Who owns or has owned a travel trailer?

Just curious on here who's owned or owns a travel trailer.
I was thinking of getting one myself, vintage of course to match the barge.
The original owner had towed with it, as it had the factory adjustable rear air shocks, a tow bar which was replaced with a receiver hitch, and trailer brakes. So a part of me wants to relive the life it once had, and tow a travel trailer around for cheap family vacations.
Anyone have any experiences, opinions, stories, brand reviews or anything else about travel trailers and camping feel free to post.

 

Lots of different ways to camp.

We started with a tent.
Moved up to a '72 Ford Courier, with a camper shell. I build some interior cabinets, with an arrangement for a bed on top of them.

Stepped up to a small Cab-over camper unit in a longbed Toyota P/U.


Then, we got serious.....
We thought about buying a travel trailer, but decided to rent one first. This is the rig we toured the Grand Canyon and Utah's national parks with, in 1985:


When it came time to buying, we decided that with 2 small girls, a 5th wheel TT was more practical for us. We bought a full-sized Komfort 26' unit. No pics, but it looked similar to this one (this one might be a foot or two longer...):


That was around 1987 or so.
Kids grew. Sold the trailer. After a couple year gap, we bought a regular travel trailer - 23 foot Wilderness bunkhouse (3 bunks)


Towed the 5th wheel with a '79 Ford F-350 Crew Cab, long bed. Was really more truck than we needed. The trailer would have been fine with an F-250.
Towed the 23' Wilderness with a '97 (light-duty) Ford F-250 (the one with 7-lug wheels, looks like a F-150...)

What we learned:
- If you're only going out a couple times per year, RENT a trailer. Don't buy.
- If you're going to buy...........
- Examine all the floor plans, and figure out which one is the best for your situation. We loved the bunkhouse unit when the kids got a bit older (5+), as they had their own 'space' (and their own entrance, too!) There's a lot of different ways you can put together a TT. Our Wilderness had the 3 bunks in the back, and did not have a separate bedroom. It had a HUGE U-shaped dinette across the front that sat a lot of people, and converted into a king-size bed for us at night.
- See if you can make do with a 'lightweight' unit. Our 5th wheel was 'full-size' - heavier, and was a full 8' wide. Our Wilderness TT was a lightweight, and only 7' wide - a lot easier to tow.
- Figure out what sort of exterior side walls you want. Both of mine were aluminum skinned. I would have preferred the solid side panels that a lot of TT's are coming with now (pictured below)

- I think it looks a lot better.
- Make sure your tow vehicle is adequate to handle your trailer. When we bought the 5th wheel, the 'salesman' said our little GMC S-15 would tow it - "no problem". I should have known better, but didn't. One short trip convinced us we needed a bigger truck.

For your big wagon (Mercury), You could probably go up to 23' or so, depending on weight. One other idea would be a camping tent trailer.....
This one's a '72:


Or, maybe a Hi-Lo.....(Top half lowers for traveling...)


Let me know if you have any other questions.....

 

As always KK great info.

No travel trailer here. Although we owned a sad tent trailer for one summer. It never went any where, that is another story, but the kids had a blast in it all summer.

 

Wow that was loaded with info! Thanks!
The wife found someone local (enough) selling a Holiday Rambler thats in great shape, looks similar to this one.

Its a 27ft Aluma-frame trailer weighs about 4,800 lbs.
Interior is original 70s flair... Looks tasteful and timeless to me instead of overdone. Besides i like harvest gold!
I cant find a lot of information on it since they got bought out multiple times.
How high end of a trailer company was it? Be nice to "match" high end wagon with a nice "high end" trailer.
On other news, I forgot to mention that the barge has a transmission cooler, so the original owner must have ordered this new, and loaded it much like I would have if i was buying it new.

 

Holiday Rambler was a more expensive trailer than average when new (and still is, as far as I know). Only thing is the weight - you might not have too much of a margin...
- What you might want to do is make sure your wagon is set up completely for towing - good mechanicals, and a brake controller already installed. Then, ask the seller if it would be OK to hook it up and see how it tows.......just a short drive.

 

The rule of thumb, for towing, is not to tow anything heavier than the tractor vehicle. I was once pulled off the road, for doing that, after some snitch with one of the first cell phones was driving behind me and saw me skid. Instead of friendly offers of help, the Wuss calls the cops, as he drives away. This happened when I was towing an Austin Morris 1800 using a Renault 12 as a tractor and it happened in police state Sweden (nowadays, they're getting the pay back. Ha!)
I wonder where all that weight is placed, in that Rambler, being it has no drive train and is supposedly constructed from aluminum. It weighs so much that only a few cars are heavier like maybe a fat old Lincoln

 

What usually 'tips the scales' as far as weight is concerned on a TT, is where the 'kitchen' is. A kitchen layout in the rear (not common) will require the axles to be a bit further back than other layouts, to get the correct balance. Most layouts have the kitchen somewhere in the middle.

 

I had a '65 GMC van I set up for camping and had it 13 years back in the 80's early 90's. Lots of great camping trips and memories. But..that got old so we bought a 75 Ford Econoline with a 'Turtle Top', fridge, table, bed, air conditioning! real nice on road trips. After years of van camping we bought our first travel trailer in 2004, a '71 Tag-A-Long. It was neat and we soon found ourselves in with the vintage trailer scene. Later we spotted a 1965 Aristocrat Lo-Liner and really liked it. We have a nice condition '66 Lo-Liner now. Since repainted but the interior is pristine. These were pretty cheap at the time but prices are rising for ones in good condition.

 

Cool Trailer Kid!

I found a vintage ad for Holiday Rambler for 1977, and they have a Marquis pulling an Imperial 5000.
I need to find those vintage fender mount trailer mirrors!

 

Hey, TujungaKid, What are you doing with my camping trailer!?

 

Just borrowing it... to sleep in... they're not doing any naughty stuff... promise... he'll bring it back soon!

 

An interior shot of the Imperial 5000.
Fancy!

 

Oh, we have got to get you two together! No motel room needed!

 

I started camping in a trailer when I was 6.

My Folks had a 1979 Ideal that Dad pulled with his 1979 F-250 Crew Cab. They are in the foreground of the photo bellow.
My folks camped in that set up for years. After most of us kids "grew up and moved out" they upgraded to a newer truck and trailer.
A fun little side note, the trailer and truck on the other side of the Ideal belonged to my Grandparents. I now own both the trailer and truck...


I purchased the trailer (a 1969 Aristocrat Lo-Liner) from my Grandparents first and used it as a hunting/camping rig and towed it with my 78 F-250 Crew Cab.



Then, I got a "New" truck...



Then, Grandpa decided he was ready to sell me his truck (a 1969 F-100)
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/threads/my-grandfathers-pick-up.29246/



Then my family grew and my Wife and I decided we needed a bigger trailer.




And for those of you who were able to follow all of that...
I still have two trucks and two camping trailers.

 

That would be fun.