Camper trailer purchase advise.

[KrisD]

I've owned a camper for about four years now. When I bought, I wanted a fully capable guest house plus a mobile studio apartment. With that in mind, I have exactly what I was looking for.

My first piece of advice: don't buy used. Get a new one with warranty. You'll be glad you did.

My second piece of advice: stick to under 5000 pounds fully loaded weight; that puts your camper in the 3500 pound dry weight range. Your Ram will do more, but if you pull less, it'll be better on your vehicle overall.

Third, do NOT buy a hybrid or a pop up. They leak. If they don't yet leak, they will leak soon.

Forest River has a number of lighter weight pull behinds that will do the trick.

Starcraft has a $10k brand new (roughly, maybe cheaper) camper that might do you fine.

I bought from Peco, but I believe they're Campers Inn now. Not sure on that.

They are Campers INN I miss good ole Peco It is where i learned my trade!

 

[keith089]

I have a 37 foot toy hauler
Got it new in 2014, been used 4 times

 

[Old_School]

Thank you those are the kind of info I was hoping to hear.

Sharpsburg is spot on. In addition, you need to be aware of your truck's payload rating (found inside driver's door) so that you don't exceed it. Figure trailer tongue weight, passenger & bed content weight. Oh, and don't forget the weight of a weight-distributing hitch. Those can add 80-100#.

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

 

[brownbmo]

I've owned a camper for about four years now. When I bought, I wanted a fully capable guest house plus a mobile studio apartment. With that in mind, I have exactly what I was looking for.

My first piece of advice: don't buy used. Get a new one with warranty. You'll be glad you did.

My second piece of advice: stick to under 5000 pounds fully loaded weight; that puts your camper in the 3500 pound dry weight range. Your Ram will do more, but if you pull less, it'll be better on your vehicle overall.

Third, do NOT buy a hybrid or a pop up. They leak. If they don't yet leak, they will leak soon.

Forest River has a number of lighter weight pull behinds that will do the trick.

Starcraft has a $10k brand new (roughly, maybe cheaper) camper that might do you fine.

I bought from Peco, but I believe they're Campers Inn now. Not sure on that.

I think I’ve decided I’m going to need to stay around a 21’ size. I’m looking at one now and it has a 3500 dry weight. We’d like more space, but for what we need as newbys alone it will be a good size and easier to handle with a 1500.
We are looking at used from the right individual that has taken care of it and stored it correctly. I know I’ll have to be more careful than a new one off the lot.

Thanks.

 

[Old_School]

I think I’ve decided I’m going to need to stay around a 21’ size. I’m looking at one now and it has a 3500 dry weight. We’d like more space, but for what we need as newbys alone it will be a good size and easier to handle with a 1500.
We are looking at used from the right individual that has taken care of it and stored it correctly. I know I’ll have to be more careful than a new one off the lot.

Thanks.

You might want to rent one first, as others have said. Check out https://www.outdoorsy.com/ for campers available in your area. It really will help you decide what features you want/need. It will also help you determine if your truck is up to the task.

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[thorn]

A v-8 Ram 1500 is well up to the task of a 5000 pound camper. Hell, you can likely do a 6500 and be ok, but if you stick to under 5k, you won't even really notice the daggum thing behind you.

My first tow vehicle was a V-6 Tacoma. It did fine, but I really felt it behind me. Now I use a Nissan Armada, and I have to check the mirrors to make sure it's still back there.

 

[NWSharpshooter]

Should add, if you do buy buy something with aluminum siding and no slide out. I made both mistakes on my first one. Our new toy hauler is aluminum siding with no slide outs. We also removed all interior furniture and stored it in our attic.

On the off chance we want to sit in our camper we use cheap folding tables and chairs.


Our toy hauler does have a rear ramp that turns into a party deck. We use the hell out of that....the four days we have used it since January anyway.

We bought our first one from 3 way and our second from campers inn. Was happy in both dealerships.

 

[Flying gammahooch]

Should add, if you do buy buy something with aluminum siding and no slide out. I made both mistakes on my first one. Our new toy hauler is aluminum siding with no slide outs. We also removed all interior furniture and stored it in our attic.

On the off chance we want to sit in our camper we use cheap folding tables and chairs.


Our toy hauler does have a rear ramp that turns into a party deck. We use the hell out of that....the four days we have used it since January anyway.

We bought our first one from 3 way and our second from campers inn. Was happy in both dealerships.

Why aluminum siding and not a single panel fiberglass? And why no slides?

 

[DirtySouth]

Casita is what I would look at.

 

[NWSharpshooter]

Why aluminum siding and not a single panel fiberglass? And why no slides?

Fiberglass delaminates, aluminum does not. Slide outs leak, get out of alignment, require maintenance and upkeep. No slide out of course does not.


A simple tear in a slide seal caused my slide out to leak and because it required the whole slide out to be removed to repair it was expensive as hell to repair on a 2 year old camper.

Slide outs also add weight.