What is the perfect travel trailer length?

[forestwendel]

We have found the ideal TT length is 3 feet longer than the one you you have now.

[Gofishth]

Length changes on what you need in space for people, your tow vehicle, how you camp, and your tolerance for stress. The larger the trailer the more stress in towing and set up and tear down. I owna 40' fifth wheel and a 24' rockwood. The fifth wheel is great but it's like towing an apartment building. The TT can be parked anywhere and set up quickly. Pros and Cons to all. It's so personal and each trailer changes over time. Good luck.

[Boondockin]

Trailer listed as 30’
Really 35’ tip to tail.

With a short bed crew cab, I was pushing into the brush in yellowstone.

Full bunkhouse, meaning bunks on both sides are often a challenge.

Split bunks, bathroom and bunks at the back will be easier to park.

[jay2703]

Originally Posted by CyclePilot

X2


I agree!! the space you get in a Hybrid (Shamrock/Roo) is an excellent option for the TT size; for me it IS the perfect balance- Plus you get to feel like you're REALLY camping under the canvas (bunk ends)... I know there are some drawbacks like set up time, "soft walls", etc but considering, still MY preference.

Some national parks where bears are an issue won't allow tents. How are the Roo's looked at, as a trailer or a tent since they are partially soft sided.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by jay2703

Some national parks where bears are an issue won't allow tents. How are the Roo's looked at, as a trailer or a tent since they are partially soft sided.

There is only one major NP campground that has a permanent ban on soft-sided campers, Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone NP. And if you "turtle" in your hybrid, you can stay there.
Over the past 15 years I have been asking for any other campground, that RVs fit in, that have such a ban and have never heard of any.
There's been a lot of misinformation about hybrids and bears. I camped with my hybrid, at Yellowstone, Glacier and Yosemite. Other than Fishing Bridge, there were no other campgrounds with such bans that a hybrid would fit in.

[mixerman]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

I think most of us change how we camp as our life progresses, kids/grandkids grow. We started out backpacking, then cabin tents, then pickup shell, truck camper, pop-up, then bunkhouse fifth wheels, and now a comfy fiver for just the two of us.
So where are you at in your life?

Your post could have almost sounded like ours with the exception of the pop- up. Before kids, we had 10 years together. Went motorcycle camping with 2 man tents. Then a three man as the 2 man seemed kind of cramped. Then a shell camper. Then a slide in. After that, came the kids so we got a 20' TT. That was fine for 4 years until child number 2 came along. So a 24' TT was purchased. Then we wanted to take a boat with us too. So we got a 24.5' 5th wheel. Then we thought a motor home would work better for us but that didn't work out very good for the boat so we went back to a 5th wheel only this time we wanted a toy hauler as we got our first 4 wheeler. It had the open floor plan and worked ok for a while. Then decided to go back to a regular 5th wheel but with opposable slides. But that one didn't have enough sleeping room as it had the table and chairs. Didn't think about getting a dinette for it. Then decided to get another toy hauler but the garage model this time. We could get two four wheelers in it and still pull the boat behind it. But it didn't have very room in the living area so now we're back to another regular 5th wheel with opposable slides. But since it came with a table and chairs, we spent the money and got a dinette. All of the 5th wheels except the first one have been around the 32 to 33' mark. But as soon as we can afford one, we're looking at the mid bunk models which are 34'. So those who have said your needs change as your families change, are right on, in my opinion. And of course it also depends what your interests are too. We bought a side by side about 4 years ago and since it wouldn't fit in the toy hauler, we had to pull it behind on another trailer. This new camper has a fold out couch so with the dinette, it will have enough beds except when everyone wants to go at the same time. That's why a mid bunk model would work better. But you get what you can afford. And then one of these years I will get too old to pull any camper so we'll sell ours and go with the kids and let them do the driving. So we'll have come full circle.

[junior1954]

I think going with a trailer with bump outs gives you the best of both worlds- short enough for a first timer to tow, lives like it’s much larger. You need to go to a show or a dealer with a list of what you want your trailer to do for you. Dry camp or always hooked up? Weekender or weeks on end? Cold camping capabilities? Tow vehicle capabilities? Storage requirements? A trailer is your home on wheels. Odds are you’re going to want different things than my home.

[benchmarks]

25’ or 26’ max

[hotrod6]

For the two of us, 35ft. Windjammer 3008w works great! Comfortable, lots of room, and pulls very well! Fits anywhere I put it! Encountering length restrictions we park out elsewhere and commute in.

[pitzhauler]

Toyhauler / slide would give you room for kids an bike's an such. Will give you room to move around. Just sayn


35' toyhauler 294rr
2500 Chevy silverado

[mixerman]

Originally Posted by AlaskaErik

The one mid-size trailer I've found that has very good fresh water and holding tank capacity is the Keystone Cougar half ton series. While most of their trailers would be a challenge for many half tons, except for one of the 22 footers, the mid-size lineup has a 60 gallon fresh water tank, 76 gallon gray tank and 38 gallon black tank. Tank capacity is one of the first things I look at when checking out trailers. It amazes me how many manufacturers put in tanks that leave you with too little fresh water capacity and/or holding tanks that are way out of proportion to the fresh water tank.

The new 29rl 5er we just got only has a 48 gal freshwater tank so I bought a 30 gal tank which sits on the flatbed. We mostly boondock so having the extra 30 gallons is going to come in handy. We have always taken 4 five gallon ways jugs anyway so this gives us a total of 98 gallons which is plenty for 4 people for 3 days which is our typical camping trip on a weekend. And as someone else mentioned, having a bathroom accessable without putting the slide or slides out was of importance. We had a rear entry Cougar 5er which necessitated having to run a slide out a foot or so and that's one of the reasons we sold it. Our new one is a mid entry so no problem with accessablity to the can while traveling.

[mixerman]

Originally Posted by junior1954

I think going with a trailer with bump outs gives you the best of both worlds- short enough for a first timer to tow, lives like it’s much larger. You need to go to a show or a dealer with a list of what you want your trailer to do for you. Dry camp or always hooked up? Weekender or weeks on end? Cold camping capabilities? Tow vehicle capabilities? Storage requirements? A trailer is your home on wheels. Odds are you’re going to want different things than my home.

Do you mean slide outs?

[mixerman]

Originally Posted by bikendan

There is only one major NP campground that has a permanent ban on soft-sided campers, Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone NP. And if you "turtle" in your hybrid, you can stay there.
Over the past 15 years I have been asking for any other campground, that RVs fit in, that have such a ban and have never heard of any.
There's been a lot of misinformation about hybrids and bears. I camped with my hybrid, at Yellowstone, Glacier and Yosemite. Other than Fishing Bridge, there were no other campgrounds with such bans that a hybrid would fit in.

I'm sure you have heard of tenters being attacked at night by grizzly bears. Some have even been killed while tenting. It is rare but it does happen. Hybrids fall into the same category. If a bear smells food in there, they'll rip the canvas to pieces to get at it depending how hungry they are. We've never tent camper any where where we know grizzly bears are in that area and we live in Montana. Since we camp a lot in the mountains, tents our anything with canvas isn't an option for us. I don't like tents because all to often animals are our at night sniffing around and when I'd hear ombre outside the tent with only canvas separating us, I wouldn't sleep well at night so no more canvas for us plus it's hard to keep a tented trailer warm when the temps drop down to freezing at night.

[NJKris]

Originally Posted by ARhappycamper

No. Mine is a 2614 and is over 29' long.

????????? And the Forest River site says your trailer is 29.9' I stated that Rockwood specs list overall trailer length, not the box size. What part of that is 'no'?

[MTRCYCMAN]

My 2 Cents:

The old cliché, "A 25 ft. travel trailer is the largest small trailer and the smallest large trailer" has some merit. I had the Bigfoot 25B25RQ and IMO it is the best trailer ever made for two people. Plenty of storage, all the necessary facilities, and you can pretty much take it to any park. The only problem I had was I couldn't take my motorcycle.

Enjoy
MC

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by mixerman

Do you mean slide outs?

Bump outs and tip outs are older terms for slideouts.

[NJKris]

I must be old. I never even had an RV before this one and wife still calls them bump outs.

[Rorschach]

Opinions on best length are def varied since everyone has their own needs and ratings for what's important. I read an article online that gave some ballpark statistics about camper length and National Park campgrounds. I like camping in state and national campgrounds and many of the older ones have small sites.


I kept this in mind when getting a camper and went with one with a total length less than 25'.


When reserving a site at Arches just recently, my first and second choice campsites were taken in the 0.5 seconds before I hit the button, so I had to just grab any site that still showed open. Those sites go FAST!! Since my camper is less than 25', I knew that I could fit in almost any site there. Meant that I could just grab any of the sites still showing and be pretty sure I was going to be good. If you have a large vehicle and enter that information into recreation.gov when you are searching, it is going to severely limit the sites you can choose from.


The article showing the sizes of RV that can fit in each park by percentage:
https://camperreport.com/best-rv-len...ational-parks/


It was important for me that the bathroom and bed are accessible with the slide in, too. My small camper meets that need.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by NJKris

I must be old. I never even had an RV before this one and wife still calls them bump outs.

My wife's family has had RVs for many years and they call them tipouts. Could be a regional thing also. Like bumper pull trailer.

[chriscowles]

Originally Posted by mixerman

I'm sure you have heard of tenters being attacked at night by grizzly bears. Some have even been killed while tenting. It is rare but it does happen. Hybrids fall into the same category. If a bear smells food in there, they'll rip the canvas to pieces to get at it depending how hungry they are. We've never tent camper any where where we know grizzly bears are in that area and we live in Montana. Since we camp a lot in the mountains, tents our anything with canvas isn't an option for us. I don't like tents because all to often animals are our at night sniffing around and when I'd hear ombre outside the tent with only canvas separating us, I wouldn't sleep well at night so no more canvas for us plus it's hard to keep a tented trailer warm when the temps drop down to freezing at night.

Did you see the part about "turtling" in a hybrid?