Campers...a bunk or no bunk?

[sangtarah]

We are thinking of getting a camper, a bumper pull. There are 6 of us. Kids ages are 3, 7, 11, 14. Plus 2 small dogs. 

We've never owned a travel trailer, so hit me with all your collective hive knowledge, LOL!

We can pull up to 9400 lbs. One question we are musing, a bunk or not? There is so much more space if we use the couch/dinette as sleeping spaces, but then kids definitely have to share, and those have to be put away every morning. If we get a camper it may do double duty as a temporary office for dh, and cramped quarters would make that unpleasant. But tweens/teens appreciate their own space too. 

[Ottakee]

The couches will fit 2 small kids, not 2 teens.  Same with dinette.   We did the bunks.   Just check the weight rating of the top bunk as some are only 80-100 pounds...which isn't much.

 

Also with dinette down and couch down there is very little walkway space to get to the bathroom.  

[City Mouse]

If you plan to keep the camper until the younger kids are pre-teens or teens, you will want the bunks. It only offers a tiny bit of privacy for each kids but it is still a little bit of privacy for each. When I was a kid, we had a camper and there three bunks but 5 kids. Once kids were 8-10 years old, sharing was no longer any fun.  Most trailers way over estimate the sleeping capacity, so do not use the manufacturers numbers do decide how many will fit. When my kids were little, we had a 26 ft Starcraft that was supposed to sleep 8 people it had one camper queen (smaller than a regular queen bed), two bunks, a standard dinette (that was supposed to sleep 2) and a fold out couch that was also supposed to sleep 2. The couch and dinette could sleep 2 5 yr olds maybe, but only 1 very short adult would fit.

However, weight limits may impact what kind of trailer you can have. Depending where you camp and what you are comfort with, the older kids could sleep in a tent at your camp site.

if you get a trailer with slide outs (will increase weight quite a bit) check that the bathroom is accessible when the slide outs are in.

 

[kokotg]

We have 4 kids and pull a 34 foot toy hauler; it has a queen bed up front, two single bunks in the middle, a big bed that comes down in the back, and then we took out the couches in the back and put in a daybed for another sleeping/sitting space.

A few random thoughts:

1. As ottakee mentioned, most of the convertible couches are not sleeping space for bigger kids. 

2. Converting beds every night can get old really quick, particularly if you want to do longer trips.

3. look at the numbers really carefully: 9400 pounds means that's the absolute most you can tow when the trailer's fully loaded (the specs will list the "dry weight" which is a completely unloaded trailer), and you also want to leave yourself some room below that number or towing won't be much fun. Is it an SUV? You'll likely run up against payload limitations before you hit your tow capacity (unless it's a full size van)

4. some  bunkhouses have a bottom bunk that converts to a small dinette during the day, which might be a nice feature with your husband using it as an office....most I've seen are really big 35 or 36 foot bunkhouses, but you might be able to find a smaller one it. 

Have fun--we've had such amazing trips with our trailer! 

[Lori D.]

We had a hybrid, with 3 fold-down "bedrooms" (2 doubles that folded out from the sides + 1 queen that folded out over the trailer hitch), plus the dinette could be turned into a queen (true adult-size queen). That sort of set up would still require sharing by children, but would allow the dinette to remain in place. 

As previous posters said, 4 kids, 2 dogs, and 2 adults is going to feel very crowded, and no privacy. We only had 2 teenage DSs so they had their own fold-down "bedroom" and DH & I had our own fold-down bedroom, so it did feel private, and roomy enough for just 4. 

One night we were at a camp site that was over 8000', and it was so cold we couldn't open any of the fold-downs, so DH and I slept comfortably in the u-shaped dinette area that converted to a queen bed, and DSs each managed to squeeze into a sliver of space on the floor -- there would have been no way to get up and go to the bathroom in the night without waking up everyone. 😉 

So that's one con of a hybrid trailer: you really can NOT go in colder weather or to colder places -- the fold outs are like tents, so they do not hold in heat.

A con of *any* type of trailer is that the weight will destroy your gas mileage (it dropped our Suburban mpg from 15-16mpg on the highway to 9mpg and to just 6mpg climbing over a mountain pass. Also, the weight will slow you down going over mountain passes, you can get hit with a cross wind that can flip your trailer or unexpectedly push you into the next lane (that second happened to friends of ours with a trailer).
 

Copy-pasting my response about experiences with a trailer from a past thread:

"...we did have a 25' "hybrid" travel trailer (canvas roofed fold-down bedrooms) for awhile. It's like having a boat on wheels. You throw a LOT of money at it constantly -- camp site fees, fees of dumping waste at a dump station, cost of propane for running the appliances and heating water, much higher gas cost because you're towing a heavy weight, tires, registration, getting a flat tire fixed, repairs, another flat tire, more repairs...

For traveling and staying at RV sites, plan on bringing lots of rolls of quarters -- for laundrymat trips but also to pay for showers at the camp site, as the hot water tank (at least on our travel trailer) was SMALL (5 gallons), so you take super fast showers with a water trickle, and it takes a while to heat up the water for the next person's shower.

And you do need to be handy... as there are constant things to have to fix while you're on the road and using it.

Also, having pop-outs or slide-outs is a very nice feature that RVs and travel trailers have and an airstream does not -- it feels like you double your living space, and actually have a slightly "private" room (visually, if not aurally, lol). I have also heard, but don't know for a fact, that airstreams are very hot because they are so enclosed.

Oh -- and I was NOT AT ALL comfortable with driving and pulling the travel trailer, so I never did. Which meant poor DH had to do all the driving, backing, and parking.

I think you have to really love the airstream/travel trailer/RV life style to make it work for you. We enjoyed our 2.5 week big travel trailer trip through 7 Western states -- but it would have cost about the same (in the long run) and been easier in most places we went to just drive and stay in motels. We used the travel trailer a few times for camping, and that was nice, but it's hard to justify all the costs just to use it 1-2 times a year. We ended up re-selling it for less that 25% of what we paid for it, and hardly had used it, so a lot of expense for for very little use, plus having to store it when not using it.

Overall, I think renting an RV or a cabin would have been more fun and less stress (although I don't regret our travel trailer experiences at all). JMO. 🙂

I'd strongly recommend "trying before buying" by renting one and going on a 2-week trip and see what you think..."


BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Lori D.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

With those ages and family size, you’ll want a travel trailer with a bunk room.  The dinette/sofa flip outs are generally uncomfortable with poor mattresses and really sleep two kids each if they’re small. My 8 and 10 year old are not big kids and can’t share our sofa flip out anymore. Plus you’ll find you have things on them that is all a pain to move come night.

https://www.wilkinsrv.com/product/new-2021-coachmen-rv-freedom-express-liberty-edition-320bhdsle-1279031-29
This is similar to the floor plan we have, with three bunk beds in the back and a flip up sofa that was basically just floor cushions. We fit my husband and I and 5 kids ages 5-12 last summer in it just fine. 3 kids slept on bunks and the sofa floor cushions that two 10 year old boys shared.  We camp almost every other weekend May-October and often take my nieces and nephews(I have 10 lol) so we got a big camper.  My kids are 5, 8 and 10 and until this year we had one double bed in a back room, a queen bed in the front room and the pull out couch. The kids were already too big last year to use the couch. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Mrs Tiggywinkle

[kokotg]

Agreeing that renting an RV first is a good idea; it's definitely not for everyone! But I'll also say that buying ours is one of best decisions we've ever made, and I wouldn't trade the trips we've taken in it for anything. For us, we bought it specifically because we wanted to do very long trips in the summer (dh is a teacher), and this was the only way we could afford to do it. There are definitely advantages (and disadvantages) to traveling in an RV and staying in campgrounds vs. hotels or airbnbs, but that was the big thing for us: the trailer is how we can afford to travel as much as we want to travel. That said, if we were doing a few weekends and a week long trip here and there, I don't think it would really be saving us money over budget hotels or rentals. We've done two trips where we've stayed gone pretty much all summer--once all over the US to a bunch of national parks, and another up the east coast and to Atlantic Canada--and we had surprisingly few issues having all 6 of us (plus 2-3 dogs) in the small space. In fact, when we got back from the first big trip I spent a few weeks feeling like a caged animal having to stay in one place for weeks on end. The fact that we can bring the dogs is also HUGE, both cost and convenience-wise. 

[skimomma]

We love our camper!  We bought a super cheap and old one 17 years ago and never looked back.  We just have a pop-up so most of my experience does not apply.  But it does have a dinette that is supposed to be a bed.  Ha ha ha HA!  Dd outgrew it at the age of 7.  She was longer than the bed.  She got unceremoniously kicked out of the camper into a backpacking tent where she has slept ever since.  Even our end beds, which are technically wide enough for two adults, are not really long enough for two adults as you have to sleep diagonally to avoid having your feet hanging out of the tent side.  The camper instructions says it sleeps 6 when in reality, we can only comfortably get two adults and a small child in it....maybe more if the adults are short and OK with sleeping like sardines.  All that to say, don't trust the sleeper numbers.  Get actual measurements, tape them out on the ground, and actually see who fits while keeping growth in mind.  And as others have said, it is a PITA to set up and take down a dinette bed each day.  And in our case even more of a PITA because there is little storage space to stow the bedding.  We found that we ended up leaving it in the bed configuration and just didn't use a table at all.  We tend to do all cooking and eating outside so it was just easier to leave it down.

[catz]

I grew up with a camper.  We had 2 different campers.  We much preferred the one with bunks and we used that one into my and my sibling's teen years. As everyone else said, check bed lengths.  

It is nice having a folding table and awning or screen tent or pop up shelter for outside.  

[Pawz4me]

When we were looking for our Class A we specifically wanted a unit with bunks, even though they were just becoming a thing on some As and our choices were very limited because of it. We felt very strongly that we all needed at least a small space of our own, and we definitely didn't want to hassle with making the dinette or couch into a bed every night and putting it back every morning.

[popmom]

I was just looking at planning a camping trip, so this thread came to mind. We used to own a Trailmanor. We sold it, and bought a Kodiak Canvas Flex Bow tent. We didn't use the travel trailer enough to justify the expense.

Something to consider before taking the plunge--will you be able to store the camper at your house or will you have to store it off site? If you have to store off site, try, try, try to get a facility that has power and water hookups. You will need both to make the inevitable repairs that come up. Otherwise, you have to drive to storage, hook up, tow home to make even the most minor repairs. Then tow the dang thing back to storage. 

Also, I don't know what type camping experience you've had--if you are currently tent campers or have never camped before...Know that spur of the moment trips are not a thing these days. Or at least they're very rare. So many people have campers and RVs these days. All of my favorite state parks and COE campgrounds book up months in advance. That's what brought this thread to mind. I was online stalking a favorite campground for cancellations. It books up 11 months in advance. 

If you're tow limit is 9400, you will want to buy a trailer that has a dry weight of no more than around 4500. Definitely look at your weight ratings--including passengers and dogs and supplies. If you are serious about pursuing this lifestyle, I would look at upgrading the tow vehicle and look at 5th wheels. I personally think they are safer to tow plus room for all the kiddos. My uncle who is a retired professor of engineering/fluid dynamics would agree. He has owned both travel trailers and a 5th wheel. He would say get a 5th wheel. He can explain all the science behind that, but I can't. I just defer to his knowledge. 🙂

Edited December 4, 2020 by popmom

[sangtarah]

37 minutes ago, popmom said:

If you're tow limit is 9400, you will want to buy a trailer that has a dry weight of no more than around 4500. Definitely look at your weight ratings--including passengers and dogs and supplies. If you are serious about pursuing this lifestyle, I would look at upgrading the tow vehicle and look at 5th wheels. I personally think they are safer to tow plus room for all the kiddos. My uncle who is a retired professor of engineering/fluid dynamics would agree. He has owned both travel trailers and a 5th wheel. He would say get a 5th wheel. He can explain all the science behind that, but I can't. I just defer to his knowledge. 🙂

Just snipping this to reply. We have a Nissan NV. It’s a new vehicle to us, so I’m going by the website’s tow numbers. Unfortunately a vehicle that could tow a fifth wheel isn’t feasible right now. 
 

[popmom]

50 minutes ago, sangtarah said:

Just snipping this to reply. We have a Nissan NV. It’s a new vehicle to us, so I’m going by the website’s tow numbers. Unfortunately a vehicle that could tow a fifth wheel isn’t feasible right now. 
 

I'm guessing the Nissan NV has a pretty decent wheelbase length, so that works in your favor. I have friends who towed a large bunk house with a Toyota Sequoia, so you should be ok. Good luck in your search!

[Carrie12345]

When I was growing up, we had a (parked in a campground) bunkhouse trailer, and having a permanent space that was MINE was a pretty big deal.  That may have been because of the amount of time we spent there, full-time from the end of school to the start of school, plus many weekends during the rest of the year.  It was still one itty bitty room for 3 of us, but we each had our own micro-area that was ours.

I’ve been looking at various options possibly for next year and I do prioritize bunks for my youngest two. But the older kids won’t be able to travel with us as much, so I’m not worried about them having a set personal space. (And they like tents.)

[skimomma]

8 hours ago, popmom said:

Also, I don't know what type camping experience you've had--if you are currently tent campers or have never camped before...Know that spur of the moment trips are not a thing these days. Or at least they're very rare. So many people have campers and RVs these days. All of my favorite state parks and COE campgrounds book up months in advance. That's what brought this thread to mind. I was online stalking a favorite campground for cancellations. It books up 11 months in advance. 
🙂

 

This is so true!  Gone are the days of just pulling up to a state park and expecting to stay the night.  We like to frequent our state parks and we can reserve up to 6 months in advance.  This means figuring out what first night we even might possibly be able to camp, calculating 6 months back, staying up until midnight, and then trying to panic reserve via the web reservation system and HOPE it doesn't crash midway through snagging a site.  Just last week I watched in dismay as the sites I had my eyes on got snapped up in the days leading up to the opening on my reservation window for a single trip.  I did get a site....right next to the outhouses.  The pickings were slim.  It is even more stressful when trying to reserve multiple sites.   There are also primitive state and federal forest campgrounds that are first come first serve, but who wants to pack up and travel with the risk that you could get there only to find no available sites?  It gets harder every year and I suspect the pandemic will amplify the situation this year as it did last.  Maybe I should consider going into the campground business.

[kokotg]

8 hours ago, sangtarah said:

Just snipping this to reply. We have a Nissan NV. It’s a new vehicle to us, so I’m going by the website’s tow numbers. Unfortunately a vehicle that could tow a fifth wheel isn’t feasible right now. 
 

I love the NV! 9400 is the number for the cargo version (adding seats decreases the total amount of weight available for the trailer + van). The passenger is 8700 (assuming you have the V8); there should be a sticker on the door that gives your vehicles numbers. (I recorded a podcast about towing with vans awhile back, so I have a stupid amount of knowledge in my head about it). 

[alisoncooks]

Just echoing the thoughts on having to set up beds every night - it's a pain. And they're not always comfy. 

My parents have an RV and we camp with them 4-5x a year. They have a 5th wheel with a separate bedroom and seperate bunk room. Honestly, it's just about perfect for our situation (aside from the previously mentioned pain of daily setup). My parents have the bedroom (their camper, after all 😉 ), the kids have the bunk room (all their stuff is contained, they go to bed earlier), and DH and I sleep on the couch and the dinette. Which sucks. (Also keeping in mind, the bedding must be stored somewhere during the day -- we end up shoving it on an unoccupied top bunk, but if all those spaces are being used...)

Anyway, have fun choosing! We've always had bunks, even when we had smaller pull-behind campers. The kids love their special space. 

[popmom]

11 hours ago, skimomma said:

 

This is so true!  Gone are the days of just pulling up to a state park and expecting to stay the night.  We like to frequent our state parks and we can reserve up to 6 months in advance.  This means figuring out what first night we even might possibly be able to camp, calculating 6 months back, staying up until midnight, and then trying to panic reserve via the web reservation system and HOPE it doesn't crash midway through snagging a site.  Just last week I watched in dismay as the sites I had my eyes on got snapped up in the days leading up to the opening on my reservation window for a single trip.  I did get a site....right next to the outhouses.  The pickings were slim.  It is even more stressful when trying to reserve multiple sites.   There are also primitive state and federal forest campgrounds that are first come first serve, but who wants to pack up and travel with the risk that you could get there only to find no available sites?  It gets harder every year and I suspect the pandemic will amplify the situation this year as it did last.  Maybe I should consider going into the campground business.

Exactly! I feel your pain! And I've thought about trying to make money off the camping craze, too. DH and I are considering moving out somewhere--acreage. If we found a really pretty spot--maybe on a lake or creek, we could do Hipcamp or something. 😉 

@sangtarahif you haven't already, check out Hipcamp for alternatives to traditional campgrounds. There are some amazing experiences to be had--mostly out west.