Roo 23ikss - thinking of buying one

[Ccovello]

Hi fellow campers. We have outgrown our tent and are ready for a trailer. I would like some feedback on the 23ikss Roo as my family of five like the style and space of the showroom model. How do you like the pull down beds? The island? Any issues with the pull outs?any feedback would be appreciated

[KMP44]

We are in our second season with our 23IKSS and love it. If you are moving up from tenting, its a lot more ammentities and a lot less work.

There are plenty of threads on here about pros & cons of hybrids vs regular trailers, and also on how much your tow vehicle can actaully tow/haul. If you decide a hybrid is the way to go, and you can tow it, this model is a great choice. With a family of 5, I would definitely get the air mattress sofa option. It gives you a true third bed. the jacknife couch is pretty well useless for anybody bigger than a toddler.

The island gives you a true, functional kitchen with a lot more counter space than most others. This was the thing that sealed the deal for us. It also has a ton of storage. No more duffle bags for us! And it has more outside compartments than most other hybrids. The second slideout really opens up the interrior. We recently had 6 people inside all afternoon during a downpour, and didn't feel crowded at all. At 23 feet, it fits into most campsites and is easy to tow, but when setup has a huge amount of living space.

We've used ours for a week in the woods with no hookups, lots of short weekend trips (easy because it can stay packed & ready to go, and quick setup), and for a 2,800 mile trip with almost all one night stops at full hookup RV parks.

And, the more we have used it, the more we have come to appreciate some of the features on the Roo's that many other brands don't have (like the heated mattresses).

There is a good chance any RV will have an issue with some system or component at some point. And hybrid bunk ends add another place for potential problems. But the Roo seems to have a pretty good design for the tent ends. With any RV, its important to buy from a good dealer that has a competent service department and will take care of you after you hand over the $$. And we bought the second year factory warranty for $150. Ours has been in the shop twice for some relatively minor issues. The dealer did a good job of fixing everything, and FR covered it 100%. With manufacturers trying to make these things light weight, keeping costs down, the fact that thye bounce down rough road, etc, if we waited for a rig that was bulletproof, we would never buy RV's or never be able to afford them. Within that perspective, we have super happy with our Roo and this floorplan.

Good luck!

[jrfops]

We just got our 23ikss and love it. Like KMP44 said it gas plenty of room. I would check out the Shamrock version also.. It's the same trailer with different interior colors.

[vinmaker]

That is an awesome camper. I almost bought that same unit. I was very tempted to spend the extra $4-$5,000 for one instead of my popup when I was looking this last month.

Ultimately it decided I was too scared to pull it. I just looked up at it in the dealer lot and freaked out at how high it was. I am fairly new to pulling as I only had my last pop up about 9 years. I decided I just felt more comfortable towing a pop up. I also wanted to stay sub 5,000 pounds to allow me more flexibility with future TV's.

If your comfortable towing like most people are ( I am just a chicken @%*^) it is an absolutely fabulous Hybrid. You will not be disappointed.

Vin.

[stugilmour]

We are also considering the various Roo hybrid models. We looked at the 23IKSS and really liked the interior room, island, and other features mentioned by happy owners. However, we are now focused on the 233S instead and have dismissed the 23IKSS for the following reasons. If these are not issues for you they are a very nice unit.

• The slide out on the curb side will limit the space under the awning. On occasion we use an Add a Room on our current hybrid, and the 23IKSS doesn't look as good in this application. At dog shows we typically are cheek to jowl with other rigs, and you only get enough open space for your awning side.
• When the slides are buttoned up the access and room looked pretty limited. We haul a lot of bulky stuff with us to dog shows, and space for stuff is important.
• Not sure, but we anticipated access to the kitchen and wash room would also be limited with the slides in. I suppose not a big deal to slide them out at a brief stop.
• The higher weight (~500 lbs.) would be within the limits of our tow vehicle, but is a bit of a factor. Seems strange the dry hitch weight is less than the 233S.
• Kind of prefer the sofa and dinette orientation in the 233S for hanging out.
• We can use the extra bunk. With a family of five you may be able to bed everyone down without having to use the dinette or couch?

Just a few things we noticed. Biggest limitation of the 233S is kitchen counter space, so we are trying to figure if we can live with that issue.

HTH

Stu
2006 Jayco 23B
Calgary AB

[Ccovello]

Thanks for all your good information. Any other issues with late fall camping?

[Avenger61]

We bought the Shamrock ikss a couple of months ago and we love it. It is very roomy and the slides work great. We find the mattresses a bit uncomfortable and the shower is small, but I'm a big guy and I can still use it. I added a second battery on mine because I thought we may need it with the slides if we were camped without power. My only recommendation would be to check it out thoroughly from top to bottom. So far we have had it back to the dealer twice for little things that should have been caught during the prep and demo inspection. In fact it goes back again tonight because the roof wasn't sealed properly near the seams and around the TV antenna. Good luck with yours and hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

[KMP44]

Originally Posted by Ccovello

Thanks for all your good information. Any other issues with late fall camping?

Late season (and early season) camping has become a regular thing for us now. Never did that in the popup days. As long as you are above freezing so the plumbing doesn't freeze up, no issues. With all hybrids, you are going to get condesation on the inside of the tent ends when its cold outside and warm and inside. Venting and air flow help, but just invest in a set of popup gizmos or something similar. Makes all the difference in the world. PopupGizmos

If you do a lot of that, I see in the new Roo brochure they offer double pane windows. Might be something to consider. Any trailer will get some condensation on the windows when using it in colder weather. I think its a fairly pricey option though. Might be nice to have, but not a must have...

[DK-in-SC]

We got our 2015 Shamrock 23IKSS about six weeks ago and absolutely love it. We are a family of five and all three kids are teenagers (18/16/14). Mom and dad get one bed, the girls get another, and my son gets the air bed. Living and storage space are great. I do wish it had a U-shaped dinette, but other than that, we are very happy. The island makes it a very usable kitchen and storage space is terrific. This is our first RV, but we were tent campers for the last... well... let's just say a very long time. We opted for a hybrid because we liked the small package while towing, but the large amount of space once we setup. We also enjoy hearing the crickets at night and the birds in the morning.
The beds do need some sort of mattress topper, and once we added that, we sleep great. I've also done a bunch of the mods in the shower that others have posted to make it very usable.

[ladun6]

We love our roo 23ikss!!! We started talking about a popup and then looked at travel trailer because we liked the room but they were a little bigger then we wanted to tow.... This was the perfect compromise. We love the room it has and since we are a family of 3 plus a 75 pound dog we love that we are able to bring another family with us. LOVE the island and floor space is great for the dog. Love that we can comfortable sleep up to 8. Good luck and hope you get one you love!!!


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[BMFLYFISH]

Originally Posted by Ccovello

Thanks for all your good information. Any other issues with late fall camping?

I agree with what everyone has said about the 23IKSS. I just bought my 23IKSS so I have not camped yet in the fall with it, but my camping season here in Alabama does not start until fall and we camp through late spring until the bugs and mosquitos get to bad. We changed from a pop up to this camper, but we would camp regularly with the temps ocassionaly in the low teens and we did not have any issues. Depending on the outside temperatue I would sometimes to have to crank up the heater after cranking up the pop up to warm the tenting material before I extended the beds. I would have to keep the air circulating as well. As long as I kept the air constantly circulating in the pop up with a combination of the bunk fans and the heater, we never experienced any condensation issues. I also had to blow the water lines out after each camping trip so the pipes would not freeze. I am expecting to have to do the same three things with this camper, only now with a lot more room and comfort.

[JWHybrid2B]

Originally Posted by DK-in-SC

We got our 2015 Shamrock 23IKSS about six weeks ago and absolutely love it. We are a family of five and all three kids are teenagers (18/16/14). Mom and dad get one bed, the girls get another, and my son gets the air bed. Living and storage space are great. I do wish it had a U-shaped dinette, but other than that, we are very happy. The island makes it a very usable kitchen and storage space is terrific. This is our first RV, but we were tent campers for the last... well... let's just say a very long time. We opted for a hybrid because we liked the small package while towing, but the large amount of space once we setup. We also enjoy hearing the crickets at night and the birds in the morning.
The beds do need some sort of mattress topper, and once we added that, we sleep great. I've also done a bunch of the mods in the shower that others have posted to make it very usable.

I have the same model as you and am thinking of getting the mattress toppers. Which ones did you go with? I think these are the short queen beds and can't seem to find the right sizes anywhere. What thickness did you get?

[DK-in-SC]

We got the toppers at a store called Aldi. It is a grocery store but they have other seasonal items that they sell throughout the year. Since it is back to school season, they had pillows, toppers, and lots of storage gizmos. We ended up getting a bunch of things for the new HTT that have worked very well. The toppers that we purchased are 3" and we got them in size full. The length is perfect and they are only maybe 2-3"short on the sides which is fine. They are flat (not fitted) but have wide sturdy straps on the corners that secure them to the mattress. I think they are part gel foam and part fiberfill. Whatever it is, the beds are very comfortable now.

[stardrive]

This is our second season with our ikss and we still love it. The room you have once its setup is great and we have yet to fill up all the storage areas. Some people complained about bathroom access with the trailer closed up but we have no problem, we just leave the table in the sleeping position and walk over it. Speaking of the table DW found that the table in the down position makes a great coffee table in front of the couch and adds a nice seating area where the table was, the coffee table is great for games snacks whatever. And the heated mattresses allow us to extend our camping season; coming from tent camping to the ikss has been great.