Hybrid Camper

Who's got or had a hybrid camper?
Something similar to a Rockwood Roo.

We're planning multiple longer trips in 2019 and I'm planning to downsize from the toyhauler. I'll still be able to carry the mountain bike in the camper and I'll throw the dirt bike in the bed.

Currently toyhauler is 8k loaded. Most of the hybrids I'm looking at are 6k or less GVWR. A few are even sub 5k.

I like the hybrids because I think you get the absolute most space for the lowest weight.

 

I personally have never had one, but a buddy did. Nice trailer but just hope that it's never windy out. Damn fabric makes a hell of a racket when it's windy, also doesn't keep the heat/cooling in as well as a hard side. Plenty of light weight trailers out there with slides that give you the room with light weight, that's what I did.

 

The weight is right but get ready for early morning with that tent light!

 

How many people will be sleeping in it? I’ve got a 17ft travel trailer that only weighs like 2700lbs and will sleep 5, you could sleep 6 if you absolutely had to.

 

This is my 24' with 2 opposed slides. 4900lbs dry and a ton of room for a 24' trailer.

 

Model?

Right now it's my wife and 2 year old daughter. The toyhauler is ideal because we have a separate bedroom in the front. We need something close to that, sleeping on opposite ends of the camper and separate quarters would be ideal.

 

I have one I bought when I had my Tacoma it's a 2014 jayco.

 

I have a 2011 Starcraft Travelstar 187 TB. It is 18’ long (not including the tongue) and has 3 hybrid beds (queen size). It sleeps the family (5) comfortably without having to convert the dining table. It’s 4500 lbs fully loaded. It doesn’t hold heat or a/c as well as a hard side, but the furnace and a/c has no problem keeping us warm or cold. We went this route because we have limited space to store at the house. We cannot fit a 24 foot hard side at our house, but this gives us compactness while stored and plenty of room when folded out.

 

Pros of my hybrid
Light and small can take many places for hunting and fishing.
Plenty of room for my two daughters and my wife and I.
Then tent ends on a summer night with all the windows down is awesome

Cons of my hybrid.
First is cargo carrying capacity all the hybrids suck in this area. I lifted my camper and swapped the axle as well as put bigger tires on it to combat this problem.

Second is security anyone at any time can get into your camper quietly and quickly. Now imagine someone is trying to get Into your camper on the end your children are sleeping in now your kids are in between you and the threat.

Third con you have to set this up when you get to where your going make all the beds ect. We take long trips and it suck to drive 10 15 hrs and not be able to just walk in and crash.

I like my hybrid but now that I have my tundra I would like to get hard side.

 

All,

Thanks for all of the quick input. Love this forum. Between this and my own research I have already talked myself out of a hybrid.

I would like to stay under 6k loaded, have a separate bedroom front or rear with queen bed, and have bunks at the opposite end of the camper.

 

What year is that, Don't see a current dual slide model

never mind found it

 

It's a 2014 , I'm sure they still make them. Here's a 2018:

https://www.eastcoastrvs.com/product/new-2018-coachmen-rv-freedom-express-233rbs-716134-29

 

2018 keystone clipper 17cbh. Same exact scenario, me my wife and.2 year old daughter. We sleep in the queen at the front of the trailer and she sleeps in the bottom bunk at rear or the trailer. Bought it for $8699 new here in TN with a warranty. My tundra is a 4.7 and will run 80 with this behind it.

 

I have a 2016 Starcraft Launch 17SB. Weighs 2700# empty. Queen beds, the rear bed fold out the driver side allowing for a corner bathroom without the toilet in the shower and a wardrobe closet on the back wall. I love the practicality of the hybrid. It takes me 5 min to set up, easy to pull and store. The canvas on the tents aren't like they used to be, my canvas has a 7 year warranty. We have camped in 100+ degree weather all the way to -14 degrees. Would a bigger camper be nice? Hell yes it would, but all we do is sleep and shower in it really. 90% of the time we are outside when camping.

 

That is an ideal setup right there.
Looking at them right now. Also looking at the CrossRoads Zinger ZR18BH

Queen front and rear bunks is the ideal setup for me as well.

 

I have a keystone passport 238 mlwe. Love it.
Has bunk beds and a queen Murphy bed in front. And when the queen bed is up you have a couch.

 

Thought about a pop-up? Our friends who just purchased a hybrid (hard side) are pretty jealous of our simple pop-up. Weighs 2,000lbs, follows the truck anywhere. Our friends constantly state how ours feels bigger than theirs because of the light that is allowed in, theirs feels claustrophobic. Theirs does have nicer ammenities inside (shower/toilet) but we don’t use that stuff when camping...here’s a pic of ours, 12ft. closed, 20ft. open, room for me, wife, 2 small kiddos and a 150lb mastiff.

 

I grew up camping in pop-ups with my family. It was always a good time and much better than a tent or hammock, in most situations. I'll still enjoy a hammock given the perfect weather.

But like others have said, big things that are going to turn me off of a hybrid or pop-up.
-The potential wind, noise, and light that is allowed into the camper.
-The setup, although minimal, I'm now older and wiser (see lazier).
-Security. I'm protective (see paranoid). I like the idea of hard sides for creatures and other "Animals".

I don't like hearing people in adjacent campsites either. A sub-20' bunkhouse with a queen in the front it what i need, new ones can be found for under $10k. Weight is nearly the same as a pop-up or hybrid. Weight is my main concern with the longer trips that I have planned next year.

The Tundra did a fine job of pulling a 8,000lb toyhauler for the last year. It CAN do it, it's a matter of me not wanting to do it any longer. My options would be to go to a 3/4 or 1 ton, or downsize the camper. Realistically I'm only ever carrying the dirt bike and mountain bikes. The mountain bikes will still go in the camper, the dirt bike will go in the bed, I will downsize the camper, and I will keep my Tundra.

 

Ironically, was just looking yesterday evening at purchasing another Hybrid.

We have Roo 23SS. This is for "Super Slide" where one whole wall with the sofa and sink slides out. The Tundra pulls it with no issues at all. WDH, though, makes the difference.

First the good:
There is a LOT of room for a small footprint. Once opened up it's closer to 29-feet long.
The beds are FULL QUEEN sized length, and not the shorter versions found in many units
If the weather is bad when you arrive, you can sleep on the sofa/dinette until the weather clears and you can open the camper
Regular 6-cubic foot fridge
AMAZING cross ventilation
Can keep the back closed and only use the front for bad weather.

And the not so good:
Can be a chore to open/close the ends...and if they are wet they MUST be opened to dry when you get home
Can leak around the closed ends causing damage and delamination.
Difficult to cool and heat during temperature extremes. Usually harder to cool.
The canvas ends do wear out eventually. We have several small patched holes.
The beds, since they have to fold, are not the most comfortable in the world. A foam cover helps

All and all, though, it was a great purchase. There will likely be a time when opening/closing the ends is more of a bother, but not really a problem right now. Also, for the size, it offers a lot. I'm considering a 23IKSS right now with the island kitchen and two slides. Our camper is about 10 years old and was used when we purchased it.

Have fun camping! Best memories are made on the road.

 

Have you all looked at what Winnebago Industries offers? I did like their offerings and even more so since they have bought Grand Design . Look at the Micro Minnies.

 

I will echo what Rhubarb said above.

While there is great room inside the camper with the beds folded out...there is the issue of folding out the beds, especially in the rain.

We looked at a few, and borrowed a friends, and came to the decision to get a hard sided camper (went with the aluminum siding vs a "fiberglass" or any sort of sandwiched product.)

Additionally, many actually cover the canvas with a "reflective" covering - that will allow to keep the cold / heat inside better, and help prevent the canvas from "sweating" when the air is on (nice getting dripped on when it sweats). this is a good "fix" but in our case, didn't want the additional overhead

We came from a tent camper (loved that thing, but same issues with the hybrid with canvas / tenting). We decided, that if we were going to "go up" to a larger camper, we would fix the bad points of the tent camper - i.e. setup in the rain, and the sweating. Cant tow the camper with my Motorcycle anymore (had air conditioning and a king bed in the tent camper) but I think we are better off.

In reality, the only time we are in the camper is to sleep, and the occasional rain storm. otherwise - outside.

If we pull in to a camp site... can get out, leave attached to Truck for the time being...and get inside, setup when the rain stops or subsides. same for pulling over and making sandwiches when on al onger trip. Access to the head, fridge, and table. No need to put a slide out (its small anyway) and plenty of room for the pitstop

 

All of this is spot on. My wife had different sales points but for me the biggest thing was the set up of any kind of canvas was just added trouble. Also, the amount of noise when trying to sleep was just unbearable for me. It was like sleeping in an expensive tent.

 

marinakorp I understand what you say about a Hybrid trailer, I have found that if I pull in straight that I can fold down the front without hitting the truck, but when I do camp and not unhook we mostly use the back tent part so we don't have to open the front.

 

I have a Coleman 18 something I don't remember the rest and its raining out side right now so that should be good enough. Its nice when I drive down the road its 21 ft from hitch to bumper so its small but when opened all up its not 25 ft long. The only thing I don't like is when its hot its hot even with the little fans over the bed and the AC running and when its cold the reflected stuff helps but its still cold. Spring time through early fall its great. I also can't complain because my uncle sold it to me for $5.00 and its worth about $10,500..

 

We have a 2018 Starcraft Launch 17SB and we love it. The downsides of setting up the beds and packing them up isn't as bad as it sounds. If you are a hands on person, it adds an element of fun. I enjoy tinkering and setting up my equipment. My family and I have camped on the beach in 90 degree weather and we've stayed comfortable with the AC, and as cold as teens at night in the fall/winter and have always stayed warm with the heater. I'm sure a non hybrid travel trailer has a better R value, but we haven't had any issues.

 

We got our 2018 model at a steep discount due to the 2019's coming in. It also helped that the floor plan (1790 with a wet bath) was not one of the more popular ones.

When we purchased it we had a 4Runner that towed it OK... until we started loading it. Then the tongue weight shot up into the 500lb area so we decided to upgrade to what I wanted when the wife purchased the 4Runner instead - a 2019 CC TSS Off-Road.




If we had of known we would be getting the Tundra the trailer would have been a larger trailer... but actually this one is large enough unless we take our 5 dogs with us.
The sell point on this one was the countertop space for the kitchen. Plenty of room to keep the Kuerig set up and also a large crock pot for cooking. We had looked at some of the Hybrid campers and even the Rockwood/Flagstaff hard side campers.

 

buy a roll of this stuff and cut to size. put in windows. keeps cold in, het out and will be pitch black in the morning

 

Add a little velcro to hold it in place. I used this for years when we camped while the kids were growing up. Made a huge difference inside in the summer and winter.

 

mine just slid between the screen and the inner canvas flap but I did velcro a piece over the door window

 

Well I had my first towing experience and going over the Grape Vine in So Cal which is steep but in tow haul mode the truck did wonderful and it was a relaxing experience not an anxious one. So as you can imagine I am now very happy with my new to me truck. I have another trip coming up starting tomorrow again going over the Grape Vine and I am sure it will go even better now.