We decided on ours due to its weight, size, and construction. We wanted something that can be towed with a 4-cylinder sedan that can tow 1500 lbs. The Livin Lite Quicksilver 8.1 weighs 860 lbs. dry. It is also all aluminum. No wood, particle boards, plastic, or steel that can rot, wharp, or rust. Actually I think the axle, step, and stabilizers are steel but that's it. Even the wheels are aluminum. Granted, it is quite bare and small (8' box) but it suits our needs perfectly... for now.
Everything that you mentioned. We started by taking the owner's manual for the V70 to an RV dealer and asking them "What can we tow with this?" correctly figuring they'd show us the biggest unit we could tow. Once we had that, we got together a list of "must haves" and "would likes," and started hunting craigslist, ebay and the classifieds for units that had all the "musts" and some of the "likes." Eventually we found a fixer-upper at a great price that had all the "musts" and "likes," it was towable, and even had the best floorplan we'd seen. It's still got some problems, mainly no portable water or dc power, put it's perfect for us.
I fell in love with the Apache classic pups :chief:. I loved the restore-ability of these campers, as DH and I love a project (just about everything can be replaced/modified), and that I can still order parts.
These are really well designed and built campers. I love that is a solid state pop-up, and there is no canvas to deal with! I think it's great that I can pull it easily with my Pacifica CUV, and yet there is 21 feet of living space when it's popped up. Also, it was FREE ;D
We bought ours right before a trip that was going to be week long in tents. Found a deal that was a trade in at a dealership the day before. It had a great floor plan but to be honest my big selling point was being able to travel and not spend the bulk of our budget on fuel. It sleeps up to 8 and with a family of 6 that helped. We still have to figure our some of the nice features but I plan on breaking it in well. It had one previous owner and they cared for it well.
Price! We were saving to buy a new tent as ours ended up with a huge rip last season. We usually camp for a week at a time away from home even though we have 3 SPs within an hours drive, we've never camped at them. So we like the large three room tents. I was almost there for the Coleman 8man Instant when DH called me at work and said he just used $200 of my tent monies to buy a popup. Wasn't thrilled with first sight, but loving my tent on wheels now.
size and condition.
I wanted a PU to go to Grand Teton/Yellowstone.
Bid on a few on ebay, saw a few in person that were junk.
Finally saw a newspaper ad for one the right size and price.
I was the first to see it and hauled it home.
Intended to sell it after returning from WY but still have it 7+ years later.
After a week full of SPUTS in 2010 and then a trip to Ft. Clinch with friends and their cables broke (one of our SPUTS too), they left for home for repairs. We stayed the full reservation of one more night, and the site next to ours had a new couple drive in the dark. The lady walked her little dog past our site and started talking to me about my dogs on tie-outs. She mentioned her DH was setting up their camper and that it was a TrailManor. She said it was a hardsided pop up type and it was so easy to set up that she let her DH do it all himself. Intrigued, I asked to watch the set up. It was exactly what we needed so my DH could survive injuries and enjoy camping! Otherwise, I don't think we would be camping anymore.
Within a few weeks, we were proud owners of our TrailManor and have really enjoyed it and camping many times since!
I have had mine for a number of years, but bought it new when I decided I did not like sleeping on the ground any more. Have some friends that had just bought one and I liked theirs. They had gotten a good deal (friend was a car salesman so he knows how to "work the deal")so called their salesman and asked about getting the same deal. I actually think I got a better deal because the salesman said "sure" and then had to come back and tell me that there were not any more of that model available as it was the end of year. I got the next year's model for $75 more but got lots of upgrades. My friend was not too excited about my upgrades!!!!! Anyway, I still have mine and they have since sold theirs. 🙂
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