Looking for a TT that fits my family needs

[nahfootball]

Well thank you in advance for any guidance, my first post!

I'm trying to figure what would fit my growing family needs. I currently have an older pop-up, good shape but looking to upgrade. I wanted to make sure we used the pop-up enough before upgrading, and I'm surprised at how much we get to use it. I will be adding another baby, which bring our total up to 2 adults, a 2 yr old and a newborn, and 2 dogs.

My in-laws have a 5th wheel hauled by a kenworth, neat setup, and we've been able to use the pop-up for sleeping space and her parents' for all the amenities. The wife has finally talked me into branching out so we can go on our own more often, in-laws only rotate between 3 campsites normally.

The tow vehicle I will be using is a 2000 Chevy Express Conversion Van
(rated for 5000lbs). Sold my f250HD 4x4 reg cab with over 265k miles for the van with 88k, the price was very right. Broke my heart but 4 people do not fit in a reg cab. I would like to stay with one vehicle while camping, rather than have the other half bring her small SUV.

I understand how dry weight and loaded weight work.

I see some hybrid TT that would fit my needs. I just don't know how well even with only one vinyl tip out those hybrids would hold heat for the little ones. I live up here in NY and even though day time temps are good camping weather, the weather can get brisk overnight. I need a full bathroom, which may be too much to ask for with the weight range I am looking in. I don't look to get up near the 5000lb max completely loaded. I'd rather leave some safety figured in.

To summarize:

2000 Chevy Express Van 5000lb MAX would like to stay safely away from that #
Sleeps 4
Full Bathroom
Easy to Hold Heat Overnight
I would like to stay away from vinyl, but in lieu of weight restrictions I may not have that option



Again, thank all for the insight.

Nick

[Terryallan]

May have missed it. But look at TrailManors. Very lite, and hard sides. No canvas. 5 min setup.

[aarond76]

To answer your questions about Turtling, yes sleeping with the bunk end closed. This camper (Trail Sport 21RBH) only has one bunk end in the front. So they kids still sleep in there bunks in the back. There is no couch. The wife and I would sleep on the fold down u-shaped dinette in the front which is bigger than queen sized and was actually quite comfortable.

[nahfootball]

I'm a short guy 5-10 and the wife is 5-4 tops, haha

[nahfootball]

thank you for the info gary

and I hear ya about the conversion eating up payload, may be I'll take a trip down to the scale and see what kind of beast I'm dealing with for #s on the conversion. That could make a lot of decisions for me right there, if I'm looking to stay safe. It's a pretty streamlined conversion and sharp looking from the outside but the trim package is pretty base. I've ran wires in the ceiling and floor there is not a whole lot of extra weight there, however I have no clue what's behind the walls, it's all glued on to something which I avoided for a reason. The heaviest thing they put in there I already took out - old Tubed TV and VCR, We don't use it anyhow.

[Drum]

Oh, one more thing... The Nomad has a relatively low ceiling. If you're over 6'2", then you'll find the ceiling of the Nomad to be low enough to touch the top of your head as you walk through. I'm 6'3" and if I was wearing shoes then the ceiling would touch the top of my head. It wasn't a big deal to me, but it may be to you if you're tall.

[Drum]

nahfootball wrote:
...To Gary, thank you for the input from someone who has experience with a Nomad setup, what was the dry weight of the Nomad and the towing rating of your sienna? just wondering?

The dry weight was 2500 lbs. My Toyota Sienna had a tow rating of 3,500 lbs.

Here's the TT's floor plan:

[camp-n-family]

There are a lot of HTTs out there in the 19-21' range (closed) that would suit your needs. My old Starcraft 19' for example was only 3600lbs loaded (2800 dry), my inlaws' even lighter. Lots of space when opened up and plenty warm inside with the furnace and heated mattress option.

My biggest concern would be the payload of your van. The conversion options eat up a lot of the payload.

[nahfootball]

To rae10rae, ya that's probably cutting it a little close if not over, thank you for the input though.

To Gary, thank you for the input from someone who has experience with a Nomad setup, what was the dry weight of the Nomad and the towing rating of your sienna? just wondering?

[nahfootball]

To Jerem0621, I just took a quick look at my manual and yes that 3500 w/5.7 @ 5,500 lbs is awfully disappointing. A change in rearend would get you up to 7,000 lbs, but still bogus when comparing a 1500 w/5.0L @ 5,000 lbs or 1500 w/5.7L and the 3.73 rearend upgrade(same as the 3500 standard equipment rearend) @ 6,500 lbs.

To Searfross, I understand the balance between needs and wants. The need is a full bathroom sleeping 4. We do not plan on expanded the family past 4, with the space in the van along with the camper space. I believe we should be fine, if it's raining all weekend, I don't have to drop down vinyl to pick up and hit the road home, haha. With the kids sleeping together bit, the floor plan we were considering had bunk beds and a double bed. Plenty for our little family, worst case scenario the pups will get stuck in their foldable crates in the van. I was thinking about it and possibly taking out the bench seat in the back or cabin chairs in the mid section while camping. Probably the bench seat since the cabin chairs ride better. The layout we were looking at was 2475 dry/ 3850 GVWR.. possibly 2875 dry weight with the features we wanted.

http://www.skylinerv.com/?q=node/109&ID=2728&page=2

I absolutely agree with the buying new and taking a hit if I do upgrade in the near future. I can hold out for a used deal on a similar used one, as long as I know what I am keeping my eye out for.

To aarond76, you mention "turtle" when its a little too cold out for the kids. Sorry for the silly question but does that mean just bringing the popup vinyl portions in and if so, what does that leave you for sleeping space. The specs claim it sleeps 7 - 1 bunk bed, 1 double bed, 1 queen size and 1 sofa bed.

Again, thanks all for the insight, very helpful. I'm going to start looking for the right price on one.

[Drum]

nahfootball wrote:
Thanks for all of the quick feedback!

...what realistically is going to bump up that loaded weight to 5000? even 4500? Is there something I'm off the mark with thinking this way? Missing something?...



Thanks,
Nick

I used to tow my 2010 Nomad with a Toyota Sienna van. I had a Thule 4 Bike rack on the back of it with 4 bikes on most trips. I carried a Camp Chef Pro 90 3 burner stove, grill box, and steel griddle for outdoor cooking. Water tank was half full for toilet flushing, etc., while traveling. We also had a teen and a pre teen with all the accompanying stuff. No problem. If you're challenged on the TV capacity, those little Nomads are the stuff.

Gary

[Dtaylor]

Here are some lightweights made by Heartland with suggested tow vehicles:
http://heartlandrvs.com/index.php?p=35&c=lightweight&sc=WD&i=Wilderness

[rae10rae]

nahfootball wrote:


To summarize:

2000 Chevy Express Van 5000lb MAX would like to stay safely away from that #
Sleeps 4
Full Bathroom
Easy to Hold Heat Overnight

How about this one? It's GVWR is close your max...could be doable depending on your payload?
Spree Escape E240

[aarond76]

We had a 2008 Trail Sport TSE21RBH that may suit your needs. Dry weight under 3,000 lbs. Queen hybrid bed in the front. Jack and Jill bunks in the back for the kids. Huge king sized u-shaped dinette. Could easily turtle if it was really cold out. We towed it with a V6 Explorer Sport Trac. With a proper hitch you probably would hardly notice it behind your van. We liked the extra room by having the adult bed as a fold out hybrid but liked that the kids were in a hard side bunk set-up in the back.

[Terryallan]

I'd look at the new "high wall" popups. Lots of features, and lots of room. You will never find a lite TT with anything close to the room you can get in a popup.