Request Trailer Advice

[hombre]

I'm considering a larger race trailer that has a kitchen, full bath, and convertible dinette. Several people have told me that they regretted buying larger "toy hauler" type trailers because they subsequently seldom used the living quarters. I'd be interested in the opinion of anyone here with experience owning such toy hauler type trailers. The venues we attend have no facilities other than Porta-Pots, with nearest motels 10-15 miles away.

 

[warp9.9]

Walt is that the one your using now?

 

[Sidecar Flip]

My opinion...

If it was me, I'd forget the toy hauler entirely. The reason why I say that is because I've tried various combinations over the years and this is what I have now and will keep:

I have an F350 Ford 4x4 turbo diesel 4 door long bed. You can have any brand, Fiat/Dodge, GMC/Obama Motors of Ford, it don't matter so long as it's a 3/4 ton or better. 2 wheel drive will suffice if you don't use the truck for other purposes. I do.

I have a Lance slide in camper, it's fully self contained, has plenty of headroom (I'm 6'1" and I don't eel cramped). It's air conditioned, has a full bath (no tub, just shower, you can actually get one with a tub), full galley, range oven microwave, double sink, 3 way refrigerator (digital), hot and cold running pressurized water with filters (has a 60 gallon fresh holding tank plus city water hookup), full toilet (fresh water flush), solar panels on the roof, full dinette plus a queen sized bed that's really comfortable. I bought the Lance because it has a full, one piece aluminum roof and FRP sides so it's maintenance free plus it has the xtra insulation so it's easy to cool and heat. It also has a big side roll out awning (to sit under and bench race or work on the bike) and on board generator (for 110volt power, anywhere).

Then, I pull a 3 place motorcycle trailer behind the camper. my trailer is open but I have a friend with a 3 place enclosed that I can use if need be. With the big pickup, I can put in the camper and pull the bike trailer or our 4 horse Moritz no problem.

The nice thing about my setup is the various combinations. You have the truck for using as a truck, the camper and truck for when you don't want to be a participant just a spectator, The whole outfit for the other times, You can take the camper and set it off and use the truck separately with the camper as your base station and you have a go to town vehicle without hauling a camper (Lance is the only camper certified for use as a stand alone without the truck under it.

I keep the camper in the big barn when I don't use it, the truck is a farm vehicle because I can pull the trailer with my wife's Ranger or my Tracker.

If you get a toy hauler, the amenities ate limited, even in a big one, the size makes parking a *****, you still need a big pickup or SUV to pull it with so why not get the big pickup and a slide in and have a camper you can tuck away somewhere and a trailer that you can pull behind your daily driver if the need arises.

I know a number of people that have toy haulers that want to sell them because they are a ***** to park, hard to handle on the road and just don't get much use.

You could always buy a Prevost and put a trailer behind that. A custom prevost is only 3/4 mil and they have ammenities...plus 500 horse turbocharged DDEC3 diesel power or Caterpillar, Allison 6 speed automatics and will cruise over 100 on the road......I know, I know someone who has one. When you aren't fiddling with bikes, you could play rock star.......................

I might add that the one thing that is a big turn off on a toy hauler is that you can't seperate the 'toys' from the living quarters, even if there is a wall, the stink from oil and gasoline and grease and solvents permeate the living quarters, your clothes, washing and drying towels, even your food. That is the main reason why people don't like them. Nothing better than stinking like a garage all the time. The smell is fine on race day, but it gets old 24/7, real old.

 

[hombre]

Flip, we have the same pickup except mine's a crew cab 4WD. Great truck with the Super chip!

That's pretty much what everyone's telling me, that the larger trailer just isn't worth the trouble. However I'm getting reluctant to leave the race trailer at the track, given that 3 bikes were stolen from the pits overnight at Maxton in April. Hauling the race trailer back to the motels isn't really an option, as there's no room to park it. We've looked at some slide in campers, but really don't care for them. The streamliner guys all have Prevost/ Wanderlodges... I'm just not that serious!

Scott, I have an ATC Grand Tour 14x7.5, which is a nice trailer. The owner of the above toy hauler wants to take it in partial trade (which should tell me something).

 

[Toystoretom]

There is an old boy from Wisconsin that shows up at Baxter's rally every year with a large toy hauler with living quarters and he loves it. He actually built his from a new horse trailer and made it the way he wanted it, it is very nice. He is retired and spends most of the summer months going from bike rally to bike rally along with his Hinkley Bonnie, a Square 4, and a 59 Goldie. He spends all his time outdoors at the rallys anyway and pretty much just sleeps in the trailer. Most campground have showers and such.

I would want some sort of enclosed trailer for what you are doing if for nothing else to hold the tools and parts you need to race. I guess you have to decide if the extra cost is worth it to you, I would rather hang out at the track and spend time with the other racers than sit in a motel room. Some of the best BS sessions are late at night while having a few cold ones and you don't have to worry about finding some place to stay or leaving your bike and supplies.

 

[Sidecar Flip]

Flip, we have the same pickup except mine's a crew cab 4WD. Great truck with the Super chip!

That's pretty much what everyone's telling me, that the larger trailer just isn't worth the trouble. However I'm getting reluctant to leave the race trailer at the track, given that 3 bikes were stolen from the pits overnight at Maxton in April. Hauling the race trailer back to the motels isn't really an option, as there's no room to park it. We've looked at some slide in campers, but really don't care for them. The streamliner guys all have Prevost/ Wanderlodges... I'm just not that serious!

Scott, I have an ATC Grand Tour 14x7.5, which is a nice trailer. The owner of the above toy hauler wants to take it in partial trade (which should tell me something).

Walt....Mine is a 4 door too. I have all the Banks stuff on it and my BIL built the trans for me. I have 2 Hayden's on the trans to keep it cool. Goes like hell and still gets 21 mpg on Bio-diesel.

I didn't like the slide-in campers at first either. I prefer a 5th wheel but the versatility of a slide in camper (you can park right next to the bikes, you can even chain them to the camper or truck) makes it nice. My wife and I use it at horse shows even if we just go as spectators. Nothing beats the camper when it's hot out, I keep the standby genset running and the ac on. Great to get out of the sun and get a cold one from the fridge. An added bonus of the Lance is you can actually put lawn chairs on the roof (has a ladder to get up there) and you get a birds eye view of what's happening.

If I'm somewhere that has shore power, the ac goes on their dime as well as the refrigerator. My Lance is even wired for cable tv.

With the Lance on my 350 4x4, the top of the camper is 12' 6" up. Nice view up there.

The slide in is so much more convenient than a big toy hauler because you can vary what is on the back, or in the bed of the truck, or what you need to haul and with a trailer, you can't. You are commited to one mode and that's it.

I've never been a fan of Wanderlodges. They are a royal PITA to service and the electrics are primitive plus parts are worse than Triumph. Most come with 3208 Cats with an Allison and the 3208 is basically a throw away engine made (in India) for vocational service. The Prevost's are much more easy to work on and like a commercial bus, everything come out the back, plus the standard engine is a 60 Series Detriot (Penske). A much better suited powerplant for an RV. You could always get a Newmar or a Winne with a pusher chassis but if you only use it ocassionally, they tend to turn into expensive-to-maintain units.

I still think the slide in on the PU is the way to go. You are already half way there and when you aren't using the camper, you can tuck it in the barn as a get-away for when your girl get s hair up her ass and you need some space to kick back, have a cold one and solitude.

 

[TxRIIIRider]

I have a large Exiss gooseneck 3-horse trailer with complete living quarters, queen size bed, shower, stove, fridge, A/C, etc. I've been planning to put some lugs in the flooring under the mats to be able to haul my bike with on occaision, but haven't done it yet.

The biggest problem with a big trailer like this is parking it at home. It's easy enough to park, it just takes up a lot of space when you're not using it. I also keep mine hooked up to A/C when it's parked at home to keep the fridge going, and run the A/C on occaision to keep it all working when it's not in use.

One thing good to consider about about the trailer though, is you can get where you're going, unhook it, and then you have your truck to run around with if necessary without hauling you're whole house. You also don't need to chain the bike to anything because it's parked inside the trailer.

Like you guys, I also have a Ford F350 crew cab dually. It's all stock though, except for a much larger air filter. It pulls the big horse trailer just fine though, but I do notice the weight when my Belgian is on board..

 

[Sidecar Flip]

You'd really notice the weight if you had 4 Percherons on board plus a road cart. I condisered a Sundowner at one point but bought a Moritz 6 horse bumper pull. I have a 24 foot gooseneck drop deck with a tandem and a 12 ton winch that I haul round bales and tractors and whatever on but my favorite is still the Lance and the bumper pull trailers. I was worried (again) about the horse smell in the living quarters and/or the bike smell, none of which you get with the truck camper.

What really sold me on the Lance and something you'd never experience was when I used to go snowmobiling up north in Michigan. I pulled a 6 place enclosed snowmobile trailer with the Lance and a truck full of snowmo buds. We'd park at the trail head, unload the sleds, ride and come back and have hot chocolate, set the timer on the oven, pop in a roast and go riding again, come back at dinner time, eat a good dinner take a shower, watch a bit of TV and turn in while everyone else was paying out the butt for a motel room and eating BK.

I got the cold weather package, extra insulation, double pane windows, heated holding tanks and winter covers and it always stayed warm even in below 0 temperatures plus it's easy to keep cool in the summer.

 

[Pig9r]

Hombre- I don't know if you are a buy it used kind of guy, but there are some killer deals on ebay for all sorts of campers right now - which might be good if you're not totally committed. Last week I sold on ebay a 23' 5th wheel camper with two slide outs for a co-worker. It was less than a year old and was used 5 times. He took a 33% hit on it and he bought it as a hold-over.

 

[hombre]

Hombre- I don't know if you are a buy it used kind of guy, but there are some killer deals on ebay for all sorts of campers right now - which might be good if you're not totally committed. Last week I sold on ebay a 23' 5th wheel camper with two slide outs for a co-worker. It was less than a year old and was used 5 times. He took a 33% hit on it and he bought it as a hold-over.

Brian, that is a used unit that I'm considering. You're right about there being screaming deals on trailers right now, especially the big "gas hog" stuff! The trailer/camper industry is suffering even worse than the auto industry, and liquidating the toy hauler seems to occur even before dumping the toys!

We've decided that campers are NOT for us, so we're going to take the toy hauler for a "test expedition". How's that for a buyer's market?