Hello, the name here is Dave and I'm from Bamberg Ontario (about 15km west of Waterloo).
In 2005 we bought a Keystone Zeppelin Z241 to dip our toes in the RV life. We wanted to travel around a bit after retirement and figured the TT was a good place to start and the mistake wouldn't be as great as going directly to a 5er if it wasn't what we expected.
The TV at the time was a Chevy Blazer and the trip home from the dealer in Collingwood nearly killed it (oxygen sensor failed half-way through the trip and had to limp almost 100km in a blinding storm). Even before the engine problem, I wasn't impressed with the towing and so quickly traded up to a 2005 GMC 2500HD Duramax CCSB (with that future 5er in mind) and never regretted it.
Did a lot of provincial park camping, trip to Florida, Ottawa, etc and really enjoyed that but it did point out that the TT was just too small. The TT has a single slide for the dinette and the front bed folds in half for storage and unfolds onto the folded-down back of a loveseat for use. Needless to say, pretty cramped with 2 adults and 2 collies (better or worse than kids - I don't know).
The collies have gone on to a higher plane of existence, my wife retired 2 years ago and I'm following soon so we pulled the trigger and have a Rockwood Signature Ultralite 8282WS Platinum on order (probably a 2015 by the time it gets built). We both really like the layout with the entertainment center in the left slide and la-z-boys facing it in the right slide, plus the dedicated desk area and movable table instead of a dinette. The really long couch is great too - I'm 6'4" and the TT's loveseat was a cruel joke.
Funny thing is that the TT was to be a trade-in but coming back May 1 from my last trip with it to a place I've been going in Pennsylvania twice a year, I got hit by a deer (at 12:30 on a sunny afternoon - go figure).
I saw the lead deer and slowed down enough that it was going to make it (or this might be a completely different story) but as soon as I was sure of that I looked over and saw the second in line at a full gallop heading for the side of the truck.
Well it made it part-way into the gap between truck and trailer before the trailer caught up to it. Mass carnage ensued, which doesn't need to be described, but the damage didn't look too bad - cargo door panel demolished where the deer's body swung into it and a missing lower plastic fairing. Seemed that the impact was on the strongest areas possible.
Anyway the dealer went from "yeah we'll give reasonable trade-in value" to "we won't touch it - the frame got twisted" (they had assessed it just before the trip and the frame was dead straight then). So now my insurance company is mulling over whether to total it out. Oh well, as long as I get the equivalent value of the trade (less my deductible) it won't be much of a loss and could have been much worse. Stupid deer totalled out a car two years ago too so I'm not real happy with Bambi.
Anyway, got the 5th wheel installed in the truck and just waiting now...
Hope to learn a lot here.
Thanks
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