acorne
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Re: Comparing 2 campers
Thanks, we have been looking for a little while. Then we traded trucks and can now pull a little bigger one so we started looking again. We have so many brochures looking at floor plans. Yest we looked at a Shasta Oasis and a a Starcraft AR One. The Starcraft seemed to be built a little better and you had a little more room in the bathroom.420Views0likes0CommentsRe: Comparing 2 campers
wbwood wrote: acorne wrote: PawPaw_n_Gram wrote: Didn't realize you had kids. That age it is important in my opinion that the kids have a place of their own. Making up a bed every night in the middle of the living area is a pain. It also restricts options for the adults. I have seen a Jayco Jay Feather X213 which is only 300 lbs or so heavier than the X20E. It has bunks on the front wall, bath in the middle and a slide out king bed - head out behind the living area. Hate to suggest another trailer to look at, but I think it would suit your needs better - and give you a trailer which can grow with the kids. I don't mind you suggesting other TT's at all. I like the set up of that one but for us just starting out, we don't want to spend more than 13/14,000. I've seen a few where the bunks are tucked way back in the corner with only a small section for them to get in and I know my boys good enough, they wouldn't sleep in that. They need bunks that are more open. Thanks again for all of your help. What part of NC are y'all in? We are in the Winston Salem area.420Views0likes0CommentsRe: Comparing 2 campers
PawPaw_n_Gram wrote: Didn't realize you had kids. That age it is important in my opinion that the kids have a place of their own. Making up a bed every night in the middle of the living area is a pain. It also restricts options for the adults. I have seen a Jayco Jay Feather X213 which is only 300 lbs or so heavier than the X20E. It has bunks on the front wall, bath in the middle and a slide out king bed - head out behind the living area. Hate to suggest another trailer to look at, but I think it would suit your needs better - and give you a trailer which can grow with the kids. I don't mind you suggesting other TT's at all. I like the set up of that one but for us just starting out, we don't want to spend more than 13/14,000. I've seen a few where the bunks are tucked way back in the corner with only a small section for them to get in and I know my boys good enough, they wouldn't sleep in that. They need bunks that are more open. Thanks again for all of your help.420Views0likes0CommentsRe: Comparing 2 campers
rjf7g wrote: VERY different floorplans and campers! I am curious - are they both used or both new or one new and the other used? Are they in the same "condition"? The tent beds in the hybrids (and pop-ups) require someone to crawl over the other person to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. If you are claustrophobic, you will not want to be the one stuck in the corner. As the person previously in the corner, I won't go back! It looks like you don't escape this with the Puma floorplan, though. The tent beds do need to be cared for and can leak. They should not be packed up wet and if they are, need to be opened ASAP so they don't dry rot and stuff in the camper doesn't mold. Also, tent beds are not a good idea if you ever plan to camp in bear country. The Puma is 600 lbs heavier, looking at the unloaded weight. The Puma has larger holding tanks - a plus if you are parked and have full hookups, but if they are full and you're driving they will add a lot more weight to the already heavier choice. The Puma can carry more stuff, but that will also add more weight to the already heavier choice. The TV location in the Puma seems to make it only viewable to the tongue-side bench of the dinette. I personally like to sit on my couch and watch TV. A person sitting on the couch right beside the fridge may be able to see the TV, but I would need to test this out! This doesn't seem to be an issue in the Jayco. If you leave the tents in on the Jayco, and use the dinette as your bed unless you have others joining you, you may have a pretty good setup. A few TV trays for eating off of would be all that was needed to make this work. I do not like having to break down the dinette to make a bed each day. I hope this helps! I have a Puma trailer and have had a Jayco pop-up in the past. I would buy either brand again but would make sure the specific trailer I was looking at had the amenities I wanted and that the build quality was good. They are both used but in about the same condition. Very well taken care of. The idea of the hybrid being more open and having the beds on both ends was what I liked. But I do worry if my kids, 7&9, would sleep under the canvas esp when it's raining hard and lots of noise outside. The one thing I didn't like about the Puma was the bed being turned like it was. I do appreciate all your help. I've learned a lot from everyone's answers. Several people warned us about the canvas and then reading about it on here, I think we may have ruled out a hybrid. But we are going to keep looking and find a floor plan we like. There's way too many TT's out there. This is worse than picking out our house!180Views0likes0CommentsComparing 2 campers
I posted earlier last week about what we could pull with our 2002 Dodge Dakota. Well we traded it in Friday for a Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 so now we are back to the drawing board. We are looking at 2 different campers. 2013 Jayco Jay Feather X20E Hybrid with Slide 2012 Palomino Puma 19-RL I'm really liking the Jayco but husband is liking the Puma. But since we are newbies to camping, can you guys give me some pros and cons of them? Thanks5.1KViews0likes22CommentsRe: Going to buy a Travel Trailer but have a few quesitons
old guy wrote: one thing this forum provides for you is a tow rating guide. if you log into trailer life web site and look around you will find the tow rating guide for trucks for many years and just find your vehicle and it will tell you what you need to know. welcome to the forum, hurry back if you need any thing else. Ok, according to that chart, the tow rate is 4400 lbs. The camper we are looking at says "Gross Vehicle Wt Rating (GVWR) 3,750 lbs" so I guess that is where I'm confused about if the camper is less than the tow rate, but we still can't pull it? Please help me to understand. Thanks370Views0likes0CommentsRe: Going to buy a Travel Trailer but have a few quesitons
bikendan wrote: first, need more info on your Dakota. like which model, SLT, Sport Plus or SLT Plus? what rear end ratio does it have? does it have the factory tow package? second, what year/brand/model of hybrid are you looking at? and is the dry weight number from the actual sticker on the trailer or is it from a brochure? for a hybrid, you should be using the hybrid's GVWR since hybrids don't typically have huge CCC amounts. It's an SLT, rear end ratio is 3.55 and no it doesn't have a factory tow package. The one we are looking at is a 2014 Star Craft AR-One 18FB. Dry weight was from actually sticker. It's my husband and I and our two kids under the age of 10.370Views0likes0CommentsGoing to buy a Travel Trailer but have a few quesitons
I hope I'm posting in the right place for this, if not I apologize in advance. We have been looking at travel trailers but we are not for certain what we can tow. We have a 2000 Dodge Dakota QC 3.9L and we do not have the manual. We have been told a range of weight we can pull, from 3000-almost 4500. The one we are currently looking at is a 18Ft Hybrid with a dry weight of 2,990. How much more of a trailer do you think we could pull? Thanks so much for your help. Angela3.8KViews0likes18Comments
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We all start out new. Share lessons learned or first-time questions!Jun 15, 20174,026 Posts
