Do you love or hate your tent trailer?

I got fed up with tents and never want to camp in one again.  A few days after our last tent trip, we bought a motorhome.  I regretted it as I drove it home.  With seven kids (not camping with ALL of them, but at least several), we need the security and comfort we are used to when traveling in our 2005 Suburban that has a DVD player.  I did not feel safe having the kids in the motorhome, even with the seatbelts.  The baby seat was impossible to put anywhere except in the front passenger seat, and I don't like having small children in the front.  But the worst of it was the fuel consumption.  The guy we bought it off said we'd get 17 mpg on propane.  I think it's more like 9 or 10 which we'd get on the gas option (it's a 460 engine with a propane conversion).

Anyway, we originally wanted to get a tent trailer, but what we thought was a good deal came up on the motorhome so we bought it.  It is a very nice machine, but not suited for our family situation right now, so we're selling it.

We could get a hard-sided trailer, but the light-weight ones cost more than we can afford, and we can't go with a heavier older one with the weight limit we have on a fully loaded Suburban.  So we're back to considering a tent trailer, one that sleeps at least six.  (Even when we camped in the motorhome, our older teenage daughters brought a little tent and slept outside, so weather permitting that's what they'd do, but it's nice to have a dry space to go if it rains, so we'd need at least enough room to throw a couple of roll-up mats on the floor for them.)

I wonder what the opinions are from people here who own or have owned them. 

1.  Have you ever had several people camping together in them, particularly young children?  (Mine are aged 17, 16, 13, 8, 5, 2, and 17 months, but as I said, we all don't go all together...17 and 16 yr old are at war with each other lately).

2.  How are they for early morning sunlight coming in and waking everyone up too soon?

3.  Can something be done to make it darker in there - I don't know if shades could be attached, or blackout curtains or something?

4.  Is it much of a hassle to set up and take down?  Much better than the hassle of setting up/taking down a tent?

5.  Can you stow much of your gear in it while it's flattened down for travel?

6.  How are they if it starts to get rainy/windy while you're in them?

Thanks,
Squirrel

I owned a tent trailer from spring of 2003 until last fall when I finally upgraded to a travel trailer.

Here's my answers to your questions.

1.  Have you ever had several people camping together in them, particularly young children?  (Mine are aged 17, 16, 13, 8, 5, 2, and 17 months, but as I said, we all don't go all together...17 and 16 yr old are at war with each other lately).

We camped in the tent trailer from the time my daughter was 6 months old until she was 5 1/2. Three kids, two adults and a dog. My boys were 6 and 4 when we bought it and we actually fit quite fine in it. Two on each bed and one on the dinette.

2.  How are they for early morning sunlight coming in and waking everyone up too soon?

Can't say I've ever really noticed a problem with that. No worse than a tent for sure.

3.  Can something be done to make it darker in there - I don't know if shades could be attached, or blackout curtains or something?

Ours came with curtains that covered up the windows.

4.  Is it much of a hassle to set up and take down?  Much better than the hassle of setting up/taking down a tent?

Loaded question. Nice and sunnny and not too hot????....not really.

Pouring rain or smoking hot.....there's another question.

If you pack the trailer anything like we did, it takes about 30 minutes to set it up and the same to take it down and reload it. I can be done much faster, but again, if it's raining, you'd be surprised how quickly you can fold it. Now, it will be folded but you will get soaked for the remainder of the packing and hooking up!

5.  Can you stow much of your gear in it while it's flattened down for travel?

You bet! We stufffed the thing with most everything we could. We pulled ours with a minivan with only one seat out at the back row, so most stuff had to get into the trailer. Whether it's clear and cool or hot and rainy comes into play once again when you are trying to pack it too!

6.  How are they if it starts to get rainy/windy while you're in them?

As mentioned above....if you're in them, you'll love it! High and dry.


One question not asked is why did you most not like about your tent trailer......here goes.

On cold nights with all those people and animals in it, dew drops form on the inside of the trailer and it's kinda like Chinese water torture. Apparently you can combat this with tarps over the ends of the trailers but I got rid of mine before I could put it to the test.

Mike

Mike answered the questions just about like would have.  We started out with a pop-up and LOVED it.  We had some of the best times in that camper.  The only rule was......my wife watched and I set it up.  It caused less issues that way!!

-Jeff

WeatherWunder said:

Mike answered the questions just about like would have.  We started out with a pop-up and LOVED it.  We had some of the best times in that camper.  The only rule was......my wife watched and I set it up.  It caused less issues that way!!

-Jeff

Click to expand...

That's how it is with us, too.  My husband is good at that sort of thing, and I just get in the way.  If he needs a hand, I'm there, but basically tent setup is his baby.

CDNTaxman, thanks for all those answers, and the ones for the question I forgot to ask!

Are you talking about true tent-trailers or pop-up camper units?  Big difference, and a lot more features are available in the pop up units.

I've used all -- tents, tent campers, and pop ups, and the pop up is our favorite (if we're not going the full RV route).  Modern units, easily towable behind your Suburban can sleep 8, and even offer indoor bathroom facilities.  They have AC, furnace, fridge (or ice box) stove top, and other amenities including 120V power converters.  They set up easily also.  Most either snap up via spring-loaded arms or crank up via a cable system.

For your own family situation, I would not recommend the tent-trailer.  They are just too small.  You can sleep 4, and get under cover, but a nice tent would be preferable.

Here is a typical tent-trailer:
http://tent-trailer.com/


As you can see, it is basically a tent mounted to a trailer to make it easier to haul.  You don't really gain anything over using a tent itself, and they are not as large as the tent I describe below.

When we tent camp, we use one of these "Jeep" tents.  They are great, and one of the largest tents I've seen that are also easy to set uo,

http://www.epinions.com/review/Jeep_3_Room_Dome_Tent_17_X_11/content_184366042756
BTW, I agree with the main reviewer.  The tent is HUGE and works great.  We have camped in it in 6 states and in weather conditions from 28* to 100* F.  It has held up very well for almsot 5 years of camping use, and is as good as the day we bought it.  Love the closets, screen room, and double bedrooms, that each easily hold a queen blow up mattress with enough room to easily walk around, change, etc.  Lots of features for a tent and room for a family.

For pup-ups, there are a lot to choose from, and literally, the sky is the limit.  Check out the Jayco site:
http://www.jayco.com/php/products/camping.trailers/camping.trailers.php

Check out their top of the line model:
http://www.jayco.com/php/products/floorplans.php?id=199&mod_id=1021
http://www.jayco.com/php/products/photo.gallery.php?id=199

Here is Viking's site:
http://www.vikingrv.com/

Top of the line:
http://www.vikingrv.com/products/model/floorplan/detail/?FloorplanID=215&SeriesID=40&Series=Legend
http://www.vikingrv.com/products/model/gallery/?SeriesID=40&Model=Folding%20Campers&Series=Legend

There are others, Palamino, Coleman, etc.

If price is part of the issue, check out Camping World and other places that sell used models:
http://www.campingworld.com/rvsales/Pop-Up/8/Fleetwood/6/

Oh, wow, thanks, glfredrick, that's a lot of info!  I'll look at the links later when I get time.  Didn't realize there was a difference between a popup trailer and a tent trailer.  I've always used the terms interchangeably.  What I am interested in is something like this:

http://www.rentcharlie.com/images/user_images/2252/2010/31807/full.jpg

(Random picture I got off Google image search, no idea how many that sleeps, but that's the gist of what I mean - the thing with a hard cover you tow behind your vehicle, and get out and crank it up into being set up.)

I did look at your first link, showing a "tent trailer"...eew, that is so not what I want!

The terms can be interchanged, and are also likely regional, but I've always seen tent trailers as tents on trailers and pop ups as hard-topped.

We had 3 different pop ups over the years and really miss having one now.  We mostly use the big tent currently, as a lot of our camping is for off-roading and we're always pulling a rig on a trailer, so no way to do a pop up also unless we train the rig.

Sort of like this:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb301/glfredrick/Ranger%20Project/100_5183.jpg

We're in process of modifying a gooseneck RV to a toy hauler:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb301/glfredrick/Trailercutaway-1.jpg

The truggy will go on the back half once we shorten the camper portion and modify the platform.

Our last pop-up could sleep 7. King bed, queen bed, 2 on the dinette in the slide-out, and one on the couch. But that many people in there on a rainy day? We had pop-ups for 25 years, but just went to a TT for the convenience.

Another thing you will love is the millage. I Have an 09 F150pu & get 19.8 mpg with no trailer and 19.4 towing my 1206 Jayco, plus you can see what is behind your trailer.

garyhouser said:

Another thing you will love is the millage. I Have an 09 F150pu & get 19.8 mpg with no trailer and 19.4 towing my 1206 Jayco, plus you can see what is behind your trailer.

Click to expand...

I'm thinking that, too.  I'm so paranoid about fuel economy, having no choice but to drive something big (my Suburban) with my large family.

Wow, you get 19.8 on an F150?  My husband's got an '86 Ford Ranger and it's worse on fuel than our Suburban which gets around 16, according to the computer on the dash.  His Ranger doesn't have a computer so I don't know the exact mileage, but it goes less distance on more gas.  Yuck.

I do a lot of highway driving, and have the small V8 but when doing around town it doesn't seem to suffer much at all.