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Old 02-26-2019, 03:07 PM   #1
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2018 171RBXL Thinking of buying but have a question

or two!

My husband and I are thinking of full timing in a few years - like 5 - but want to get our feet wet and RV for a bit NOW. I mean, suddenly full-timing sounds like a recipe for disaster! We are looking for something small enough to pull with the Chevy Colorado we have now. We don't want to upgrade to a huge truck just yet when we're not retiring for ages.

We've run across a reputable dealer with some (still new) 2018 Cruise Lite 171RBXL on clearance, under $14,000. Seems like a decent price. It has a power package, power stabilizers and jack, etc. I guess the first question is, How does that price sound?

More importantly though, do you think we can handle one with our truck?

We have a 2016 Chevy Colorado 3.6 L V-6 with a tow package. 7,000 lb tow capacity, 12,000 GCWR. I'll attach the sticker.

The specs on the TT says 22 feet 5 inches long, 10 feet 1 inch high, 521 lb hitch weight (we're good there I know) dry weight 3836 and cargo weight of 3685 - we won't carry that much part-time, weekending.

I like the look of this little TT...just not sure about the ability of our light truck. We figure if we stay under 5,000 lbs, with our 7,000 tow capacity and don't do any mountains maybe???
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Old 02-26-2019, 07:03 PM   #2
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Your cargo capacity of 1486# is actually slightly higher than we have on our 2011 F150 and we pull a Cruise Lite 210RBXL. With the TT fully loaded and all of our gear aboard the CAT scale says we have about 50# excess cargo capacity (I'd like more but that's where we are). We have a Blue Ox sway pro WDH that works very well from my perspective. We have a little over 3000 miles towing it and have had no towing issues.

For reference on price, we paid 16999 for our 2017 210RBXL in early fall of 2017. I think we probably could have done a little better - maybe by getting them to throw in some extras like the roof mount ladder and a rear view camera.
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Old 02-26-2019, 10:34 PM   #3
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Your cargo capacity of 1486# is actually slightly higher than we have on our 2011 F150 and we pull a Cruise Lite 210RBXL. With the TT fully loaded and all of our gear aboard the CAT scale says we have about 50# excess cargo capacity (I'd like more but that's where we are). We have a Blue Ox sway pro WDH that works very well from my perspective. We have a little over 3000 miles towing it and have had no towing issues.

For reference on price, we paid 16999 for our 2017 210RBXL in early fall of 2017. I think we probably could have done a little better - maybe by getting them to throw in some extras like the roof mount ladder and a rear view camera.
Thanks for the feedback!

I guess my real worry is that our truck, which isn't even a half-ton, will find itself too light to do the job. We considered it perfect when we bought it, and if we weren't planning on pulling a trailer, we wouldn't think otherwise now. We don't have a lot of towing experience. It's a 4x4, work truck, but will we find ourselves being blown off the road when a semi passes?
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Old 02-27-2019, 09:45 AM   #4
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Your truck is quite a bit lighter than ours so not really a comparison I can make. I will say that a properly set up WDH with sway control will help minimize the issue of passing semis. Our previous setup was an '01 Ford Explorer pulling a Jayco 19H and we never had any issues with that combination. I will say that the freeways out here may not have the same semi traffic or mother nature's wind that is seen in other more open parts of the country - so your results may vary.
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Old 02-27-2019, 10:14 AM   #5
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Your truck is quite a bit lighter than ours so not really a comparison I can make. I will say that a properly set up WDH with sway control will help minimize the issue of passing semis. Our previous setup was an '01 Ford Explorer pulling a Jayco 19H and we never had any issues with that combination. I will say that the freeways out here may not have the same semi traffic or mother nature's wind that is seen in other more open parts of the country - so your results may vary.
And Thank you again!

It's not like the truck itself sways when a semi passes, though my husband is lead-footed enough that doesn't happen often (which will cease when towing, of course). I guess I was thinking that the trailer might and that would be that if the truck is too light. I know lots of people pull ultra-lite type trailers with things smaller than our truck, our neighbor has a little 17 foot Satellite he pulls with a small SUV. Even loaded this TT would be well under our truck's tow capacity.

I'm likely being silly. I watched too many videos of TT's toppling over on the freeways.
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Old 02-27-2019, 02:47 PM   #6
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I have the exact same trailer and I LOVE it! That is a great price as I paid 2k more... Honestly I love it so much I could care less. I have over 10,000 miles on it since May 2018.
I pull with a Nissan pathfinder 2012. V6 I have the EZ sway stabilizer and have never had an issue on the highway. I have brakes on the trailer.
My issue is my SUV is at its max and I feel it goig up hill like 81 in PA and NY. I had a small issue with braking when I was at the Bay of Fundy and did not downshift to 2nd in time....
I travel with just myself, my mom and my small dog. No water in the trailer. I have a bike and kayak on the rood of the SUV.
I am buying a 2013 Ford 150 FX expecially after my mechanic said it would be safer.
I think you will be fine
Enjoy your trailer.
Lynne
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Old 02-27-2019, 02:48 PM   #7
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I have the exact same trailer and I LOVE it! That is a great price as I paid 2k more... Honestly I love it so much I could care less. I have over 10,000 miles on it since May 2018.
I pull with a Nissan pathfinder 2012. V6 I have the EZ sway stabilizer and have never had an issue on the highway. I have brakes on the trailer.
My issue is my SUV is at its max and I feel it goig up hill like 81 in PA and NY. I had a small issue with braking when I was at the Bay of Fundy and did not downshift to 2nd in time....
I travel with just myself, my mom and my small dog. No water in the trailer. I have a bike and kayak on the rood of the SUV.
I am buying a 2013 Ford 150 FX expecially after my mechanic said it would be safer.
I think you will be fine
Enjoy your trailer.
Lynne
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Old 02-28-2019, 08:16 AM   #8
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We will never buy another RV with a Dinette Set to only set on !!!
We are very uncomfortable in the evenings watching TV !!!
If we sell our Sunseeker 2500TS and buy a TT,,,
it will have something like Theater Seats !!!
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Old 02-28-2019, 10:18 AM   #9
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We will never buy another RV with a Dinette Set to only set on !!!
We are very uncomfortable in the evenings watching TV !!!
If we sell our Sunseeker 2500TS and buy a TT,,,
it will have something like Theater Seats !!!
That's occurred to me. It's one of the reasons I like the murphy beds; you get the sofa. My husband likes the larger Cruise Lite 241QBXL, that has a sofa and a permanent bed. It's not much heavier, but it's 27 feet long! From what I've read, I think we could handle it, as we have a 140" wheel base, but I'm not all that comfortable with pushing our limits.
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Old 02-28-2019, 10:34 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by Mrs.Shockley View Post
That's occurred to me. It's one of the reasons I like the murphy beds; you get the sofa. My husband likes the larger Cruise Lite 241QBXL, that has a sofa and a permanent bed. It's not much heavier, but it's 27 feet long! From what I've read, I think we could handle it, as we have a 140" wheel base, but I'm not all that comfortable with pushing our limits.
Enjoy !!!
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Old 02-28-2019, 09:24 PM   #11
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XLite 171RBXL

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Originally Posted by Mrs.Shockley View Post
or two!

My husband and I are thinking of full timing in a few years - like 5 - but want to get our feet wet and RV for a bit NOW. I mean, suddenly full-timing sounds like a recipe for disaster! We are looking for something small enough to pull with the Chevy Colorado we have now. We don't want to upgrade to a huge truck just yet when we're not retiring for ages.

We've run across a reputable dealer with some (still new) 2018 Cruise Lite 171RBXL on clearance, under $14,000. Seems like a decent price. It has a power package, power stabilizers and jack, etc. I guess the first question is, How does that price sound?

More importantly though, do you think we can handle one with our truck?

We have a 2016 Chevy Colorado 3.6 L V-6 with a tow package. 7,000 lb tow capacity, 12,000 GCWR. I'll attach the sticker.

The specs on the TT says 22 feet 5 inches long, 10 feet 1 inch high, 521 lb hitch weight (we're good there I know) dry weight 3836 and cargo weight of 3685 - we won't carry that much part-time, weekending.

I like the look of this little TT...just not sure about the ability of our light truck. We figure if we stay under 5,000 lbs, with our 7,000 tow capacity and don't do any mountains maybe???

We got the 17' and love it. I used my Jeep Grand Cherokee for several trips and as it is within the vehicles limit for towing learned that the wheel base was on the shy side and the hills were a challenge for the 4.0L . We upped to a 1500 Ram with a 5.7L Much better all around. I take my dirt bike, inverters etc. in the truck bed. Bicycles on the beefed up trailer bumper with the spare.
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Old 02-28-2019, 10:41 PM   #12
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Love 171RBXL!

My wife and I purchased the same Wildwood TT, 2018 171RBXL, almost a year ago. Although the season was extremely rainy, we were able to use it for several short trips. We really like this unit. It fits all our current needs and we find it easy to pull, set-up and enjoy. There has only been one issue, I found a valve stem loose and started to rapidly loose air after I checked the pressure. I hope you like your new unit as much as we do.
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Old 03-01-2019, 10:01 AM   #13
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Thanks everyone who chimed in. I guess we'll go look at it this weekend. We've actually only seen it with virtual tours and videos at this point. Such a big purchase does make me nervous...but I'm actually thinking more of the "we need to get ourselves out there and learning about RV's" as much as the fun factor.


So, those of you who have this one...No one finds the Murphy bed a hassle?

I appreciate the input!
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Old 03-01-2019, 01:33 PM   #14
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We have this trailer and love it! It's the perfect couples camper. It may be a little small to fulltime in, but it's a perfect starter unit.
Our cost was $14,995 for a 2019 base model with all the power stuff, etc. but we added a few things like shower skylight (this one is and absolute MUST HAVE), ducted AC (quieter) and the oven. That pushed the price up like $1,000 or so.
We tow it with a Jeep Grand Cherokee, no problems, but you do need weight distribution because the tongue is heavy. The trailer itself is fairly light and as long as you've got the trailer brakes dialed in, you'll have no problems.
The TV is viewable from the couch and bed perfectly. We put a large one in, it fills the wall from cabinet to bathroom door.
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Old 03-01-2019, 04:28 PM   #15
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So, those of you who have this one...No one finds the Murphy bed a hassle?

The murphy bed couldn't be less of a hassle. You can make the bed and fold it up out of the way even with the pillows on it. You don't even have to latch it when parked. It only takes a second to lift and put away and is not heavy. The only thing to look out for is the passthrough storage under the couch. Toward the very front of the trailer is where the bed folds into part of the storage area, you just can't tuck anything in that sectioned-off space.
With the bed down there is easily 2-3 feet of space to come in and out of the outside door.

I'll mention the shower skylight again to let you know how important it is. The low ceilings are about 5'10" from ceiling to raised shower pan, the skylight adds a good 4 or 5 inches of clearance and brings so much light into the windowsless bathroom. It's optional equipment and sometimes overlooked.

We took the shelf over the bed out because we'd hit our head on it when sitting up. It's screwed on inside the closets and finishing nails hold it flimsily to the wall, they pull right out with the shelf.
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Old 03-02-2019, 07:00 PM   #16
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Well that was annoying. 3 hour round trip. 2 hours at the dealership. Never got waited on. The salesperson met us at the door - she knew we were coming. Got out to the TT and her boss called her. She asked if we'd be okay looking on our own and to call her if we needed her. We looked, wandered, looked at other things we can't afford, finally went back in and couldn't find her. She then called us...we'd passed each other. We talked about 5 minutes and some other people came in ready to talk money so she went to help them...ages pass. We sit in a lovely 5th wheel's heated massaging chairs and decide to buy. She never comes back. We check, she's still with the other couple. We go back, look at it some more, and finally we just interrupted them and told her we had to leave.

Of course she calls pretty much as soon as we leave... but my husband was totally annoyed. We told her if they still have one next week, call us.😔
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Old 03-02-2019, 07:14 PM   #17
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We have this trailer and love it! It's the perfect couples camper. It may be a little small to fulltime in, but it's a perfect starter unit.
Our cost was $14,995 for a 2019 base model with all the power stuff, etc. but we added a few things like shower skylight (this one is and absolute MUST HAVE), ducted AC (quieter) and the oven. That pushed the price up like $1,000 or so..
Oh... and it had ALL of that!

I'm so disappointed! But we really just didn't have any more time to sit around.
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