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Which travel trailer to buy that has 2 bedrooms: bunkhouse & king bed?

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JessicaH

RVF Newbee
Joined
Jan 8, 2023
Messages
2
We are looking to buy our first travel trailer. We are a family of 4, with 2 kids under 5. We will just be weekend warriors, and will use this trailer as an extra office and storage when home during the week.

Our requirements are 2 bedroom (bunkhouse and prefer a king bed in master). Must have room for a couch and dinner table. Prefer it to have good storage underneath, and would prefer an outdoor kitchen.

There are so many options and haven’t found a source to compare all floorplans to quickly filter out our requirements. Where is the best place to begin, or are there any recommendations?
 
Pretty much every manufacturer will have this floor plan except you may have to give up on the king bed in the master. I'm not sure how many of those are out there. I would start by figuring out your budget and researching reliability of various brands to see if you can narrow it down. Once you've got a list of brands you're interested in, go to their websites and see which models will fit your needs. You may also want to go to an RV show so you can check out a few models in person.

The other thing to investigate is whether your truck can tow the trailer your want. With a bunkhouse, you're going to be in a fairly large, fairly heavy trailer - either a travel trailer that's over 33 feet in length or a fifth wheel. My guess is that you're most likely going to need a 3500 for that; what's going to limit you is going to be the payload rather than the towing capacity. Check the sticker inside the driver's door of your truck to get its actual payload capacity (do not go off the website or what a salesman says!). Then compare that to the weight of the people and gear you expect to load in the cab and bed of the truck and the tongue weight of the trailer. The trailer manufacturers will only give you the dry tongue weight of their trailers. Add to this the weight of anything on the hitch (propane, battery, weight distributing hitch if using one, spare tire if it's up front, etc.) and at least 10% of the weight of everything else in the trailer, depending on where it's loaded in the trailer.
 
Pretty much every manufacturer will have this floor plan except you may have to give up on the king bed in the master. I'm not sure how many of those are out there. I would start by figuring out your budget and researching reliability of various brands to see if you can narrow it down. Once you've got a list of brands you're interested in, go to their websites and see which models will fit your needs. You may also want to go to an RV show so you can check out a few models in person.

The other thing to investigate is whether your truck can tow the trailer your want. With a bunkhouse, you're going to be in a fairly large, fairly heavy trailer - either a travel trailer that's over 33 feet in length or a fifth wheel. My guess is that you're most likely going to need a 3500 for that; what's going to limit you is going to be the payload rather than the towing capacity. Check the sticker inside the driver's door of your truck to get its actual payload capacity (do not go off the website or what a salesman says!). Then compare that to the weight of the people and gear you expect to load in the cab and bed of the truck and the tongue weight of the trailer. The trailer manufacturers will only give you the dry tongue weight of their trailers. Add to this the weight of anything on the hitch (propane, battery, weight distributing hitch if using one, spare tire if it's up front, etc.) and at least 10% of the weight of everything else in the trailer, depending on where it's loaded in the trailer.
Very helpful info, thank you! We’re planning to buy a new car, so the trailer will help decide which car to get. I think a 3500 is too big for us, we were aiming for more of a 2500/250 or big suv. Really great tips for calculating the weight, thank you!!
 
Very helpful info, thank you! We’re planning to buy a new car, so the trailer will help decide which car to get. I think a 3500 is too big for us, we were aiming for more of a 2500/250 or big suv. Really great tips for calculating the weight, thank you!!
A 3500/350 will have the same dimensions as a 2500/250 unless you're getting an extended cab ("double cab") standard box truck (which isn't available in the 3500), the 3500 is much more capable and it will probably only be about $2000 more. If you're going to to a heavy duty truck, I see no reason not to get a 3500.

That's not a trailer I would pull with an SUV unless you can get yourself a used Ford Excursion or heavy duty Chevy Suburban 2500, neither of which are in production any more.
 
All brands have problems. I have a 2011 Jayco and it is great. But it was made pre covid etc. Jayco has recently gone on a quality kick, but they are owned by a larger company so we will see. I would have another one from what I have seen at shows and from friends.
 

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