Travel Trailer Purchase - Quality

Danattherock wrote:
You won't be safely towing anything near 10,000 lbs in a Tundra. With associated tongue weight you will run out of payload long, long, before that. I barked up this tree recently and discoverd the Tundra, like all other 1/2 ton trucks and SUV's are limited by their low payload ratings. Otherwise, we would have bought the Tundra special edition 1794 we saw. Amazing truck that impressed us more than any we have seen. Sans having payload slightly higher than that of a Walmart electric scooter. The several new Tundras I saw had payload stickers showing 1300-1400 lbs!!

As for quality, good luck man. We all have different views on what quality means. To say this is subjective would be putting it lightly. My wife and I have infant, toddler, and German shepherd. We are buying first camper and have looked all over NC at various models. My humble opinion is that nearly all white boxes are of questionable quality.

Arctic Fox has better reputation than most, but I haven't been able to see any in person. We love the Evergreen Element. Big front glass, unique design for sure. Looks similar to the discontinued Aviator. Which we loved by the way, fell in love with it online till I discovered it was discontinued in 2013 ish.

My biggest issue, my parents had a new 2000 34' Airstream Classic. Had I not spent time in it, I would likely already own a camper. But Airstreams are unquestionably the highest quality travel trailer you can buy. They are in a class of their own. Avoid the haters and crayon eaters that talk junk about Airstream. Jealousy seems a primary motivator in many cases.

Pricey, yes. Over priced, most would say yes, if not factoring in length of ownership. Read average white box is sold after 4-6 years by average first time buyer. Airstream was 18-20 years on average. The more I learned about a Airstream the more clear my decision to buy one became. They are a love it or hate it thing. An American icon either way.

Might be worth your time to ride over to Out Of Doors Mart near Winston Salem and take a look see. We were up there yesterday comparing floor plans. The 30' Serenity custom ordered with twins is at top of our want list at this point. Lots of info on Airforums. Great folks too.


Dan

I looked at Airstreams once upon a time. The deal breaker for me was no slides. At one point they made a few with slides but stopped. Main reason is that slides introduce the possibility of leaks. For me "no slides = no deal" not enough room certaainluy for the cost.