light weight options/specs

[sewicamper]

Greetings from a newbie...
I'm looking at purchasing a small tt this year or next. Would love to search based on multiple criteria and haven't found anywhere to do this. There are simply too many brands out there to make sure I've covered them all!
I'm looking for your help to make sure i don't overlook any models that fit my criteria....

At or under 10' tall with a/c
At or under 25' overall length
Less than 4000# dry (lighter is better!)
Queen bed and 2 bunks
Dry bath
Enclosed underbody & heated tanks (has to at least be an option)
No tent pull outs
Hard slide may be tolerable (but will likely push weight past 4K#)

Some overall heights specifically mention 'including a/c' others don't (ie Rockwood Mini lite 2306).... not sure what height average a/c unit adds?

Thanks your help!

[seaeagle2]

petendoll wrote:
This might come close.

http://www.chaletrv.com/travel-trailers/1860bh

We have the nonbunk version, with AC its 10' 4" (from someone whose carport is 10' 7") They are very well built, and have a lot of features for a smaller trailer.

[handye9]

sewicamper wrote:
heated tanks (has to at least be an option)

How much heat woud you consider to be heated tanks?

Some manufacturers enclosed the underbelly and say the tanks are heated.

Some manufacturers enclose the underbelly, run the heat ductwork ear the tanks, and say the tanks are heated.

Some manufacturers enclose the underbelly, run duckwork near the tanks, open the duckwork to blow warm air on the tanks, and say the tanks are heated.

Some manufacturers enclose the underbelly, run duckwork near the tanks, install electric heat pads on the tanks, sewer lines, and dump valve, and say the tanks are heated.

There are a lot of variations of what they call "heated tanks".

When a salesman tells you "This unit has the Arctic Package", "This Unit has the Polar Package", "this unit has the thermal package", "this unit has heated tanks", or "This unit is a four season camper", you need to be asking:

1. How is it insulated (R values of floor, walls, roof)?
2. How are the tanks heated?
3. What keeps the sewer lines and dump valve from freezing?
4. What is included in that Arctic, Polar,

A lot of the supposedly cold weather packages / terminology is nothing but marketing hype. A cold weather package could be nothing more than enclosed underbelly.

Rockwood and Flagstaff are two that have the electric heat pads, as an option. Couple years back, I tried to order them on a new Keystone Cougar, and was told, "Keystone won't install them".

Depending on how cold the weather is, even the electric pads may not be enough.

Been there, with warm tanks, full of stuff, electric pads down to within 8 inches of the dump valve, and the valve itself was frozen. Took an hour with pocket warmers and a 12 volt hair dryer, to thaw the valve and get rid of the warm stuff in the tanks.

[SilverEscape]

I remembered one I found a year or two ago. Livin Lite Camplite 21 BHS. Meets all of your criteria except for the heated tanks. For the enclosed underbelly, it looks like the option is spray on insulation. So you might want to call Livin Lite and see if it what they do would work for you. And ask them about heated tank options, they may be able to offer a suggestion.

https://www.livinlite.com/camplite21bhs-overview.php

[SilverEscape]

As someone else mentioned earlier, knowing your payload and towing capacities would help a ton.

I've got a Jayco X213 which meets many of your criteria. It's 24' total travel length, dry bath, king bed rear slide, 2 bunks up front, 3/4" shy of 10 feet including the AC, and enclosed underbelly available.

It misses on heated tanks (although maybe there's a way to add that after?) and the weight. Mine is 4300# dry and 4990# loaded. GVWR is 5500#.

I'll add that since 2008, I had been looking for something with a queen and bunks, not a hybrid under 4000#. We had a 5000# tow capacity vehicle so I was hoping to find something we could tow with it. 7 years later and we ended up with the X213 last summer and sold our SUV and bought a truck that could tow it. 😉

As mentioned earlier, take a look at TrailManor. I would have considered one but they aren't sold in my area in Canada and in general, the Canadian pricing is very high.

[dadmomh]

The KZ noted looks like a nice model with everything you need. Only drawback for me...and that's just me....would be no sink in the bathroom, but lots of folks have a set up like that and it works fine for them. Without my going back and looking, if you haven't looked into the Rockwood Mini Lites, there may be something there that would work. Also, re tent trailers, I'm assuming they're meaning a PUP, but if you haven't checked Hybrids, I wouldn't rule it out quite yet. Our first trailer was a HTT and worked very well. You said you need 2 bunks, but you might at least think about something like the ROO 183 with 3 queen beds. Just a suggestion. We loved ours. People either love 'em or hate 'em. Don't know about the heated underbelly in the MiniLites, but doubt seriously in the HTT. Good luck, you've got a challenge here.

[rbpru]

You have boxed yourself into a corner. It is unlikely you will find a 25 footer less than 5000 lbs. and certainly not when loaded. Perhaps the closest you will come is with a Hybrid but you said you are not interested in those.

Shorter is lighter; if you picked a weight and height you have pretty much picked the length and I think it will be well under 25 ft.

My 2010 Dutchmen is 25 ft. and weights 5000 lbs. dry.

Floor plan, TV and cost are the three major factors that have to be balanced. I would put floor plan first.

[JiminDenver]

The Hi-lo or trail manor may be the ticket here.

[johntinacamping]

Well, here's my 2 cents. This will get you everything except the enclosed and heated underbelly: KZ Sportsmen Classic 19BHS A lot of manufacturers are making these single axle lightweight campers. We have a 2011 KZ Sportsmen Classic 19BH. At the time, we had a teenage niece and nephew who would travel with us, so we got the bunkhouse model (at the time this was their largest model in the Classic line). Now that the children have grown and moved to other things we use the bunks for storage. Also at the time there was no option for a slide in these. They have that option now, which gives you a larger dinette. One thing to pay close attention to is that these are made low to the ground and they have very small black and grey tanks. As long as you either use a dump cart or full hookup site, you're good. We really like ours and have had NO issues with it, but we're looking into a sizeable upgrade in space and amenities in our next trailer. One upgrade we have really enjoyed is doing the so-called "axle flip" to gain clearance under the camper. This moves the axle below the springs instead of above. It would often drag pulling into and out of drive entrances. Not anymore :-).

[petendoll]

This might come close.

http://www.chaletrv.com/travel-trailers/1860bh

[ScottG]

Being under ten feet tall including an AC is going to be a big challenge and severely limit your choices. Even without an AC that is a tall order (pardon the pun..).

[Bumpyroad]

I would not lock myself into the GVWR of the trailer. the only valid number is the actual weight of it. I don't care if the GVWR is more than I can pull, as long as the actual weight is sufficiently below that limit. too many here limit themselves due to a very large GVWR when in actuality it will actually weigh much less than that.
bumpy

[RoyB]

Not all TENT BEDS push in or pull out. The HYBRID SERIES have the tent beds that fold down from the outside. These do not take up any room inside the trailer when up.

JAYCO has a great web page showing all of the floor plans on a view page so you can compare the various models.

[Campfire_Time]

donn0128 wrote:
Tent trailers would fit your criteria quite nicely.

Did you even read the post?

[Campfire_Time]

Welcome!

First lesson is to ignore the dry weight. It is a fictional number. No one tows a trailer at it's dry weight. Dry weight does not include factory installed options like AC, awning, oven, or even the spare tire as is the case with some manufacturers. There is a yellow sticker on the driver side of the trailer that lists the "shipped" weight, which is always higher than the advertised dry weight.

A better planning number is the GVWR. That's the allowed total weight of the trailer fully packed and ready to camp in. Most of us don't fill them to that extent, however the real tow ready weight most of us have is closer to the GVWR than the dry weight. Hence it's a good number for planning.

That said, what are you towing with? What is the payload (on a sticker in your driver side door jamb)? With that info we can make a better determination of what's realistic for you to tow, and that will help narrow down your research.

This is important because far too often people buy a trailer that's within their listed towing capacity but will easily push them over their listed payload. Towing capacity is not a hard and fast number. Knowing your payload and tongue weight limit need to be factored in as well.

EDIT: The Jayco Jay Feather SLX 18srb may fit your requirements very nicely.

EDIT again: Oop, sorry. I didn't catch that you need 2 bunks also.

[donn0128]

Tent trailers would fit your criteria quite nicely. You will not find many hard side trailers to fit your want list