Seeking info on diff bwtn past & present models

Opps, didn't see the video clips at the top of the web page. To be fair, I'll look at them all and post what I think, and how well it compares............

[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails.......[/glow]

Ok, just looked at the clips of the inside, and all that. All I can say is WOW! Do people really camp in something so small? The closet looks larger than the shower/terlit! I couldn't possibly imagine spending more than a couple days in that if it got rainy outside! Such a small sink, and no oven either. Doesn't seem as if AC is even an option with it! True, it does have a furnace, and during the winter such a small unit must stay nice and toasty, but how about the more important time of year when most people camp, the summertime? Like Aliners, I imagine it fits a certain niche of hunters, etc, that aren't intended on really using it so much for "camping" as it is simply a place to rest at the end of the day. Sure, it has plenty of storage......tho not much more than the TM's do, but seems as it comes at a high price as far as living space unlike the TM. In the video of the girl laying on the bed looking so sprawled out and spacious, now picture her next to her hubby crammed in the back where the roof tapers down, bumping her head in the middle of the night trying to crawl over hubby to go use the bathroom?
Also, noticed it had a "shower", um, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't remember any mention of any hot water heater....what good's a cold shower? Matter of fact, I don't remember seeing one thing on holding tank capacities....grey or black, but with a cassette style terlit, I'd say it's not much more than a gallon or two.....three at most. (Remember, ya have to lug that "cassette" to the dump station every time ya need to empty it). In all fairness, if I were given a choice of my TM, in it's condition when I got it, and a brand new Fold n Roll, (totally free), I'd have to say hands down I'd take my TM, and do all the work I did all over again! But to be fair, the camper like I said fills a certain niche of the market, and it does have some rather innovative engineering with the lift system, but not sure with all the motors and such they'd hold up under a lot of use, hence the problematic Apache's if anyone remembers them. (I hear tell you can still actually find the motors for them at around $125.00 a pop if you're lucky.....too bad they never had a lifetime warrenty on the lift systems. Anyway, a few random thoughts about your choices anyway. Hope that it helps.....

[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails.......[/glow]

Texas, yup, it sure does have a shower, see the curtains in the pic? Just doesn't have a tub, the whole bathroom is self contained with a drain in the floor hence anything below the "break line" of where it separates, is all moulded plastic.

[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails........[/glow]

[B_and_D]

That is indeed an interesting little trailer, the FoldNRoll, isn't it? I agree that it is much too small, especially for a family of 4!!

The Trailmanor on RVtraderonline is too far away for us to consider, but looks like it would be OK for someone in the area or willing to travel that far. We are in CA and just about out of vacation time. I think that "wet bathroom" is like many other cabover campers and smaller trailers, nothing wrong with it. I agree also that it would be nice to have a shelf near the rear "bedroom". From the way the TM's are constructed, it looks like it is very hard to hang shelves unless you want to drill straight through the walls and secure with nuts & bolts and reinforcing metal brackets (and of course they would have to be removable, like on brackets). I went crazy with shelves in our old trailer and also hooks. We had stuff hanging everywhere.

We looked at a TM 2 states away about 3 weeks ago. My husband wasn't with me, and as it didn't seem "perfect" I wouldn't take the plunge without his blessing. One of the things that seemed kind of weird about it (especially after seeing Civil War Buff's brand new 2720 in San Jose) was the way that the rear end kind of tilted down towards the back when it was closed. That back end was also hard to close. The bed sliding part kept hanging up on something, but we couldn't figure it out after going inside several times to see what it could be scraping against. Could this have been because of the scissor jacks being cranked up and it not being level? It just seemed kind of out of kilter.

Does this ever happen to you when you try to close it?

Too far away to consider? Hmmm, perhaps you're forgetting what you're picking up? Lol, known quite a few people to make a mini vacation out of simply buying, and picking up their TM. (tho that would be a little far to travel if it turned out to be a bum wrap). as far as the rear end dipping down, mine does, I think it's more for water runoff. Sometimes they can be hard to close, but some simple adjustments can fix that right up. The beds hanging up are usually due to simply not closing them straight in. Lol, one of those minor difficulties sometimes we all deal with, but don't even think about or remember from being new to them I suppose. (If ya push in on one side or another, no, they will give a little bit of a hard time, which is perfectly understandable, I don't try to push in my drawers at home from one side or the other either). Picture the beds as simply really big, wide drawers at home, you won't likely have many problems with them after that. And yes, that fold n roll is a pretty neat concept.....if I were in that type of niche tho, I think I'd own that Aliner that also doubles as a boat trailer. Now that's really neat concept for those bass fisherman type that want a camper, and a boat trailer in one! Front of it is a small Aliner camper, the rear section is a boat trailer....Perfect for weekends fishing on your local lake! But as far as a camper that you can really do time in, I'd not give up all the space I have with my TM. As I've stated before on this board, my dad has a 35" bluebird with all the bells and whistles, aside from more storage area, more heaters, ac, etc, and a HUGE generator, I've still got all the space he does for living in! The really funny part is he's got more in his tires than I do in my whole trailer! (chuckle) And I don't have to rent a vehicle when I get to my destination, and I don't have to deal with 6-8 mpg! ;D Poor fella took his bluebird down to Myrtle Beach, SC for a week, got there, and next day found out he had two REALLY BAD disks in his back, and spent the whole vacation on the couch inside the thing. I think he said he got to see the ocean once while he was down there! I guess he'll be ok tho. But not to get sidetracked, if you're in the niche for a family sized camper with all the towability of a popup, but prefer a hard sided camper with all the features of a regular TT, then the TM is for you. They're garageable, (no storage fees), they're light, and very well insulated. As far as MPG go, I've found I get about the same mileage towing my TM as I do just driving around town, trust me, I know how well my TV does both around town, and on the highway, my trip odometer was set on around 136 when I left for work this am, and sitting on 249 when I stopped for gas on the way home from work....an average, if not slow day for me in fact! (all around town miles btw, no highways miles). At any rate, there's not too many drawbacks to the TM's. Agreed, they're not for everyone, but for some, they're the best things ever invented.

[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails............[/glow]

Boy!, I am so glad our TM dealer is only five minutes away!
Red

Texas Camper does it exactle as I do it. Some folks way raise their stabilizers before closing their units, but I've found that closing while as level as possible is much easier. Once we are closed, our five year old cranks up the stabilizers while I attach the bikes to the rear of the Trailmanor.

While we're on this topic... what year was it that the water heater changed from 3 to 6 gal. and also when did they change from propane only to prop/elec.?

We had a 1988 model 23 which is the same as the 2720. The biggest differences were the A/C unit was in the wall and took up kitchen cupboard space, as well as leaf spring suspension instead of the newer torsion bar suspension.

Chuckle, Pappa S, nope, the leaf spring suspenion is for the axles, not your lift system. The torsion springs YOU DO HAVE.........look at the end of your travel arms, (the part that goes up into the upper clam shells), at the bottom, is one end of your torsion springs.....they're not coiled like regular springs, instead, they're a perpendicular "L" shape with a twist in another direction, but still accomplish the same purpose as a spring. (Mine's a 1986, and it even has the same springs in it). Yup, those long bars of steel that run side to side under your TM are the torsion springs btw. Oh, and cabinet air is a feature that's just recently been phased out as they're designed to be garagable...........With a few small changes here and there Pappa S, your TM isn't much different from the newer ones. Hope this helps!

[glow=red,2,300]Happytrails........[/glow]