Why can't RV builders figure out the small trailer market?

[Blueblaze]

A vehicle fits in a garage because you sit down in it. If you had an RV that fit in a garage, you wouldn't be able to stand up in it, which I assume you'd also complain about.

Here it is again. 6' ceiling. 7'4" total height.

You fit into your Chevy because you're sitting down, not your garage. Your garage door is probably 7'6" high. Your garage ceiling is probably close to 9'. Andre the Giant could walk under your garage door without hitting his head. He was only 7'4".

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

I understand that headroom is not important to you as much as other things. I believe that most people like the feeling of extra space, both around them to the side and above them. And apparently people are willing to pay for that space.

What I do agree is that roof mounted A/C units seem like a poor idea. Personally would love to have the mini split idea, much quieter and save on height.

Would also like to see the roof be very clear/clean, except for potential solar panels. Reduce the number of potential water leaks; no satellite dishes, no tv antenna, no A/C, no exhaust fans (vent those out the side), no sky lights - clean and clear.
Dinette’s are usually pretty inefficient. Would like to remove ours and repurpose the space for work and eating. Have seen a couple ideas but nothing has inspired me enough to tackle it.

 

[LH25]

Your rig weighs over 4500 lbs loaded, with a hitch weight over 450 pounds. How on earth are you pulling that with an SUV?

The SUV can pull 5,000. The trailer unloaded is 3,500. We don't take much with us, and are careful about weight. We do need to take it to a truck scale and weigh in, but so far we've been fine. One advantage of not having lots of closets and other storage is that it limits what you can take with you. It helps that we are basically weekend campers, and stay close to home.

 

[GypsyR]

An issue with low ceilings is heat. Heat rises and tends to stay at the ceiling. Ask any house painter or drywall installer, it's always hotter at the top of the ladder. So with a low ceiling and standing, your head is right in that heat pocket. And when your head is uncomfortable the rest follows.
Just saying why someone, like me, might appreciate more headroom. I grew up in an un-airconditioned house that was blessed with a couple of high-ceilinged rooms and where others were eight foot. Didn't take long in summer to empirically figure out which rooms were more comfortable to sleep in.

 

[Crazydog]

Here it is again. 6' ceiling. 7'4" total height.

You fit into your Chevy because you're sitting down, not your garage. Your garage door is probably 7'6" high. Your garage ceiling is probably close to 9'. Andre the Giant could walk under your garage door without hitting his head. He was only 7'4".

You should go into business building and selling your portable closet on wheels, because as you say there are so many people wanting exactly this.

 

[Blueblaze]

Here's what I'm talking about. The first picture is a brand new, $14K Coachman Clipper 14CR. Because you just can't have enough 3" cushions. Of course, it has the standard, requisite dinette up front, which converts to a miniature 48x68 inch, bed-like collection of 3" sofa cushions, for your night-time discomfort. On the side opposite the galley, it has that all-important bar, with a couple of really uncomfortable fold-up bar stools to sit on, just in case you forgot to convert your front nighttime sleep torture device into your daytime luncheon torture device.

But don't think I'm just picking on Coachman. I count 21 other nearly identical versions of this trailer, from every imaginable competitor. You can spend over $40,000 on this misery, if you're determined to get the best!

And you still need a pickup truck to tow it, and a storage lot to keep it, for the other 11 months of the year. On the bright side, you do get a dry bath and a decent-sized freezer, with a stove for all those gourmet dinners you'll be cooking, out there in camp wilderness. You even get a closet for your tee-shirts (provided you don't mind smashing them down a little, because it's too narrow for a standard-sized hangar). And, to top it all off, it even comes with that all-important 8' ceiling!

The 2nd picture is how I would redraw that floor plan. Instead of a dinette trying to pass for a midget's bed, mine has a real full-size bed that uses a real mattress, in a size you can buy anywhere. As a bonus, I get an enormous pass-through trunk underneath. But I had to give up the gourmet dinners (and the heavy propane tank) to get it. Instead of that silly bar, I have a double-recliner. It would have swiveling TV trays with drink holders, attached to the arms. Yes, it would have to be specially made to avoid the wheel well, but notice, there is plenty of room to fully recline while watching TV. Oh, and I fixed the closet, which merely required moving the door 6" to the right.

What you can't see is the 6' ceiling, which allows the unit to fit into a standard garage, while reducing the weight and air resistance, so that an SUV can tow it.

See how easy this is? Why are 21 different RV builders unable to figure this out?

 

[Buc]

You should go into business building and selling your portable closet on wheels, because as you say there are so many people wanting exactly this.

Ask this company how these things go. I’d forgotten about them, but just drove by and saw the sign.

 

[LH25]

What you can't see is the 6' ceiling,

Hubby is 6'3". A 6' ceiling ain't gonna cut it for him. Again, we all do want different things. I like my dinette and couch. Not much storage so I can't easily overload myself. Someday, when we are retired, we will want different things, but for now we like our Epro.

 

[redbaron]

Here's what I'm talking about. The first picture is a brand new, $14K Coachman Clipper 14CR. Because you just can't have enough 3" cushions. Of course, it has the standard, requisite dinette up front, which converts to a miniature 48x68 inch, bed-like collection of 3" sofa cushions, for your night-time discomfort. On the side opposite the galley, it has that all-important bar, with a couple of really uncomfortable fold-up bar stools to sit on, just in case you forgot to convert your front nighttime sleep torture device into your daytime luncheon torture device.

But don't think I'm just picking on Coachman. I count 21 other nearly identical versions of this trailer, from every imaginable competitor. You can spend over $40,000 on this misery, if you're determined to get the best!

And you still need a pickup truck to tow it, and a storage lot to keep it, for the other 11 months of the year. On the bright side, you do get a dry bath and a decent-sized freezer, with a stove for all those gourmet dinners you'll be cooking, out there in camp wilderness. You even get a closet for your tee-shirts (provided you don't mind smashing them down a little, because it's too narrow for a standard-sized hangar). And, to top it all off, it even comes with that all-important 8' ceiling!

The 2nd picture is how I would redraw that floor plan. Instead of a dinette trying to pass for a midget's bed, mine has a real full-size bed that uses a real mattress, in a size you can buy anywhere. As a bonus, I get an enormous pass-through trunk underneath. But I had to give up the gourmet dinners (and the heavy propane tank) to get it. Instead of that silly bar, I have a double-recliner. It would have swiveling TV trays with drink holders, attached to the arms. Yes, it would have to be specially made to avoid the wheel well, but notice, there is plenty of room to fully recline while watching TV. Oh, and I fixed the closet, which merely required moving the door 6" to the right.

What you can't see is the 6' ceiling, which allows the unit to fit into a standard garage, while reducing the weight and air resistance, so that an SUV can tow it.

See how easy this is? Why are 21 different RV builders unable to figure this out?

Seems like you found your solution. Purchase the one RV, pull out the 2 items you don't like and replace with items you do like....problem solved.

 

[Rich W.]

The OP made a lot of good points and I haven’t read all the posts here, but I recently started looking at TT’s for a possible downsizing, and I can say that Outdoors RV seems to make about the best conventional travel trailers out there. I watched a series of three videos on their construction process, and I’m fairly convinced that if I were to buy a TT it would be an Outdoors unit. I’m not including Airstream in this comparison because they are in a different class and I wouldn’t want one anyway.

 

[Blueblaze]

Ask this company how these things go. I’d forgotten about them, but just drove by and saw the sign.

View attachment 24925

Maybe they went belly-up because, with their little teardrop trailer, you had to go outside to make your gourmet 7-course dinner in Smokey the Bear's backyard. And they literally missed every other one of my requirements, to boot.

I think you're making my case.

 

[Blueblaze]

The OP made a lot of good points and I haven’t read all the posts here, but I recently started looking at TT’s for a possible downsizing, and I can say that Outdoors RV seems to make about the best conventional travel trailers out there. I watched a series of three videos on their construction process, and I’m fairly convinced that if I were to buy a TT it would be an Outdoors unit. I’m not including Airstream in this comparison because they are in a different class and I wouldn’t want one anyway.

The smallest trailer they make weighs 6,000 pounds. The tow limit on my SUV (like most mid-size SUV's) is 3500.

 

[Blueblaze]

Seems like you found your solution. Purchase the one RV, pull out the 2 items you don't like and replace with items you do like....problem solved.

That's the problem. I CAN'T pull out those two items and replace them. There's a giant wheel well in the way of the recliner, and I'd have to throw away the galley in order to install a normal-sized mattress, barely big enough for two for normal-sized Americans. Even then, I'd still be stuck with that 8' ceiling and that rooftop AC, so it would still be too heavy to pull with a mid-size SUV (not to mention, to tall to fit in my garage).

Once again, YOU'RE MAKING MY CASE.

 

[Blueblaze]

Hubby is 6'3". A 6' ceiling ain't gonna cut it for him. Again, we all do want different things. I like my dinette and couch. Not much storage so I can't easily overload myself. Someday, when we are retired, we will want different things, but for now we like our Epro.

I like the Epro, too, but I'm not convinced we want different things. I just wonder, if Epro made a trailer where that Murphy bed converted into a recliner with TV trays, instead of a couch, and if that Epro actually fit into your garage -- would your hubby discover that he didn't mind bending over a little bit when he wasn't sleeping or eating or watching TV, if it saved him $1,000/year to own it? How about if it saved 5mpg while pulling it, and added 10,000 miles to the life of his SUV??

It's a tough call. I don't know what it's like to be a member of that less than 1% of the population who are over 6 ft tall. I just think it's kind of weird to design ALL little trailers for big people.

 

[LH25]

would your hubby discover that he didn't mind bending over a little bit when he wasn't sleeping or eating or watching TV, if it saved him $1,000/year to own it?

For us, yes he would mind. And we have space to store it next to our driveway. Heck, we don't even have a garage. . And we knew the gas milage wouldn't be great, as I said we tend to stay close-ish to home since we do 2-4 night trips. For now.

 

[Buc]

I found the trailer. Apologies for the over the shoulder iPhone pic.

 

[Buc]

Maybe they went belly-up because, with their little teardrop trailer, you had to go outside to make your gourmet 7-course dinner in Smokey the Bear's backyard. And they literally missed every other one of my requirements, to boot.

I think you're making my case.

No, they went belly up because the trailer market is oversaturated with used trailers post-COVID. I see their trailers every time I go camping.

I also can’t imagine wanting to sit in my trailer when the great outdoors is right there. But, for what it’s worth, we’ve had eleven people in our trailer waiting out a storm and been fine.

 

[Rich W.]

The smallest trailer they make weighs 6,000 pounds. The tow limit on my SUV (like most mid-size SUV's) is 3500.

Yes but they are built well with good materials which increases the weight. The upside is that they don’t fall apart in two years.

 

[Blueblaze]

I found the trailer. Apologies for the over the shoulder iPhone pic.

View attachment 24940

Close, but no cigar. They make a bigger tandem axle 6x12 that's nearly perfect. The only problem is, you can't buy them used anymore. I checked.

 

[Crazydog]

See how easy this is? Why are 21 different RV builders unable to figure this out?

21 different RV builders are smart enough to know that nobody wants what only you are looking for.