Beginner's Guide to RV Trailers

[Chalkie]

Since this topic seems to come up fairly often I ran across this article on Consumer Reports and thought I would share the link. I see no glaring errors in the article. 

Beginner's Guide to RV Trailers How to choose the right recreational trailer for you

[Kirk W]

I see little wrong with the article as far as it goes, but it is a very simplified view and is clearly aimed and the family with little value to a retired person. For a young family, considering their first RV, it is a good place to start. It is interesting however that they give no evaluation at all to any of the motorized RVs like they are never of interest to their readers while there are families who choose motorized and I suspect that some have valid reasons for doing so. 

[trailertraveler]

The title of the article is "Beginner's Guide to RV Trailers How to choose the right recreational trailer for you". It seems to have done a fair job at that objective.

If there was an article "Beginners Guide to Motorhomes How to choose the right Motorhome for you" should it be criticized  if it did not include information about trailers? Should a guide to buying a home have to include information about renting an apartment or buying an RV instead? 

If the title was "Beginners Guide to Buying an RV", I would expect it to be all inclusive.

[Chalkie]

2 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

I see little wrong with the article as far as it goes, but it is a very simplified view and is clearly aimed and the family with little value to a retired person.

Really? I can seriously go find several recent threads here about folks just starting out. What, pray tell, does being a retired person have do with it? Is the forum solely for retirees?

 

[trailertraveler]

21 minutes ago, Chalkie said:

...I can seriously go find several recent threads here about folks just starting out. What, pray tell, does being a retired person have do with it?...

I had the same thought. I looked through the article a second time and found one reference to car seats and a number for how many people each type of trailer would typically sleep.  

[sandsys]

I thought the article was mostly well done. There was no picture of a hybrid trailer and their description didn't make clear to me what they meant. And they included truck campers. I hope I never see anyone towing a truck camper.

Linda

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, Chalkie said:

What, pray tell, does being a retired person have do with it? Is the forum solely for retirees?

Certainly not, but their logic for totally ignoring motorized RVs is the assumption that they will only be used occasionally. People who no longer work will use any RV far more and the same would be true for those who work while fulltime. When we first looked at RVs we would have fit that mold quite well, but I know more than one first time RV buyer who chose a van, class C, or a class A and was quite happy with them.

The title does say trailers, but the author implies that trailers are the only reasonable choice for a new RV owner and that is the part that I object to. As  said before, the rest was quite well written.  I believe that people should at least look at the motorized choices as well. 

[Sehc]

I thought the writer made his point that a trailer is a good choice and why it is a good choice.  Not that motor-homes are bad.  Some short falls of using a trailer were presented.  He is writing about trailers, after all.

[Chalkie]

9 minutes ago, Sehc said:

I thought the writer made his point that a trailer is a good choice and why it is a good choice.  Not that motor-homes are bad.  Some short falls of using a trailer were presented.  He is writing about trailers, after all.

Indeed, and he did a very good job of articulating the problems with a motorized RV that some of us, including me, have had to look at when making a decision on which way to go in the RV world.

[sandsys]

8 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

The title does say trailers, but the author implies that trailers are the only reasonable choice for a new RV owner and that is the part that I object to.

The author talked about having limited funds to spend then why a trailer was best for that since you could pull one with a vehicle you already own if you choose wisely. That made sense to me. I suspect most of us started with a trailer of some sort back in the day. I know Kirk and I both owned Bethany tent trailers. How easily we forget where we came from; neither of US bought a motorhome right out of the gate although we both chose to go that way by the time we were ready to go full time.

Linda

[RV_]

Thanks for the excellent link to a very good resource to pass along to folks I know here about choosing the right type of trailer as the title clearly states. " Beginner's Guide to RV Trailers "

Like when I post a link, if folks take umbrage with the article, their actual resort would be to post in the original article comments section, or write in this case to CR and complain that Motor homes were not covered in an article about trailers. That would be like complaining that the posts on wiring a home outlet for your RV should include wiring in a generator.

Funny how the worm turns.

[Kirk W]

5 hours ago, sandsys said:

Kirk and I both owned Bethany tent trailers. How easily we forget where we came from; neither of US bought a motorhome right out of the gate although we both chose to go that way by the time we were ready to go full time.

Very true. I liked the presentation. I never expected to start a firestorm. ☺️

[frater jason]

Quote

The title of the article is "Beginner's Guide to RV Trailers How to choose the right recreational trailer for you". It seems to have done a fair job at that objective.

The title of the thread, however, is "Beginner's Guide to RVs".   I think that's the source of at least some of the discord.  Psychological priming and all that.

[Chalkie]

1 hour ago, secessus said:

The title of the thread, however, is "Beginner's Guide to RVs".   I think that's the source of at least some of the discord.  Psychological priming and all that.

Good point! I fixed the thread title.