You're buying a WHAT??!!

[Rich_in_Tampa]

Interesting reaction when I tell RV friends that I'm thinking about buying a TM. They all immediately say they would never consider a travel trailer, too dangerous, unstable at highway speed, flip, jacknife and everything else evil.

Of course they are reacting to the reputation of traditional travel trailers. I explain what I read: light weight, low profile, WDH, and aft trailer axle make for a safe, stable ride in careful hands. (I even asked one of them if he knew the rollover injury rate for big Class A's with slideouts, compared to a good TV with stability control and a breakaway hitch. No reply.)

But I don't think they are very convinced. I briefly wondered if I was really trying to convince myself, not them, but am pretty sure I'm over it ;) .

Anything I can point them to (besides promotional material from the manufacturer -- always suspect) to reassure them and explain the differences?

[mtnguy]

Just show them the TM when you get it. I bet they will be amazed, and maybe even want one for themselves.

Chap

[rickst29]

Last trip, when I had just pulled it outside on the garage driveway for loading, a neighbor stopped to look.

"That's amazing, I gotta get me one of those!" ;)

[Rich_in_Tampa]

Rich
I wouldn't spend 15 minutes worrying about anything my neighbors thought.
Certainly not try to convince them that a TM is a great trailer.
Just make your own decisions.
Chap's reply was right on the money....

No, Leon -- no energy lost on what they thought. I think my friends are just reacting out of concern, even if it is a bit misguided. TT's in general do not have a good reputation for driving safety, as you know.

It would probably be a good sales tool for TM to bundle together all the reasons why towing a TM is different -- things like axle placement, weight, wind profile, etc.

I suspect that most companies try to avoid making competitive claims about safety due to liability considerations.

[Two for the Road]

We just traveled over 4k miles with our 3124 and you would never know it was back there except for the length to get into gas stations, etc! It was great and we got 15 - 16 MPG with our TV!

[grakin]

As for the safety, it's like anything else - it can be done very safely, or it can be done very badly.

Some safety things:

1) Right hitch (and maintained).

2) The right tow vehicle (and maintained). From what I know, the heavier and longer wheelbase, the better.

3) Tow speed - when I see someone with a 35 foot trailer fly past me on the highway in wind and rain, I get worried for them (I saw one pass me with a radar detector mounted on the windshield - if you need a radar detector to pull a trailer, you're definitely doing something wrong). That's got an advantage of increasing my gas mileage 2 MPH over doing the speed I'd do without the trailer (yep, I get 2 MPH better mileage pulling than I do without the TM - because of speed). There's a reason semi tractors are going slower most of the time - they know it saves money and adds safety, and they do this for a living.

4) Good defensive driving - are you going to need to slow down ahead? Do you have room around your vehicle? Are you well rested (no excuse not to be with a TM!!!).

I drive a lot - I drove about 25,000 miles last year in a passenger car with no trailer. This year I've driven a few thousand miles with the TM behind me. I think I'm safer with the TM, for a bunch of reasons. I'm driving a better vehicle, driving slower, paying more attention to what is around me, and getting plenty of rest at night. I'm not at all worried about jacknifing with the trailer - the thing stays where it should, and doesn't sway.

I'll probably get a WDH sometime even though I don't really need one - I found a few sections of road where the bounce could start to resenate and suspect that a WDH would reduce the tendency to do that a bit (but most of the trip was great - that was the rare exception, and changing my speed slightly was an easy fix to the resonating problem).

As a subjective opinion, I picked up a friend for a bit and took him in the TV with the TM behind me. He used to sell RVs, and his comment upon reaching our destination was "Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a trailer pull that nicely." There's things wrong with TMs, but I will say this for the factory - they thought through a lot of things that I took for granted until I started looking at it in depth.

So safety isn't a reason to avoid the TM. And I echo what everyone else says - it's your RV, not your neighbors, so buy what you want. :)

[Doug W.]

It does not matter how small the trailer, you need enough tow vehicle. The advantage of the TM is you need less tow vehicle than a normal trailer to be safe. Part of the bad reputation comes from when I was young. People would pull to large a trailer without trailer brakes or a WDH and anti-sway control. Another cause from when I was young, was that automatic brake controllers cost an arm and a leg. Many people had manual brake controllers and people would forget to use them in an emergency. This happened to a friend of ours. He jacknifed his TT. He only told my dad he forgot to use the trailer brake after my dad promised not to tell his wife what he was going to say next.