year round campers out of Portland OR and we find our Bantam B 19 does well for us and has for around ten years. Four beds. We are finding the two older boys like to stay in their tent as they are gettin older though we have beds for all. Our trailer weight loaded ready to go is 3,490. Honestly we only have the hybrid due to a need for space and an inability to tow more weight. It is a hassle settin up the bunks at home to dry out though now we have covered parking. Best of luck.

[3LittleDucks]

The quad bunk hybrids are nice! Would have liked to see one when we were shopping. I think they're in the 27ft range?

[JM6479]

real4u2c wrote:
We have a Rockwood Roo 233s, 3 queen bed fold downs that are supper strong, it will sleep 8 adults comfortably and a few grandkids comfortable too. WE have slept 13 people total, yes it was tight , but, it works. The kitchen serves us well, the fridge is more than adequate. The sound system and tv set up is awesome. And its easy to tow at 26 feet closed up, my Tundra easily pulls it and its built to go into some rugged places if u r planning on dragging it off to your favorite off the beaten track fishing hole.

I second this. We camp with my wife and 3 smll boys (ages 7, 3, 2) and our retriver dog. We also have a Shamrock 233S. 3 queen beds that fold out, dinette that slides out, couch that converts to a bed. More than enough room. Ours is a 2014 that we just got in June, we have done 4 trips, and it has exceeded our hopes and expectations. Can't reccommend it enough.

[bikendan]

PAThwacker wrote:
Monica, any idea how much that unit weighs? 5 cheap bikes easy 150lbs or more combined. Add clothes and what not you are way over the bloated minivan's capacity.

the 3900lbs. appears to be the trailer's factory UVW.
so, adding all the weights of battery, propane, water, bikes and cargo AND subtracting the weights of passengers/cargo in the car, other than a 150lb. driver from the 5200 number, she is going to be near or at max capacity.
but living in Ottawa means no mountains so probably alright.
but any trip in the mountains will burn that poor Traverse out.

[PAThwacker]

Monica, any idea how much that unit weighs? 5 cheap bikes easy 150lbs or more combined. Add clothes and what not you are way over the bloated minivan's capacity.

[Mom23princesses]

oldbird wrote:
I'm planning on getting an RV in the near future, and I'm thinking that a hybrid might be best. I'm hoping the great knowledge and experience here can help me out.

A little intro might help. I live outside of Portland, OR right now, and most of our trips would be fairly local, hopefully growing into longer and farther trips later on. We've got two sets of twins (yes, you read that right) that are 7 and 4. Tow vehicle for the next few years is a 1991 GMC suburban 1500, so weight is a concern.

My wife refuses to camp in a tent on the ground, but will do an RV.

Any thoughts on whether a hybrid will be good for us?

Coast is a concern with kids that eat us out of house and home, and weight. Most of our time would be spent outdoors, but on rainy days we would need enough room for all of us. Any suggestions on which used models to look at?

Thanks in advance!

We have three kids (10,9,5) and were considering a HTT this spring/summer. All the used options around us (Ottawa, ON, Canada) were either really poorly looked after or were serverly overpriced. Our TV is 2010 Chev Traverse LS with factory tow packahge (tow rating 5,200lbs). We started looking into other options - I mean we researched every trailer available in our weight range, HTT and TT! We found Forest River made a solid TT (back in 2004) with quad bunks in back and queen tent fold out on front! Dry weight 3900lbs! It also has a cargo door for back bunk area where the two lower bunks fold away and all 5 bikes fit in for travel. We took a long time finding this trailer but have camped 13 nights so far this summer and love it!! It's a 2004 Surveyor v261T in case you're able to find one in your neck of the woods. I highly recommend it. Gives you the weight your looking for without as much set up, possibility of tent/canvas issues in an "almost completely" hard sided TT.

Good luck with your search!

Monica

[PAThwacker]

We have two tents and dual rear perpendicular bunks. Total of four beds and nobody on the dinette.

Someday these types of models will be offered again.

[PAThwacker]

Often the front bunks will be higher, so high that the front stabs and jack are 8" beyond their limits. A 4ft folding ladder is standard must have for any type of camper.

[bikendan]

atreis wrote:
I found that particular item puzzling.

I'm a short guy and have no problem closing up the queen bunk on our trailer, and have very rarely needed to use a stool to reach the latches or handle (only if the site is REALLY unlevel).

i guess i'm not short at 6', but i close my bunk ends, with the mattresses attached, by myself all the time.
i just did it yesterday. i simply push it up to a 45 degree angle and slide over to one side and tuck everything in and then slide over to the other side and do the same thing. then i close it and latch it.

[Calijenn]

atreis wrote:
I found that particular item puzzling.

I'm a short guy and have no problem closing up the queen bunk on our trailer, and have very rarely needed to use a stool to reach the latches or handle (only if the site is REALLY unlevel).

Good to know! 🙂

[atreis]

I found that particular item puzzling.

I'm a short guy and have no problem closing up the queen bunk on our trailer, and have very rarely needed to use a stool to reach the latches or handle (only if the site is REALLY unlevel).

[Calijenn]

Newer here and loving this site! I have been in search of a htt and am loving the idea of so much space and bed room for kids etc. I never thought of how tough closing up the beds would be tho, interesting point! Lol

[real4u2c]

Not knocking my fellow htt owners, but those big queen foldouts are easy to fold up when you use a ladder, I use a 300lb rating as I am rather large, and that works well when I am "stuffing the material in". I recently cut up aluminum house wrap and am experimenting with that idea, I am figuring if I secure some 1 or 2" foil faced foam board under my entire trailer , Now that should decrease my thermal loss.

[RoyB]

The HYBRID idea is great for keeping a large move around idea inside the trailer without having the beds to worry about. The FOLD DOWN Tent beds from the outside really is plus in this regard.

The only drawback some folks have is the large doors that fold down are prone to slightly warp being as large as they are and may not be as water tight as one would expect. The earlier HYBRIDS definitely had these problems...

Being a tent trailer camper couple now for many years we can report we have no issues whatsoever with keeping our OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer comfortable inside as far as temperature is concerned. Actually the propane furnace is way too hot for us to use - runs us out. Also way to loud to live with as well hehe... We tend to use portable oil-filled electric heaters more and just have the propane furnace and loud blower as a backup source of heat. Keep a low 40s setting on it.

Another thing we have done with the little ones. It seems the older kids would rather setup outside in a tent so we will always have a tent available when the grandkids are with us.

Roy Ken