Addressing a couple of questions others haven't yet touched:
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Originally Posted by smile711
Hello.
We've seen several Trailmanors at RV shows, but have been by Lake City, TN many, many times without even knowing a plant was there!
My wife and I anticipate taking frequent short 2-3 day vacations and two or three 1 week camping trips per year and want to get into the TM 2720SL. My questions may seem lame since I'm not an experienced camper, but I need to start somewhere.
1. We'll be towing with a 3.3L Toyota Sienna. Anyone else using one like that to tow a TM? What is it like? We ave. about 22-23 mpg hwy right now, no trailer.
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You are guaranteed to be overloading the van and it will struggle badly on all mountain roads. The problem is the tow rating is only 3500 lbs...and that rating is measured with only the driver in the van...no passengers, no cargo, no gas, no nothing. Add gas, passengers, & cargo and your real tow rating is around 2800 lbs. A ready for camping 2720SL will weigh around 3700 lbs when equipped with typical options like AC and awning. So, right from the beginning you'll be around 900 lbs (almost half a ton) over the van's rated capabilities. If you take out both rear seats in the van, carry no passengers or cargo and put only the basic necessities in the trailer (a Microwave is not a basic necessity), you might come close to staying within the van's capabilities. But it will still be very sluggish on hills and you'll be prematurely wearing out the engine and transmission. Definitely plan on trading up to a V8 powered vehicle (or a V6 with at least a 5000 lb tow rating) within a year or so after you buy the trailer.
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I read in the "features" that TM uses a laminated floor. Is that the same type material as the laminate floors you see being put in lots of new homes with the "wood look?" They're supposed to wear better than the Congoleum floors I've seen in other RVs. Anyone know more details on this?
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The "laminated floor" refers to it's basic construction...a lamination of aluminum skin, foam core, alumninum skin and very thin wood...as compared to typical (and much heavier) RV floor construction of plywood or oriented strand board. It does
not refer to residential style "laminate floors" with a wood look. TM uses the same surface flooring as all other RV makers...either all linoleum (perhaps Congoleum) or a mix of linoleum and carpet. The problem with residential style wood look laminate floors is they are very heavy (a laminate floor in a TM would weigh around 200 lbs more than a linoleum floor) and every ounce...much less every pound...counts, especially in a trailer that's designed to be as lightweight as possible.
A few TM owners have retrofitted their trailers with residential laminate...I personally think they exercised extremely bad judgment in doing so because of the large increase in weight that they inadvertently caused. That extra weight greatly increases the chances of a catastrophic tire blowout (a normally loaded 2720SL almost maxes out its tires' load carrrying capacity) and makes the trailer much harder to tow, especially on anything other than flat roads.