Thinking about down sizing

I like my hard sided TT. I've nover owned a pop up but, I've been in them. In a pop up I always felt like I was outside and never had a privicy. Plus in a storm it never felt safe at all.

I love my 21 foot TT. So easy to pull and park. At a grocery store or disount store I just pull in and use 2 parking spaces. I would never go bigger then 22 foot myslef. But, that is just me .

We too just recently downsized from a 39' 5th wheel to a 25' couple's TT, and we couldn't be more comfortable and stress-free. It has just enough space where we can enjoy the creature comforts but not too many to be overwhelming in terms of stuff and maintenance. We made a list of must-haves and went shopping. Canvas anything was out of the question. I require a potty and shower, but not a wet bath. A standard size queen bed, one slide, A/C and an oven were also must-haves. Got it all in 25', plus an outdoor kitchen as a bonus. I think we finally found perfection. Never stepped into an RV show this season.

Our first camper was a pop up and we enjoyed it and made some great memories in it with our youngest daughter, but there are just too many compromises with pop ups. They lack security, they aren't comfortable in cold weather, they have a severe lack of storage space, and the components tend to be lower end relative to what we've got in our fifth wheel. Setting them up and tearing them down gets very tedious too, especially in poor weather. And any camping trip generally involved three different set-ups/tear-downs - one to pack and get ready, one at camp, and one after we got back home to clean up and empty the trailer.

Our fifth wheel is much more spacious, it pulls better (better TV), it's more comfortable, setup involves leveling it, dropping the rear stablizers and waiting 15 seconds for the slide to deploy. It also has far more storage space for our outdoor gear. I can see myself buying a bigger or smaller fifth wheel as needs change, but I don't see myself ever getting anything but a fifth wheel in the future.

Personally, we would not go back to a canvas PUP. There are too many places we go where they aren't allowed because of bears. The A-liner is an option, but I really like what we have, ie, island queen, full head, large reefer, etc. I also like piddling around, making stuff for the camper, so I can just go out and open the door to go in.

Good luck.

We sold our TT several years ago, DW had medical issues and just getting in and our of the TT presented problems. Now, with the help of medications she is more mobile and we wanted to return to camping, on a smaller scale, shorter trips. I was thinking of going back to a PU also, with a bathroom also, but then I remembered all of the cranking and also added an electric lift to my wants. I happened upon a used 19 foot Hi-Lo camper last winter and it is ideal for us. Electric-hydraulic lift system, complete bathroom and is small enough to park in the back yard. We can be parked and set up in less than 30 minutes. You can do it, just keep looking.......

My husband and I have had almost every type of towable there is over the years. We now have an Aliner Ranger 15 with cassette potty, and a Cool Cat heat pump for a/c and heat (has a thermostat, just like at home) - we love it. It's a pop up, but it doesn't have canvas (not a fan; been there, done that, lasted only 3 trips). The walls our our Aliner set up in one minute. This is a good option if you spend a lot of time outside. It can sleep three, if you use the four person dinette as a bed. We get 16-18 mpg, towing with my 2010 Nissan Pathfinder. If you don't want to use the dinette, your son is almost old enough to enjoy a tent outside.

We also have a very small TT, but we will probably sell it within the next year or two.

I've tent camped my whole life and a lot of it in the wilderness with my Dad and a canoe.

I'm done with sleeping on the ground....and my Dad is 88.

With that in mind and a 27ft driveway......I decided on a 21ft travel trailer.

Big enough to be comfortable but small enough to force you outdoors.

Full bathroom for the wife....and nothing to set up in the dark or pouring rain.

Taking Dad this summer back to Northern Quebec with the canoe.....but we will only do day trips while dry camping by various lakes.

winger999 wrote:
Why not a hybrid?

Lots of reasons, the list of which is almost endless - the WORST of both worlds and not any less costly than a nice travel trailer that's much easier to deal with than any trailer with tenting. A hybrid will have the same storage issues as a travel trailer but since the OP now only has to accommodate 3 that's easy to do with the right 21' - 23' travel trailer. :)

Why not a hybrid? We have camped with two different pop ups, a hybrid, and now a hard side. We liked the hybrid in that we could store most of our camping stuff in it, and packing up was much easier to head out. We have a 23 foot hard side now (got a deal we couldn't pass up), but we loved our hybrid. When open, it was a foot longer than what we have now.

phone man wrote:
I notice my son and wife like to spend a whole lot of time indoors when we go on trips. Maybe with a pop up I can get them out more, save money on monthly storage fees, and go back to "camping". Anyone else ever make this change or entertain the thought. I'd like to hear from you.

We went through the various stages ourselves, did a lot of long distance travel camping when our boys were younger but once they hit high school the writing was on the wall that it would only be a matter of time before my wife and I would be on our own camping. We managed to get a few more years out of it but eventually we decided to sell our triple bunk bed 24' KZ Spree, take a break for awhile, and later see if we wanted to jump back in with a couple's trailer later. Over that next winter I really started getting antsy about having no camper, my wife could care less, so I bought myself a small Coleman Yuma popup and over the following spring got it whipped into shape for camping. I got perhaps 1/2 dozen trips out of that camper when it became obvious this just wasn't the same as what we had become used to when we owned our travel trailer, in fact my wife only went twice, the rest of the time I was solo with my dog so I sold the popup and moved our plans forward to buy a couple's travel trailer. Frankly, I couldn't have been happier to be back in a travel trailer BUT it would have been a lot less costly and probably an even better decision to have just kept our Spree, particularly since now our youngest who is in university has suddenly decided he does like camping after all and will sometimes come along if he can fit it into his schedule, except now that we have a couple's trailer with no bunk beds he has to either sleep on the sofa or in a tent.

As for thinking that moving back to a popup will force others to not "spend so much time inside" think again ... you can't force someone to like something you do or to do something they don't really want to do. Sure, at first they may submit to your wishes but eventually your attempts will backfire and they'll simply decide they're not going at all.

JMO, but I wouldn't be lulled into the illusion that going back to a popup is going to "simplify" you life - in point of fact it may really complicate it. If it's a matter of downsizing from a really large travel trailer downsize to a smaller travel trailer which offers the same amenities but in a smaller package.