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Choosing our next trailer for couples travel
We've traveled all 48 lower states in the last decade in our 2005 Outback bunkhouse and the kids are about ready to go their own ways. We might take an occasional trip with them, so sleeping 6 total is nice. We want to have a full size walk around queen ed, plus we see ourselves traveling with our best couple friends as well, so we'd like something that would well accommodate two adult couples in their early to mid 50s for sleeping. Both husbands are big men at 6 foot 5.ideas? New or used.1.3KViews0likes2CommentsSuburban Versus Excursion or something else???
For the last several years we've been towing our 2005 Outback 26 footer with a a 2WD 04 Suburban with the 5.3 engine. Towing, we'd get about 10 MPG and although the rig was fine on the flats, it would dog on the hills, like the Grapevine in southern CA and slow to about 40 (loaded with all our gear and the four teenage kids plus wife). When the 'Burban rolled over to about 220,000 miles I wasn't keen on taking another six week cross country jaunt in it, and it's been pretty beat up now teaching all the kids to drive. So we started looking within our budget for a new tow vehicle to at least get us through last summer's trip. We ended on a well kept one owner 2001 Excursion with 179,000 on the odometer and a V-10 engine. I figured this rig would suck up the gas but run circles around the towing power of the 5.3. Boy was I wrong! Not only did the rig drop my mileage to about 7 overall when towing (which was fine - I expected it), I also found it to be just about as gutless as the Suburban was on the grades. So, our search has sort of continued. We're not into the Excursion for a lot of money - about $8000 - and we are in a position this year to go upwards of $15-20,000 if we find the right tow vehicle. My wife doesn't want to go with a truck - she wants the capacity to comfortably carry the whole family for the long trips six now adult-sized people for 4-6 week trips), and I want to make sure that the vehicle we get will handle up to at minimum an 8000 lb trailer plus the family. She would prefer that we keep options open and gt the best tow capacity we can on an SUV as she would like to upgrade the trailer to one where we don't have to pull our queen bed out every night or climb over one another to get into the bed. She REALLY liked the roominess of the Excursion and so did the family. So the question then is, what are our options? I'm fine with an older, well kept, vehicle, but would like to at least be able to hold my own on a moderate grade like the Grapevine at 55, or the ones you hit on I-80 coming across Nevada and back into California. I'm open to a diesel, but have heard too many horror stories about the 6.0, so I want to stay away from those. We've considered an Excursion with a 7.3 diesel, a Denali/Yukon XL with its larger 6.0 gas engine as well. Anyone out there got some experience with those vehicles and the background to compare with my experience towing with the Excursion V-10 and the 5.3 Suburban? I was thinking the 6.0 gasser just to get a little more power out of it on those hills. Our trailer itself is probably 6000 lbs. Yes, I'm a bad RVer - I've never weighed it, just based on the dry weight (4500 on the sticker) plus what we haul around with us. It's always towed just fine with no sway or other issues. In either the Excursion or the Suburban, on the flats you don't even know it's there unless it's super windy.3.7KViews0likes17CommentsRe: Bunkhouse Comparisons and Picking a New (used?) One
First, thanks again to everyone who's been so helpful. We are looking at the option of moving to a 3/4 ton Burban since that will open us up for cheaper, albeit a little heavier, trailers that might be a wash or near-wash on price. There is big RV show in nearby (90 minutes) Sacramento this weekend that we scouted at the various dealers last weekend. Here are some things we've seen I'd love to hear some ideas about: 1) 2013 Jayco 28 bunkhouse with a slide for 19000, brand new with all power options, and an 8 cu foot Norcold fridge - not seen a fridge that large on ANYTHING else so far. I REALLY like the upgrades in this unit and its price,as well as the two year warranty, but it is a double-single bunk and the tongue weight is 690. Dry weight with options is 5600. 2) 2008 Tango for 15000. Also a double-single, well-maintained except for some delam right around the access hatch for the water heater (two bubbles, each the size of your hand). Its tongue weight is 670 with a dry weight of 5760, as per the sticker. 3) 2014 Bullet QBS quad bunk on "sale" for the show at 24,500 with 5620 dry weight and 590 hitch weight. This one is the best layout, but also the priciest, and I'm not "sold" on the durability of Keystone products with regard to delaminating. The sales folks have been telling me to ignore the hitch weight effectively since the WD hitch will offset some back to the trailer as opposed to the TV, meaning that my guesstimate of 650 left of cargo capacity in the TV (7000 rated from GM, minus 5350 curb, minus 1000 pounds of passengers)is too conservative. Thoughts on any of these three options (aside from the obvious - upgrade the TV NOW and I can take any of the three). I'm especially interested in the WD hitch issue - I read dozens of pages here on the forums about WD hitches and despite being a pretty smart guy, it just gave me a headache. I guess that's why my graduate degree isn't in math.498Views0likes0CommentsRe: Bunkhouse Comparisons and Picking a New (used?) One
Thanks to everyone who has posted with suggestions so far. As I continue to digest the forum posts about "really" how much we can consider towing with a 1500 Suburban, I'm starting to research LIGHTER quad bunk models for towability and safety, leading me into some (sadly, but expected) higher priced but much lighter models like the Jayco Whitehawk. There is a 2013 quad bunk model being sold locally for 23500 - brand new - that has a dry weight of just over 5000 lbs, knocking close to a 1000 lbs off of the Rockwood that everyone in the family loved. Loaded to go, I figure that would come in at about 6500, plus another 900-1000 for the family and miscellaneous gear in the 'Burban, and we're in for 74-7500 lbs. With a weight distribution hitch, does that sound "do-able" with enough of a safety margin? Although the idea of the 2004 Outback (quad bunks) with the rear queen slide keeps coming back to mind since it was about 4500 labs, given that our goal is a full summer-long cross country trip to DC after our oldest graduates high school in June, I think we might be at each others' throats before it's over due to the cramped quarters, and no slide in the living space. I say this from experience, having traveled for three weeks in the western US with the family plus the inlaws a few summers ago in their no-slide 36 foot motor home. We might make it through the summer trip in the smaller Outback, but longer term, we're thinking of taking whatever rig we end up with to the coast for longer term summer vacations, since as a teacher I have all summer off, so some more space would be nice since it wouldn't just be for sleepy time. Thoughts?498Views0likes0CommentsRe: Bunkhouse Comparisons and Picking a New (used?) One
PAThwacker wrote: Our 2004 k2500 sub 3.73/6.0 L Is rated at 7600 lb towing. I would get a second look at your specs. The 2500 subs have 2951lb payload and 8600lb gvw. I was having trouble getting something definitive myself so that's why I went straight back to the dealer we bought it from and those are the numbers they gave us. My understanding is that the 3/4 tons should be at the 8600 lbs from what I recall. What I noticed while trying to find the numbers myself is that the older suburbans definitely tend to have been a little beefier on their towing than some of the newer ones - even in the 1/2 ton models.241Views0likes0CommentsBunkhouse Comparisons and Picking a New (used?) One
As I push 40 years old, with a wife and four kids, ranging from 17 down to 10 years and never having owned any of the "toys" other folks my age seem to accumulate, we've decided to take an RV plunge to squeeze some more memories in before the kids start heading off to college. With that in mind, we are shopping seriously for our first (and hopefully for the forseeable future, last) RV that will get us through the kids and at least start us off with grandkids, and would love some helpful advice from this clearly knowledgeable group. With a stay at home mom and me working two full-time equivalent jobs as a teacher and part-time college instructor, we aren't flush with cash, so a 20,000 dollar limit is about what we can afford, even with financing. We might squeak higher if it was a brand new trailer, but not by much. Our TV will be our venerable, but well maintained 2004 Suburban halfton, with factory tow package, rated at 7600 lbs tow capacity or 13000 combined weight, as per the dealership (but remember, we're adding myself, wife, and four kids so we're at 900 lbs right there). Our "perfect" trailer would have quad bunks and a queen for us so we don't have to be making beds out all the time, outside access to at least one of the bunks for storage of larger items on the road, couch and dinette (so we could break them down if the kids brought a friend), and a decent amount of interior storage for jackets and what-not. My wife was at first intrigued by some friends' 2004 Keystone Outback with the queen rear slide and quad bunks in the front, but for six of us, without a side slide, it seemed crowded and likely to be claustrophobic plus it lacked quite enough storage (the kids are all girls, so they just cannot seem to camp like I did - wearing the same clothes for days on end). I also had concerns over the stability of the manual bed slide - I'm about 240 lbs, and my wife 160. This weekend, we found a "dream" trailer in a 2007 Rockwood with tons of storage, and this basic floorplan: We just could not however come to a price agreement with the dealership that would get it to our 20000 pricepoint (23500 was their "best" with taxes and a weight distribution system and their 850 dollar "prep fee") or an acceptable interest rate (9 percent is what they offered!)and needed to walk away. Another dealer offered a 2014 Wildwood quad bunk unit for 19,000 brand new, but my wife felt (and I agreed) that it just didn't offer enough interior storage - even under the dinette or bed or anything: Any suggestions on something that would be a middle ground between the Outback and the Rockwood? Or should we have taken the Rockwood - it just struck me a a tad overpriced given that their best initial price offer came down from 20000 to 19250 and they wouldn't budge further, then with the taxes, license, and fees it went up to the 23000+ mark. I balked at that for a seven year old unit given that we had been offered a brand new Wildwood that same day elsewhere for LESS than they were willing to go on the Rockwood. Thanks for any insights!6.9KViews0likes22Comments
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