Anyone else downsized?

Yakcraz

Adventurist
Anyone else downsized or have multiple rigs for different situations?

When we bought our first camper, we were told it was a great starter rig & that we’d eventually want to upgrade. we’ve, just me & the wife, have found that to be sorta the opposite in our situation so far. We started off with a Forest River Wildwood 201bhxl.

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It was a nice rig, but we quickly discovered a few things. It was a little much for my truck to be towing, fine going to FL but struggled some in the hills of TN. It was much more room than me & the wife needed, and kind of a real pain to set up, clean up, pack, & break down for just a weekend of camping.

We picked up this little rig. It had a leak on the galley piano hinge & some water damage from that. I repaired it & replaced the hinge with a hurricane hinge. It was perfect for weekend trips, but I was offered an amount that I couldn’t pass on at the time for it so I sold it off regrettably.
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We decided to part ways with the bigger rig & picked up this one. A Salem 195bh, thinking it would bridge the gap. On the plus side my truck tows it well. It’s got plenty of room for me & the wife. We enjoy it for longer stays, like a week. But, it’s still a little much to deal with for an overnighter or weekend trip.
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Gonna hang on to this rig but all that has led to me constructing my new weekend trailer. Anyone else be through this process or similar. Or did everyone upgrade? Curious to here your stories from tent to trailer or the opposite.
 
I think a lot of people get overwhelmed by the gear they've acquired. If you're debating staying home for the weekend vs hooking up and toting that big trailer, I'd loose it. I've become fanatical about downsizing gear. I'm always solo, so it may be easier for me. The difference for me between car camping (over landing) and backpacking has come down to an ice chest.
 
I think a lot of people get overwhelmed by the gear they've acquired. If you're debating staying home for the weekend vs hooking up and toting that big trailer, I'd loose it. I've become fanatical about downsizing gear. I'm always solo, so it may be easier for me. The difference for me between car camping (over landing) and backpacking has come down to an ice chest.
Agreed. I’ve done a lot of downsizing since we started traveling & camping. I’ve slept in the truck or tent on many occasions in my youth. Nowadays I have the wife & she’s not going camping without a few refinements. AC, heat, & staying dry & comfy being the main ones. So I installed an AC in the new weekend rig & a small electric space heater should cover it on cooler nights. It, like the previous teardrop, will be basically a 2 person tent on wheels with electricity. Should suit our needs for quick trips just right.
 
I would love to downsize... after much thought I've pretty much determined that a truck with camper on the back, 4 Wheel or otherwise, would be my ideal set up. Unfortunately the wife, 2 kids, and 3 dogs do not yet agree with me....

Consider picking up a short cargo trailer and converting it into a bunkhouse for the kids. Should be light and easy to tow behind your truck camper.

The people over on the Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailers forum have an extremely active sub forum devoted to these conversions. Amazing what some people can do with these things.
 
We down sized from 24ft Nash 5th Wheel to the 1st offroad trailer I built (roof top tent). We enjoyed our pasted rigs & done a lot of dispersed camping in different states, but your limited were you can go realistically in a large or tall camper.
In 2016 I started doing some research on adverture trailers & sold the 5th wheel trailer to a feller in Missouri. For six months I looked, read, & talked with my wife & what was important dispersed camping (getting away from people), we knew it was going to have roof top tent. What was surprising in our conversations & kept coming up was "us" being outside. We used the money from the 5th wheel to build a 1st adventure trailer.
During the build process of our roof top tent trailer we seriously thought about what we needed to have as camping gear, the amount of gear needed, that space was limited & keeping the weight down to a respective level. This is were Sally & I done more researching & stumbled onto American Adventurist were we started getting a full understanding on gear & reading members personal experiences of the gear they had & was working for them.
Since then I sold the roof top trailer (reason was of our age 60's) & start another build on a square drop which I finished last year. Sally & I find ourselves continuously adjusting our gear getting it dialed down to what we actually use & get rid of the stuff we used once or never. I like the fact that we kind of went back to the basic's of camping but with some modern conveniences (no soggy water logged perishable food) 12v. fridge. But what really is a plus to "us" is we can get deeper in the back country & stay back their camping while explore the sites known we are the only ones back there. 95 % of the time Sally & I are offroad dispersed camping, 5 % is in public RV grounds with our son & his family. I find that in public grounds (RV sites) the RVer's look @ Sally& I differently but @ the same time they can not resist coming to our site asking about our offroad squaredrop adventure trailer. We explained how we down sized & enjoy plotting our destinations offroading to locations deep in the backcountry (Sally is shown pictures on her phone) were they ask "were are these spots?" but when you explain your "rig" will never make it there. Then you see by their facial expression what they truly miss & never experience.
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We down sized from 24ft Nash 5th Wheel to the 1st offroad trailer I built (roof top tent). We enjoyed our pasted rigs & done a lot of dispersed camping in different states, but your limited were you can go realistically in a large or tall camper.
In 2016 I started doing some research on adverture trailers & sold the 5th wheel trailer to a feller in Missouri. For six months I looked, read, & talked with my wife & what was important dispersed camping (getting away from people), we knew it was going to have roof top tent. What was surprising in our conversations & kept coming up was "us" being outside. We used the money from the 5th wheel to build a 1st adventure trailer.
During the build process of our roof top tent trailer we seriously thought about what we needed to have as camping gear, the amount of gear needed, that space was limited & keeping the weight down to a respective level. This is were Sally & I done more researching & stumbled onto American Adventurist were we started getting a full understanding on gear & reading members personal experiences of the gear they had & was working for them.
Since then I sold the roof top trailer (reason was of our age 60's) & start another build on a square drop which I finished last year. Sally & I find ourselves continuously adjusting our gear getting it dialed down to what we actually use & get rid of the stuff we used once or never. I like the fact that we kind of went back to the basic's of camping but with some modern conveniences (no soggy water logged perishable food) 12v. fridge. But what really is a plus to "us" is we can get deeper in the back country & stay back their camping while explore the sites known we are the only ones back there. 95 % of the time Sally & I are offroad dispersed camping, 5 % is in public RV grounds with our son & his family. I find that in public grounds (RV sites) the RVer's look @ Sally& I differently but @ the same time they can not resist coming to our site asking about our offroad squaredrop adventure trailer. We explained how we down sized & enjoy plotting our destinations offroading to locations deep in the backcountry (Sally is shown pictures on her phone) were they ask "were are these spots?" but when you explain your "rig" will never make it there. Then you see by their facial expression what they truly miss & never experience.
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I understand that. When we went to places that were primarily RV oriented in the little teardrop, we also got those looks. But same, the curiosity always got the better of them & they wanted to check it out. Most of them said that they’d like to have something like that to be able to get out more often & into more remote places occasionally. There’s always a few that think it’s “cute”, but couldn’t do without the refinements of their class A motor home. But most, have that somewhat envious look in their eye & are really friendly & interested.
 
We have been through multiple stages, from tent camping out of the jeep in our rock crawling days, to a pop up camper, to a small hardside (T@B) and now we have landed in a pop up truck camper. Suits us ideally, for me, wife and 10 year old son. We figure by the time the dinette is too small for him he'll want to be in a tent outside the camper anyway. Set up time can be as little as a couple minutes for an overnight and it is always packed and ready to go. Way easier than towing a trailer, in my opinion. My only suggestion with truck campers is keep it as small and light as you are comfortable with.
 
Machelle and I have gone full circle...tent out of a Jeep)...pop up camper (Jeep was the tow rig...that got dicey getting home one time...blew some teeth off my D44 rear axle ring gear at the Hammer's, popped the cover, cleaned out the debris, put it back together and damn near had a coronary with every sound I heard on the 200 mile drive home. ...Class C RV (Jeep on a trailer)...Duramax and an enclosed car hauler, hauler doubled as a shelter, futon couch, porta potti, Coleman camp kitchen set up...then we went to a slide in pop-up camper and either flat towed or trailered the Jeep.

Baja finally beat the pop up camper into submission (I'm sure many here will see it in another incarnation one of these days), so now we are back to tent camping, although with a little higher quality gear than we started with all those years ago (we started with campsite in a box, cheap everything, sleeping bags, tent, stove, etc, but it got us by).

The ultimate downsize for us was selling our house to my son and daughter-in-law and buying a travel trailer for Machelle and I to live in. The down size from a house with 25 years of "stuff" to a 33' travel trailer with three slides was a bit of a challenge, but we pulled it off. This summer will be three years that we have been full timers in the travel trailer. Our trailer is an Outback 330RL, meets our needs nicely, king size bed (RV king), washer/dryer in the unit, with the three slide outs it's almost like a small condo.
 
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I understand that. When we went to places that were primarily RV oriented in the little teardrop, we also got those looks. But same, the curiosity always got the better of them & they wanted to check it out. Most of them said that they’d like to have something like that to be able to get out more often & into more remote places occasionally. There’s always a few that think it’s “cute”, but couldn’t do without the refinements of their class A motor home. But most, have that somewhat envious look in their eye & are really friendly & interested.

We like the fact our trailer is small & cozy, with all the accessories I added, it gives us some of those nice comforts of home. One of the best add ones IMO for us was the Awning Shelter, makes for a privacy room, get ot of the rain shelter, dressing & changing room. We were camping with our son @ a RV park in the photo. These take about 15 minutes to set up. I usually leave the floor out (they zipper in). Last photo is my sons rig.


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Consider picking up a short cargo trailer and converting it into a bunkhouse for the kids. Should be light and easy to tow behind your truck camper.

The people over on the Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailers forum have an extremely active sub forum devoted to these conversions. Amazing what some people can do with these things.

I just sold my old business cargo trailer last month to guy who is converting it to offroad.
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Been through lots, for me its different seasons. Summer time, Tundra with basic camp gear is great, fast and light. Fall and winter, nope. Tents suck in the PNW. Roof tent was great, but wet roof tent with no where to open it in the PNW sucks. Had a travel trailer at one point (for winter) and let me tell you getting a trailer stuck in the snow is easy and miserable.

So we have the big truck for crappy weather (and crowded areas) and tundra for more basic summer trips.
 
Went from a 24” 5th wheel and Silverado 2500 to a resto Korean War jeep trailer and Tako TRD OR. Smartcap on the truck and Roofnest on the trailer.
 
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