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Purchasing a Travel Trailer
Written on Friday, April 04, 2003 by That's Camping
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"
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Article Categories: Camping-Tips • Equipment
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