What size is your TT for your family of 4?

[turkii]

If you have two young kids who love to camp and you ar certain you will never have a third kid: What size TT do you have? Do you have enough room or do you wish you had gotten a larger trailer?

[atreis]

3 kids here, not 2. We have a 21 foot hybrid and it works great for us. We've been using it for 5 years, and trips as long as 3 weeks.

The answer to this question has to do with your family and how well you and the kids all get along.

It also has something to do with the nature of the camping you prefer: Are you the sort that are most often outside, and only come inside when it's either raining or night, don't plan to be inside watching TV in the evenings, will generally cook outside (not always, but often)? If so, a smaller trailer can work well.

Or, are you the sort that generally prefer to keep in the trailer unless actively doing an outdoor activity, plan to have (and use) a TV and/or video game unit in the trailer (which will cause the kids to be inside more often than not), cook in the trailer, etc? In that case, you'll likely want a larger trailer.

[loulou57]

We have a 27ft QBSS trailer. It has a front queen, sofa, dinette, back bunks, single over double.

What sold us on this trailer was that there is a Bar/counter with cupboards underneath as soon as you step through the door on the left. It has stools so we can sit extra people for meals.

Other plus things....small slide. The trailer is 8ft wide so even with the slide in we can fully use the trailer when travelling and in need to use bathroom etc. Lots of room to walk around. Also, we opted for a no divider between front bed and the rest of trailer. My hubby is tall and could not lie down in most beds without having his feet bang into that wall.

We find the 27ft perfect! Oh, did I say there are only two of us using it.

[rfryer]

OK, are you ready for this?:) I had four boys scattered over about 20 years. Our trips were usually with two and sometimes three of the kids. Two teenagers and a young one. We tented for years and then we got a Coleman PU which we used for many years. I replaced the PU with a 16’ TT. The TT would sleep four adults and one smaller child if we made the dinette table a bed. Again we traveled all over the county with that arrangement.

But we were “campers “and didn’t live in the TT, it was sort of a hard sided tent. No TV’s allowed, no radios unless they were kept down very low, etc. There were complaints of course, they were kids. But I don’t recall any complaints about the space, or lack of it. We could easily seat four at the dinette and play cards or board games. In the daytime we were mainly outside and only ate and slept in TT unless the weather was bad.

We once made a 4,000 mile tenting trip in a 1973 Bronco, if you have any idea of what that looks like. Me, the DW, two teenage boys, and a five year old boy. And the back had two grub boxes, my tent and the rest of my gear. It took a contortionist to get in the back and that’s where the two teenagers traveled. They suffered no ill effects whatsoever, but when we get together we still chuckle about that trip.

Since the boys have gone we have traveled a lot with our two granddaughters. They’re good campers and the youngest one is as hard core as my boys ever were. Again no complaints about space. The only difference is they “need” so many more clothes and extraneous gear than the boys that I have to put in the TV bed to avoid being pushed out of the TT. So I guess to answer your question directly, 16’ would suffice for my family of four.

[rrohrer]

There are many variables to consider with buying new trailer. What you want to do with it makes a difference. Your TV makes a difference. For us- we started with a 21 foot hybrid. At the time both my kids were under 5. It worked great for short trips 3-4 nighters. Nice to have two full beds without turning dinette to bed. We wanted to travel more and take longer 7-10 night trips. We bought a 31 foot bunkhouse with one slide. queen in the front. double bunk in back on bottom single on top. It works well for us and for a weekend the kids can take a friend though that would get old after too many nights. Optimally I would love a bunkouse room with it's own slide as the kids get older. Now they are 6 and 8. But I would want a 3/4 ton for anything bigger than my current trailer so it will have to wait. Good luck.

[Merrykalia]

We have 2 daughters, now 9 and 6. We have camped since before they were born, first in a popup, then when the oldest was about 2, we got a 17 ft hybrid, then the youngest was born and we did the hybrid for another year and got a 35' TT, quad bunkhouse (Rockwood 8317SS) with front master.

We upgraded this year to a 35' fifth wheel with a front bunkhouse that sleeps 5. The master is in the back and it has a couch that makes a queen and the dinette makes a full.

We sometimes take friends, sometimes we take family and at other times, we just like having the extra room.

[BubbaK]

We have 4 of us. 2 kids 13 and a new addition. We like having more room than we need so were not stepping on each other. We also like having the extra room when our oldest brings friends. We also like the the room for the adult trips and have others over.

[Mike_Up]

krobbe wrote:
We have 2 kids, 6 & 9 and are done having more. Our Bullet bunk room layout gives the kids a separate space at their bedtimes or during bad weather. Also, like we just found out, it offers a great space for my niece's family(also two kids 8&10) to join us in a CG near them in another state. We're trying to convert them from tenters. But they drive a Subaru Outback...we have our work cut out for us.

[krobbe]

We have 2 kids, 6 & 9 and are done having more. Our Bullet bunk room layout gives the kids a separate space at their bedtimes or during bad weather. Also, like we just found out, it offers a great space for my niece's family(also two kids 8&10) to join us in a CG near them in another state. We're trying to convert them from tenters. But they drive a Subaru Outback...we have our work cut out for us.

[Mike_Up]

turkii wrote:
If you have two young kids who love to camp and you ar certain you will never have a third kid: What size TT do you have? Do you have enough room or do you wish you had gotten a larger trailer?

Depends what you want. We had 2 Jayco Jay Flight travel trailers that would be used for 2 kids, us, and guests.

We originally had a 22.5' long 2008 Jay Flight 19BH with a double bed and a single bunk above, both in the corner with a 2 shelf dresser cabinet.

We also had a 70" long sofa that was a bit wider than a twin size bed. It could sleep 1 comfortably or 2 closely. The dinette could be used for 1 person or 2 small people closely. It was 72" long and about 39" wide.

Our bed, the double bed was 48" X 76"
The son's single bed was 30" X 76"

Now we upgraded to a 29' long 2012 Jay Flight 26BH. It's the exact same flooplan as the 19BH with a front queen bed bedroom in front of the sofa.

What it did was add a lot of storage. 2012 models added storage over the 2008 models with more cabinets, plus the floorplan added more with 2 large closets and roof cabinets the width of the camper in the bedroom. Plus all the storage under the bed and under the 2 night stands (outside accessable storage).

Storage was the main draw of the camper since we added another member to the family and the dresser cabinet by the bunks was getting cramped.

With the queen bed, now the kids can have friends come with and share the double bunk bed while the daughter can have the upper bunk when she's older. She currently uses a pack-n-play on the dinette table and bench plywood. It will be very nice when she can sleep in her own bed so we can have a kitchen table.

With this floorplan, we can have guests without anyone being cramped up. When we get our kitchen table back and the kids both use beds, we can have our folks over with maybe a niece or nephew along, and never need to use the kitchen dinette table!!

Here's are older 2008 19BH. Jayco discountinued this model. You have to watch other makers with this floorplan as they use short sofas that are to short to sleep on, and the beds can be shorter and narrower as well making them more unfortable. That's why we just love Jayco. They think of the little things. This trailer weighed about 5000lbs loaded.


Here's our 26BH floorplan

[SprinklerMan]

Went from a 24 ft mallard no slideout (got small real quick) to a 30 ft sunset creek quad bunks and slideout 2 boys 2 adults . Love it

[mrkoje]

turkii wrote:
If you have two young kids who love to camp and you ar certain you will never have a third kid: What size TT do you have? Do you have enough room or do you wish you had gotten a larger trailer?

Originally had a 26' bunkhouse with a slide. Good trailer - horrible floor plan for us anyways. The bunks (30" x 72" estimate) were nice for the kids but will be more like coffins once they get older. The bunkhouse was really limited on space even with the slideout and the shower was so small that it was almost an olympic event to try and squeeze into that space.

We just recently upgraded to a TH TT. It's a little longer and a tad wider. I think the extra room went to making the bathroom area larger and it has much larger corner style shower with full glass surround which the wife loves. It also still has bunks in the back area that drop down from the roof and they are much much larger measuring almost 60" by 90" I believe and they might even be a little wider than that. This trailer doesn't have a slide and that's actually good for us. I don't miss the slide out at all especially not being able to access the bathroom in the back of the bunkhouse model while underway. In general the layout is 100% better and as another plus we get to bring the toys with us camping now.


The DW and I overlooked little things while at the dealer that ended up making us unsatisfied with the floorplan. Things like the slide blocking the bathroom making it unusable if you need to pull over on the side of the road. Or things like the seating arangements that were not very conducive to having a conversation with the other people in the coach since the sofa and dinette are along the same wall on the slideout.

I don't believe it's all about the size of the TT you're looking at as much as a functional floor plan. While you're looking models make sure the floorplan you get will WORK for you for the way YOU plan to use it. I think a lot of us make that mistake first - I did and a lot of others have as well.

[mowin]

It depends on if your seasonal campers or are u planning on moving around a lot. We are seasonal and have a 38 bhds. Wouldn't think of anything smaller until we retire

[Robby9]

We started off with 28' that had rear bunks, but not a sepate room. That was okay when the girls were 9 and 6. However, it did not take long for them to start wanting their own room. We moved up to a 32' with a quad bunk bedroom. It was a huge improvement in their comfort level. Now, the girls are 10 and 13 and we've moved up to a 34' with a bunkroom with a its own slide. They are completely happy now. They have tons of storage and mirrors on their armoire. Apparently, mirrors are a huge issue for girls.

[Mvander]

We have 2 boys 7-3. We have a 26' with a rearslide for mom and dad and quad bunk room in front for the boys. The thought was as they get older they could bring a friend. Plus no bed converting.