tenny80

Thank you! Never heard of that before but it looks like they have lots of options in ontario!

smokeywren

Well, I see I'm late to the party, but I'll jump in anyway.


Good Sam is a travel companion for RVs, sorta like AAA for car travelers. They sell travel insurance, RV insurance, an excellent RV Park/Campground guide, and other stuff. They franchise numerous better-quality RV parks all over North America. Yes, that includes Canada.

The parent company is Camping World, that owns Trailer Life and Motorhome Life magazines as well as Camping World RV centers and the Good Sam Club. They have numerous nice campgrounds.


www.goodsamclub.com


Here's the latest campground guide. Don't leave home without it.
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...-edition/95717


The ad for the campground guide doesn't do it justice. The 2016 version was over 2 inches thick with 1560 pages. My 2017 version will be delivered this week and I expect it to be even bigger.


Yes, you need a new one every year because RV parks open and close frequently. But for only $7 (plus $5 shipping plus ~$1 Texas sales tax), it's no big strain on your budget to get a new one every year.


Before last year the Campground guide was called the Trailer Life RV Park and Campground Guide. But since Trailer Life and Good Sam are both under the Camping Work umbrella, I guess they decided to change the name to Good Sam RV....

Nighthawk87

Here's my .02

I had a pop up with one baby and can guarantee you'll want a travel trailer with 4 kids. Spend the extra money and get a TT. iIt'll be far better than a hotel and way more comfortable. It'll save you money from not having to upgrade quickly. You'll also get much better bathroom facilities, warmth at night, etc...I'd only limit to a pop up if you can't tow a TT. What's your payload on the truck?

I agree on getting an RV membership. I have thousand trails and we get 30 free nights for $550 or so. If you plan to camp one or two weekends and can use that then it practically pays for itself.

Velosprout

We had a Rockwood 8' box pop-up (with a 2' storage box on the front; model 1610) for 10 years, and went camping with 4 adults for 9-day trips. For four kids, you will want a longer, larger, pop-up, but it will be fun. (We have since moved up to a hybrid camper).


My suggestions:
Get the air conditioning, you will be glad you did. Get electric brakes. Some PUP campers are sold with surge brakes or no brakes at all. Order new; a lot of dealers will still charge you new price for one that has been sitting outside all winter on their lot. Store it inside when not in use; use your garage or rent indoor storage. PUP campers are not friendly for outside storage so you will find plenty of used ones with rot, soft floors, and mildewed fabric/vinyl. Get the optional two-LP tank option; it is not fun to run out of LP for your furnace when it is twenty degrees out or always carry a spare LP 20lb bottle in your truck bed. Rockwood now has a built-in A-Frame mounting provision for Equalizer Hitch, a great idea. Get the matching Equilizer weight-distributing hitch.


Don't worry about the mpg. When you will look back and the family photos and memories of the family sharing the outdoors and closeness the experience brings, the price of gas will be you last concern.

MetalCutter

This X2! My wife and I did this one summer with our two boys, only we were in a tent.
Best time I ever had.

tenny80

Not sure of the payload but it's a 2015 5.0 with the tow package.

Travel trailers seem like they would be a lot harder to tow, both MPG and backing up wise.

The tent trailer will feel like luxury compared to our coleman 8 person tent

The tent trailers still feel like camping to me, the travel trailers seem like rolling homes, just not my thing I guess!

tenny80

Thank you for the advice! we are looking at one with a 12' box that extends to 27 feet (king size beds with heated mattress on both ends), has a good size fridge (4 cu ft), oven, stove, ac, furnace, electric lift, etc.

We are looking at a used one though so I'll be sure to check it over really well! The model we are looking at is very expensive new, so we would have to go used. It does have upgraded fabric, laminated floors, etc though.

I'll have to measure my garage as well to make sure it will fit along with my 2 motorcycles. Our garage is really narrow, my truck wouldn't fit so the pop up may not either.

tenny80

also the trailer has electric brakes but my truck does not unfortunately. Do you know if it's hard to add it back on? 2016 5.0.

massspike

Don't overlook that you would be traveling with a kitchen and refrigerator so you can avoid buying meals at restaurants. I estimate that making our own breakfast and lunch saves over $40 per day (family of 3).

massspike

Those trailer brakes are activated via the brake light circuit. What you don't have is the trailer brake controller (TBC) circuit.

When we towed our 3500lb pop-up with our 2010 XLT (and previously with a Pathfinder) braking wasn't a problem.