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Old 08-01-2012, 09:25 AM   #1
Litre
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Boise, ID
Posts: 9
Another newbie from Boise, ID!

The wife (32-years-old) & I (33-years-old) decided to upgrade from tent camping to a TT. When shopping for one, we had a few criteria:
  • Small (18-24')
  • Open floorplan (no "rooms")
  • a slide
  • bathroom on the opposite end of the trailer from the bedroom
  • walk-around space around the bed
  • as inexpensive as possible

After doing about 3-months worth of shopping, we narrowed it down to three: The Keystone Cougar Xlite 21RBSWE (http://www.keystone-xlite.com/index....&model=21RBSWE), The Dutchmen 202RBS (http://dutchmen-rv.com/index.php?p=f...RBS&coast=west), and the Keystone Springdale 212RBL (http://www.keystone-springdale.com/i...odel=212RBLSWE). The Cougar was our favorite, but was marked at Camping world ~$2-3k above the Dutchmen, and as a result, was quickly eliminated. The Dutchmen was the front-runner until we looked at another lot and found the Springdale, with basically the same floor plan as the Cougar, with some minor alterations.

Since it was basically the same price as the Dutchmen, it was a no-brainer. We agreed to purchase the trailer on Saturday, and picked it up yesterday.

My wife and I are total and complete newbies. The total amount of trailer-pulling experience I had prior to picking it up was watching my father tow our 21' sailboat when I was a kid. Luckily, my Tundra didn't hesitate a bit, and with all of niceties that come with the tow package on my truck (tow mirrors, back-up camera, tow-haul mode, and the ability to manually select which gear to be in), it made this newbie's life a lot simpler.

We've put together a spreadsheet prioritizing what we need to get before we head out on our first trip (it's like buying for our first apartment together!). We figure within a couple weeks, we'll head out. We're planning on going to a few sites with full-hookups first, so that we can try everything out, before we endeavor to dry-camp/boondock.

Here are a few pics. Pardon the quality, they were taken with cell-phone cameras. Hopefully we'll have more in the near future!





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Old 08-01-2012, 11:25 AM   #2
Rick1300
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Hey there! Me and the wife are the same age as you guys and live in Boise as well! We just bought the Cougar you were looking at 3 weeks ago. Small world.
You are right about shopping and outfitting the TT. It took us 2 weeks before we were ready to go. Last weekend was our first trip!
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Old 08-01-2012, 12:00 PM   #3
volvosweetie
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: north carolina
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to the forum and congrats on the new springdale. It will take you a little while to get the right things for it. You will do trial and error on what will work. I think we tend to over do and the pare back and then constantly rethink things as you travel and see other ideas other campers have done. LOL . In time you will get it just the way you want. Good Luck and Happy Camping. Safe travels
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Old 08-01-2012, 03:16 PM   #4
Jim & Kay
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Congrats on the new camper and welcome to the forum.
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Old 08-07-2012, 02:12 PM   #5
Herap
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to the forum and to the world of camping in a TT. Springdales are a great choice for new campers. Have fun!

Ray
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Old 08-07-2012, 02:20 PM   #6
azlee56
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that is nice looking. You'll have a blast. I am curious though, why didn't you want a closed off room? (bedroom?)
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Old 08-08-2012, 02:36 PM   #7
Litre
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Mainly because we knew with a trailer as small a we preferred, a"room" would make it feel tiny inside. If we go bigger in the future, we'll get a more segregated floor plan.
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