Please help me choose a forest river product!

[BillyBass]

I have a 15 gmc Serria Crew Cab 1500 with 3.42 rear end towing cap. is 9400#
My 26RBWS GVW is 8900# I didn't have any trouble towing it.But I don't carry water that saves me 500#We like it.It has a lot of storage inside and out.I had some problems with it but i took care of them .One thing I took out the glass shower doors and put a shower curtain.

[Villagerjjm]

I would suggest the Rockwood line of Forest River trailers. The Mini Lites are very nice to start out with. The Ultra Lites are heavier. The only problem I have had with Mini Lites is just a wish for larger sized windows. The Ultra Lites seem to have larger windows.

[Herk7769]

Everyone seems to be concentrating on towing so I will limit my remarks to floorplans.

Ideally:

1) What can you get to with all slides closed? Not being able to use the bathroom while traveling without opening a slide is a show stopper. Not having access to the fridge comes in a close second.

2) If a slide breaks and CAN'T be opened, is your camping trip shot?
Can you access most everything if any one slide is FUBAR (Fouled Up Beyond All Recovery for non-military)? Happens!

3) Storage - Most travel trailers have almost none. You WILL need your truck bed to carry your gear. All that cargo and your crew eats up payload like no ones business. 5th wheels have CUBE galore, BUT limited weight remaining in the GVWR means you will still be sorting out your "must haves" vs "nice to haves" every trip. They are easily overloaded and the truck is not much help in the cargo department with a 5th wheel hitch in the bed as most of your payload is camper, hitch and crew.

4) Fridge in a slide or exterior wall. Fridge in a wall is MUCH better. Folks with cooling issues almost ALWAYS have kitchen slides. Cooling air in a slide has to make two 90 degree turns and the installations leave LOTS to be desired regardless of who makes the camper. The stack in a wall unit goes out the roof and its HUGE compared to the dinky top and bottom vents.

5) Campers over 32 feet NEED two Air Conditioners in the summer; especially in the south west (Regardless of what the salesman says about what he's got on the lot).

6) Get a 50 amp service if its available in your chosen camper. Makes adding that second AC a "breeze".

7) Don't plan on carrying your bikes on the bumper. Most campers made today are "ultra" light weight advertised to be pulled by 1/2 tons. They do that by cutting back on the thickness of the bumper and frame. Plan on putting the bikes in the truck somewhere. Oh, and if you run the 1/2 ton numbers on most 5th wheel campers advertised as 1/2 ton towable, they mean with an empty camper and your crew in another vehicle following you.

Herk

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by Villagerjjm

I would suggest the Rockwood line of Forest River trailers. The Mini Lites are very nice to start out with. The Ultra Lites are heavier. The only problem I have had with Mini Lites is just a wish for larger sized windows. The Ultra Lites seem to have larger windows.

Rockwood and Flagstaff are made on the same assembly line at the same plant. Only the model numbers, trim, and decals are different.
Herk

[cariboo camper]

Doesn’t matter what you buy in my opinion. You have to be handy, you say you are, so buy whatever and you will be fine. Just pack a big toolbox and you’ll be good to go.

[timmybish]

Thank you! Rlocicero have you been able to compare your older units build quality to the new models? just wondering if they are still similar?

[flyflotrtim]

Its been stated previously by several folks, ignore towing capacity. Payload is your limiting factor. Post your yellow sticker from the drivers door side so we know what your payload is. 1/2 ton payloads can vary by 1000 pounds.

[timmybish]

my cargo capacity is 1720#

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by timmybish

my cargo capacity is 1720#

Tim,

With this "limited" cargo capacity you will need to be very careful selecting your camper. Since about 11% of your camper's total weight MUST be on the ball for safe handling (10-12% is considered by most reliable sources as "safe"), a properly loaded 8000 pound camper will need between 800 and 960 pounds (880 pounds optimum) on the tongue.

The posted payload is figured by subtracting your "Curb Weight" from your maximum gross vehicle weight AS IT LEFT THE FACTORY with full liquids (gas and oil). It does not include options added by you or the dealer, the weight of occupants, cargo, or weight distribution hitch. Since you have not weighed your pickup to determine your ACTUAL payload, we will use your pillar payload.

Say your WD hitch weighs 100 pounds (about normal though some are heavier).
You, your wife, two kids and dog weigh 575 pounds (200-150-75-75-25).
50 pounds of leveling/fire wood in the bed
80 pounds of chairs and camping gear in the bed
40 pounds of tools in a tool box

880+100+575+50+80+40= 1645 pounds.

That will leave you just 75 pounds from your truck being maxed out.

I would weigh my truck as I would load it for camping (LESS a camper) to find out what is left for tongue weight and work back from there to determine how heavy a travel trailer you can manage.

Lou

[timmybish]

So basically what I seem to be hearing is that if I want all of the features and size of the wildwood x-lite 263bhxl, then I am limited to basically that model as all of the other trailers are significantly heavier. I assume this weight increase is maybe a thicker gauge steel frame.

The wildwood comes in at 5854# empty, and a hitch weight of 682# I would guess loaded weight could average 6800 pounds or less traveling with empty tanks. Of course I would have to scale it after purchase.

This seems reasonable for cargo carrying capacity of the truck.

I agree some of the other models suggested are similar but around 1000 pounds heavier.

Eventually I might upgrade the truck but until then...

The question now seems to be do I go with the 263bhxl and be comfortable in the weight, or downsize by several feet and step up in "quality" ?

as we go down in size we lose features such as the out door kitchen, bathroom door to the outside... maybe even lose a slide out.

How much do you guys love or hate the outdoor kitchens?

How important is having a door to the bathroom for those that have that feature?

If you had to give up features what would you give up first?

[KKonyha]

I would chime in with, look at used. Because it is your first, you will find things that you wish were different. New units depreciate like a falling rock. I find out around us that there are many used units that have little or no usage because people thought they were going to camp more but didn't. Let them take the hit on depreciation. That way if you decide whatever you purchased didn't have exactly what you want, it isn't a big loss of money. We ended up with a Flagstaff, twin to a Windjammer that has been relatively problem free and built well. It is a 2011 and we got it for 1/3 of the original cost in 2016. It was our third camper and it still has exactly what we want.

[jwfrede]

Originally Posted by Herk7769

Tim,

With this "limited" cargo capacity you will need to be very careful selecting your camper. Since about 11% of your camper's total weight MUST be on the ball for safe handling (10-12% is considered by most reliable sources as "safe"), a properly loaded 8000 pound camper will need between 800 and 960 pounds (880 pounds optimum) on the tongue.

The posted payload is figured by subtracting your "Curb Weight" from your maximum gross vehicle weight AS IT LEFT THE FACTORY with full liquids (gas and oil). It does not include options added by you or the dealer, the weight of occupants, cargo, or weight distribution hitch. Since you have not weighed your pickup to determine your ACTUAL payload, we will use your pillar payload.

Say your WD hitch weighs 100 pounds (about normal though some are heavier).
You, your wife, two kids and dog weigh 575 pounds (200-150-75-75-25).
50 pounds of leveling/fire wood in the bed
80 pounds of chairs and camping gear in the bed
40 pounds of tools in a tool box

880+100+575+50+80+40= 1645 pounds.

That will leave you just 75 pounds from your truck being maxed out.

I would weigh my truck as I would load it for camping (LESS a camper) to find out what is left for tongue weight and work back from there to determine how heavy a travel trailer you can manage.

Lou

Ditto above. Its almost always cargo that is limiting. I have 1625 lb cargo capacity and figure about an 8000 lb trailer would be the limit for this truck. Towing capacity of 12000 lb is kind of meaningless. Also, not totally happy with F150 brakes in the Rocky Mtns with about 6500 lb trailer(max loaded) I have now.

The laminate sides produce a lighter trailer, but cost a little more. Almost all the better trailers, with better fixtures, appliances, etc., are laminate. Haven't heard about any problems on this forum in the +4 years I've been reading.

I love my APEX, 25 ft 4 in, but only 7.5 ft wide, 4500lb empty, max 6500lb. Zero defects when I purchased. Nothing has failed so far that I didn't break.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by timmybish

How much do you guys love or hate the outdoor kitchens?

How important is having a door to the bathroom for those that have that feature?

If you had to give up features what would you give up first?

I Have a "mini" outdoor kitchen (electric induction hotplate and tables) in my model and like it. I did not buy this model for the outdoor kitchen; it just came with it. I had to buy special pots and pans, so that was a downside. I did not have one in my previous camper and never missed having it.

The outside door to the bathroom makes a lot of sense if the main bathroom is inaccessible from the main door if the slides are closed. If it is accessible, then not so much.

If I could stop on the side of the road in an emergency and get to the bathroom without opening a slide, I would not miss it at all. Outside kitchen is handy when cooking stinky foods like fish and bacon; but it takes away from the interior space.

[jrk341]

We have an Apex 249rbs and like it a lot. Their is only the 2 of us so we didn't need a bunkhouse. We didn't want an outside kitchen either but the separate entrance to the bathroom was a big hit for my wife.

[Dsimes]

We went with the Cherokee line and got a Wolf Pup. Obviously you are looking for a larger unit so you would probably want to look at the Grey Wolf. We are happy with our purchase with the exception of the 12V fridge. Hopefully though as we get used to using the 12v fridge we will be happy with it as well. As was already said buying an RV is a very personal experience. Good luck with your search!

[Bugzilla46310]

If it is your first trailer, I would definitely go used. We did not buy new until our 3rd camper. You will discover things you like and dislike and when you upgrade, you can make a much wiser decision. When we were looking for our second trailer we went to a dealer exploring the floor plans first hand. Found one we liked but we were not yet ready to buy new. On the way home we stopped at another dealer and found the exact model we were looking at that was only 9 months old for about half the price of the new. We used that about 7 years and just traded to a new Wildwood 26’ last year, down sizing from the 32’ Jayco

[benchdog]

I have always bought used. You should be able to find a used model a year or two old. What you want for a camper today, especially being your first, will change after a couple years camping.

We found our last rig a 2019 Grey Wolf last fall only used three times. First-time buyers traded it and took a beating. Good for us we saved thousands.

[TonyR]

Originally Posted by PenJoe

If you are not married to the idea of FR, at least take a look at the Lance campers. We had a Lance slide in and the quality was excellent. Now they are building TTs and they have put thought and quality into them.

X2...Not to belittle FR

[gcisom]

I like our Heritage Glen Hyper lite 26rlhl. I was looking in the 26 ft. range and ended up at 30 ft. Glad I did.
We really like the rear living so we often have good views from the seating area. I've found the structure pretty sound. Cabinets and furniture are nice in my opinion.
Most of these trailers will have cheap stuff that I would start replacing right away. It's like of like getting rid of builder supply components in a spec house and upgrading to the custom lines.
First, the tires. You'll probably get cheap tires that will get you home ok and maybe some short trips. Before venturing out too far you'll want to look at something like Goodyear Endurance.
Next, the mattress. Don't lose sleep over the cheap pad that comes with it. I like the TRAVEL HAPPY brand made in Tennessee.
Most Furion electronics seem to be junk. Fortunately my dealer opted to equip their units with a Jensen tv from walmart rather than go with the FR Furion. Costs less and better quality. After purchase I replaced the Furion CD/DVD player with a Jensen to match up with the television.
I upgraded the toilette to get rid of the cheap plastic version.
Next I replaced the cheap looking white plastic shower head with a nicer looking satin nickel look. Recently upgraded the bathroom sink and faucette to get rid of the dollhouse stopper.
You'll find the oven pretty much burns the bottom of everything. Some have recommended pizza bricks but I haven't tried them.
Oh yeah. The exhaust fan in the bathroom will likely be a piece of crap. Having a better fan can make a big difference and will allow you to pull in cool outside air rather than use the AC all the time. I installed a MaxxAir. No problem for a DIYer.

[Mandog]

I have a 2020 Forest River Vibe 32BH all weather with Dexter spread axles. 39 feet bumper to hitch. We travel to a lot of state parks and never have trouble finding a site as long as we plan in advance. Like you I’m pretty handy handling trailers so even a small site is no issue for me. I do run a Quality S brand load leveler bars and a single sway bar (should have 2 but no issues yet).
Anyway of course the 32BH is to much for you weighing 10,035lbs dry. So far we like it a lot. It’s our second camper we’ve owned. Having owned both metal and fiberglass sided campers I’ll say the fiberglass one is much easier to cool and heat. We camp all year hear in VA and having the fireplace inside is great. The aluminum studs may be an advantage if there ever was a leak. I’ll tell ya having the camper stored under a roof is a huge advantage. The roof system will last much much longer. I would decide on a floor plan you like and go find one. Be careful with the Warranty’s . Don’t listen to a salesman, read the warranty coverages. Also make sure you make a list of everything to check on the walk thru. Do not let them tell you to just bring it back if something doesn’t work.
I’m pulling with a 2005 Chevrolet 2500 6.0 litter so your modern 1500 I’m sure will be fine. Heck a lot of the new 1500 trucks are rated to pull more than mine at 10,500. I have installed Ranch 9000 adjustable shocks, larger tranny cooler, additional auxiliary cooling fan (from a Honda Civic...LOL) and Cooper AT 3 tires. 10 ply tires are a must for camper pulling. Good luck to you.