In part 1 of choosing a travel trailer, I went over how we rented one to try it out. While that experience wasn’t great overall because of the specific rental, we learned a few important things. First, we learned that despite the rental’s problems, we enjoyed the experience of being mobile and having more comforts than when we go camping. Second, we agreed that we wanted to look at trailers that were a little larger and had a different floorplan. In the rented trailer 1 person had to be sitting or laying down if the other needed to move. Obviously, that is not ideal.
Our Feature List
The next logical step was to find somewhere we could look at our options. Luckily there is a Camping World not far from us that has pretty much everything you could want to see. Before we went to visit we listed out what our ideal setup would include. We didn’t know if it was possible to hit everything on our list, but it was still important to start there.
- A length of around 30-35 feet
- Able to be towed by a Ford F-250
- Flushable toilet and an inside shower
- Main bedroom that is shut off from the rest of the space by a door
- A spot where we can relax in the evenings that isn’t a dinette, preferably a couch or recliners
- A fireplace
- A kitchen that includes a sink, stove with an oven, and a good size fridge
- A space that felt easy to move around in if 2 people were trying to work around each other
- Prioritize storage space over things like bunk beds, toy haulers, etc. Since we anticipate it being just the 2 of us most of the time, storage is more important than extra beds.
- BONUS: Outdoor grill/cooking area
Camping World
So one weekend this summer we headed over to Camping World, discussed our list with a salesman, and toured a few rigs. We are not ready to buy anything just yet. So our primary goal was to make sure we could find something that was close to what we wanted. I was confident we could find several that would meet our criteria. But if what we want is something that doesn’t exist, it would be better to find out now.
It’s been a few months since we did this so I don’t remember the exact models we looked at. We looked at a couple of Class A RVs, but agreed despite how nice they were inside, they were just too big and too expensive for us. Next, we looked at a few Coleman trailers. There was one that was around 30 feet that just felt perfect. It had all the features we were looking for and most importantly, it felt much more spacious than you would expect for its length.
One difference between what we looked at and what we will ultimately decide on is that these were new trailers. I’m in an RV group on Facebook and one piece of advice I’ve seen consistently is to buy used. New trailers are usually riddled with problems. Those repairs are usually covered under warranty, but finding an available appointment can take a while. Once you have an appointment it can disrupt your travel plans if you weren’t planning on being near a shop that can handle your warranty repairs. And if it’s your full-time home, any time spent being repaired is time you have to find (and pay for) somewhere else to live.
Fifth Wheel
Another potential difference is that we didn’t look at fifth wheel trailers and that’s something we’re more open to considering now. On our Campcation this summer there was a family in a fifth wheel trailer at the campsite across from us. So I asked them why they made that choice and this was what I learned:
- Fifth wheel trailers are easier to manuever and safer to pull because the hitch is over your rear axle instead of a foot behind your rear bumper.
- Since part of the trailer is over your truck bed you can have a longer length trailer with a shorter overall length. For campgrounds with limits on overall length, that can be the deciding factor for whether you are allowed to stay.
- It requires a mount that’s permanently in your truck bed so you sacrifice some storage that would be available if you were pulling a trailer with the rear hitch. For example, with our rental I was able to take all of our gear in the bed of my truck with the cover protecting it from the rain. But if we had a fifth wheel that wouldn’t be possible.
Next Step
Once we get closer to traveling or can afford to buy one solely for weekend excursions we’ll probably make a similar trip to look at used trailers and narrow down exactly which model we want. When that happens I’ll definitely post another part in this series that covers our experience looking for a used trailer, how to determine values, options for financing, and everything else we learn along the way.
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