Newbie Looking at Roo 233S for BIG family!

[Momof5Cuties]

Hi All! I'm poking around your forum as DH and I love the Roo 233S and are taking the kiddos back tomorrow to the dealership to see if we all fit comfortably - we have 5 kids (20, 17, 14, and twins 11) and we are all tall folks. I hope that we can make it work as I'm not sure we could pull much more with our 2007 Suburban 1/2 ton family truckster

Any things to look for or advice/opinions when we go back to the dealer? Your help as experts is greatly appreciated!

Mom

[hockeytownmom]

That's not big, it's NORMAL! I have a 233s, my kids are 11, 10, 8, almost 6, and 3. And I have an 07 1/2 ton Suburban LTZ. It works. I just try to pack as light as possible, I don't haul water, and on long trips, I don't haul much food. My 11 year old is going to attempt to sleep in a small tent next week - we'll see how long that lasts! LOL

[Momof5Cuties]

Glad to hear you are comfortable in your Roo! We hope to make our choice soon after we give it a trial fit

Your 11 yo should do great in a tent! My kids have all slept in tents by themselves since they were about 8 or so - they love it! In fact, one of the things they said when we were talking about graduating from our 12-man tent to this Roo was "Can we still sleep out in the tents while you and dad sleep in the trailer!" LOL

Thanks!

[KMP44]

Originally Posted by Momof5Cuties

Hi All! I'm poking around your forum as DH and I love the Roo 233S and are taking the kiddos back tomorrow to the dealership to see if we all fit comfortably - we have 5 kids (20, 17, 14, and twins 11) and we are all tall folks. I hope that we can make it work as I'm not sure we could pull much more with our 2007 Suburban 1/2 ton family truckster

Any things to look for or advice/opinions when we go back to the dealer? Your help as experts is greatly appreciated!

Mom

Sounds like you already have prioritized your wish list - starting with the 3 beds. Check out the other key features - kitchen, bathroom, storage ...and look at things like the construction and warranty, and of course the decision as to whether the hybrid is the right choice for you. Obviously around here you would get a lot of positive opinions on the Roo.

And being 6'8", I would say the Roo is fine for tall folks. I find the curved roof and the true 80" long queen beds big advantages. Forget about the shower though. And having camped with 3 boys sending everyone to the campground shower is a much better option for a lot of reasons. The camper shower is great for the little ones - everyone else walks to the shower! And the extra tent was always good for the older kids - they never minded sleeping on the ground to have their own space (except for a couple bear encounters - but that makes for some good stories).

Good luck in your search. The whole upgrading from tenting is a great experience.

[CDNWhiskey]

Be sure to understand what storage the 233S has and how you can make that work.

[Cowracer]

Two Suggestions...

1) Pay the extra $$$ for the air matress sleeper sofa (if its offered in the 233s). That would give you a total of 4 queen beds. I got it in my 21SSL and there has been a couple times that I needed the extra sleeping space.

2) DO NOT ACCEPT THE FIRST TWO PRICES FROM THE DEALER. I find that there will almost always give you a third price. It will be lower In fact I suggest you decide on all your options, and get a quote from a couple of on line dealers (RVWholesalers, RVdirect, etc) to use as a basis for what to pay. I did that and wound up buying from RVW, but even if you go with a local dealer, you will be suprised how much room there is to negotiate

Tim

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Momof5Cuties

I hope that we can make it work as I'm not sure we could pull much more with our 2007 Suburban 1/2 ton family truckster

Warning, I've been called the "weight police" as I believe in sticking within a vehicles ratings. Some choose to exceed some or all of their ratings and still feel it's safe. You have to decide for yourself.

That said, do some or all 7 of you ride in the suburban? What kind of payload does it have after you're all loaded up and your stuff is in the suburban? Would you ever consider getting it weighed to find out?

[Momof5Cuties]

Lots of great advice/things to consider - thanks everyone! I did get an online quote from RVW that was a bit lower than the dealer price - gives me some haggling room

I knew the weight police would find me! That has been our limiting factor in choosing a step up from our tent - the 1/2-ton Suburban. We are a heavy load when all 7 of us are in there - just the passengers and DH driving we have a payload of 1055 lbs. Having said that, we do have the towing package with the extra trans cooler and heavy-duty shocks - still waiting on the build sheet from the dealer to see exactly what the rear gear ratio is, either the 3:73 or 4:10. It seemed like with the WD hitch and electronic braking system we should be okay.

Interestingly, the salesman (who is very nice) is perfectly willing to sell us this Roo knowing our truck and family size, and of course told me that we would be "way under the weight limitations with the Roo." I knew going in that they would tell us anything to sell one. However, when I mentioned space/sleeping issue concerns he was MORE than happy to show us a Keystone Cougar 28RBS, coming in at 32 feet long and 6400 lbs. DRY! He took us through that baby eagerly and again told us that there would be NO PROBLEM with our 1/2-ton Suburban pulling it - we wouldn't even notice the weight! Now, we are relatively green in the whole trailering department, but I really didn't feel comfortable when I started running the numbers on that puppy - GVWR on it comes in around 8200 with a 960-lb. tongue weight. I have a 1000-lb. limit on the tongue if we use the WD hitch, not to mention the loaded weight of the trailer plus the loaded weight of the truck puts us over GCWR by about 2000 pounds. Why would he try and sell us something that wouldn't be safe to tow? Crazy - or maybe not, like I said we are new to this, but it seems like too much for us.

[ependydad]

Ha! I'm one of the non-violent weight police types. Basically, I want to educate folks and then let you make your choice one way or another. I'm really surprised that you have 1,000 pounds left over after all of you are loaded into the 'burb. But, there's a reason everyone loved them!

As for the salesman- there are 3 possibilities:
1) He's uneducated and simply doesn't know better. He possibly was selling microwaves last week.

2) He's educated enough to go by rough numbers. "A suburban can tow 7,000 pounds and this camper is under that, therefore it must be OK."

3) He's sleazy and doesn't care- he just wants to make the sale, customer be danged.

Hard to tell. I'd rather go in knowing exactly what I need and how to do the math. My truck dealer was shocked when I was able to tell him my expected pin weight, likely cargo weight and how much payload we needed (he actually tried talking me into less truck until I started down that path). He agreed that, by the numbers, we needed what we bought.

[rockfordroo]

KMP44 said

the true 80" long queen beds

Don't know about his 23IKSS, but my Roo19 has "RV queens," i.e., 60 x 72. They are NOT 80 inches, even though the brochure says they are.

[KMP44]

Originally Posted by ependydad

2) He's educated enough to go by rough numbers. "A suburban can tow 7,000 pounds and this camper is under that, therefore it must be OK."

There seem to be a lot of sales people that fit #2. The dealer we bought at made a big deal out starting the quote form by filling in the tow vehicle info before they even gave us a price, saying they wanted to be sure we could tow it. But in talking to the salesman, he was strictly going by max tow weight rating. But if you just do it that way, you are almost guaranteed to go over on the GCVW.

Our friends just bought a Jayco expandable that was pushing the vehicle limits and after one trip they are deciding whether to trade up on the tv or down on the tt. They are afraid they are going do major damage to the tv engine/drivetrain.

Seems like if you run the (realistic) numbers on the 233S and the Suburban, you have a pretty good chance of being within the ratings.

And on the topic of RVW vs local dealer, on our Roo we found the difference was about $2,000. But the dealer's price on the same camper included the WDH, the install on the hitch, full propane, and we talked him into a second battery. That had us about $1,200 apart. For us, its 1200 miles round trip so that's about $500 in gas alone. Since the dealer gave us a permanent 10% anything at the store and unlimited calls with questions/problems we figured that was the route to go. They also prioritize service schedules if you bought there. They will work on anything, but units they sold get in and out quicker during the busy season.

[Momof5Cuties]

Thanks to all of you for your replies! We went back last night and the kiddos were thrilled - we will be purchasing the 2014 Roo 233S! Yayayay! So excited - we even have the first camping weekend scheduled in a few weeks!

[biken201]

Congrats! We love our 233S!

[TheCooksinCT]

HI Mom! Im a mom of 3 boys and when we camp we generally have at least 5 kids with us. We have the Roo 233 as well. Here's my perspective. I am 5'7 and average build (size 4/6) I just fit in the bathroom - easy to use the toilet - not bad in the shower - challenge to dry off and get dressed. Having all boys, its difficult to have any privacy in the unit as you can't go into a bedroom and shut the door. So I usually open the bathroom door and stand behind it to change. Other people have added a privacy curtain for this purpose. The beds are perfect for my husband and I. He is 5'10 and average build. Very comfortable.
Now for men - they only use the bathroom to P - They are too tall & big to comfortably sit on the toilet with bathroom door shut and no way can they use the shower. Luckily where we camp, they have great clean and free public bathrooms and showers. We never have had the unit at sleeping capacity. Generally, one of my sons and his G/f sleep on one of the beds and the son who doesn't have a friend will sleep on the other. So that leaves 2 to a tent. So the majority of the time we have 5 sleeping inside. If you get the S model, I believe you will lose the nice big wardrobe next to the refrigerator - I could not live without that space - thats where I hang my clothes and when not camping store the bedding and pillows.
Next, my 6ft boys need to duck when going thru the door.
Storage is decent for a hybrid - love the pantry and the over the bed shelves and under bed storage. But still not enuf for everyones clothes. So my husband and I get first dibs on storage space and the kids usually live out of laundry baskets which they keep on their bed. We have mesh laundry bags which we hang from the bathroom door knob - but it does take up room. You definately need over the door hooks on both sides of the bathroom doors to keep things off the floor.
The beds are normal size Queen - so no need to buy special size sheets.
Vanity and med cab are great size and there is enuf room on top of med cab for another basket to keep stuff in - plenty of room for our stuff in the bathroom. In the pantry - i keep the bath towels on the bottom shelf and wet towels hung on bathroom door hooks.Decent storage in kitchen for pots/pans/dishes etc.
Have you looked at any of the non hybrid units that have the quad bunks in the back with the bottom bunks double bed size? that might fit your family better unless your kids don't mind tenting. just a thought. Let me know if you have any other questions,
Leslee

[TheCooksinCT]

p.s. what does DD and DS mean in your signature???

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by TheCooksinCT

p.s. what does DD and DS mean in your signature???

D**** Daughter and D**** Son.
you can put in the D-word of your choosing.

[rockfordroo]

"A suburban can tow 7,000 pounds and this camper is under that, therefore it must be OK."

Just to put this statement in perspective, my 2009 Silverado Owners Manual lists 99 (that's NINETY NINE!!) different Maximum Trailer Weights for the 1500 based on all the different permutations of engine size, bed size, 2WD or 4WD, axle ratio, bed length, supplemental cooling, trailering package, and transmission. It takes up 7 pages of the manual. These Maximum Trailer Weights range from a low of 4,400 lbs to a high of 13,000 lbs. There are 10 additional listings for the 2500 and 10 for the 3500.

If you salesman has any scruples at all, he SHOULD be pulling out the owners manual and telling you "this specific model here on the showroom floor can pull XXXX lbs" OR he should be asking you how much want to pull, then pull out the owners manual and order you whatever is required to pull your weight (because 10 to 1, he won't have one on the lot!)

[Momof5Cuties]

Thanks for the great response, TheCooks! You share a lot of helpful information!

[Momof5Cuties]

Thanks to everyone for your responses! We had to put off our purchase a little bit from my first inquiry here because we had our transmission blow! We found that we do, indeed, have the proper setup for towing with the heavy-duty towing package and they also modified our new transmission a bit - our mechanic said we have more than enough power and capability to tow the Roo :-)

[rockfordroo]

our mechanic said we have more than enough power and capability to tow the Roo

I would NOT simply take his word for it. Make him show you the specs for your TV with your options (engine, transmission, gearing, etc.). Unless he's looked it up, I would NOT believe he knows.