modest trailer camper?

[hesperus]

Spend 30k on a new unit and ask, how many nights in a decent hotel can you spend?

Yes, I asked myself the same question, but opted to plunk down $30K for the ORV 20' I picked up last week in AZ. Yeah, it equates to a lot of hotel rooms, but my justification was that we aim to take this trailer into remote areas, where hotel rooms are just not available, or are so few in number that they are hard to find (esp with dogs). We're heading up to silverton, co area this weekend, to do a climb of one of our 14'ers. Our plan is to mostly boondock, off grid and away from established RV 'camps'. We have rooftop solar to keep our batteries charged. But I'll admit it's an experiment. We'll see how it goes.

 

[yakers]

You could look at the T@b teardrops. Small, easy to tow and plenty of features.I have a T@da, made by the T@b company which usually makes teardrops. We put in storage last year after selling our house and moving to a condo so we may have to part with it, when the storage hassle exceeds the fun use. Remember to consider how you will store a any trailer. Its 17 ft, 2,300 lbs easy to tow with our Jeep. A friend has a Casita which is nice too but even more minimalist.

 

[Sunset]

+1 on Casita. Don't have one, but have researched them for quite some time. Depreciation is nearly zilch-try finding a good used one.

If depreciation is nearly zilch, then OP would be better off buying a new one, with new features.

 

[GoWest]

Getting this one-year old (new to me) travel trailer has been the highlight of my four months of retirement. I have camped in Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia, and plan longer excursions in the near future. It's perfect for a single person or a couple. Cherokee Grey Wolf 25RL; weighs less than 5,000 lbs and is an easy tow for my Nissan Titan. This barely-used camper was about $15K on Craigslist, fully equipped with hitch, two smart-TV's, and as good (maybe better) bed than I have in my own home.

 

[samclem]

Getting this one-year old (new to me) travel trailer has been the highlight of my four months of retirement. I have camped in Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia, and plan longer excursions in the near future. It's perfect for a single person or a couple. Cherokee Grey Wolf 25RL; weighs less than 5,000 lbs and is an easy tow for my Nissan Titan. This barely-used camper was about $15K on Craigslist, fully equipped with hitch, two smart-TV's, and as good (maybe better) bed than I have in my own home.

That looks great. In this RV game (IMO), there is considerable value to be had for the first
$10-15k, and diminishing returns over the next 250k. But, that's the same with most things.

 

[AprM]

I did a lot of camping as a kid. Entire summers on the beach because my dad was a park ranger and we got to stay there for practically free. When I met DH and we moved in together I knew I wanted a camper for us and my stepkids. We ended up finding a used 2015 Forest River Wildwood 195BH with strut bar and solar panels included for $8500. We use it a few times a year but while the kids are young we stay close to home. I love the flexibility of moving our hotel room with us. We know how well it was cleaned (or not sometimes...) and where the sheets/towels come from and how to cook in it and organize it. Camping is cheap and is a fun distraction for a few days. We bought the camper when DH drove a Jeep and I'm glad because it made us stay in the smaller camper categories. He has the F150 now and we don't have any problems towing with the smaller 2.6L V6.