Please talk me out of this.

Same. I've also started putting down a few squares of TP just above the water line as a "landing pad" so nothing sticks to the bowl.

 

I do like this aspect of owning things as well. A random idea pops into my head to improve on something or how to fix or prevent something.

 

Tell me about it ... just replaced the Dometic freezer door spring assy and will have to replace the AC shroud for the second time soon.

 

Truth.

Recent camper tinkerings:
-Added soft start to AC.
-Removed upper bunk in the back due to unusability. Then trimmed the space out to look nice, now have a single full size bed in the back for guests.
-replaced all the weak LED overhead lighting in the living space with better LED lights with multiple modes and a remote.
-replaced some weak cover panels that were poorly placed in high use areas with real wood for durability. Niece put a foot through one, I put a hand through another. Nice and sturdy now
-replaced the manual tongue jack with a power one. $160 for the new jack, but a priceless addition when you get to a hot campsite or have to breakdown in the rain. These should be standard, especially on a camper at this price point and quality level.
-added the mini shade to the front door so we are not awoke at 5:45am with sunbeams when we want to sleep in.

 

Just watched a video claiming that you can rotate the head of these 90* and it would then allow you to drop your tailgate all the way while hooked up.

My tailgate hits the head of the jack so Im interested in testing this.

 

@MadMaxCanon A lot has been said, so I do not want to just repeat. We have a 19' and have gone on many trips with my two kids who are teens but are still very very much interested in camping.

They love camping of all kinds. Tent, travel trailer, even some slight bush crafting where they build their own shelter. I am with them on that.

The wife will tolerate tent camping as long as I make it comfortable. Travel Trailer, Air B&B, hotels, that is her speed.

So, that sets up what I am about to say. If you have a family of four, I will say that a trailer that is that long (16'), I don't think you will be super happy with it. You might, but here are some scenarios we have been in.

First, I know the idea is to utilize the awning as an extension and just use it as such. That works great as long as the following do not take place: 1. The wind is not howling and running the risk of ripping your awning and arms. 2. The wind is not blowing under the awning, making everything wet underneath. Sometimes being under the awning also does not block the sun and it gets very hot and miserable. While it is camping, having the family just not wanting to be outdoors because the campground has no shade or covering, that is absolutely miserable to enjoy being outdoors. I know because I was there. I am die hard for enjoying the outdoors, but that day was miserable because of the lack of tree, wind, and shade.

Second, if you do have to be inside, you are now cramming everyone into a tight space. If there is an element of being tired, or bored, as much as family loves each other, and my two act like twins, they do have moments where they need their own space. My camper has bunk beds that provides that. We also have a slide out to give us a little bit more space. In that one, you lose that extra space AND have no bunk for that separation. Then moving around becomes much more convoluted. Often, if I know we are trapped in, I will, since I am bigger, sit in the table booth, or get into the bed and let the family move around. Then I will move when they settle down. This works great. Sometimes my two kids sit at the table while we get things ready, or their bunks. It really just depends. I don't see how that is possible in this camper.

Third, storage. I cannot tell, but if you are going for any extensive trip, which we are getting ready to do, you will want space for things. Yes, you can use your truck, but that becomes a bear running out at night to get your stuff, or to dig through the pass through to find what you need. Then, what you need is to consider what to do with laundry, trash cans, shoes, etc. It starts to get everywhere. We have tried at least four or so different storage ideas and I think, after three years, we have finally hit on what works for us. But that is not easy to do and manage when you have a family of four.

Fourth, sleeping. I saw there is the master bed, but the couch for two is going to be really bad. We had a bed that turned into the sofa, and it was horrible! Every day cleaning up the bed, setting up the sofa, only to break down the sofa and reset the bed each night. You will have that with that sofa. It gets tiring quickly. Then if you decide to do it with the sofa and table (I am assuming it turns into a bed), it will become an even bigger pain.

So, this is my thought. The size is awesome for two adults. The size is also awesome for getting into small places. But I don't know if I would go less than my 19'. I have used the awning a couple of times, but we use the camper as our home base, and so we are not often at the camper in the first place. But when we are at the camper, I absolutely would not want anything smaller. If I were to go bigger, I would perhaps go to a 25' but that would be max because I love to be small and nimble to get in smaller places to see more.

There are other great advice for generator, WDH, gear, etc, and I have many ideas that I can share if you want, feel free to ask, but for the camper itself, while it is a great price, and perhaps perfect for you and your wife, I would walk away if you start to look at having children in it.

But these are just my initial thoughts and I hope they help.

 

This is true

 

Thanks for all the information, it actually is helpful.

The only thing with your weather examples is that I am in southern California my whole life. It's never rained when I go camping. Heat, absolutely. We typically camp in the mountains so its never that bad and when it has been, we have made do without ac by hitting some trails in the truck with the ac on. In that respect, even the tiny camper would only be benefiting us from where we are nnow.

 

Ok. So you may have some of this squared away then. I've never been to California, so I am not familiar with the weather. I guess my thought would also be with the other points that may be more of your areas you will run into than the weather. Some may be mitigated because of the weather will be better, but I don't know.

We here on the other side get hit with all kinds of weather. We were in KY last year and we had a bad storm. So that is why I brought that one out because we were trapped in the camper and there was no moving, Lol.

I was thankful for the bunks and the slide out for sure.

When my one child was really little, and it was raining really bad, we brought some of the smaller toys in and the extra space on the floor with the slide out provided a great place to play.

Sorry, just a small walk down memory lane there.

But I am glad it helped. If I can help any other way, please feel free to let me know.

 

I almost don't even like to mention it for fear of jinxing myself, but I really haven't had much to fix.

I'd always heard that things rattle loose in the rolling earthquake that is an RV, so when we bought the trailer I put together a dedicated tool kit to keep in it but it's just been dead weight that I've hauled around for almost a decade.

I did finally have to fix the known slide frame issue with my generation Lance. They used sheet metal screws all the way around and the bottom of the frame separates from the wall.

They now thru-bolt the bottom 3 or 4 bolts, which is what I did, also adding some flat bar aluminum for backing on the inside.

Aside from that it's been problem and tinker free since November of 2016. I know that's a lucky exception to the norm, but it's also a big part of the reason I spent Lance money to get a little higher build quality.

It's even more impressive since 90% of our camping is done somewhere down a bouncy and rutted road... the further the better.

 

WE found the camper is perfect however the Dometic and Lippert crap they put in them not so much.

Modify hot water heater door

Replaced hot water heater thermal fuse

Replaced leaking propane pigtails

Replaced stabilizer jack switch

Replaced short spout bathroom faucet to a longer one

Replaced sun damaged AC shroud

Replaced Dometic toilet flush valve

Replaced Dometic fridge door latch

Replaced Dometic freezer door spring assy

Reroute pinched awning harness

Replaced cracked sewer dump support bracket

 

We bought ours new that was a last year model. 5060# dry weight 29’ 2018 Gray Wolf. We bought it in February 2019. They lowered the price (sale) to make room for the new inventory. We saved thousands of dollars. I like it, but wish it had two slide outs instead of one for more space. The tundra has no problem pulling / towing it.

 

Just replaced my hot water tank. That thread is here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/tra...d-surveyor-legend-19bhle.158989/#post-3934362.

 

And it's gonna' be expensive.

 

AMEN

 

Sweet, thanks

 

So I went today and looked at a few models ranging from 16 to 21 foot. All under 15k price.

This one is the first choice.
https://rv.campingworld.com/rv/2025-keystone-coleman-13b-2505338-colton-ca

I walked around and had the kids lay in it and its way bigger than it seems inside in person. Im in love with it.

I will say that the 21 footers are sweet but the fact that the 16 footer can be parked on my driveway in front of the garage really is the biggest selling point for me. Also, it has a deep cycle battery and brakes which I was not expecting for the price point.

My wife was like, go ahead and get it for father's day, but her heart wasn't in it. I wanted her to see it in person since a large part of buying was for her comfort and so she comes with us camping. She just said she trusts my decision but it kind of dumped a bucket of cold water on the idea. Hopefully she thinks about it a bit and comes around to it more. The salesman said he would drop it down to $9999 when I told him my wife's apprehensive.

Im sure prices and deals will stay low the remainder of the year.

 

A little advice - keep looking. If the wife is indifferent spend some time finding out what she would want in a camper. You’re likely going to have to meet in the middle but if her heart isn’t into it, I would keep looking.

 

Does it have an AC? You’ll have to get toppers for the mattresses. I would also ge the sales guy to swap the china bomb tires for some quality ones. Otherwise, looks great! And the $9999 isn’t a bad starting place.

 

Yeah im definitely not getting it right now. The price made her say its fine to get it for father's day, and she knows im not going to impulse buy it. It's more so that she wasn't excited for it that gets me. I can spend my whole life camping without a trailer, I just want it so we can go as a family and all enjoy it.

 

I agree with keep looking. An idea is to rent a few different sizes with different floor plans to see what she like best.

 

@MadMaxCanon ,

What @shawn474 says is spot on and high value advice.

If the wife is not into it, or she is not "feeling" it, it will not be a good fit at all.

I hope this doesn't come across as condescending, because it isn't, but I want to help you make sure you get the best camper for your stage in life right now.

When my wife and I started looking at campers, we got lost very quickly in all of the "stuff". A salesman is really good at driving you to their "fully loaded" unit. They have it staged nice, it looks good, and it can absolutely be daunting and somewhat hard to walk away from that "dream" camper. It was for us. But we realized what we needed to do was lay out what we wanted.

So we made a list. It consisted of three categories: Must haves, Do not want, and finally, would be nice.

Then, after looking at two or three dozen different campers, not to pick but to just get an idea of what is out there (which you are already doing by checking out this one), we sat down to write out what we wanted.

Our list, if I remember correctly, looked something like this:


Must have:

1. Bunks
2. Full size fridge
3. Pass through storage up front
4. A storage place in the back.
5. A slide out for space
6. A smooth side (non corregated metal) side
7. The none Chinese Bomb tires
8. A total weight not exceeding 5K lbs (this was because I had a different truck than even my 2nd Gen Tundra. I had a 1st Gen 3.4 L Tundra so we were wanting to stay with what we had).
9. A shower and bathroom that is not a wet bath
10. A kitchen that had a decent counter space to work on
11. A counter that has a decent sink to wash dishes (this becomes so much more important as you use dishes).

Did not want:

1. Fifth wheel
2. The special undercoated stuff one place tried to sell us on.
3. A trailer that had a rear tow hitch.
4. A side by side fridge and freezer combo.
5. A camper that had an oven (most owners we talked with just used it for storage anyway, and now that we have gone four seasons camping, we do not regret not having an oven).

(this is the best I can remember from four years ago).

Would like to have:

1. A private master bedroom up front
2. LED Lights as well as a "porch" light
3. The Ability to have both electric and gas water heater.
4. Stand alone couch

(that is what I can remember).


Our two campers (the first was totaled) had the bunks, full size fridge with the freezer on top and fridge under. Storage up front, as well as in the back. Better tires, under the 5K (although I can go a little heavier now), the bathroom we want, the counter we want, and the sink. Has the two different lights (LED and porch), and the Electric and Gas water heater. My camper now also has the solar power that runs the fridge if not on shore power and gives me about a day or so with that!

What I have yet to get is the separate bedroom and the stand alone couch, but that was the compromise we made. My wife has been very happy with the layout, but both of us are not happy with the brand itself due to other issues we had with Forrest River, but that is another story. But I can say that both of these campers, when we saw it, we knew it was "the camper".

This may be a good place to start, but if you do this, then take her with you, and you see what gets you closest to what you want with the compromises on the nice to have list. She will be much happier, you will be happier you held off, and you all will not look at something in your yard, even if it is small enough to park where you would like, and regret it. It is a lot of money.

I hope you find what you are looking for! This is awesome to follow along as you are looking. Please keep us posted.

 

Same here. For camper number 3, we listed all of the things we wanted in a camper. Then put them in order of importance, then circled the must haves. The shorter the camper, the more compromises get made. Unloaded weight under 5k# was a must for us. Tandem axle was a must. Bunkhouse was a must. Then the nice to have list started from there. We got 7 out of 9 of the things we wanted. Would have had to give up something must have to get the other wants, so they didn’t make the cut. Having the list made sorting campers much easier. I did a ton of online looking. Once I found a model I liked, I searched nationwide for best pricing and used that during the negotiations.

 

It appears to me the OP’s wife isn’t into any type of camping at the moment or the added expense isn’t in the cards right now. Fair enough, cool OP is an understanding husband and isn’t forcing the issue.

Same with my wife … throw in the grandkids and her Kindle and she’s happier than a pig in shit camping!

 

Sort of like Poop Soup!