Just bought a 2014 Rockwood 23KISS Hybrid

[sewingcybermom]

New here, and new to the hybrid camper clan! We just purchased a like new 2014 23KIss and am excited and scared at the same time! We had a pop up since 1986, and believe it or not, sold it for almost 3K. It was in MINT, MINT condition, so we are happy about that, but we are really scared to tow something this big. What did we get ourselves into?? We have what we believe to be a descent tow vehicle...we are just not used to having a house behind us on the road.

Oh, but the camper...it is a beauty!! Big, roomy, the kitchen is to die for! Found it locally from a family that thought they wanted to travel to camp instead of seasonally parking it, but only managed to get out 4-5 times last year. They decided to go back to seasonal camping and inherited a 32ft camper, so we just had to pay the bank note off and it is ours! We went over it with a fine tooth comb, friends that have a hybrid went with us, so I feel confident we got a great deal.

Is there anything we need to know about hybrids that is not "obvious"? I am so excited to not have to pop up that darn camper anymore, although our family grew up in it, and we certainly share lots and lots of memories with it. I feel like I'll be living the life of luxury, as we didn't have hot water, or a/c in our pup!

Anyone that has this model is welcomed to share your experiences/woes/happy thoughts with us. I will have to navigate the forums for mods, etc., but when I tell you the camper is loaded, I'm not kidding. When the buyer purchased, he purchased EVERYTHING!

Wish us luck...if it ever stops snowing here in CT, we may get a chance to get it home. It is currently snowed in, in a garage at the sellers place. A heated garage I might add...must be nice.

Oh...and do most of you store your campers at a storage facility, or do you keep them home? Suggestions about covers, etc. for outdoor storage would be appreciated, along with a place to purchase accessories like an awning for the living room slide.

I'm so excited!!

[bikendan]

Welcome to FRF.
Suggest you visit the Hybrid section here. There's a Roo sub-forum there where you'll get all the help and info you need.

[LittlePM]

Welcome from Madison, AL. I don't know why and I could be wrong, but I think you are very excited about your new camper? and that's great, I love to go camping, just unplug for a while. Congratulations happy camping and

[MuddauberE]

Welcome to the Roo Club CyberMom. The Roo's are a lot of fun. We upgraded from a HW popup to the Roo. Seems to be the common path . We love our Roo and the #1 best thing about it is, you can prep and load and even clean up without opening it up . You can stop on longer trips and rest . You will enjoy it. It's an upgrade fro the popup and will fee more like a home. Although that was the hard part to get over. The popup felt more like camping, but the Roo more way more comfortable and fun, especially on rainy days. I am getting ready to start my third season in the Roo 233s and highly look forward to it. I already have a trip planned in May. I'm sure its going out before then. I think it might actually get more use in my back yard than in a campground. Plenty of kids parties and family\friends get together's that involve the RV for cool and shade. I put a 30amp p[lug on my garage just for the purpose of keeping it plugged in all the time.

The first thing I would recommend is the weight distribution bars. If you are moving up from the popup, you may not be familiar with the tongue weight difference between the two. the popup was easy to just hitch and go, but the Roo needs a little more stability as it's heavier particularly at the tongue. I have the weight distribution bars with sway control in one. I'm sure you are very familiar with swaying on the popup. Well the Roo does the same thing just on a heavier scale. You'll be amazed at how much the weight distribution will lift the back end of the truck too.

Not sure what kind of tow vehicle you have, but if you towed it home, I'm sure you have a good grasp at how well it will handle the new weight. Tune ups and regular maintence like oil changes and lubing the joint's are particularly important when towing a heavier trailer. I found myself keeping an eye on my trucks performance and scheduled maintenance more regularly than I did with the popup. Just makes you feel better knowing you did it. I do it all myself.

Especially if you live in a cold weather state as you have mentioned and like I do in Ohio, it's important to cover. Some say you don't need to, others will say it's a necessity. I cover mine every winter. After having some weather damage to my popup due to the constant freezing, melting, freezing, melting, water getting into crevices and then freezing again and cracking seals, then melting again, going deeper and then freezing again, I vowed to never keep it uncovered in the winter again including my new one. IO have a nice ADCO cover, but I'm not sure it really matters what cover you use, as long as you cover it to protect against freezing rain or snow. It's not always hail or likewise that can damage the trailer, but the innocent snow turning to water then freezing over again at night that does the real damage. My advice is cover or put under an overhang. I don't pay for storage as my driveway is big enough to hold it all winter .

I have a list of Mods that I would like to do to the trailer, but those are all on a per preference basis. You will have to stay in it for a while to find the things that you want to change. I'm not sure that they make a perfect trailer for anyone. there will be add-ons and things you want to upgrade. There are several posts here regarding the possible mods others have done.

I enjoy my trailer and love talking about it along with everyone else here. It's a great source. Myself and thousands of others will be around to share experiences and ideas.
Enjoy!

[CA62Mini]

Congrats. I just installed a slideout topper on my 2014 23IKSS lasr weekend. CareFree of Colorado. Ordered from Camping World on sale. Came in about a week and a half, even though they state 6-8 weeks for delivery. very nice product.

SideOut Kover III - Covered 141" - Carefree of Colorado UP1410025 - RV Slideout Awnings - Camping World

[KMP44]

Congratulations. We have the same model and after 2 years with it, we are very happy. We also came from a popup. It doesn't take long to get used to towing it. Its heavier and the taller height creates more drag, but it tows nicely. The big difference I found was backing it up. With the popup, I could see over the top of the camper, which made seeing where it was going pretty easy. With a full height trailer, you learn to use the mirrors.


Otherwise, just take care when closing it up not get the canvas pinched in the seals - that is the most common way to get water inside. We store ours at the house, which is much easier than a storage facility if you have the space (and no HOA regulations). In the winter, we do cover it, mainly to reduce fading from the sun and it stays clean over the winter.

[Wiscampsin]

Welcome from Wisconsin and congrats on your 2014 Roo 23KISS.

[1beachbum]

Cybermom, welcome to the forum. We purchased a Shamrock 23ikss last year and absolutely love our camper. The floor space really makes a difference when we have another couple along or on rainy days. We joined the forum a few weeks ago and I really wish we had joined last year. Everyone on the forum is very helpful and there is a lot of great information in the posts. We camped in tents for a long time and planned to move to a pop-up and eventually on to a TT but jumped straight to the 23ikss. The first time I towed it was a 250 mile tow from the dealer in Pennsylvania to our home in southeast Virginia. I had the dealer install the weight distributing hitch and sway bar. I never had any trouble towing our hybrid. I will leave others more knowledgeable to make recommendations. Congratulations on your purchase and enjoy.

[DK-in-SC]

Just wanted to join the "welcome bandwagon" and say hello. You are going to love your new 23IKSS. We got ours last summer and it has worked out wonderfully. We keep ours in a storage lot and have it covered for the winter. This is the cover we purchased and it fits perfectly: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NFND9W


As bikendan said above, head on over to the Roo/Shamrock forum for some more hybrid specific discussion. Congratulations!

[Platokidd]

Welcome to the forum from the top side land of Lincoln

[geotex1]

Welcome aboard! You will find plenty of current hybrid/expandable owners here as well as many of us who were prior owners. We had a 2008 Shamrock 21SS bought in 2007 and camped in till 2014!

We kept our 21SS home year-round, parked on a concrete driveway along side our home. Covered only through the NJ winter with an ADCO AquaShed cover. Our new camper is too long to winter at the house so we are storing it for the winter at a public storage facility 10 minutes from our house. The facility actually has 2.5 acres of gravel RV/TT parking that's well-lit, fenced, and closed circuit TV monitoring. Cover it with an ADCO there too.

Happy Camping!