4 seasons travel trailer, 26' max

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Gshelleynm

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Hi all,
New to forum, and need advice from you all who have knowledge and experience in full time, all seasons rving. I have not purchased yet. Exploring options. I am open to used. A little about myself. I'm a retired Socialworker. I had planned to full time RV when I retired and was organized to do so. Irma pushed my time frame up when my apt building lost it roof in Hollywood Fl. So Arthur (my pug) and I are staying in Western NC with a close friend till I buy my home on wheels. I pulled a 30' from S. Fl to Carlsbad NC when I moved to NM for my career in child protective service for the state of NM. I moved back to S.Fl when I retired. Do to Irma Arthur and I are ready to hit the road. After pulling a 30' , I do not want to pull that long. 26 is my max of comfortablity. I have a 2013 5.7L V8 150 Tundra with tow package. I'm not looking for lite travel trailer due to personal belongs weight limit. As I'm shopping around ,my biggest issue is 4seasons insulated travel trailer. I know ideally travel trailers are not winter friendly but I really need some advice on purchasing . All knowledge and advise would be greatly appreciated. Would like to purchase in the net month or two. Arthur and I are in Western North Carolina where a close friend has taken us in .  Thank you all in advance for your knowledge and advice.
Best Regards, Shelley
 
Welcome to the forum  :)

There should be a yellow sticker on the door post of your truck. It will give you the exact weight limits you can tow/haul. Do some searches here on hitch weight, Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR), and Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR).

Others more knowledgeable than I will be along soon to help you out.
 
Sprucegum said:
Welcome to the forum  :)

There should be a yellow sticker on the door post of your truck. It will give you the exact weight limits you can tow/haul. Do some searches here on hitch weight, Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR), and Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR).

Others more knowledgeable than I will be along soon to help you out.

I can't pull a little over 10,000. Thank you
 
If I was looking, there are only a couple of brands I would consider.  For your size, thst drops to only one.  Well two actually, Northwood Mfg and sister company Outdoor RV.  Both out of LaGrande,OR.  Frames are made in house, well insulated, very well built compared to most.  Nash and Arctic Fox come from Northwood.  The main difference is interior furnishings, and some options on Nash standard on Foxes.  You will not likely find many on the east coast, so open your search to nationwide.
 
For your consideration:

Four season WHERE?  AZ or MN?

You can add heaters to your tanks, pipes, etc like you would add a block heater to your vehicle: but you need electricity to make them work (either battery or shore power).

Most TT walls are thin (about two inches thick at best).  Most houses are constructed with 2X4 (which makes the wall interior thickness at 3.5 inches).  Standard pink insulation at 3.5 inches (standard wall insulation) give you an R-13 value.  If your wall is half as thick, you get half the R value (if even that much).

You can always add insulation by furring our your walls (adding studs to make the walls thicker) but that would involve removing the interior surfaces.  If you have skills you can do this:  if not you can pay for it. 

It will add weight to your TT. 

If you have power, you can add more heat sources for cold weather (electric radiators) or you can run more propane. 

So the starting point is what YOU mean by four season? 

P.S.  Get familiar with YouTube.  There are  lot of videos of people who full time in TTs in Canada, the north of the US, etc.  You can gain a lot of insight from the comfort of your recliner :)


 
Excellent advice from Drifterrider.

I get that you are worried about length, but what about livability?  Driving is only a part of RV life, and frankly not the important part. Maybe your Tundra is adequate or maybe not, but that would not be my first consideration for my future home and comfort.
 
Do you really think 4' is a big difference in the driving part?
But 4' in the living part IS a very big difference.
I'm not sure how you came up with 26' being the perfect length to tow.  Maybe 28' would be perfect?
Most people say floor plan is very important - if your going to full time a washer/dryer is nice and
that may fit better in a 28'.  What I'm saying is don't rule out any TT just because it's over 26'. JMO.

Maybe the 30' that you drove wasn't setup right and that caused you to be uncomfortable driving it?

It's your life and you can do what you want but if your planning on full-timing a bigger unit is almost always more comfortable.
And unless your planning on moving around a lot you will be living in it much more than you will be towing it.  JMO again.
 
RedandSilver said:
Do you really think 4' is a big difference in the driving part?
But 4' in the living part IS a very big difference.
I'm not sure how you came up with 26' being the perfect length to tow.  Maybe 28' would be perfect?
Most people say floor plan is very important - if your going to full time a washer/dryer is nice and
that may fit better in a 28'.  What I'm saying is don't rule out any TT just because it's over 26'. JMO.

Maybe the 30' that you drove wasn't setup right and that caused you to be uncomfortable driving it?

It's your life and you can do what you want but if your planning on full-timing a bigger unit is almost always more comfortable.

Maybe an A class and tow the truck behind.
And unless your planning on moving around a lot you will be living in it much more than you will be towing it.  JMO again.

Dont rule out an A class for full timing. You can always tow the truck. As Red said, you have to live in it most of the time, not just drive it around. This only makes up a very small part of what the rv does.
 
Thank you all for your help. I'm taking notes. Will do on utube. To me this is a big purchase. Living size is not that big of a deal , I lived in a tent in the mountains for a year. I was comfortable . I keep eyeing the Arctic fox , the living area and storage seems perfect. Price well that is another story.But I keep going back to it. 24' works out to 27'8" . Must have a long tung. Lol! But it just seems perfect, can't find used anywhere here. But see a few out west, used. Thank you everyone for feed back and knowledge. If you think of anything else I would appreciate . I'm a bit of a research nut, so I'm not jumping in to fast on a  major purchase. Thank you all.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Excellent advice from Drifterrider.

I get that you are worried about length, but what about livability?  Driving is only a part of RV life, and frankly not the important part. Maybe your Tundra is adequate or maybe not, but that would not be my first consideration for my future home and comfort.

To piggy back off Gary (for the OP).

Tongue weight as well as the hitch system counts against your truck payload (as well as passengers, cargo, dogs, etc.)

For added margin, factor 15% of the fully laden trailer for tongue weight then add the weight of the hitch.  Can your payload handle that much?  Your vehicle might state it can tow that much but not carry that much.

Getting a trailer moving isn't the problem:  getting it stopped can be.
 
OK, your tent experience suggests you may be satisfied with a 26 foot length. The overall length of a travel trailer is typically about 4 feet greater than the floor plan (living space) length, so be careful when looking at the numbers. The tongue on a TT adds 4-5 feet to the floor length, but that typically holds the LP tanks and batteries, so it's not all wasted space.
 
I also put a length limit of 25' on my search when we decided to switch from a motor home to a travel trailer because I wanted it to fit in my driveway  ::)
We made up for the short length by finding a floorplan with opposing slides: Shasta Revere 25bh.

I had a hard time getting it set up to tow right until I was able to weigh the actual tongue weight and found it to be over 20% of the trailer weight, almost double what they had listed in the spec sheet  :eek:
 
Sprucegum said:
I also put a length limit of 25' on my search when we decided to switch from a motor home to a travel trailer because I wanted it to fit in my driveway  ::)
We made up for the short length by finding a floorplan with opposing slides: Shasta Revere 25bh.

I had a hard time getting it set up to tow right until I was able to weigh the actual tongue weight and found it to be over 20% of the trailer weight, almost double what they had listed in the spec sheet  :eek:

Did you shift weight in the trailer to lighten the tongue weight or did you compensate with the hitch equipment?
 
You will find Arctic Fox hold their value for a reason.  They are stout and HEAVY for their size.  Dont discount coming west to find what you want.  Since they are built here in the PNW you should find more of them.
A couple of the better dealers are Thunder RV in Lagrande,OR and Apache Camping centers in Portland and Seattle areas.
 
Gshelleynm said:
Thank you all for your help. I'm taking notes. Will do on utube. To me this is a big purchase. Living size is not that big of a deal , I lived in a tent in the mountains for a year. I was comfortable . I keep eyeing the Arctic fox , the living area and storage seems perfect. Price well that is another story.But I keep going back to it. 24' works out to 27'8" . Must have a long tung. Lol! But it just seems perfect, can't find used anywhere here. But see a few out west, used. Thank you everyone for feed back and knowledge. If you think of anything else I would appreciate . I'm a bit of a research nut, so I'm not jumping in to fast on a  major purchase. Thank you all.
 

Shelley, I doubt that I will change your mind but here is 2? more,
All knowledge and advise would be greatly appreciated.

When you lived in a tent for a year, how old were you?  And how old are you now?  Would you do that again now?  Did you have a dog then?

I didn't see you state How you were going to use the TT. 
Stay in one spot for a month or longer at a time or move every week or more often?

My point on getting a bigger TT is that often we see people buy a unit and then shortly after decide to upgrade again and again.
You didn't really say WHY you were uncomfortable with a 30' TT just that you were. Did it sway to much?  Not go up hills fast enough etc.?

If your really going to Full Time in a unit you will need to take a fair amount of stuff with you.  Then while on your travels you will collect
more stuff throughout the years on the road.  So you say you will be comfortable in a smaller TT but the Storage areas will be smaller too.
Smaller tank sizes will limit your boondocking times if you were to decide to do that.

You also stated that you wanted to purchase something in the next month or 2.  Many people look for 6 months to a year before they
find the perfect unit for them.  Just didn't want you to jump into something because you need to hit the road. 

If you have your mind made up, and get an Arctic Fox - then I think you will need to stay in the Southern ? of the US during the Winter
to keep warm enough, unless you like to be cold.  I have never been in an Arctic Fox - but I can tell you that in my MH it only stays 2?-3?
degrees warmer inside then outside with no heat turned on in the Spring or Fall probably less in the Wintertime.
So I doubt that a AF will be much more then maybe 5?-10? (if that) warmer
than the outside temp with no heat turned on.  Heating a TT with propane will cost a lot of money during the Winter if your not in FL IMO.

Good luck with what ever YOU decide to get and happy travels where ever you go.  :)
 

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