We have always had Class C and B motorhomes. Prior to purchasing our PC four years ago we were going to buy a small travel trailer for boondocking a couple of weeks or even a month at a time. We wanted a light weight trailer 25 feet long or so and researched them extensively. In the last few years light weight travel trailers have really come into vogue because they can be towed with a properly equipped SUV. I drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee with the towing package and it has a 7200 pound towing capacity and a 1000 pound tongue weight limit and a big ole Hemi engine. We found some really nicely designed trailers around 4500 dry weight.
Many things were the final detractions to the trailer idea.
(1) We have always had a dog and always travel with our little friend. No go in a trailer, although we could have just used the back of the SUV for Sally Ann the Wonder Dog. You simply can't travel with a dog in a trailer for all the obvious reasons.
(2) These light weight trailers are light weight because of the way they are built and everything in them is flimsy compared to most Class Cs. If you get a nice trailer you will be looking at a lot of weight and a big pickup to pull it.
(3) Ability to use the house of a motorhome going down the road or for making pull overs to rest stops. Others have elaborated on that topic.
(4) Safety. While we were looking and thinking about all this, a couple who lived in a small town about forty miles down the road from us had just retired. They bought a nice trailer and headed out for a summer of camping in the Rockies. On the way to their destination in Colorado they pulled over to take a break just off I-40 outside Santa Rosa, New Mexico. They were approached and then attacked by three men who ended up killing them and stealing their trailer and tow vehicle after dumping their bodies in the bareness of the Eastern New Mexico desert country. They had escaped from a prison in Arizona a few days earlier. Now, that could have happened anywhere to anybody under any circumstances. The ability to just have your doors locked, pull off the highway for a rest or lunch and never having to leave your
coach became pretty darn appealing to us after that incident was in the news and the ensuing manhunt was constantly in the national news for a few weeks before they were captured.
(5) Heat. We live in a part of the country that can experience real heat in the summer. A trailer going down the road can quickly reach 120 F or more ambient temp in just a few minutes.
(6) No generator. Yes, you can rig one on the back (often after you reinforce the bumper). AND, you have to break camp, hook up and take off to dump your tanks if you are out in the wilds we enjoy.
(7) Unless you are proficient in pulling a trailer, think about backing the thing into a tight campsite while all your new best friends stand there and grin.
If you have not pulled a trailer in the past you might find a big empty parking lot near your home and spend the next several Sundays giving yourself backing instructions.
There is more I could list, but it is a beautiful spring day and guess what I am doing this morning: dewinterizing my Phoenix Cruiser and rejoicing that we didn't buy a trailer.
Paul
