Narrowing Down the Trailer

As I mentioned before, we struggled to narrow down our requirements. We had visited a couple of RV shows in the area and saw so many things we liked and so many we didn't.

For instance, we found that we liked:

• Dry baths
• Walk around beds
• Bench dinettes
• Kitchens at the front or back of the RV
• Trailers around the "18" range (the interior being about 18 feet, not necessarily the exterior)
• Power awnings
• Flat, fiberglass sides (on the outside - easier to clean)
• Bathtub instead of corner shower
• Slide-outs

We found that we didn't like:

• Wet baths
• Beds with one side up against the trailer
• U-shaped dinettes
• Dark interiors
• Entertainment center at the end of the bed

These are all things we learned just by walking around RV shows. The biggest lesson we learned? That you'll have to make some compromises in the RV you end up buying.

From our list of "we like", we started to narrow down what were must haves, and what weren't. Many of these things will depend on what you can get in the trailer you can tow. Jon will write the tow vehicle post, but our "final" decisions came down to two we could tow with our V6 SUV and one we couldn't.

We went back and forth so many times about what to get and when. For us, it came down to the fact that I do triathlons and we're constantly traveling during the summer. We wanted something we could do together for long weekends & week-long vacations regardless of season, and we wanted something we could do with friends & family. (A few of our friends & families have RVs/travel trailers/pop-ups.)

We narrowed our choices down to four VERY different options (none of which we had seen in person before coming to the decision of these four):

Sylvan Sport Go - Tent/pop-up trailer that could be used as a toy hauler, could be kept in our garage, and could be towed by the SUV with NO problems. Also the cheapest option. The biggest compromise of all of the options.
Forest River R Pod 177 - Teardrop trailer with hard sides, wet bath, small kitchen, bed up against the side of the trailer, but could be towed by the SUV. The biggest compromise of the hard sided trailers.
Lance 1575 - The biggest of the trailers that could be towed with the SUV. We really liked the Lance brand when we saw found it online. The biggest draw-back to this one was the bed.
Lance 1885 - The trailer we really wanted, but meant we'd need a new tow vehicle. We weren't crazy about the u-shaped dinette or the corner shower, but the space inside meant the bed was turned around so that it was a walk around. Big plus!

We contacted Sylvan Sport to put us in contact with the people who live locally to see one of theirs. They don't have stores, so they use their customers to help make sales (essentially).

Shortly after, we went to a local dealership and saw the R Pod.

Dinette with the table down

Kitchen

Bed against side of trailer - dark linens

Wet bath

Fridge & microwave

We liked the unit enough that after talking about it, away from the dealer, we decided to go ahead and order one. We weren't thrilled with the dealer though. Well, they never got back to us. Their loss... and a confirmation that we were right to not be thrilled with them.

While we were waiting on the Sylvan Sport owners to get back to us, we decided to go ahead and look at the Lance 1575. Well, in the week between the R-Pod fiasco and going to see the Lance, we ended up talking a lot about the 1885 and our tow vehicle. We liked the vibe we were getting from our dealer, which was a good thing! After buying a new tow vehicle, we ended up looking at the Lance 1575, 1685, and 1885.

Here are some pics of the 1575.

Bed against wall

Kitchen with microwave below stove

U-shaped dinette

Fridge & freezer

We liked that the 1885 was all season, and has the ability to add solar panels to it to charge the batteries. Here's the Lance 1885:

With the couch out

Folding the couch down to have the bed out

Kitchen - with microwave & oven!

Bathroom with corner shower and sink

Kitchen storage under the sink

We decided that we would've been "ok" in the 1575, but we were glad that we had the ability to go up to the 1885. We've been looking for about two years and when we walked into the 1885, we just knew that it was the one. It was pretty much everything we've been looking for that we were willing to tow. We were able to decide what we were willing to compromise on. The biggest things we compromised on were the corner shower and the u-shaped dinette.

Sure, we could've found EVERYTHING we were looking for in a bigger model, but we didn't want to go too long for our first trailer. We have some room to grow into this trailer and we hope to have many adventures in it!