Cruise Lite 195BH Owners Thread

[Camp4two]

Photos (3 of 3)

[TN_Cruise_Lite]

Nicely done, very clean installation.

[pwnickell]

Originally Posted by daybreak

Just curious what everyone does for the shampoo bottles and such in the shower? This is the one area I can't seem to come up with a good storage solution.

This is what my wife and I have. Plastic drilling completely okay. Better Living AVIVA TRIO Dispenser, White https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FGCW0K..._3HdAzb4SFQBB2

[prgreen]

I have a '13 WW 195BH but this thread has been very informative.
I am wondering has anyone attempted to add a bike rack to the bumper of their trailer?

[daybreak]

Ours has a sticker that states it will void the warranty if we mount anything to the bumper, so no we haven't attempted it.

[prgreen]

Originally Posted by Caddo

I am a in the process of installing a 6,000 lb. axle on my 195bh. The original bent on the right side with minimal ccc. I replaced the axle and it bent also. The dry weight of my trailer is supposed to be about 3300 lbs but that is close to the dry weight on the tires alone not including tongue wt.. I am putting 15 inch tires load range D at 2150 lbs. each with 2400 lb. leaf spring each side. Has anyone else on this thread had axle issues with the 195bh?

I am taking my '13 WW X lite in on Wednesday for new tires and to have the passenger side tire looked at. It sits at a noticeable angle compared to the other tire. (\).
What did you wind up doing with your trailer and what was the cost if you don't mind me asking?

[Camp4two]

Originally Posted by prgreen

I have a '13 WW 195BH but this thread has been very informative.
I am wondering has anyone attempted to add a bike rack to the bumper of their trailer?

We have a Swagman 2 bike bumper bike rack on our '16 CL 195BH. Have traveled 1.5 years and over 8K miles with it an NEVER an issue. Your bumper needs to have a continuous weld across the length of it. Our spare tire is in the front storage compartment.

I modified the rack a bit:
1. Added rubber strips on top and bottom of the U bolt clamps to prevent wear on the bumper, movement and dampen some vibration.
2. Added an extra nut and lock washer as jam nut to keep the U bolt clamp tight.
3. Added padding to the rack's upright support bar.
4. Added some reflective strips for safety.

Just be sure you use PLENTY of good quality bungee cords/straps to secure the bikes to the bumper and between the bikes. Depending on your bikes, you may have to turn in the handle bar on the inside bike (away from the trailer exterior wall) for clearance. Be sure at every gas stop to check your bikes.

We have seen many small trailers with bumper bike racks.

[prgreen]

Originally Posted by Camp4two

We have a Swagman 2 bike bumper bike rack on our '16 CL 195BH. Have traveled 1.5 years and over 8K miles with it an NEVER an issue. Your bumper needs to have a continuous weld across the length of it. Our spare tire is in the front storage compartment.

I modified the rack a bit:
1. Added rubber strips on top and bottom of the U bolt clamps to prevent wear on the bumper, movement and dampen some vibration.
2. Added an extra nut and lock washer as jam nut to keep the U bolt clamp tight.
3. Added padding to the rack's upright support bar.
4. Added some reflective strips for safety.

Just be sure you use PLENTY of good quality bungee cords/straps to secure the bikes to the bumper and between the bikes. Depending on your bikes, you may have to turn in the handle bar on the inside bike (away from the trailer exterior wall) for clearance. Be sure at every gas stop to check your bikes.

We have seen many small trailers with bumper bike racks.

With the spare tire in your storage do you get concerned about overloading? We are taking our WW in tomorrow to an axle repair shop because one of the wheels (on the passenger side) is angled out, so we think our axle might be bent. With the max capacity being 800lbs on the WW I have always been concerned with putting much of anything in it.

[Camp4two]

No concerns at all about overloading with our spare tire in front storage. Our 15 inch spare tire and wheel weighs about 60 lbs. and stored with our other camp stuff we have less than 250 lbs. up front.

A trailer should be loaded with heavier items in front (unless otherwise directed by the trailer manufacturer). The trailer should have about 60% of the cargo weight in front and 40% in the back. We would keep our spare in the front storage, even without a bumper bike rack to keep it out of the weather and secure.

Tip: We keep our spare in the right corner as you face the bed so we can easily get to it from the top of the bed to check pressure/add air without removing the tire.

Good luck with your axle repair.

[Asrabbit]

I had the axle issue with my 195. The dealer replaced the axle but it had flattened out by the time I got home. The 3500 pound axle just will not hold camber on this trailer. I got a replacement axle from Lippert. They covered it as a warrantee issue and I installed it myself. Lippert sent me a 4400 pound axle. When I took the old axle off the camber returned. You could not tell there was a thing wrong with it.

I put load range D tires on. The trailer put 100% better. The difference is amazing. I plan to replace the springs with 4000 pound springs.

[TN_Cruise_Lite]

Don't make the mistake of looking at bigger travel trailers, this might happen. Coleman Light 1805RB

[daybreak]

We have and if we had the truck to pull it we would have jumped to the 263bhxl. Hope you'll stick around if you make the move!

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[TN_Cruise_Lite]

Originally Posted by daybreak

We have and if we had the truck to pull it we would have jumped to the 263bhxl. Hope you'll stick around if you make the move!

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I'll be around for sure, great folks on this site with plenty of ideas too. I know what you mean about the truck. I feel like my Silverado is barely capable of pulling this new camper. Chevy rates it at 7000#, maybe on level ground with a good tailwind, not in the mountains of East TN and Western NC.

[VA_Camper]

Congratulations TN_Cruise_Lite. I guess now you will have to update the signature line. We bought our 196BH WW because I had a Honda Ridgeline and it was small enough to pull with that truck, but had the bunks and such. Then I got rid of the Ridgeline and picked up a Ford F150 that has about 8500lbs of towing. My wife mentioned the other day that a slide out would be nice. I am a little scared now. I am making sure we don't go by any dealerships while we are out.

[Golfnbike13]

Originally Posted by TN_Cruise_Lite

I'll be around for sure, great folks on this site with plenty of ideas too. I know what you mean about the truck. I feel like my Silverado is barely capable of pulling this new camper. Chevy rates it at 7000#, maybe on level ground with a good tailwind, not in the mountains of East TN and Western NC.

Send me your 195bh so I don't have to bother doing all the mods to mine!

[daybreak]

Our Durango towing is only 5900, the 263bhxl is 5800 empty. That's no way going to work. We keep looking for trucks, he has his heart set on a Ram 2500, we were thinking 1500 would be fine but the payload is too close, rather have way more truck than we need. We have learned alot these 2 years and although we do fine with the durango we are limited to what we can bring, like bikes and stuff for the beach too.


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[TN_Cruise_Lite]

VA_Camper, the slide is what hooked us. There is so much floor space in the new camper, my granddaughter loves it. Wish I'd taken a picture when we were camping last weekend to show you.

Golfnbike13, I wish you could have got her too. I know you would have cared for her as well as me and the add-a-room was awesome. We picked our new one up last Wednesday and they had a deal pending on my old one by the weekend. Hopefully the new owners will show up here on the forum.

daybreak, if you decide on a new truck I'd do a 2500 for sure. Wish I'd done that or got a Chevy VortecMAX. My truck handles the load well but the little V-8 is strugglin' in the mountains.

Oh, I took the new camper and had American made Goodyears installed at Discount Tire. I got 4 Constancy 205/75-14's for sale...cheap!

[Camp4two]

NICE upgrade TN. Been boon docking in Northern CA and slow to catch up w/recent posts.

We just pulled the trigger on a 2014 Ford F150 Lariat, 9,200 max towing to pull a larger trailer. Not there yet, but a 23-26' trailer is now on our mind.

Keep us in your scope!

[Camp4two]

Last trip we got a minor scrape on the side of our 2016 CL 195BH.
Before I contact FR, does anyone know the name and part number of the touch up paint for the scraped area at the side panel bottom shown in the photo?

[TN_Cruise_Lite]

Have you considered a decal to hide it? Mine had an area that was damaged by the dealer and I disguised it with a decal from eBay that matched what was already there. Nobody ever noticed unless I pointed I'm out. Congrats on the new truck, sounds like a nice one.