Looking for a smaller TT for 2 people

[johnnyringo]

First time buyer. Considering construction quality, longevity and price What brands are worth considering?

[69_Avion]

I guess the OP doesn't want to give any clarification of what he wants.

[Bumpyroad]

the 19 ft Ascend, A19RD IIRC, has a walk around bed, dinette, and can use the bathroom door to sort of divide it into two areas, sleep and sit.
bumpy

[djsamuel]

My wife and I have the Camplite 21BHS from Livinlite. It's a Very durable trailer, although not as fancy as some of the other brands. But it tows great, is tough, has no wood, and is lightweight. They make smaller trailers as well:

LIVIN LITE 21BHS LINK

[tatest]

How small are you wiling to go, what compromises will you make in living space and fittings for small size.

I've met a number of couples traveling or camping in 13-foot "egg" trailers (Casita and Scamp) and some in A-frame folders at 10-12 feet box size. In the first case, you have to make a choice of bathroom vs permanent bed, in the A-frame the bath is rarely available, you trade off bed plus seating vs two seating areas, one becomes a bed. Refrigerators ar 3-4 cu ft and usually don't have freezers, the cooking surface will be two burner.

Next size up in molded trailers is 16-17 feet. You can get a bathroom (wet bath, shower is in the toilet space) and have the four seat dinette permanently configured as a bed, with another dinette for two. This size also lets you sacrifice the bathroom for sofa seating and/or bunk beds.

At either length these egg trailers are small in all dimensions: car width (6' 6" or less) and less than 8 feet tall, which helps keeps frontal area down for towing by cars with frontal area limits.

Next size up, 18-20 foot trailers with "15" "16" or "17" in the model numbers, conventional box construction, either wood frame or laminated panels, a variety of floor plans, some with wet bath, some with separate shower space, some with seating in addition to dinette/bed, at least one (Lance 1575) having a slideout. Three burner stovetops, and sometimes ranges with ovens, and 6 cu ft fridges become the more typical. Widths might be about 7 feet (R-Pod?) but more typically 7-1/2 or 8 wide and 9-10 feet tall.

Want a walk-around queen bed and a dinette? Length will be 20-23 feet, model number containing "19" "20" or "21" with fittings otherwise much like the 18-19 footer.

Go to some dealers, or better, RV shows, look at the small trailers, figure out what space works for the two of you. Nobody else can tell you what size fits you, and if there are two of you, it has to fit both. My wife needed about 10 feet more RV than I would have liked to have, and since she died it is too much for me, I rattled around in the space for a couple of years and now haven't used it for 18 months, the empty space is uncomfortable. Other people would find it too small.

[CavemanCharlie]

Scamp


http://www.scamptrailers.com/

[69_Avion]

OP sure doesn't give much info.

[JIMNLIN]

johnnyringo wrote:
First time buyer. Considering construction quality, longevity and price What brands are worth considering?

I've bought three truck campers and one TT and three 5th wheel trailers since the early '60s.
Never cared about brand unless that brand carried a particular floor plan we wanted.
We always picked the floor plan we liked at a price we could afford and enjoyed the RV.

I've found ideas about construction quality varies greatly among people in general as evident of some folks calling a ACME brand RV as junk and others saying they love they're Acme brand RV castle on wheels.

[Bumpyroad]

Steve B. wrote:
Casita. Good reputation, good resale value. Nice layouts available, especially with the side dinette and captains chairs. That lets you leave the bed set up and ready to go. Owners seem very happy.

yep, when I looked at them, that set up in a 16 or so footer looked pretty good. IIRC had to get the roof air to end up with a closet that would hang full sized clothes. had a nicer bath than the Scamp.
bumpy

[Steve_B_]

Casita. Good reputation, good resale value. Nice layouts available, especially with the side dinette and captains chairs. That lets you leave the bed set up and ready to go. Owners seem very happy.

[profdant139]

Small trailers do not get better mpg --please don't ask me how I know this. But they do fit into very tiny campsites, and I can often pull a U turn in an ordinary street.

As has been said, we need to know more about the OP's needs before we can pontificate!! 😉

[MarkTwain]

johnnyringo wrote:
First time buyer. Considering construction quality, longevity and price What brands are worth considering?

Look at Lace trailers. 17' to 27' trailers. Well constructed and designed. Holds resale value well.

[Golden_HVAC]

Why smaller?

If you are focused on 'smaller is great MPG' you might not like camping in a trailer.

If you get to small, you might find that it is to small, and not enough elbow room in the bathroom, or a tiny bed, or no separate bedroom, or having to convert the couch and dinette to a bed every night, not having a queen sized bed to take a nap on whenever you like to.

I know someone who wanted to travel across the country. Her friend tried to convince her that a Ranger pickup with a 6' long camper on the back was 'the best' and would get wonderful mileage.

However the best RV for her became the 27' class C that she bought, traveled in for two years, and had a large enough black and grey water tanks to spend a week dry camping. She could save lots of money by camping on BLM land for free. While she did spend more on gasoline, she saved hundreds of dollars on camping fees. She did not need to go to a campground to take a comfortable shower, she had 20 gallons of fresh water, and tanks of more water too.

So if you are thinking "Small will save money" - well it might not end up with the results that you expected, and you might just get all fed up with 'camping' in a tiny RV. While a larger one will offer room to spend some time reading on a rainy day, and give you 'your space' while others can enjoy the TV in another room!

You can dry camp a longer time in a slightly larger RV, than in a very compact RV, especially considering that most small RV's do not have large fresh water, black and grey tanks.

With a larger RV, you can spend a week at a BLM lake, and enjoy a hot shower daily, have a oven to bake things, ect.

Fred.

[mjmaddox]

I can suggest the Jayco Nighthawk 20MRB. (replaced in 2016 with 23MRB) Only 2 of us travel in the unit - no kids, no pets. Mine is a discontinued model but you can probably find the same layout in other brands. U shaped dinette slide. Nice bathroom with glass shower, kitchen has a pantry but limited counter space. Murphy bed option works well. We tow with an F150 but its small enough to get in all our favorite state and COE parks and tows with ease. We don't boondock. You can go much smaller for 2 people but this gives us all the amenities we wanted in a small package.

[rexlion]

Here are a couple of very good trailers. Most interior appliances are common to all brands, but a good trailer will have a durable exterior and good workmanship on the interior assembly & cabinetry.

http://olivertraveltrailers.com/

http://escapetrailer.com/

These trailers have no edge seams, so there are less leak points as the TT ages. The rounded edges reduce wind resistance and increase fuel economy. The molded fiberglass body has nothing that can rot, whereas conventional TTs with smooth side are a fiberglass gelcoat bonded to wood (if the wood gets wet from an undetected leak, it can delaminate).