After the last trip to Gig Harbor I had a couple of complaints about the Clipper Cadet. Specifically, the positioning of the toilet in the very small bathroom and the fact that there is no tank monitoring system installed. The lack of any sliders in our previous Class A and this trailer is also slightly irritating.
After we came back from our trip we had several debates about these issues and the various ways we could fix it.
1. Add a booster to the toilet and see if it could be rotated towards the shower basin This would give it plenty of legroom and allow the door to properly close and install a tank monitoring system for fresh water (we actually ran out of fresh water on the way home), and both the gray and black water tanks. After talking with our current RV shops we estimated these two things to cost us about $3,000 to have them installed.
2. Trade in the trailer and replace it with one that has everything we require, large bathroom with a spacious toilet, monitoring system and control panel, maybe a slider.
3. Same as option 2 except a 5th wheel.
4. Replace the trailer with a used Class A diesel pusher or a Class A gas.
5. Replace the trailer with a used Class C from CruiseAmerica.com.
So these options really opened up numerous issues that had to be addressed. Like, a diesel push that was less than 10 years old (2011 or newer) would cost a minimum of $100K.
A gas Class A would cost less but would have a few issues getting through mountains in areas like Grants Pass or Mount Shasta along I-5. Especially if towing a car.
A Class A would also require a few sacrifices ... we would no longer need the RAM 2500 to pull anything and it would be too large to pull behind the Class A ... it would have to go.
Switching the trailer out with a 5th wheel is a possible option, but they are usually heavier than a travel trailer and we might get a bit stuck on size, weight and dimensions or have to upgrade to a bigger truck like a 3500 or F350. If we did manage to find one that would work on the current RAM 2500 we would lose the tonneau cover including the extra, dry storage space in the bed and would have to buy & install the 5th wheel hardware in the bed (it is prepped for the hardware for both 5th wheel and gooseneck towing).
Buying a Class A would require a TOAD like a jeep or maybe the ML350 sitting in the driveway. After the first Class A we decided to go with a truck/trailer combo for multiple reasons ... 1) to not have to depend on others (or uber or taxi) for transportation and 2) less maintenance cost on the bigger engines and drive trains of a Class A.
So we dove into Craigslist, FB marketplace, dealer websites, and classifieds to see what was happening and available in our immediate area ... spreading out about 50 miles from our center. We even visited a local RV Expo in our area and saw some really, really nice Class A's !!
But no matter what we found, the end result was pretty much always the same thing.
A. The price was too high for a relatively new Class A diesel or even newer gas one.
B. Buying a Class A would require the sale or trade-in of our existing trailer and truck and the subsequent purchase of a TOAD.
C. Same situation for a used Class C from CruiseAmerica ... those run about $54,000 after a complete refurbish and there is a waiting list for them.
D. 5th wheels are nice, they have tons of room, usually 2-3 slides but like travel trailers, not many of them have built in generators, and if they do they are usually to heavy for our RAM 2500.
E. We would also like to take our recumbent trikes with us on trips to hopefully use bike trails wherever we visit. There were several on Gig Harbor that could be accessed. But there is no way to get the trikes into those little trailer doors ... that would require something more like a Toy Hauler.
Hmmmm ... made to haul toys, like quads, motorcycles, dune buggies and such .... interesting.
Also notable, Toy haulers usually have two things that travel trailers do NOT have ... a fuel station and a generator built in.
No comments:
Post a Comment