We are looking into upgrading to a bunkhouse style camper for longer use as kids grow. They tend to bring friends more as they age so we are looking into more sleeping space, but wanna keep half ton towable. we tend to like the double bed bunk versus the "bunkhouse" style 4 twin beds, seems kinda crowded. any one have any insight on camping with teenagers in double beds on top of each other. does it work well?? the kids ok with sleeping with the friend they bring? thanks for the info in advance.

The only advice that I can give is to start cruising the websites, and look for a floorplan or three that fit your needs. then come back with specific questions regarding manufacturer, plusses, minuses, etc. My preferences and your preferences may be very similar, or nothing alike... BTW - I did the switch (you may get flamed by some HTT owners for calling it an "upgrade" - I did!) a few years ago, and couldn't be happier! NO MORE WET CANVAS!!!!!

Yea, I have seen them bash folks in the past, but gotta do what is best and to keep the kids interested. We have a floor plan we love and a model we love, the Viewfinder 28bhss. have done some research on cruiser RV because I had not heard much of them, but it seem solid from what i read. And there are some pretty good youtube videos on their factory. Big thing we wand to know is that if people out there have models similar with older children and how it works for them. Or if they wish they went another direction.

When our kids were teenagers and brought along friends when camping, they always wanted to bring a tent and stay away from the adults :) Worked pretty well for all of us.

skipnchar wrote:When our kids were teenagers and brought along friends when camping, they always wanted to bring a tent and stay away from the adults :) Worked pretty well for all of us.My kids like do the same...at least the boys do. My daughter then gets the camper with her friends. I am trading my Jayco Hybrid today, and I consider an upgrade.;) I would say, the boys would be reluctant to share a double bed, however they do share queen air mattresses in the tent. Best of luck!

we "upgraded" this year also from a Hybrid. My teenage daughter liked the standard bunks, rather than the double bunks on top of each other. That said, there are different sized bunks. She did not like the 28" bunks found in many of the bunkhouses we looked at, but rather the 32" bunks that we have in our new Sunset Trail. The slightly larger bunks were much more appealing to her, and gave her and my youngest daughter more room to move around in their beds.

looking to upgrade from hybrid to hard sided for room...

FireLieutenant7
Explorer
May 13, 2013
Two cats wrote:
We have a 2012 viewfinder 27rbss although we like the rv after 1year the front cap bleached white. It has been waxed no less than 3times but does not help cruiser will not fix the problem or help with the expense. They should make the Co That manufactures their caps fix it but they won't we will not replace with same brand next time .

wow thats the first ive heard of this. After i read i searched that and even looked at older viewfinder pics.. cant find any bleached out....wonder what happened there. Thats no good at all.

and about the boys... we have looked and looked, do not like the quad bunks without a slide in that room. and that double slides add a little too much weight for the half ton.
wannavolunteerF
Explorer
May 12, 2013
I don't think teenage boys are going to be willing to share a bed... girls will, but it's another story with the boys.. also really look at the sizes of the bunks and master bed, my SIL hated the bed in my previous TT.. he was too tall, could only sleep on one spot of the bed without having his feet hit the cabinet at the foot of the bed.. if he turned, he was kicking the thing.. much happier now with over a foot of clearance at the foot of the bed.
Two_cats
Explorer
May 12, 2013
We have a 2012 viewfinder 27rbss although we like the rv after 1year the front cap bleached white. It has been waxed no less than 3times but does not help cruiser will not fix the problem or help with the expense. They should make the Co That manufactures their caps fix it but they won't we will not replace with same brand next time .
searfoss
Explorer
May 04, 2013
Be mindful of the bunk size, i.e. length. Many of them are shorter than a bed, when we looked at upgrade, we found a beautiful HTT-Bunk House. Took the family down to look at it, my son laid on the bed and at 5'10 he was too tall.
bfourman
Explorer
May 04, 2013
We did the same thing this year. Went from a 04 Aerolite HTT to a 06 Aerolite 26QS. We have 3 kids; 8, 6 and 5, so they were excited about getting their own bunks. I have a Chevy Avalanche, so I had to watch the weight. All of the Aerolite chassis from 2004-2008ish have a GVWR of 6000lbs, well within my TV's capabilities. Our TT has the rear queen bed slide, which works great for us. My only 'complaint', which is really just something we will have to get used to, is having only one closet.
bcsslc
Explorer
May 04, 2013
X2 on the Kodiak. We moved into a 276bhsl from a pop up. And love it. I would highly recommend. I must have walked through 50 or more tt in the last two years and this was always on top of many different lists that we put together. Good luck.
Cheers
Bears_Den
Explorer
May 03, 2013
We recently sold or HTT which had plenty of sleeping area but very little living area. We bought a 2013 Kodiak 279 rbsl. It's 30 ft with slideout on each side giving us plenty of living area. It also has a sofa sleeper and of course the dinette turns into a sleeper. Best of all, it actually has a bathroom with a full sized shower. It's just me and the DW now until the grand kids come. We went to RV shows for 3yrs and every time we went we came back to this floor plan. We love it. Good luck.
APT
Explorer
May 02, 2013
I love my floorplan, even more so than the newer version of it and most competitors. Single over double bunks street side, direct bath entrance curb side, dinette with bar.
anthem76
Explorer
May 02, 2013
Just sure you can fit on the short queen. With the entertainment center right at the foot of the bed, my husband was too tall, especially when you consider that a pillow pushes ones head away from the wall several inches. It's annoying because we really liked similar floorplans, but we can't consider them.
tmilicia
Explorer
May 02, 2013
FireLieutenant72 wrote:

We have a floor plan we love and a model we love, the Viewfinder 28bhss. have done some research on cruiser RV because I had not heard much of them, but it seem solid from what i read. And there are some pretty good youtube videos on their factory. Big thing we wand to know is that if people out there have models similar with older children and how it works for them. Or if they wish they went another direction.

We have a 2013 Viewfinder V28BHSS and love it. The floor plan works perfect for us and the quality of the trailer has been great so far. There is so much storage space in this trailer and we really liked the double bunks. We've had two adults in the lower and two kids in the upper and everyone was comfortable. My brother liked ours so much, he went out and bought a Radiance R28BHSS which is a twin to the V28BHSS, but a little less expensive. If you have any questions about the trailer, I'd be happy to help.