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Welcome to our web site. Here you will find Northeast campground reviews, along with lots of other camping information. There is always something new, so keep checking back often. We hope you enjoy your visit here.
Welcome to the Blog
July 23, 2003 - Article Categories: Miscellaneous
Hello All. I have just started this blog on That’s Camping to try to organize my thoughts a little. Using the blog, it will be easy for me to quickly add entries about where and when we are camping, what we are doing when camping, sharing useful recipes, tips, urls to other camping websites, etc.
I hope it will be a helpful resource for all our camping visitors!
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Blocking out that Campground Noise!
July 15, 2003 - Article Categories: Camping-Tips
Have you recently been to a great campground, and had a fantastic time during the daylight hours? The view from your site is great, the bathrooms are spotless, and your children are having a blast with the activities. Everything seems to be just great, until you try sleeping. Either you have noisy neighbors, the highway is too loud or maybe the birds got you up at 5am.
We recently found a little trick that helps drown out any noise from outside. Try turning on an electric fan. One of the small plastic cheap ones from Wal-mart or Target would do nicely. We picked up a two-pack at Target for $13.
If the fan "vibrates" on the floor or table, try adding a towel under it. It cushions any vibration that the fan will make. On colder nights, try facing the fan away from you so you won't get too chilly. On warmer nights, it adds a nice breeze to keep you cool. We found it adds a nice lull of "white noise" to the room for easier sleeping. It has worked for us for noisy neighbors and loud A.M. birds. We haven't yet tried this suggestion for noise from the highway or trains, but we are ready to test it out!
One of our site visitors (Thanks Lee) also suggested a "sound machine" - which might be very effective as well. If your trailer is already equipped with a stereo, purchase several "Nature Sounds" Cd's. The peaceful sound of birds in a rainforest or crashing ocean waves might do just the trick for blocking out the noise outside your tent or trailer.
We hope your nights are peaceful and quiet! Sweet Dreams!
Copyright © 2003-2005 That's Camping. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy any content from this article.
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Sunline Travel Trailer
July 09, 2003 - Article Categories: Camping-Tips • Equipment
This is a follow-up to the article "Buying a Travel Trailer."
Okay what can I say, we love our Sunline Travel Trailer! The model #2553 is a perfect trailer for us!
I didn't want to make any comments too soon, just to make sure the trailer was in good working order and there were no major problems. But now we can admit we made a great choice in purchasing this trailer.
There were a few minor problems that required a trip back to the dealer, and all were repaired except for an ongoing problem with the front door. It appears to be off center, and doesn't close correctly. The door "latch" has also broken, but we switched it with the bedroom door for now.
Now for specific comments on the #2553:
First off, going from our smaller [1992] #2051 travel trailer to this model, is like moving into a palace.
Living Room
The living rm/couch area is large and there is a cabinet to place our television. We have a 13 inch, but I believe it would accommodate up to 19".
The cabinets above and below tv area has lots of room for board games and CDs/DVDs/tapes. The cd/radio stereo is built into the cabinet.
The sofa pulls out to a bed - great for one shorter adult or a couple of kids. The couch is not as "long" as a normal bed or sofa, and it might be uncomfortable for a tall adult to sleep. Their feet would have to hang over the edge if they wanted to stretch out. And no matter what they tell you, that sofa is not a comfortable sleeping arrangement for two, unless you are talking about two kids!
There is a large picture window in back of the sofa with a small crank out window. Not a huge window, but it let's in a nice breeze.
A large overhead storage cabinet is located above the sofa. There are so many cabinets all over this trailer, we are amazed, but we can fill them all!
Kitchen/Dinette
I love the kitchen area. The dinette is right by the sink/stove area and it feels cozy and comfortable. We keep our little parakeet Jack on the shelf behind the dinette. There is a neat little storage compartment behind the back dinette cushion. We store extra utensils, plates, cups, paper towels there.
There is so much storage space - cabinets and drawers. The refrigerator/freezer is large, but we stock it full very easily!
The dinette is right by a huge picture window, with a slide-opening. It is a wonderful feeling to eat our meals by the window and look out at the activity passing by us on the road or in our site. I love having a front kitchen. I don't think we would be as happy with a back kitchen/front bedroom unit. We love to people-watch and enjoy seeing the campground activity.
We very rarely have to use the overhead lights in the daytime because there is so much light from all the windows, and ceiling vent. It is amazing how bright and cheery it is. Actually, sometimes it gets too bright, and the blinds have to be closed slightly to keep the hot sun out.
A small complaint is that there is not much ventilation in the very front area of the trailer by the stove/sink. The front window doesn't open, so the air gets a bit stagnant in that corner. There is a ceiling vent above that area, and we added a "Maxx-Air Vent" - this is a great little vent cover that allows the vent to be open even in the rain. We hope to add a "Maxx-Air Turbo Fan" either later this year or next season. I think this will help with venting that area considerably.
Oh, one more thing to mention, we had one or two water leaks in the front window counter area, when traveling in heavy rain. It has not happened every time, but once or twice. It is a slight problem, that we will keep an eye on. This is another reason I would not like a front bedroom. If there is ever a water leak from the front window, your bed will get soggy. Not fun.
Under the refrigerator, there is a "constant" fan to air cool the power converter. It seems to get louder at different times, and at first I found it to be highly distracting and annoying. But I got used to it and have come to ignore it now. Thankfully, we cannot hear the fan in our bedroom area.
My advice to anyone purchasing a new trailer, is to find out where this fan is located, and if it will affect a peaceful sleep.
Bedroom
Having a separate bedroom is just the best. Lots of storage closets, drawers, and cabinets. We added shelves to the two closets on either side of the bed, to make it easier to store our clothes.
The queen size bed takes up most of the room in the bedroom, and there isn't much room to walk around, or much floor space.
There is a sturdy sliding door to separate the bedroom from the bathroom. The bathroom/living room door can be closed as well, so there is plenty of privacy. Keeping the living room door closed, you can dress in the whole area of the bedroom and bathroom comfortably.
The bedroom has three windows, a ceiling vent, and a door. Lots of great ventilation. Once we get a new Maxx-Air turbo fan for the kitchen, we will move the vent cover into the bedroom.
We took out the venetian blinds and installed pull-down shades. I didn't feel enough privacy with the blinds - I never felt they could be closed properly. And besides, the early morning light would shine through the slats. We purchased the shades at Lowe's - they cut the shades in custom sizes for us for free! It cost us less than $30 for all three window shades and extra hardware.
There is a lift-up shelf attached to the wall, that accommodates our 9 in TV/DVD. It is nice to be able to watch tv in the living room as well as in the bedroom.
Bathroom
The bathroom is large with a small window and ceiling vent. The vent also has a fan.
Our old model had a small shower/tub with a "bump" from the wheel well, which was sometimes irritating. This new shower area is larger and I like the accordion type shower curtain.
A good amount of counter space in the bathroom, and there is a "medicine cabinet" - nice to store bathroom items when traveling. There is a small under sink cabinet with two doors. Storage for small towels, and T.P.
Summary
We are very pleased with our purchase and feel we really made a great decision. We highly recommend this travel trailer. We are so happy with it and feel like it is really a fantastic "home away from home!"
©Copyright 2003 -That's Camping. All rights reserved. Do not copy any content from this article.
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Purchasing a Travel Trailer
April 04, 2003 - Article Categories: Camping-Tips • Equipment
(note: this article has been updated 04/04/03.)
In January 2003, we put in an order for a new travel trailer at the Boston RV/Camping show. Ordering was easy. Deciding what to order and who to order from was the hard part. And it required a few weeks of research to make the right decision.
We were trading in our 1992 Sunline #2051. It is an awesome trailer, but we wanted something a little larger and a little newer. Last September 2002, we started to think about a new Sunline model #2553, but we were still not convinced that was the way to go.
We figured we would wait a little while until the Boston RV show in January, and then decide soon after that.
A few weeks before the show, my husband and I scoured through messages posted on the the message board forum at irv2.com. This message board is friendly and you can find lots of helpful advice and opinions. It is separated by categories and subcategories, so you can find just what you are looking for. All aspects of camping is discussed.
Besides this forum, you might also want to check out the Open Roads Travel Trailer Forum as well.
How much trailer can you safely tow?
First, the most important issue to consider is how much trailer can you tow. We own a Chevy Silverado 1500. The Chevy brochure lists our truck's "towing capacity" as 8300 lbs. But after some online research, we found that 8300 lbs was a very unrealistic number.
In our owner's manual, we found that our "Gross Combination Weight Rating" (GCWR) was 13000 lbs. We put our truck on a scale at the local gravel pit, and figured with us and any extra gear, it weighs about 6000 lbs. This left 7000 lbs left for the trailer weight. We knew that we didn't want to tow the maximum, so a conservative figure was 6000 lbs.
Does this sound like a lot of complicated mumbo jumbo? To make it easier, here are a couple of pages that explain the whole concept of safe trailering and weight limits:
http://www.klenger.net/arctic-fox/weight/index.html
http://www.rversonline.org/ArtWtandBal.html
Once you get your towing weights into perspective, it's time to look at brands and trailer floorplans.
Choosing a brand of trailer
We found good and bad experiences posted on the irv2.com message board for trailer brands. We narrowed our search down to two brands: Sunnybrook and Arctic Fox/Nash. The honorable mention would go to Sunline.
So, with my printed trailer notes and ideas in hand, we were off to the RV show at the Bayside in Boston. We opened the show on the first day (Saturday) at 11am.
Arctic Fox / Nash
We loved the Arctic Fox/Nash trailers and would probably have purchased one except that they were a tad on the heavy side, and we wanted to stay as light as possible, without compromising quality. Unfortunately the smaller, lighter Nash trailers just didn't have the right the floor plan for us.
The Arctic Fox/Nash website is one of the most thorough and impressive I have seen for trailers. I highly suggest viewing their video tours. The website is full of photos and specific information on all trailers. The next trailer we purchase might end up being an Arctic Fox or Nash!
Sunnybrook
We really liked Sunnybrook and were almost positive that we would be ordering a #2706 model. We were a little concerned that the light models did not include carpeting, but we figured that it could be added very easily ourselves. We liked the floor plan layout. The price was affordable, and the trailer weight was right for us.
We viewed a Sunnybrook at the RV show, and were very pleased with the overall quality of the trailer. I particularly loved the gold trim on all the wood, it added a nice touch to the interior design. Sunnybrook has a wonderful repuation with trailer owners, and it made us feel very confident in our choice.
At this time, we had not see that specific model in person, but found a dealership that had the similar #2816 in stock. Once we saw it in person, we were very disapointed in the bathroom area. We do not mind a walk-thru bathroom, it was just that the toilet was "right there" almost next to the bed. The accordian type door did not really provide the necessary separation between bath and bedroom. We decided that this trailer might not be the one for us.
Back to the drawing board.
Sunline
We have always loved Sunline. The trailer we were trading in was a 1992 Sunline #2051, and we had extremely good luck with it. We considered Sunline trailers off and on during the time of our trailer search. And after we decided against the Sunnybrook, we decided to take another look at the Sunline trailers.
Their web site is very informative, and so is their brochure. On their web site, they have weight calculators, photo pages, QuickTime Views, etc.
We went back to the RV show on the last day (Superbowl Sunday) and viewed several of the models that were of interest to us.
(Click on a model number to view the floorplan.)
There were four dealers at the show, so we could view each of the models we had interest in. It was great to closely look over each of them in person to decide which one met our needs. It was also helpful to view each of the color choices available for the Sunlines.
In my previous research, it seemed that trailers with front bedrooms might not be as "balanced" as back bedrooms. Plus, I really love looking out the dinette window and viewing the action outside at the campground. The view from a middle kitchen might not be as interesting.
Considering all our needs, we found we really liked the #2553, and that was the trailer we had first liked way back in September of last year. After all the work and research, we had come full circle and are back to our Sunline.
Now to decide which dealer to go with.
Choosing a Dealer
Before we went to the show, we had an idea which Sunline dealerships we liked and which ones we didn't.
I checked with the Better Business Bureau website and called the Massachusett's Atty General's Office. I considered the service and reputation of all dealerships. We decided on two that we would consider ordering our trailer through.
Each dealership gave us a price for the trailer and our trade, and we ordered our trailer using the dealership offering the best deal.
Happily Ever After
It required a lot of work, but in the end I feel we are getting a fantastic trailer. We can only hope it will bring us a lot of exciting adventures.
The trailer was delivered to the dealer in a couple of weeks. We will take it home in April.
*Updated 4/4/03:
Picked up our new trailer on April 3, 2003. Everything seemed to go well. We had a copy of the "Travel Trailer Pre-delivery Inspection list" but we were fairly comfortable with Sunline that we really didn't have to "inspect" too much. The dealership is close enough that we can bring the trailer back for any repairs if we find something at home.
The service tech that gave our "walk-thru" tour was very good and handled the trailer orientation very well. Even though we were previous owners of a Sunline, things were a little different (and updated) so we learned a few new things.
So far so good.
New Update [7/09/03]: See our new article "Our #2553 Sunline Travel Trailer"
© Copyright 2003 - That's Camping. All rights reserved. Do not copy any content from this article.
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