Taking the plunge

[Score300]

Ok.... So my wife and I are buying a TT. We currently own a pop up and have loaned it to some friends this weekend in hopes that they will buy it. My wife has had enough of camping without a bathroom. We've used a motor home a few times and we think we have a pretty good idea of what we want for a floor plan.

Must have:
Bunk beds
Full bath
Separate room for master (prefer doors over curtains)
Slide outs for extra width
Good storage capacity

Likes:
Corner shower
Outside kitchen
Outside entry to bath
Separate room for bunks
Power awning

We're tossed up on length. The two models were looking at are the Hideout 31RBDS and the Hideout 28BHS. I've checking the towing capacity of my Ram and it's 10,050lbs so I think I'm ok there. My concern is the quality of the units. I know that in the 20-25k price range I'm not getting top of the line, but I don't want a problem child either. Do any of you have any experience with this brand? ALL advice is appreciated.

[Score300]

I have a 2013 ram 1500 outdoorsman model. It has a 3.92 gear and was equipped for towing. We do like the extra sleeping space cause the kids like to bring friends on our trips. I'm aware that it's going to be a heavy load for this truck, but are you saying it CAN'T handle it? If not, what size do you suggest?

[Bumpyroad]

do you need 4 bunk beds? if not seems sort of like a waste of space to me.
bumpy

[hmknightnc]

Hi and welcome to the forum! Your sig doesn't say what your Tow Vehicle is but those trailers are going to have tongue weights in range of 1,000# or maybe more. Put another 5 or 6 hundred pounds of people and gear in the TV means you need a load carrying capacity of pushing 2,000#.

In other words forget about manufactures towing capacity ratings. You run out of load capacity long before you hit that tow capacity due to the heavy nature of TT tongue weights (12 - 15% of loaded TT). Those trailers are 3/4 ton needed.

[silver_man]

We did the same thing except we went from a tent to a Hideout 26BHS. I agree that it is probably not the best camper on the market, but for the price, we couldn't go wrong. We had it for 9 months and there are a couple cosmetic items that need fixed, but I am thinking that is because it was a show TT that we picked up from the Hershey Camper & RV show. CW is currently fixing some of those issues and didn't give us any hassle about it. Nothing serious has happened yet (knock on wood). All in all, we are happy with it being our first TT and will probably upgrade in about 5 years.

One thing, I wished I payed more attention to the TV ratings. I had a F150 Super Crew and it towed it, but it was not comfortable towing it. The 12yo F150 died so I ended up buying a F250 and have no issues at all now (other than getting 7.6 mpg.)