Too much work for short trips, too small for long ones

[tealboy]

Saw this quote from a forum member and thought it was interesting. Is it really that much work to load these things up? Any truth to the quote in the subject line? Friend bought a camper, peaked my interest so have been digging around here.

[billyray50]

Kayteg1 wrote:

billyray50 wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
You are mistaking pointing the facts for bashing.
Telling that Host owners with all those stairs - don't need treadmill would be bashing 😉

I just viewed videos on your Fleetwood model. Wow your right! So much more wardrobe space than a host mammoth or cascade. NOT....LOL

Let me count, 3 wardrobes on Fleetwood main floor, including 1 that is 24" wide and 0 on Mammoth main floor.
Do you feel OK Bill?

Feeling just fine.. Thanks for asking.

[jimh406]

There isn't "one" Mammoth floor plan, so it's hard to compare to another TC without knowing the specific options. For sure, the basement storage on most Mammoths is massive.

No worries for me though, I still haven't used all of my storage on a trip yet in my "tiny" 9 1/2 TC. 🙂

[burningman]

Stable-Lift to the rescue! 🙂

[Grit_dog]

Mayteg, who cares? Let it go. Has nothing to do with the topic.....
To the OP, yes a TC like any other rv has its advantages and drawbacks.
Sometimes the TC is the better rigfor where we head to, but sometimes it would be easier to latch up to a TT, drag it to wherever we’re camping and unhook it.
I’m certain it takes me longer to load the TC than it would to get hooked to a trailer. Like 400% longer. Say only 15 min instead of an hour....or longer if the TC is stored in the shop at the time.

Too small? Nope, took a month long trip last year with 4 of us. But now I have the kids in a tent. Magically we have more room again. BUT this doesn’t work all the time beciase sometimes the tent option is impractical.
There’s no right or wrong answer, rather just what fits your needs and wants better.

[Kayteg1]

billyray50 wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
You are mistaking pointing the facts for bashing.
Telling that Host owners with all those stairs - don't need treadmill would be bashing 😉

I just viewed videos on your Fleetwood model. Wow your right! So much more wardrobe space than a host mammoth or cascade. NOT....LOL

Let me count, 3 wardrobes on Fleetwood main floor, including 1 that is 24" wide and 0 on Mammoth main floor.
Do you feel OK Bill?

[Bedlam]

We have clothes, bedding and dry food always packed inside. I typically pack enough clothing for over a week without having to do laundry on the road. Propane and water are refilled after each trip since we go out often. Typically we pre pack fresh and frozen the night before and take off as soon I fight the evening commute home. About 8-9pm we stop for dinner and bed the first night whether still enroute or at our destination.

Trips in poor weather, we leave the trailer and toys behind at home. Better weather, it comes along and we use fair weather vehicles to sight see. A 10-day trip in January of the Oregon coast was trailerless, but an upcoming 3-day trip of the northern Puget Sound will hopefully have it along. I may even drive one of our cars into the trailer if weather shows wet.

[billyray50]

Kayteg1 wrote:
You are mistaking pointing the facts for bashing.
Telling that Host owners with all those stairs - don't need treadmill would be bashing 😉

I just viewed videos on your Fleetwood model. Wow your right! So much more wardrobe space than a host mammoth or cascade. NOT....LOL

[Kayteg1]

You are mistaking pointing the facts for bashing.
Telling that Host owners with all those stairs - don't need treadmill would be bashing 😉

[billyray50]

Kayteg1 wrote:

LenSatic wrote:
I have all the clothes I would need, my wife...not so much. 😉

LS

Buy her a Host and she will have to learn how to travel without cloths due to lack of wardrobes 😉
We full-timed in the camper in winter and then took long summer vacations, so our load changed quite a bit, but as turn out in 9 weeks of summer trip I used the same 3 T-shirts and few swimming pants all over after washing.
The leather shoes got used once.
But in my younger years I was working lot of overtime, so could not plan for weekends. Occasionally in last minute Friday the boss told me that I have weekend off.
Had ClassC at the time and coming home at 2:20 I could have my family loaded and on the road by 3 PM. (the cellphones did not exist at the time and we still had good time)

Oh here we go with the Host bashing again!! LOL

[Kayteg1]

LenSatic wrote:
I have all the clothes I would need, my wife...not so much. 😉

LS

Buy her a Host and she will have to learn how to travel without cloths due to lack of wardrobes 😉
We full-timed in the camper in winter and then took long summer vacations, so our load changed quite a bit, but as turn out in 9 weeks of summer trip I used the same 3 T-shirts and few swimming pants all over after washing.
The leather shoes got used once.
But in my younger years I was working lot of overtime, so could not plan for weekends. Occasionally in last minute Friday the boss told me that I have weekend off.
Had ClassC at the time and coming home at 2:20 I could have my family loaded and on the road by 3 PM. (the cellphones did not exist at the time and we still had good time)

[LenSatic]

skipro3 wrote:
My camper is almost always ready to bug out. I can load it on the truck in under 15 minutes, fill with water as I load the extras that are stored together in the garage. Everything has a place, so it's not like reinventing packing every time. Rarely do I load the perishables at home, instead we stop at the grocery store on the way. A few perishables, ketchup for example, are the packets from McDonald's stored from past trips and in the garage fridge in a soft sided cold bag.

When I return home, I top off the propane, clean the tanks and do the laundry within a few days. All clothes are dedicated to the camper, so no packing there. Same with bedding, linens, reading material, etc. I have a vacuum sealer and I imagine it would keep stored dog food from smelling up the camper. I use a ziplock bag that works just fine.

I'd say 30 minutes from the time I start until I roll out the driveway unless I'm gonna tow the Suzuki Samurai.

It is better if I start the fridge the night before, but not a necessity. Usually cold enough by the time we get out of the store on the way.

That's exactly what we do. The Casita is our bugout vehicle and is always ready to go in the time it takes to hook up. We have a full-sized refrigerator/freezer next to it with food that we can load up quickly depending on what we will need including lots of frozen meals. The trailer is in the garage and plugged into the house power, but we are off-grid solar and don't keep the onboard refrigerator/freezer running. I have all the clothes I would need, my wife...not so much. 😉

LS

[kohldad]

I can put my on the truck in 30 minutes including the 10 minute to/from the storage yard. I can stock it in less than 30 minutes. If I haven't precooled the fridge because it's a last minute trip, I just throw in a dozen cold packs from the freezer. Getting home, it takes about the same amount of time to clean her up and unload. It all stays on the truck when I'm on the road as we just drive the entire rig around to sight see. Plus we don't have anything like rugs, lights, chairs, plants, etc so setup is back in until it's level and connect power, maybe 90 seconds. So two hours of work for 48 hours minimum of relaxation is totally worth it. A couple of weekend ago, we decided on Thursday to go up to Myrtle Beach for the weekend eating out for both dinners along with strolls along the deserted beach and around the campground. Unbelievable amount of recharge to us both physically and mentally.

I think the key is to have as much stocked in the camper as possible. For us, I have to throw in my wife's clothes and perishable food for the kitchen. Everything else like my clothes, dishes, pots, pans spices, non-perishables, towels, laundry detergent, soaps, etc remain packed. If I had to put everything in and take it all back out each time I used it, then it may not be practical for a weekend trip.

[Ski_Pro_3]

My camper is almost always ready to bug out. I can load it on the truck in under 15 minutes, fill with water as I load the extras that are stored together in the garage. Everything has a place, so it's not like reinventing packing every time. Rarely do I load the perishables at home, instead we stop at the grocery store on the way. A few perishables, ketchup for example, are the packets from McDonald's stored from past trips and in the garage fridge in a soft sided cold bag.

When I return home, I top off the propane, clean the tanks and do the laundry within a few days. All clothes are dedicated to the camper, so no packing there. Same with bedding, linens, reading material, etc. I have a vacuum sealer and I imagine it would keep stored dog food from smelling up the camper. I use a ziplock bag that works just fine.

I'd say 30 minutes from the time I start until I roll out the driveway unless I'm gonna tow the Suzuki Samurai.

It is better if I start the fridge the night before, but not a necessity. Usually cold enough by the time we get out of the store on the way.

[profdant139]

To us, packing is part of the fun -- part of the anticipation!

(Unpacking, though, is a chore.)

[GordonThree]

Thanks for the tip, I'll check out that bag.