We traded our StarCraft 28QBS travel trailer for a new Forest River FR3 30DS. We were forced to do something as our trailers tongue weight overloaded our towing truck. Since we travel with 3 large dogs (and unexpectedly 2 kittens) we thought that the RV would be more comfortable on the road. We have done two camping trips in the RV and are happy with our choice. We really loved the layout of both campers and you can view them here on the website. The trailer had two bedrooms with queen sized beds while the RV has a king sized bed a full sized fold out couch and the overhead nearly full sized bunk. The couch in the RV is much more comfortable and positions you better to watch the TV. The couch also has pop out foot rests like a recliner. The dinette is a little larger and has storage under the bench seats, the trailer had the furnace and water heater and water pump under the seats. I think the trailer had more cabinet space in the kitchen but the RV has better storage in the bedroom. Of course the RV has the awesome french door refrigerator which almost doubles our cold storage space.
When we were driving the dogs were in the back of our crew cab and it was tight. They did an awesome job but if we are going to do longer trips it really wasn’t fair to them to be crammed together. With the RV we can have a water bowl out (and now a litter box) while we are driving and the dogs can move around a little bit. When we are driving Kathy can get up and use the restroom when she needs to and keep her water in the refrigerator so it’s cold. Also when we are trying to make time she can make some food and even use the microwave if she starts the generator while we are rolling down the road.
Setting up the RV is much easier than the trailer. Kathy still takes a walkie talkie outside to guide me but I have better visibility and we get into position in half the time. Then I just push a button and the hydraulic jacks level us in about a minute. No more pulling forward and back putting blocks under the tires and lowering the four stabilizing jacks by hand. Also gone is having to deal with the weight distribution hitch during the set up and break down.
Over all I think that we are much happier with the RV experience over the trailer. We are excited to do a lot more camping in the future in our new rig. Both of our trips so far have been in cooler (or just plain old cold) temperatures so we didn’t get to hang out outside of our camper as much. We will see if I have time this winter to head to 70 degree weather otherwise spring is only 77 days away!
Thanks for reading this and we will see you at the kampground!