Renting Toy Hauler/Travel Trailer

Tom@BigTimeKustomz · Mar 5, 2016

You're on the money there bud for sure. I should be in a 1/2 ton truck, but jumped straight to the 1 ton because I figured it would come in handy one day. LOL Wife and I are hoping to expand our family so I'd rather buy one bigger that we can grow into.

I appreciate all the advice given in this thread guys.

TyCorr · Mar 5, 2016

Tom@BigTimeKustomz said:
Yeah, I'm 6'4 so not having to crouch down inside the trailer would be a bonus. I've been looking in Florida and Texas as well as 400 miles away from me and found some good deals. Even found a few at a dealer 20 minutes away from me, coincidentally where we bought our last camper, a 2000 Catalina diesel pusher.

I'm really thinking a 5er is the way to go if I'm going to purchase. Going to take Ty's advice and see if the dealer will rent me one for a week. At least that would be cheaper than buying one and we hate it, err my wife hates it. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and now we've got a chance to do it.

Thanks also for the tip regarding weather. I would like to use it as much as possible in all weather, so I'll look for that.

Im 6'3 or 4 myself and you'll be pretty miserable in a bumper pull.

Justins is 36 foot i believe I already stated and he pulls it with a bonestock 07 6l.

Im not judging anyone here and its something I would do myself but if you get something decent and its insulated you can always use it like extra bedrooms if you have people over to your house. I guess it depends on your friends and family. I wouldnt be offended if offered a camper to sleep in.

Bumper pull is ok but i wouldnt want to go more than a couple hours. With your truck and long wheelbase a fiver would pull so nice it'd be nuts to go any other route.

Good luck and keep us updated. Very interesting topic. To me anyway!

Tom@BigTimeKustomz · Mar 5, 2016

Yeah me too Ty, I honestly can't believe there are 3 pages of replies. I know I'm always looking at them on the highways, especially those Cyclone Toy Haulers. Man they are sweet!

The 5er would be parked here in front of my house so if I had company over I would absolutely offer the option of sleeping in the trailer.

You have any pics of Justin's trailer? I'm thinking at least a 30' would be good for what we'll use it for. Besides a summer 2 week trip or so, wife and I can do long weekend trips to Nascar races, take it to concerts, stuff like that. As much as we can use it, we will.

Emery19 · Mar 5, 2016

Kinda forgot about this thread, and like you said I can't believe there's three pages of replies. love me some good camper threads.

My dad has had a camper as long as i can remember up till 2009ish. and we camped for the first 18 years of my life. we always had bumper pulls but were seasonal most of it. loved every second of it. sounds like your on the right track as far as what you want.

I would suggest the fifth wheel too, just for what you want to do with it, i was planning on starting out with a bumper pull myself since i have a full weight set up for it, but after being in my buddies fifth wheel i may have changed my mind.

He's stock 350 on 35's and the only time he's come close to bed rails is off camber stuff. but he does have plans on flipping his axles.

my biggest concern with the fifth wheel for me personally is size for one person, but with the wife and expanding family, might as well get bigger now then later.

Biggest thing we looked for on trailers, even though dad mostly bought new, was the roof and the tanks. checking for leaks and what not and making sure everything works. cosemetic stuff is easy enough to spot, but if a roof leaks or the mechanisms for a slide go out, or a tank bursts thats where the money is. at least imo from my experience.

TyCorr · Mar 6, 2016

Tom@BigTimeKustomz said:
Yeah me too Ty, I honestly can't believe there are 3 pages of replies. I know I'm always looking at them on the highways, especially those Cyclone Toy Haulers. Man they are sweet!

The 5er would be parked here in front of my house so if I had company over I would absolutely offer the option of sleeping in the trailer.

You have any pics of Justin's trailer? I'm thinking at least a 30' would be good for what we'll use it for. Besides a summer 2 week trip or so, wife and I can do long weekend trips to Nascar races, take it to concerts, stuff like that. As much as we can use it, we will.

I dont. I asked him about that. He said its two hours away in a building. I have seen it though. Its like a keystone or something. Tan with black swirly crap on the outside. Knowing Justin its proba ly the most expensive thing they had. Its even got stylish wheels on it. Its nicer than my darn house.

If you go to an rv lot its one of those that standout...lol

That 1/2 ton comment got my attention. My polish buddy Dave has a 30' he pulls with his 2012 ccsb ecoboost. Stock truck with bags out back. I helped him put it in storage two years ago and it had ZERO issues with the load. He said hes had winds twice that made it a little dicey but nothing bad.

That one I pulled, not to sound cliché but with a lifted 7.3 with 425 hp on 35s i couldnt really feel it back there. So id imagine your truck would be as enjoyable as empty to travel with.

Pstrke96 · Mar 6, 2016

I live in mine 10 months a year 40' 5er very comfortable if you like the lifestyle as stated above leaks and soft spots in the floors and wall are the biggest issue they don't like water. The rest of any repairs are easy, keep the bearings brakes and rubber maintenances and enjoy.

bluedge8 · Mar 6, 2016

I forget some of you guys are f'ing tall lol. That is one thing I really like about my trailer, the living room area goes from about 7 1/2' to 8'+ and really helps feeling like it's not a camper. My trailer is a little more aero up front which makes for a pretty tight bedroom but I'm ok with that- we were buying for the living room area. My camper is an '04 and with my stock obs with shot front springs (read=sagging almost to the bump stops) and stock rear springs (read= truck is raked pretty good) on 285's the camper is about 2" from the box at the back. I think when I level it this year it will actually help the clearance. If we do much pulling not this summer but next I will probably flip the axles. I was surprised at how cold our slide is on ours, we just bought it last spring and the heater ran a lot. The floor of the slide is steel with carpet laid on top. We stayed in it during the spring and it got down to 20* a few nights, the camper maintained temp but it definitely had cold spots. If you were to do cold weather camping all the time you could get into heated tanks and all but it gets spendy real quick. Most of us just plan for the cold. My 18' bumper pull had the fresh water tank in the camper under the sofa and I used that down to 10* with no problems- stayed warmer than the 5vr. the 5vr has the fresh water tank outside so cold weather could be a problem. I will be setting a hitch up on mine so I can pull our boat or atv's behind it. MN allows two trailers when it's a 5th wheel and as limits the second trailer to basically boats and the like. But the maximum overall length of the whole outfit is 70' and right now doing initial measurements I'm right at 70' or a touch over- might have to make the truck a short box,,,,,,, We are planning on going back out to WY in 2017
it would be a blast.

Tom@BigTimeKustomz · Mar 6, 2016

Keystone Raptor's or Fuzion seem to be the most popular and from what I'm reading a good quality coach. A quick CL search pulled up tons of used ones for under $21k and some new ones for $80k! I've got my search narrowed down to those two models but would be open to others. Last motorhome we had was a Coachman that literally fell apart over the first couple of trips, so those are pretty much out.

Thanks to this thread, which started as me looking for a bumper pull, I believe a 5er would be perfect for us. Wife and I were going to buy a boat next year, but I think the 5er would get a lot more use and we could take my Harley or the quads with us on trips.

Thanks again for all the replies guys.

Jomax · Mar 6, 2016

If you get a long 5 to wheel toyhauler. Get a triple axle. I had a 38ft 5 the wheel toyhauler double axle and it sucked. Towed like a bumper pull. If you loaded it wrong a bit. It had a nasty fish tail.

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TyCorr · Mar 6, 2016

Justins looks like the one posted above but its a 36...

Look nice with a cclb 6.7 in front of it.

Jason · Mar 6, 2016

I'm a little late to this, but I rented a 28' travel trailer 2 years ago, and went down to the coast, for the summer. Round trip, I think I put about 700 miles on it. No issues towing it, but our camp did not have hookups for dumping, so constantly having to go empty tanks sucked, we did have water and electric hookups, the cost of the state park, and trailer, were about the equivalent to a week in a 4 star hotel, but the adventure, so to speak, made it worth it. I'm still a fan of the hotel way of doing it for convenience, but man..having breakfast, and dinner outside, sleeping where it was quiet, and the ocean air sure beat the hell out of the hotel.

Tom@BigTimeKustomz · Mar 6, 2016

TyCorr said:
Justins looks like the one posted above but its a 36...

Look nice with a cclb 6.7 in front of it.

My thoughts exactly!!

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cbf9703 · Mar 7, 2016

I read enough to know I agree with the buy a used one sentiment.

Best picture I could find right now... My old one. 25 foot or so bumper pull toy hauler. Pulled great behind my EX and for well under $10k even with everything we added, well worth buying used and selling later if you don't have the need anymore. Used it for years with kids, 4 wheelers, at RV parks to offroad parks and is still going strong.

One thing I'd look at if you go toy hauler is how much cargo you can actually haul and be in your weight, especially if you have full tanks... I've seen a huge spread and many of the newer ones are way less than what my rating was because of all the fanciness inside. I'd rather haul 3 4wheelers, food, and gear, than 1 and have granite countertops, but that's also personal preference.

My only suggestion on camping spots is look into state parks in the areas you are going as well. They tend to reserve early, but some are really nice. In many states if you are a teacher or state employee, you get a nice discount as well. For me it 35% in season and 50% off season.

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Tom@BigTimeKustomz · Mar 7, 2016

That's the route I think I'm going to go, just in case my wife does not like it as much as I do. Buy something inexpensive and use it for a little while than step up

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cbf9703 · Mar 7, 2016

We stepped up from a pop-up.... So much nicer! Lol. My next camper will be a little newer, but not jumping up to anything crazy because I've got my eye on a boat. :naughty:

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SDS97_7.3 · Mar 7, 2016

cbf9703 said:
We stepped up from a pop-up.... So much nicer! Lol. My next camper will be a little newer, but not jumping up to anything crazy because I've got my eye on a boat. :naughty:

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Whispers *Yellowfin*

Tom@BigTimeKustomz · Mar 8, 2016

Ok now for another question: are there any brands to stay far away from? Last RV my family had was a Coachman which literally was falling apart as we were camping in it, so I'll be staying away from that brand. I know you can't believe everything on the Interwebz, but I trust this forum over any other forum.

I appreciate all the responses I have gotten so far.

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cbf9703 · Mar 8, 2016

Just the one experience, but I would buy another Wanderer Wagon by Thor for a starter camper. It's held up better than some of the Jayco ones friends have of the same age. Other than a new battery, flat tire, and a little caulking, I've had no issues and it's still a solid camper.

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Jomax · Mar 8, 2016

Weekend warrior had frame issues, causing the walls to fall.

Sad part is they have the best layouts..

When I had mine, I re enforced it and didn't have anymore issues.

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mandkole · Mar 8, 2016

Id be getting on to a RV site as well-- these long time camper guys know their stuff just like we are into these trucks. All of the brands do things similar and can have similar performance issues. They all use lightweight interior products and have the same design issues with stuffing 10lbs into a 5 lb bag, or trying to make weight. You must be aware of how much of 'your weight' the trailer can handle without being overweight. You'll be amazed at how little some mfgrs allow for your stuff.

The more youre around them, the easier it is to see the differences.