View Single Post
Old 02-26-2004, 08:42 PM   #4
RockyMtnRay
TrailManor Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 816
Default Re:Why did you select a Trailmanor

[quote author=jouster link=board=23;threadid=1716;start=msg12063#msg1206 3 date=1077847510]
We are considering a TrailManor. I was wondering if some of you would be so kind as to share with us what you like best/least about the TrailManor.

Would you buy one again?

If you have had one for over three years, how has the quality held up?
Many thanks
Don and Dorothy
with a 2001 Rockwood
[/quote]
After renting a Coleman popup several times I quickly decided that trailer camping beat tent camping. But I wanted a trailer with the full amenities including hot/cold running water, a real shower, flush toilet and a gray water holding tank. It had to be towable behind my then vehicle (a Jeep Cherokee) and it absolutely had to fit into my garage as I did NOT want to hassle with an RV storage facility.

Put all that together and only two brands would work: HiLo and TM. So I went to an RV show and saw them more or less side-by-side. The bottom line was that if I went HiLo I had to go with their smallest...a pretty dinky and very spartan 17 footer; with TM a 27 footer would still fit in my garage thanks to the foldaway hitches introduced on the '02 models. The TM was lighter, and with the SL version, offered an actual living room and some pretty spiffy accomodations. Yeah, the 2720SL TM was a few thousand more than the 17 foot HiLo but it offered soooo much more. So what I liked the most then is still what I like the most: Lightweight and low profile for wonderful ease of towing; ease and convenience of storage in my own garage, and full amenities in a folding yet quite spacious trailer. With any other brand I would have been limited to a small "camping trailer", with my TM I can have a full fledged "travel trailer".

I've had not a single problem with my TM and now that I know to fully maintain it (thanks to the shared knowledge here), I don't expect any problems either. After using it through 2 travel seasons, I feel it's one of the best purchases I've ever made....there've been only two areas that have been a challenge. My camping is almost all of the "dry" or "boondocking" variety in primitive campgrounds that have no hookups. As shipped by TM, its single "house" battery is not capable of providing reasonable lighting/water pump/furnace power for more than 2 or 3 days. That was rectifiable with solar panels and soon a pair of batteries. The other boondocking limitation that I have to really plan around is the small 20 gallon fresh water tank and 28 gallon gray water tank. Realistically those limit a boondocking camping experience to 2 or 3 days unless I can find someway to periodically empty the waste water (like using a blue tote to haul waste water to a dump station). The small tanks are a natural aspect of having a lightweight trailer but I do wish they were bigger. If I were primarily a "hookups" style traveler, neither of these would have been issues.

Would I buy again? Definitely but I have no idea when that would happen. I expect my current TM to last many years and since I travel solo, it's more than big enough for me for the 2 day to 10 day trips I've taken so far. I've sometimes thought a 3326 would be nice...lots of extra storage and the side dinnette would be much more convenient for eating than the fold down couch tables. But I'd have to spend several thousand modifying my house/garage to be able to store it at home and I just can't justify that expense now. A big 3326 might make sense in maybe in 5 to 8 years when I more or less fully retire and travel for a month or two at a time.

RockyMtnRay is offline   Reply With Quote