Moving up in size need help deciding what to buy

[the_fixer1]

Hello all,

Wife and I are looking to move up to a larger trailer and I am suffering from information overload and need some direction.

current trailer is a 13ft scamp fully loaded including front bath and big bed

current truck (paid for and keeping it due to parking at our house)
2016 Nissan Frontier 4x4 crew cab SV V6 auto
261 HP
281 torque
6100 capacity
610 tongue
1157 payload
11,230 GCWR

I was originally planning to buy a small fiberglass 5th wheel (escape 5.0 TA) but people advised that it would be too much for the truck 3885 total dry weight (600 of that is pin).
http://escapetrailer.com/trailers/the-5-0-escape/

So I started looking at bumper pulls in the under 3500 shipped dry weight and the following have caught my eye.

The sideways bed in the 19fbs, 1475 (slide W couch) and 1575 is a major downside due to crawling over in the middle of the night but the 3 have the best layout and feel the nicest.

Quality - Lance feels like the best of the bunch followed by the Geo Pro / e-pro and then a pretty big jump down to the palomini

geo pro and e-pro 19fbs and 19FD (3089 lb and 3204 as shipped)
http://www.forestriverinc.com/travel-trailers/rockwood-geo-pro
http://www.forestriverinc.com/travel-trailers/flagstaff-e-pro

Palomini and real-lite 181 (3289 as shipped)
http://www.palominorv.com/product-details.aspx?LineID=379
http://www.palominorv.com/product-details.aspx?LineID=373

Lance
1475 (3200 lb as shipped)
https://www.lancecamper.com/travel-trailers/1475/

1575 (3023 as shipped)
https://www.lancecamper.com/travel-trailers/1575/

We like all of them for different reasons, the lance it is the use of space and quality, the geo / e-pro it is the layout, white cabinets and the quality seems better than many other trailers we looked at and the Palomini we like due to the walk around bed and that it has a rear bumper.

Each dealer keeps trying to talk me into larger units and maybe I am being overly conservative and I could step up to something like the camplite
camplite cl21rbs (3650 dry not as shipped)
https://www.livinlite.com/products/camplite-travel-trailers/CL21RBS.html

or the

Micro Minnie 2106fbs (3705 dry not as shipped)
https://winnebagoind.com/products/travel-trailer/2018/micro-minnie/specifications

I am just really not sure and my brain is starting to hurt 😞

Any thoughts that you could share would be great

[the_fixer1]

Understood, I was trying to stick with the fiberglass egg by going with the escape 5.0 TA but that was told by other people towing the same trailer with the same truck that while they can tow ok they with they had something larger to tow with.

The 19ft escape was interesting and about the same dry weight as the stick built trailers we are looking at but you get more length and features in the stick built.

I know this comes at a cost in resale and how long it will last but I suspect we will be buying a larger truck / trailer when I retire in 5 or so years.

Price is not so much the issue with the fiberglass trailer, I am not worried about that as I know I will get a large percentage back when we go to sell but mostly it is about the layouts in the size I have been told we can tow

[theoldwizard1]

There is a HUGE difference in construction and consequently maintenance between any "eggshell" TT and any of the more traditional style (wood stud and tin OR aluminum frame and fiberglass) TTs. The biggest difference is the roof.

Anyone who has "been around the block" will tell you a fiberglass or one piece aluminum roof is the best. This is very hard to find these days except in very high end Class As and TTs. Also, having a barreled/crowned roof is a "must".

There are a FEW larger (than a Scamp) eggshell campers out there, but they are expensive.

Floorplan almost ALWAYS wins !

[the_fixer1]

Do you mean stick with what I have as in keeping the scamp or the ones on my list above and nothing larger?

[SoundGuy]

JMO but especially because you're in Colorado and therefore would presumably be regularly towing in the mountains I'd stick with what you have if you're not prepared to also upgrade the truck ... it's simply just not enough truck for towing anything much larger or heavier, particularly when negotiating serious upgrades.

[the_fixer1]

Guess I should add some details about us.

No kids just the two of us

It is typical for us to take a 2 - 3 week trip across multiple states once a year in the camper but most of the time we are going up to the mountains here in Colorado for a long weekend at least once a month during the spring, summer and fall.

We love our scamp but my head and feet touch the walls and it is hard for me to sleep and having to make up the bed to sit at the dinette gets old

We travel pretty light for the most part