Forest River Quality Tiers

[woozy]

I'm shopping for a TT, around 25'-30'.

A big local dealer has tons of FR. In fact, I heard that the land they are on belongs to FR.
I'm willing to spend extra for more insulation and better structure, but I can't afford to get an expensive arctic trailer.

Is there a...pecking order of quality in FR Travel Trailers? They all look so much alike.

I want to know what the bones and guts are like. The salesman looked at me like I had 4 heads when I asked.

[sponge]

Hopefully others will have some insight for you but I would also point out there are sometimes different tiers within the same product line. Sometimes those arctic package options change quite a bit in the trailer such as windows, amount of insulation, etc.

Having spent half the summer trying to research things like this I completely understand the confusion. I ended up finding multiple units I liked and then exhaustively researching them through the model-specific boards to eliminate some or elevate others.

[jtstromsburg]

I would say, generally, you can look at a line of trailers at one dealer, and based on price, come up with an idea if pecking order. The problem with that is finding all makes with similar setups.... Hard to do, and guessing most folks are like me and don't want to"judge" trailers. I had a cherokee grey wolf TT, and now have a Sabre fifth wheel and can definitely say my Sabre is much nicer and better built then the cherokee was.

[bikendan]

no substitute for going by price of the unit.
FR doesn't have their products in quality "tiers", like some other manufacturers may do.

[schrederman]

I have an SV-264 Surveyor. I liked this one because it has 2" aluminum framing, fiberglass exterior, enclosed bottom, and 2" foam insulation. My first TT had 1" thick framing and walls and the bottom was open. I don't think anything like the appliances are better but the 2" walls help in the southern heat and we use ours in the winter, too. However, it never gets too terribly cold down in these parts, but the extra insulation can't hurt there, either. Good luck with your search...