It's a hybrid thing...you wouldn't understand

[RooVader]

You know it is funny how owning a hybrid reminds me of my days owning a wrangler. Yesterday someone asked why on earth I own a hybrid. They pointed out it is a huge box to tow, takes extra time to set up, and has tent ends to deal with.

I thought about it for a minute and realized for 99% of the world they were absolutely right. The thing is, if you are the 1% that "get it", you realize you get all of the creature comforts, still get to sleep in a tent, and have the utility to sleep extra people, tow less length, and really have less than 5 minutes extra setup time.

I started thinking about how much I like to mess with my camper. I like setting up, I like modding to make it that much more mine, I like figuring out how to pull just one more ounce of utility out of it.

It reminds me of how unique it felt to own a niche vehicle and how fun it was to be able to experience things that others wouldn't appreciate or understand...not that I blame them a bit. It is pretty fun being part of such a unique group.

[Mainframe]

Funny I told my salesman "hybrid owners are all freaks but we know we are and don't care!"
You will never understand!

[ebemis]

HERE HERE ROO VADER!!! I'm a member of your club, we LOVE sleeping under canvas and call me goofy, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the setup and pack up effort!

[itat]

We loved our 2010 Roo. In 2013, we did a trip to the Canadian Maritimes with it and the little extra setup times wasn't a big deal except when we had to setup in pouring rain in Fundy NP! However, I didn't love the constant effort to keep the bunk end seals from leaking and the constant worry about it. Hopefully my experience was not representative of the majority's experience.

[MiCamper6]

Our first, and up until 6 days from now only campers were pop-ups. My wife never ever camped before she suggested we go look at a camper a co-worker was selling. Problem for us was, before buying a camper, we loved to travel around the great state of Michigan and the cost of hotel rooms was killing us! Luckily we had a barely adequate tow vehicle and we bought our first camper, a Coleman Utah, which served us well for a few years until one particularly rainy camp trip convinced us how uncomfortable spending any waking hours in that thing was. Prior we spent as little waking hours inside as was necessary.

Our next pop-up, which we are currently selling, was a Starcraft Centennial high wall with a bathroom, air conditioning, oven, microwave, power lift system and residential height counters. It towed MUCH better than the Coleman and was much more comfortable, and we got lots of use out of it. However it still involved lots of set-up & tear down time and our kids were outgrowing it, although we still loved to sleep under canvas. What to do?? Buying a travel trailer would involve much less set-up & tear down, but we would lose the experience of sleeping under canvas, and bedroom space is so inefficient in a travel trailer. Buying a hybrid was the next, and really only logical step. We pick up our brand new Roo 233S next week, and CAN"T WAIT!!

Having a camper has opened up so many opportunities for us to travel and explore. We have spent time in places in my home state of Michigan, in Ohio and in Niagara Falls Canada that we would have had much less of an opportunity to ever visit, and not just day trips, but real time to explore and experience.

[Robs1968]

You are all absolutely right. If you get it you get it and if you don't you never will. You get a awesome camper with all the coffers of home with about 5 minutes if that of extra setup time we just got our 21Dk yesterday upgraded from a popup and I can't wait to go camping and enjoy myself


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[rockin'ray]

I have both a 30ish foot Wildwood travel trailer on a seasonal site and a Wildwood 17XL Hybrid. I love the ease of unlocking the door and starting camping at the seasonal site but also love the ease of hooking up the hybrid to go elsewhere and set up for a weekend to do something different. My late wife loved the hybrid until we got the big trailer and my girlfriend loves it because it is different and unique. Although much smaller and tighter inside it is comfy and cozy for two plus a couple of dogs.

[Wiscampsin]

I understand. We had a hybrid 2 campers ago and agree with all the people here that 'get it'. It worked great as we traveled the country. With 3 bed ends it gave DS and DD their own space. You tow a camper X' feet long but once open it seems so much larger.

[Drenjoey]

We just bought a 23ws.....and this is our third hybrid . I think we get it !

[howie70]

I loved my hybrid...when I had it in my possession. I didn't like how it leaked like a screen door. It spent more time at the dealer than in my driveway.

[deartruc]

Had two pups and while owning the 2nd they introduced the hybrid (saw our first in 2000, Starcraft Travelstar). Thought it would never sell. After checking out an Antigua, we said we had to get one. But instead, we had two DD's, 17 months apart. Parked the pup until the girls were old enough to enjoy camping ( or allowing fellow campers to have peaceful nights). The pup then just became a bedroom (us, 3 ds's and 2 dd's). Our first htt was a sob 217rbss which gave us a living space and enough room for the 7 of us. Now its us and the 2 dd's +1fk and we grew to the 23ikss. The HTT gives us the feel of a 30ft trailer with two slides in a 23ft box.

[jking46]

Can't imagine wanting anything else. Most of our time camping is spent outside, but on days when the weather isn't cooperating, we have a comfortable sofa, reasonably comfortable dinette, plenty of cooking space, and beds for a siesta. The few extra minutes of setup and teardown is more than made up by the ease of towing and storage, and the closer to nature feel of sleeping under canvas.
Granted, we aren't full timers. Strictly weekenders and vacationers. Maybe if we were fulltimers , I would be more concerned about satellite tv, power access steps, auto levelers, wine racks, and...omygawd..can I fit in that space? That's ok. To each their own. Love my IK.

[RichDesiletsJr233S]

I am completely new to hybrids. I just picked up my new 2016 Roo 233S on Friday!

I grew up camping in a truck camper on the beaches of Massachusetts. Then in a motorhome(s) for long road trips to Florida.

I have 2 boys 2yrs and 9mths and we tent camped last summer for about 2 weeks. I loved the experience and when it came time to look at trailers the Roo 233S had all the right features for us with 3 large beds to grow into(and more with the dinette and bench/couch) as well as floor space provided with the hard slide.

Can't wait to get it to our seasonal site on the lake!

[hjznewcomb]

Being unique is good. You are confident enough to do what YOU want! We too came from tent, to pop-up to used 17' used hybrid to new 23IKSS last year. LOVE the 23IKSS. So much room to play games and cook on rainy days. It has all the creature comforts but I still get that camping feel. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I can only hope in 15 years when we retire, they will make a motorhome with just one hybrid bed :-).

[Maris]

We loved our 2009 Shamrock 23ss. It was our first trailer after years of tent camping. It was roomy & the beds were relatively comfortable. We maintained it well but the bunk ends did delaminate. Never leaked though. Forest River was very helpful with the repair but once fixed we couldn't wait to sell it. I'm sure Forest River has fixed any design flaw. We now have a Rockwood TT. Miss the 2 comfy beds & the 'sleeping in a tent' but love not worrying about leaks.

[pkenley]

We spent last week in Northwest Arkansas mountains......... What the other guys can't do is wake up in the morning in the tent bunk bright with the morning sunlight and with a "good morning stretch" touch the canvas and enjoy the sprinkle of water drops just like we did when we were kids camping in our two man pup tent in the back yard.

At age 70 it maybe time to move to a short motorhome for us.

[zinger60]

My husband and I tent camped twice and then found a large pop-up on Craigslist, with a slide out, shower and cassette toilet. We loved it and enjoyed it for 6 years. My husband has back problems and the older we are getting, the more difficult it was to set up. When we decided to move up from a pop-up, the first big decision was to get a TT or a hybrid. I absolutely LOVE the feeling of the openness with the tent bunk ends. But we had heard so much about leaking around the seals of hybrids and one thing we really didn't like about the pop up was dealing with the canvas in the rain, which we would still be dealing with in a hybrid. We found a great deal on a TT on Craigslist and bought it a year ago. We love not having to deal with bunkends when setting up or leaving in the rain, but I still miss laying in the bunkend in the morning, feeling the breeze and watching the birds out the windows. I don't think I will ever get over that.

[awellis3]

We never considered a hybrid for two reasons only - noise and security. Our pop up was super boondocking next to a quiet river or in the woods somewhere. In a campground? That was another story. Likewise as we began to travel more often and over longer distances, stopping at a WalMart or other such place is not doable in a "canvas camper." (Yes, I know what "turtling" is, but I don't fit in dinettes, too tall.)
Hardsides are more flexible and I can hear them crickets by opening my windows, see the birds, feel the breeze and listen to the rain on my awning and swear I was in a tent.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by hjznewcomb

I can only hope in 15 years when we retire, they will make a motorhome with just one hybrid bed :-).

They have.
HOST motorhomes made one a number of years ago, that had an optional rear hybrid bed.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by pkenley

We spent last week in Northwest Arkansas mountains......... What the other guys can't do is wake up in the morning in the tent bunk bright with the morning sunlight and with a "good morning stretch" touch the canvas and enjoy the sprinkle of water drops just like we did when we were kids camping in our two man pup tent in the back yard.

At age 70 it maybe time to move to a short motorhome for us.

Sounds like you haven't used PUGs or the equivalent solar blankets.
If you had, you would have solved both the bright sunlight AND the condensation issues.